Full text of "Lectures on the manuscript materials of ancient Irish history : delivered at the Catholic University of Ireland, during the sessions of 1855 and 1856"

LECTURES, 



LECTURES 

ON 

THE MANUSCRIPT MATERIALS 

OK 

ANCIENT IRISH HISTORY 



DELIVERED AT THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, 
DURING THE SESSIONS OP 1855 AND 1856. 



EUGENE O'CURRY, M.R.I.A., » 

PROFESSOR OF IRISH HISTORY AND AHCH^OLOGy IN THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND ; 
'CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OP SCOTLAND, ETC. 



^e-issur. 



DUBLIN: 
WILLIAM A. HINCH, PATRICK TRAYNOE, 

29 Essex Quay. 



/I fc£E£jiErQH:2QE23:. 



1878. 



(All rights reserved.) 
[ 



BOSTON C0LLE6K tfBRART 






i34yoy 



PREFACE. 



If I have any regret for tlie shortcomings of the following 
analysis of the existing remains of our ancient literature, and 
the eA'idences of the literary attainments and cultivated tastes 
of our far removed ancestors, of the Milesian and other races, 
I must sincerely declare that my regret arises much more from 
the consciousness of my incapacity to do merited justice to my 
subject, than from any concern for what my own reputation 
must suffer, in coming before the world in so prominent a 
character, and with such very incommensurate c|ualifications. 
When the Catholic University of Ireland was established, 
and its staff of Professors from day to day announced in the 
public papers, I felt the deepest anxiety as to who the Pro- 
fessor of Irish History should be (if there should be one), well 
knowing that the only man living who could fill that im- 
portant office with becoming efficiency as a scholar was already 
engaged in one of the Queen's Colleges. At this time, hoAV- 
ever, I can honestly declare that it never entered into my 
mind that / should or ought to be called to fill this important 
situation, simply because the course of my studies in Irish 
History and Antiquities had always been of a silent kind ; — I 
was engaged, if I may so speak, only in underground work, 
and the labours in which I had spent my life were such that 
their results were never intended to be brought separately 
before the public on my own individiTal responsibility. No 
person knows my bitterly felt deficiences better than myself. 
Having been self-taught in all the little J know of general 
letters, and reared to mature years among an uneducated 
people (though a people both intelligent, and fond of learning 



Tl PREFACE. 

when opportunity permits them to apply themselves to it), I 
always felt the want of early mental training and of early 
admission to those great fountains of knowledge which can be 
approached only through the medium of languages which, 
though once generally cultivated in my native province, had, 
under sinister influences, ceased to exist in the remote part of 
the country from which I come, not very long before I was 
born. And it never occurred to me that I should have been 
deemed worthy of an honour which, for these reasons, I should 
not have presumed to seek. To say so much I feel due, not 
only to myself, but to the exalted and learned personages who, 
without any solicitation whatever on my part, overlooked my 
many deficiencies so far as to appoint me to the newly created 
Chair of Irish History and Archaeology in this National Uni- 
versity. 

The definite idea of such a Professorship is due to the dis- 
tinguished scholar to whom the first organization of the Uni- 
versity was committed. It was that idea which suggested the 
necessity for this first course of Lectures, "On the,MS,Materials 
of Ancient Irish History", as well as for that which immediately 
followed it, and in which I am still engaged, " On the Social 
Customs, Manners, and Life of the People of Ancient Erinn"; 
— two preliminary or introductory courses, namely, on the two 
subjects to which this professorship is dedicated : on the exist- 
ing remains of our History, and the existing monuments of our 
Archaeology. For, without meaning the smallest disparage- 
ment to previous labourers in these fields, I found, on exa- 
mining their works, that, although much had been done in 
particular directions, and by successive writers, who more or 
less followed and improved upon, or corrected, each other, 
still the great sources of genuine historical and antiquarian 
knowledge lay buried in those vast but yet almost entirely 
unexplored compilations, which to my predecessors were inac- 
cessibly sealed up in the keeping of the ancient Gaedhelic, the 
venerable language of our country. To point out the only way 
to remedy this state of things, then, and if possible, by a critical 
analysis of the great mass of documents which still remains to 
, us in the ancient tongue, to open the way, — as far as lay in my 



PREFACE. Vll 

power, — to the necessary examination of these precious records 
and materials, was the scope and aim of my first course of 
Lectures ; those now collected in the present volume. That 
I have not succeeded in placing this interesting subject before 
the reader in as clear and attractive a form as it deserves, is 
but too painfully apparent to myself; but if I shall have suc- 
ceeded in drawing the attention of the student to the necessity 
of making an independent examination of it for himself, I 
shall have attained one of the dearest objects of my life, and I 
shall feel that I have not struggled wholly without success in 
endeavouring to do my duty to my country so far as it lies in 
my power to do at all. As to the work itself, its literary 
defects apart, I may claim for it at least the poor merit of being 
the first effort ever made to brino- within the view of the 
student of Irish History and Archaiology an honest, if not a 
complete, analysis of all the materials of that yet unwritten 
story which lies accessible, indeed, in our native language, but 
the great body of which, the flesh and blood of all the true 
History of Ireland, remains to this day unexamined and un- 
known to the world. 

Under the existing circumstances of this jjoor dependent 
country, no work of this kind could well be undertaken at the 
expense of the time and at the risk of a private individual. 
This difiiculty, however, so far as concerns remuneration for 
labour, and expense of publication of its result, has been 
happily obviated in a way that even a few years ago could 
hardly have occurred to the mind of the most hopeful among 
us. It reflects, surely, no small credit on the infant Catholic 
University of Ireland, and conveys no light assurance of the 
national feeling Avhich animated its founders from the begin- 
ning, not only that it was the first public establishment in the 
country spontaneously to erect a Chair of Irish History and 
Archaeology, but that it has provided with unhesitating libe- 
rality for the heavy expense of placing this volume — the first 
fruits of that Chair, and the first publication undertaken under 
such auspices — before the public. 

Little indeed did it occur to me on the occasion of my first 
timid appearance in that chair, that the efforts of my feeble 



Vm PREFACE. 

pen Tvould pass beyond tlie walls within which these Lectures 
were delivered. There was, however, among my varying 
audience one constant attendant, whose presence was both em- 
barrassing and encouraging to me, — whose polite expressions 
at the conclusion of each Lecture I scarcely dared to receive as 
those of approbation, — but whose kindly sympathy practically 
exhibited itself, not in mere words alone, but in the active 
encouragement he never ceased to afford me as I went along ; 
often, for example, reminding me that I was not to be uneasy 
at the apparent shortness of a course of Lectures, the prepara- 
tion of which required so much of labour in a new field ; and 
assuring me that in his eyes, and in the eyes of those who had 
committed the University to his charge, quantity was of far 
less importance than accuracy in careful examination of the 
wide range of subjects which it was my object to digest and 
arrange. At the conclusion of the course, however, this great 
scholar and pious priest (for to whom can I allude but to our 
late illustrious Eector, the Eev. Dr. Newman), — whose warmly 
felt and oft expressed sympathy with Erinn, her wrongs and 
her hopes, as well as her history, I am rejoiced to have an op- 
portunity thus publicly to acknowledge, — astonished me by 
announcing to me on the part of the University, that my poor 
Lectures were deemed worthy to be published at its expense. 
Nor can I ever forget the warmth with which Dr. Newman 
congratulated me on this termination of my first course, any 
more than the thoughtfulness of a dear friend with which he 
encouraged and advised me, diiring the progress of what was to 
•me so difiicult a task, that, left to myself, I believe I should 
soon have surrendered it in desj)air. 

With respect to the subjects treated in the following pages, a 
glance at the Table of Contents of the Chapters formed by 
these Lectures (see page xiii), will best explain the plan 
followed in this attempt to analyse the contents of the whole 
body of MSS. in the Gaedhelic language, the investigation of 
which must form an indispensable preliminary to the accurate 
study of the History of the country. I need not recapitulate 
here ; nor need I again refer to the importance of every separate 



PREFACE. IX 

section into wliicli such an analysis divides itself. It will be 
found, however, that of all the writers who have published 
books on the subject, up to the time of delivering these Lectures, 
— books, some of them large and elaborate, — not one ever wrote 
who had previously acquired the necessary qualifications, or 
even applied himself at all to the necessary study, without 
which, as I think I have established beyond a doubt, the 
History of Ireland could not possibly have been written. All 
were ignorant, almost totally ignorant, of the greater part of the 
records and remains of which I have here, for the first time, 
endeavoured to present a comprehensive and in some sort a 
connected account. And even though this volume will not, I 
know, be found as satisfactory to the student as it might be 
made in other hands ; yet such, nevertheless, appears to me to 
be the want of some guide to so vast a mass of materials as that 
which still lies buried in our Irish jMS. Libraries, that I trust it 
will be foiind in this respect at least to fulfil the intention of 
the University Ai;thorities when they determined to undertake 
the publication. 

This first volume, this first course of Lectures, has been ex- 
clusively devoted to an account of the available materials actu- 
ally existing in MS. for the preparation of a General History 
of Erinn. The succeeding course, already alluded to, will 
necessarily be considerably greater in extent ; and if I am 
enabled to realize the hope of placing that course also before 
the public in a future volume (or rather volumes, for it will 
demand, I fear, at least two such as this), it will be found to be ' ^ 
the complement of the present. It embraces the detailed ex- \^' 
amination of: — 1° the system of Legislation, and Government, ^J 
in ancient Erinn; 2° the system of ranks and classes in\ a- 
Society; 3° the Religious system (if that of Druidism can be >^ 
so called) ; 4° the Education of the people, with some account 
of their Learning in ancient times ; 5° the Military system, 
including the system of Military Education, and some account 
of the Gaedhelic Chivalry, or Orders of Champioais ; 6° the 
nature, use, and manufacture of Arms used in ancient times ; 
7° the Buildings of ancient times, both public, military, and 
domestic, and the Furniture of the latter ; 8° the materials 



X rREFACE. 

^nd forms of Dress, as well as its manufacture and ornamenta- 
tion ; 9° tlie Ornaments (including those of gold and other 
metals) used by all classes, and their manufacture ; 10° the 
Musical Instruments of the Gaedhelic people, with some account 
of their cultivation of Music itself; 11° the Agriculture of 
ancient times, and the implements of all sorts employed in it ; 
12° the Commerce of the ancient Gaedhil, including some 
account of the Arts and Manufactures of very early times, as 
well as of the nature and extent of the intercourse of the people 
with traders of other nations ; and 13° their Funeral Rites, and 
places of Sepulture. Of these great divisions of my present 
general course, I am happy to say that all but the last three 
have been completed, and that the Lectures forming these are 
now nearly ready for the press, — should the public reception of 
this first volume be so indulgent as to permit me to hope that 
the remainder may be allowed to appear in turn. 

I cannot conclude these prefatory remarks without bespeak- 
ing the attention of my readers to two important features in the 
present volume which I trust will be found to possess no little 
value. I allude to the very extensive Appendix ; and to the 
interesting series of Fac-Si3IILES, which will be found at the 
end. 

In the Appendix I have not only given in full the original 
text of every one of the very numerous quotations from the 
ancient Gaedhelic ]\ISS. referred to and translated in the text, — 
(extracts which will, I hope, be found useful and convenient to 
the student at a distance from our libraries, both as authorities 
and as examples also of the language, the records quoted being 
compositions of almost every age duringmany centuriesback), — 
but also many original pieces of great importance, not hitherto 
published, which I have endeavoured to edit fully with trans- 
lation and notes/*^^ Besides these, I have there collected also se- 
veral separate notes andmemoranda upon various subjects, which 

. Ca) The end of the Appendix (p. 644,— App. No. CLVII.), I have thought 
it right to insert a statement respecting the Irish MSS. at St. Isidore's, in 
Rome, drawn up, since tliese Lectures were delivered, for the Senate of the 
University. It will be found to contain some interesting matter in connection 
with tlic subject of this volume. 



PREFACE. XI 

could not properly have been introduced in the course of the 
Lectures themselves. The preparation of this Appendix has 
cost me, I may almost say, as much labour as that of the entire 
text ; and it has been a chief cause of the great delay which 
has taken place in the publication of the book. 

In the series of Fac-Similes (the addition of which was 
adopted on the suggestion of my learned colleague and friend, 
Dr. W. K^ O'Sullivan), I have taken advantage of the oppor- 
tunity presented by the publication of a general work on our 
early MSS. to lay before the learned in other countries a com- 
plete set of examples of the handwriting of the best Gaedhelic 
scribes, from the very earliest period down to the century 
before the last. For this purpose I have for the most part 
selected my examples from those passages which have been 
quoted in the text, and of which the original Gaedhelic will be 
found in the Appendix, in order that scholars may be able to 
compare the contracted writing with the full sentences as I have 
expanded them. But I have also inserted several examples 
(as in the instances of the earliest Latin ecclesiastical MSS., 
one of which is, I believe, contemporary with St. Patrick, and 
three of which are attributed to the very hand of St. Colum 
Cille), from writings which are mentioned indeed, but which 
there was no occasion to quote in the course of the Lectures. 
These fac-simi!es have been executed with admirable correct- 
ness in the establishment of Messrs. Forster, lithographers, of 
this city. I can confidently recommend them to Continental 
scholars as perfect representations of the handwriting of various 
ages ; and I hope they may be found of some practical use, not 
only in the identification of Gaedhelic MSS. yet hidden in 
foreign libraries, but also in the determination of the ages of the 
MSS. with which they may be compared. They will be found 
to be arranged in chronological order. 

I have to apologize for the length of time which has elapsed 
from the first annoixncement of this book to its publication, as 
well as for the many errors, of print and others, which will be 
detected in it, but most of which will be found corrected at the 
end of the volume. Those, however, who are aware of the 



Xn PREFACE. 

crushing succession of domestic afflictions and of bodily infir- 
mities with which it has pleased Providence to visit me during 
the last three years, will, I am sure, look with indulgent eyes 
on these defects, as well as on those concerning which I have 
already confessed and asked pardon beforehand. 

In conclusion, I have only to acknowledge the deep obliga- 
tions under which I am placed by the kindness of many emi- 
ment literary friends in the preparation of this volume. Among 
these I cannot but warmly thank, in particular, the learned 
Secretary of the Brehon Law Commission, the Very Rev. 
Charles Graves, F.T.C.D., Dean of the Chapel Royal, for 
much of kind consideration and many valuable suggestions ; 
the Rev. James H. Todd, S.F.T.C.D., President of the Royal 
Irish Academy, to whom, with my last named friend, the 
revival of Irish literature owes so much, and whose countenance 
and cordial assistance to me have been for so many years of 
inestimable value ; my dear friends, John Edward Pigot, 
M.R.I.A., and Dr. Robert D. Lyons, M.R.I A., from whom I 
received most valuable assistance in the plan and original pre- 
paration of these Lectures ; and to the former of whom I owe, 
in addition, the untiring devotion of the vast amount of time 
and trouble involved in the task his friendship undertook for 
me of correcting the text, and preparing for, and passing 
through the press, the whole of this volume ; and my able and 
truly learned friend, Mr. Whitley Stokes, who prepared for 
me the references to the MSS. quoted by Zeuss (pp. 27, 28 of 
this volume), the only new passage, I believe, which has been 
introduced into the text of the following Lectures since their . 
delivery. 

Eugene O'Cuert. 

Dublin, December 15, ISfO. 



CONTENT S. 



LECTUKE I. Introduction. Of the Lost Books, etc., . . 1 — 28 

Natural reverence for ancient monuments and records, 1 .— Neo:lect of Antiquarian 
inquiry in Ireland, 2. — Elevated rank of men of learning under the ancient Irish 
law, 2. — Great antiquity of literature in Erinn, 3. — Of literature in ancient Erinn 
before the time of St. Patrick, 4. — Loss of the earlier -writings, and its causes, 5. — 
Neglect of the language in more modern times, 6. — Literature, nevertheless, 
encouraged by the native chieftains, even after the loss of national independence, 
6, 7. — Of the Lost Books of Ancient Erinn, 7. — The Cuilmenv, 8. — The 
Saltair of Tara, 9. — Poem by Cuan O'Lochain, 10. — The Book of the Ua Chong- 

bhaiJ, 13. — The Cin Droma Snechta, 13. — Its author, 13, 14 The Senchus Mdr, 

or Great Book of Laws, 16. — Account of a private library (that of St. Longarad, 
of Ossory) in tlie 6th century, 17. — The Book of St. Mochta, 19. — The Book of 
Cuana, 19. — The Book of DiM dd Leithe, 19. — The Saltair of Cashel, 19. — List 
of the Lost Books recorded, 20 — Lost Books extant in Keating's time, 21. — Lost 
Books knoAvn totheO'Clerys, 21, 22.— The Irish MSS. in the library of Trin. 
Coll., Dublin, 23.— MSS. in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy, 24.— Irish 
MSS. in the Library of the British Museum, and in the Bodleian Library at 
Oxford, 25.— Other Collections of Irish MSS. in England, 25.— Irish MSS on the 
Continent — Brussels, Paris, Rome, etc., 20. — Irish MSS. referred to in the Gram- 
matica Cellica of Zeuss, 27. 

LECTUKE II. Op the Earliest Existing MSS., . . . 29—51 

Account of the Cuilmenn, 29 and 41. — Of tlie recovery of the Tale of the 2'din Bo 
Chuailgn^, 29. — Account of the Tain Bo Chiailgne, 30. — Personal descriptions in 
this ancient tale, 37, 38. — Mythical and legendary inventions introduced into it, 
39. — Historical value of this tale, 40. — Authorship of the Saltair of Tara, 42. — 
Account of King Cormac Mac Airt, 42. — Personal description of King Cormac, 
44, 45. — Laws and legal writings of the reign of Cormac, 46.— Of the Book of 
Acaill, 47. — Cennfalad " the Learned", 48. 

LECTURE III. Of the Early Historic Writers. The Ancient Annals, 52—73 
List of the principal Annals, 52.— Of the earlier Chronologists and Historians, 
53.— The Synchronisms of Flann of Monasterboice (11th century), 53. — The 
Chronological Poem of Gilla Caemhain, 55.— Of Tighernach, the Annalist, 57 
and Gl. — Account of the Monastery of Clonmacnoise, and of its foundation by 
St. Ciaran (6th century), 58. — Of the Annals of Tighernach, 62. — The Chro- 
nological Poem of Eochaidh O'Flinn, 69. — Account of the foundation of Emania, 
B.C. 405 (taken by Tighernach as the starting point of credible Irish History), 
70. — The Destruction of Emania by " the Three CoHas" (a.d. 331), 72. 



XIV CONTENTS. 

LECTUEE IV. The Ancient Annals (continued), . . , 74—92 

Continuation of the Annals of Tighemach, 74. — Of the Annals of Innisfallen, 
75 and 79. — Of the monastery of Inis Faithlenn, in Loch Lein (Killarney), 75. — 
Of MaelsuthaiH 0' Cearbhd'dle (secretary and counsellor of Brian Borumha), 76. — 
Legend concerning him, 76. — Of the so-called Annals of Boyle, 81 (and see 
105). — Historical writers of the 12th, 13tli, and 14th centuries, 82. — Of the 
Annals of Ulster, 83. 

LECTURE V. The Ancient Annals (continued), . . . 93—119 

Of the Annals of Loch Ce (improperly called the " Annals of Kilronan"), 93. — 
Account of them, 100. — Extracts and examples, 101. — Account of the Battle of 
Magh Shcht (a.d. 1256), 101.— Of the Annals of Connacht, 104 and 113.— 
Of the Annals of Botle, 105. — Of the use of the Annals as materials for his- 
tory, 119. 

LECTURE VI. The Ancient Annals (continued), . . . 120—139 

Of the Chronicum Scotorum, 120 and 126. — Of the life and death of Dubhaltach 
Mac Firbisigh of Lecain (Duald Mac Firbis), and of his Book of Pedigrees, 
120-122. — His various works, 123. — Of the Books of Lecain, and the Mac Firbis 
family, 125. — Title and Preface of the Chronicum Scotorum, 127. — Of the 
Annals of Clonmacnois, 130. — The Story of Queen Gormlaith, 132. — Address 
and Dedication of the Annals of Clonmacnois, 135-6. — Authorities quoted by the 
translator, 137. 

LECTURE VII. The Ancient Annals (continued), . . 140—161 

Of the Annals of the Four Masters, 140, and 145, and 155. — Of the " Con- 
tention of the Bards", 141. — Account of the O'Clerys, 142. — Colgan's account of 
the " Four Masters", and particularly of Michael O'Clery, 143. — Dedication of 
the Annals of the Four Masters, 146. — The " Testimonium", 147. — Of the Chro- 
nology adopted by the Four Masters, 151. — Mistake of Moore in his " History of 
Ireland", 153. — Anecdote of Moore, 154. — Of the race of Fergal O'Gara (to whom 

the Annals are dedicated), 157 Of the published editions of these Annals,^159. — 

Of the splendid edition by Dr. John O'Donovan, published by Mr. George Smith, 
160-1. 

LECTURE VIII. The Works of the " Four Masters", . - 162—180 

Of O'Clery's Succession of the Kings, (^Rp.im Rioghraidh^), 162. — Preface to 
this work, 163. — Dedication and Address to the Reader, 164, 165. — Of O'Clery's 
Book of Invasions (Zeo6Aar Gahhdla), 168. — Dedication to it, 168. — Preface, or 

Address to the Reader, 169 Of the other works of Michael O'Clery, 173.— The 

O'Clery MSS. in Belgium, 174.— Of Michael O'Clery's Glossary, 175.— Dedication 
to it, 175.— Preface or Address to the Reader, 176. — Of the writings of Cucoig- 
chriche (called " Peregrine") O'Clery, 178. 

LECTURE IX. Of THE CHIEF existing Ancient Books, . . 181—202 

Of the old MSS. still existing, 181-2. — Of the Leabhar na h-Uidhre (Book 
of the Dun Cow, of St. Ciaran), 182. — Of the Book of Leinster, 186. — Of the 
Book of Balltmote, 188. — The Leabhar Mor Duna Doighre, called Leabhar 
Breac), 190, (and see also p. 352). — Of the Yellow Book of Lecain, 190. — The 
Book of Lecain, 192.— Of the principal vellum MSS. in T.C.D., 192.— Of the 
MSS. in the Library of the R.I.A., 195.— Of the Book of Lismore, 196.— Of the 
MS. books of Laws (called in English the "Brehon Laws'', 200-201. 



CONTENTS. XV 

LECTURE X. Or the Books of Genealogies and Pedigrees, 203—228 

Of the system of official record of the Genealogies, etc., in ancient Erinn, 203-4. — 
Credibility of the antiquity of our Genealogies, 205. — Actual historical account of 
them, 205-6.— Of the IMilesian Genealogies, 206-7.— The Lines of Eber and Ere- 

mon, 207 The Iriah and Ithian races, 207. — Of the Eremonian Pedigrees, and of 

Ugaine Mnr, 207-8. — Of the Dalcassians, and the Eoghanachts of Munster, 208. 
— Genealogy of the O'Briens, and other Munster clanns, from Oilioll Oilum, 208-0, 
— Genealogy of the Dalcassians, from Cormac Cas, 213. — Of the importance of the 
recorded Genealogies under the ancient law, 213-14. — Family names first intro- 
duced (circa a.d. 1000), 214.— Distinction between a " Genealogy" and a " Pedi- 
' gree", 214. — Form of the old Genealogical Books, 215. — Mac Firbis' Book of 
Genealogies, 215. — Title and Preface of it, 216. — Ancient Poem on the charac- 
teristics of different races, 224. 

LECTURE XI. On the Existing Ancient Histories. The Historic Tales, 229-250 
Of the existing pieces of detailed History in the GaedheUc language, 229. — The 
History of the Origin of the Boromean Tribute, 230.— The History of the 
Wars of the Danes with the Gaedhil, 232. — The History of the Wars of 
Thomond, 233.— The Book of Munster, 237.— Of THE HISTORIC TALES, 
238. — Nature of the compositions, 239. — Of the education and duties of an 
Ollamh, 239. — Of the authority of the " Historic Tales" as pieces of authentic 
history, 241. — Of the classes into which they are divided, 243. — 1° of the Catha 
(or Battles), 243.— Tale of the " Battle of Ma<jh Tuireadk", 244.— Tale of the 
Battle of Magk Tuireadh of the Fomorians, 247. 

LECTURE XII. The Historic Tales (continued), . . . 251-272 

2° Of the LoNGASA (or Voyages) ; Tale of the Voyage of Lahhraidh Loingseach, 
251-2. — Of the Music and Musicians of ancient Erinn, 255. — 3° of the TpoHLA 
(or Destructions), 258. — Tale of the " Destruction of the Bruighean Da DtrgcC\ 
258.— Tale of the " Destruction of the Bruighean Da Choga", 260.-4° Of the 
AiRGNE (or Slaughters), 2 60. — Tale of the " Slaughters of Congal Cldringnach", 
260-1.— Tale of the Revolt of the Aitheach Tuatha (called the "Attacotti' or 
" Attacots"), 262-3.-5° Of the Forbasa (or Sieges), 2G4-5.— Tale of the " Siege 
of Edair" (Howth), 265. — J.2V/*«V?ie'" the importunate", 266.— Tale of the " Siege 
of Droin Damlighaire", 271. — Druidism, 271. 

LECTURE XIII. The Historic Tales (continued), . . 273—295 

6° Of the Oitte, or Aideadha (Tragedies, or Deaths), 273. — Tale of the 
" Death of Conchohhar Mac Nessa", 273-4.— Tale of the " Death of MaelJartJia- 
tach Mac Ronain", 277.-7° Of the Tana (or Cow-Spoils), 277.— Tale of " the 
Tain BdChuailgne", 277-8. — 8° Of the Tochsiarca (or Courtships and Espousals), 
278. — Tale of the " Courtship of Eimer'' by Cuchulainn, 278. — Of the several 
other celebrated Tales of " Courtships", 282-3. 9° Of the Uatha (or Caves), 
283. — References to several celebrated Tales concerning Caves, 283.-10° Of the 
Echtrai (or Adventures), 283.— References, 283.-11° Of the Sluaigheadha (or 
Military Expeditions), 284. — Tale of the " Expedition of DatJii to the Alps", 
284.-12° Of the Imramha (or Expeditions by Sea), 288.- Tale of the " Expedi- 
tion of the Sons of Ua Corra'\ 289. — Of the remaining classes of Historic Tales : 
" Fessa" (Feasts or Banquets) ; " Aithidhe" (or Elopements) ; " Serca" (Loves, or 



XVI CONTKNTS, 

Love-stories); " Tontha Ikina" (Lake-Irruptions); '• Tochomlada' (Immigrations 
of Colonies) ; " Fis" (or Visions), 294-5. 

LECTURE XIV. Or the Imaginative Tales and Poems, . . 296-310 

Of the Ancient Imaginative Tales and Poems, and of the use to be made of them 

in serious Historical investigation, 296. — Of the Fenian Poems, 299 Of the 

Poems, etc., ascribed to Oisin (or Ossian), 300 and 30t. Classification of the 
Eenian Poeims and Tales, 301. — Poems ascribed to Fin7i Mac Cumhaill, 302. — 
Of Oisin (or Ossian), and the Poems ascribed to him, 304. — Poems ascribed to 
Fergus '■' Finnbha6iV\ son of Finn, 306 — Poems ascribed to Caeilte Mac Ronain, 
306. — Of the " Agallamh na Seandrach" (or " Dialogue of the Ancient Men"), 
307. — The Story of Cael O'Neamkain and the Lady Credhi, 308.— Description of 
an ancient mansion and its furniture, 309. — Of other Fenian Poems, 3 12. — Of the 
Fenian Tales in Prose, 313. — Tale of the "Pursuit of Diarmaid and Grainn^", 

313.— Tale of the " Battle of Finntragkd" (or Ventry Harbour), 315 Tale of 

the "Flight of the Slothful Fellow", 316. — Reference to several other ancient 
Imaginative Tales, 318.— Reference to the " Three Sorro'w'ful Tales of Erinn", 319. 
LECTURE XV. Of the Remains of the Early Christian Period, 320 — 338 
Ancient Erinn called the " Island of the Saints", 320.— Nature of the existing 
remains of the early Christian period in Erinn, 321.— Ancient copies of the sacred 
writings, 321.— Of the " Domhnach Airgid", and its shrine, 322. — Of the 
Cathach, and its shrine, 327.— Of the relic called the Cuilefadh of Saint Colum 
CUM, 332.— Of other relics called by this name, 334-5. — Of various other shrines, 
(MS.)relics, 335.— Of the ancient Reliquaries, Bells, Croziers, Crosses, etc., still 
preserved to us, 336. 
LECTURE XVI. Of the early ecclesiastical MSS., . . 339—354 

Of the early Lives of the Saints of Erinn, 339 (and see 358).— Of the writings of 
Colgan and Keating, 351. — Saint Adamiuuis Life of Saint Colum CllU, 342. — 
Saint Place's Life of SaintPatrick, 343.— The Tripartite Life of Saint Patrick,344. 
— Of the Contents of the Leahhar Mdr Duna Doighre (called the Leahhar Breac), 
in the R I A., 352. — Of the study of the ancient " Martyrologies", and other 
ancient Ecclesiastical MSS , in the GaedheUc, 353. 
LECTURE XVII. Of the Early Ecclesiastical MSS. (continued), 355—371 
Of the causes of the loss and dispersion of Irish Ecclesiastical and Historical MSS. 
during the last three centuries, 355. — Analysis of what remains of the most impor- 
tant of the Ecclesiastical MSS., 357.— Lives of the Saints of Erinn, 358.— Of the 
Pedigrees and Genealogies of the Saints of Erinn, 358. — Of those ascribed to 
Aengus Ceile D^, 359.— Of the " Martyrologies", or " Festologies", 360.— Of the 
Saltaij na Eann, SGO. — Of the Martyrology of MaehnuireUa Gonnain (Marianus 
Gorman), 361.— Of the Martyrology of Tamhlacht, 362.— Of the Felire (or Festo- 
logy)of Aengus CeiU De, 363.— The " Canon" oiFothat " na Canoine", 364 — The 
Invocation from the Felire of Aengus, 365. 
LECTURE XVIII. Of the Early Ecclesiastical MSS. (continued), of the 
so-called " Prophecies", ..... 372 391 
1° of the Canons, 372.— Of the connection of the Church of St. Patrick with the 
Holy See, 373.— li" Of the Ecclesiastical and Monastic Rules, 373.-3° Of 
an Ancient Treatise on the Mass, 376.-4° Of an Ancient Form of the Consecra- 
tion of a Church, 378.-5° Of ancient Prayers, Invocations, and Litanies, 378.— 



CONTENTS. XVU 

3° Of ancient Prayers, Invocations, and Litanies, 378. — The Fraj'er of Saint 
Aireran " the Wise", 378-9. — The Prayer of Coign Ua DuinecIida,B7d — Ancient 
Litany of the Blessed Virgin, 380.— The Litany of Aeng us CelM De, 380.— Of the 
so-called " Prophecies" ascribed to the Saints of Erinn, 382 — Of the so-called 
" Prophecies" anterior to the time cf Saint Patrick, 383. — Of the " Prophecy" 
in the Dialogue of the Two Sages" {AgaUamh an dd Shi(adh),S83. — Of the "Pro- 
phecies" ascribed to Conn of the Hundred Battles (the Bade Chainn, etc.), 385. — 
Of the " Prophecy" ascribed to King Art " the Lonely", 391. 

LECTUEE XIX.— Of the so-called " Prophecies" (continued), . 392—41 1 

Of the "Prophecies" ascribed to Finn Mac CumhaiH, 392. — Of the Legend of Finn's 
" Thumb of Knowledge", 396. — Of the " Prophecy" of the coming of Saint Patrick 
attributed to the Druids of King Laeghaire, 397. — Of the " Prophecies" ascribed 
to the Saints of Erinn, 398 — Of the "Prophecies" of Saint Cadlin, 398— Of the 
" Prophecies" of Beg Mac Be, 399.— Of the " Prophecies" of Saint Colum CilU, 
399. — Of the apocryjihal character of the so-called " Prophecies", 410. 

LECTURE XX. Of the so-called " Prophecies" (continued), 412 — 434 

Of the " Prophecies" of St. Berchdn, 412. — " Prophecy" ascribed to St. Bricin, 
418. — "Prophecy" ascribed to St. Moling, 419. — Of the "Prophecy" ascribed to 
Sedna (Gth century), 422. — Of the "Prophecy" ascribed to Mae/tamhlac/ita, 423. 
— Of the " Prophecies" concerning the Fatal Festival of Saint John the Baptist, 
423.— Dishonest use made of forged and pretended "Prophecies", 430-1. — Giral- 
dus Cambrensis and John De Courcy, 432 — Sir George Carew, 434. 

LECTURE XXI. Recapitulation. How the History of Erinn is to re 

■WRiTrEN ....... 435 — 45S 

Recapitulation, 435. — Of the various writers on the History of Erinn, 441. — 
Moore's "History of Ireland", 441. — Keating's History, 442. — Mac Geogliegau's 
History, 442. — " Cambrensis Eversus" (Lynch), 443. — The History of Erinn 
must be written on the basis of the Annals, 443. — Of how to set about a History 
of Erinn, 444. — Of the ancient traditions concerning the Milesian Colony, 446. — 
Of the Cruithneans, or Picts, 450. — Of the reign of Ugaine Mdr, i5\. — Of the 
reign of Lahraidh Loingseach, 452. — Of the reign of Conaire Mdr, 453. — Of Con- 
chobhar Mac Nessa, 453. — Of the Revolution of the Aitheach Tuatha (or " At- 
tacots"), 453. — Of the reign of Conn'''- Ccad-CathaclC (Conn "of the Hundred 
Battles"), 453.— Of the reign of Niall "■ Naoi-Ghiallacli" {Niall "of the Nine 
Hostages"), 454. — Of lung Batld, 454. — Of the use to be made of the " Historic 
Tales", the Monumental Remains, and the Ecclesiastical MSS., 454-456. — Of 
other miscellaneous materials for a History of Erinn, 456. — Of the necessity for 
the study of the Gaedhelic language; and of the want of a Dictionary, 457. — 
Conclusion, 458. 

APPENDIX ....... 461—643 

APP. No. I. (P. 2). Of the Fili and Filidecht . . .461 

APP. No. II. (P. 4). Of writing in Erinn before St. Patrick's time . 463 

Of the Oghum character, and its uses, 464. — Of the Tale oi Bai!^ Mac Buain, 
464.— Inscribed Tablets before the time iii Art (a.d. 166), 466 and 470 — Cormac 
Cuilennain versed in Oghum, 468. — Of the Tale of the Exile of the Sons of Duil 
Dermait (circa a.d. 1), 468. — Of the Tale of Core, son of Lughaidh (a.t>. 400), 
469. — O'FIaherty on the Use of Letters in ancient Erinn, 409. — Of Cuchorb, 480, 

2* 



XVlll CONTENTS. 

Tale of BaiU Mac Buain (original, with translation and notes) . 472 

Poem by Ailbhe, daughter of Cormac Mac Airt (circa a.d. 260), original, with 
translation and notes), ..... 476 

Poem on the Death of Cuchorb, by Mead/M, daughter of Conn " of the Hundred 
Battles" (B.C. 1) (original, with translation, and notes), . . 480 

APP. No. III. (P. 5). T/a-ee Poems by Dubhthach Ua Lugaiu {Chief Poet of the 
Monarch Laeghaire, a.d. 432), on the Triumplis of Enna Censelach, and his 
son Crimthann, Kings of Leinster (original, with translation and notes), 482 

APP. No. IV. (P. 8). Original of Passage concerning the Cuilmenn, from the 
Book of Leinster, ...... 494 

APP. No. V. (P. 9, and 31). Original (unth translation') of Passage in an ancient 
Law Glossary explaining the " Seven Orders of Wisdom^' {under the title Caog- 
DAcn), ....... 494 

APP. No. VI. (P. 10). Original of Passage in Poem of Cuan Ua Lochain, on 
Tara, referring to the Saltair, ..... 496 

APP. No. VII. (P. 11). Original of passage from the "Booh of the Ua Cong- 
bhail", referring to the Saltair, ..... 496 

APP. No. VIII. (P. 12). Original of Passage from Keating, referring to the 
Saltair, ....... 497 

APP. No. IX. (P. 13). Original of reference to the Cinn Droma Snechta in the 
Books of Ballymote and Lecain, ... - 497 

APP. No. X. (P. 13). Original of second reference to the same in the Book of 
Lecain, ....... 497 

APP. No. XI. (P. 14). Original of third reference to the same in the Book of 
Lecain, ....... 497 

APP. No. XII. (P. 14). Original of reference to the same, in Keating, . 498 

APP. No. XIII. (P. 14). Original of j^assage in the Book of Leinster concerning 
the CiN Droma Snechta, ..... 498 

APP. No. XIV. (P. 15,16). Pedigree of DvAcn Ga-lxcu, King of Contiacht {in the 
early part of the 5th century'), ..... 498 

APP. No. XV. (P. 15). Original of second re/e?-eHce ^o ?Ae Cin Droma Snechta, 
in Keating ; and original (ivith translation) of corresponding passage in the Uraich- 
echt, in the Books of Ballymote and 'Lecain, . . . 501 

APP. No XVI. (P. 15). Original of second i^dssage in the Book of Leinster, con- 
cerning the same, ...... 501 

APP. No. XVII. (P. 17). Original of T'^erse (and Gloss) from the Felire Aengusa, 
referring to the Library o/Longarad (temp. St. Colum Cille), . . 501 

APP. No. XVIII. (P. 29.) OJ Letha, the ancient name for Italy in the 
Gaedhelic, ....... 502 

APP. No. XIX. (P. 32). Original of jxissage concerning the Cuilmenn, in the 
Leabhar Mor Duna Doighre, ..... 504 

APP. No. XX. (P. 32). Original of passages concerning the same in two ancient 
Glossaries (74, R.I.A. ; and H. 3, 18, T.C.D.), . . .504 

APP. No XXL (P. 36). Of the Ben Sidhe ("Banshee"), \_Sidh.—Fersidhe.— 
Bensidhe'], ....... 504 

APP. No. XXII. (P. 38). Original of Description of the Champion, Eeochaid Mac 
Fathemain, /ro??i the ancient Tale of the Tain Bo Chuailgne, . . 506 



CONTENTS. XIX 

APP. No. XXIII. (P. 38). Oriyinal of Description of the Champion Fergna,, from 
the same, . . . . . . . 50G 

APP. No. XXIV. (P. 38). Origi7ialqf Description of Prince 'Etc, from the same, 506 
APP. No. XXV. (P. 41), Of the date of the Tain Bo Chuailgne (iviih extracts, in 
orifinal, ivith translation of passages from the MS. H. 3. 17., T.C.D., and the Book 
of BaUijmote), ...... 507 

APP. No. XXVI. (P. 44). Original of Description of Cormac Mac Airt at the 

Assembly of Tara ; from the Booh of Ballymote, . . . 510 

APP. No. XXVII. (P. 47). Original of commencement of Preface to (lie Book of 

AcAiLL (in the MS. E. 5, T. C.D.J, attributed to King Cormac Mac iVirt, . 511 

APP. No. XXVIII. (P. 49, and 51). Original of remainder of same, . 512 

Original of another version of the latter portion of this passage (from the MS. H. 
3. 18., T.C.D.), 513.— Poem, by Cinaeth O'Hartigaiu (a.d. 973), from the Book of 
Ballymote (original, and translation), 513-14. 
APP. No. XXIX. (P. 56, 57). Original of two passages concerning Flann ofMonas- 

terboice (fro7n TigheiURch, and from 0' CTer^'s Leabhar Gabhala), . 516 

APP. No. XXX. (P. 58). Original of entries in the Chronicum Scotorum, and in the 

Annals of Ulster, of the death o/TiGnERNACH (a.d. 1088), . r 517 

APP. No. XXXI. (P. 58 to 60). Of the Foundation oj Clonmacnoise, . 517 

APP. No. XXXII. (£. 63, and 67). Of the Fragment of an ancient vellum copy of the 
Annals of Tighernach, bound up with the Annals of Ulster, in the Library of 
Trin. Coll. Dublin, ...... 517 

Letter from Eev. J. H. Todd, P.R.I.A., to Mr. Curry, upon this Fragment, 517. 
Original of the entire passage containing the sentence " Omnia Monumenta Sco- 
torum", etc., from the copy of tlie Annals of Tighernach in T.C.D. (H. 1. 18.), 
519. — Original of version of same in the R. I. Academy MS. (33. 6.) 519 note. — 
Original of version of same passage as given by Dr. O'Conor, 519 note. — Original 
of Ballymote, 520. — Of the second tract of Synchronisms in same Book, attributed 
to Flann, by the Venerable Charles O'Conor of Ballynagar (with translation of 
parallel passage in an ancient tract of Synchronism in the Book), 520-21. — Of Ti- 
ghernach's authority for the sentence in question, 521. — Euchaidh O'Flinn, 521- 
22. — Of the Synchi'onisms in the Book of Lecain, 522. — Flann's Poems, 522-23. — 
Quatrain identifying the author of the Poems (original and translation), 523. 
APP. No. XXXm. (P. 64). Original of stanza of Maelmura, quoted by Tigher- 
nach, ....... 524 

APP. No. XXXIV. (P. 64). Original of another ancient stanza quoted by Tigher- 
nach, and Extract from Dr. 0' Conor's account of the T.C.D. copy o/ Tigher- 
nach, •••.... 524 

APP. No. XXXV. (P. 68). Of King Eochaidh Bdadhach, . . 526 

APP. No. XXXVI. (P. 68). Original of an Entry in Tighernach, as to the Kings of 
Leinster, ••..... 526 

APP. No. XXXVII. (P. 70). Original of commencement of Poem (ascribed to Gilla 

an Chomdedh Ua Cormaic) in the Book of Leinster, . . 526 

APP. No. XXXVIII. (P. 70). Original {ivith Translation) of the account of the 

Foundation of the Palace o/Emain Macha, or Emania (from the Book of Leinster), 520 
APP. No. XXXIX. (P. 75). Original of Entry in the Annals of Tighernach (at 
A.D. 1405), concerning the Continuator of these Annals, . . 529 



XX CONTENTS. 

APP. No. XL. (P. 70). OriyinaloJ legendary account o/Maelsuthain O'Cearbhaill, 
o/Inis Faithleun, in Loch Lein {Innisfalkn, Loioer Lake of Killarney), from the 
LiBEu Flavds Fergusiordm, ..... 529 

APP. No. XLI. (P. 7(i). Contents of the Liber Flavus Fergusiorom (a.d. 1437), 531 
APP. No. XLII. (P. 84). Original of entry in the Atasxus of Ulster, concerning the 

Death of the original compiler, 'Mac Mixghnusa (a.d 1498), . . 533 

APP. No. XLIII. (P. 85). Orig'nal oj two Memoranda in T.C.D. copy of the Annals 
OF Ulster (H. 1. 8), . . . . • • 533 

APP. No. XLIV. (P. 90, 92). Of the commencement of the MS. called the Annals of 

Ulster, in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin (H. 1. 8), . . 534 

APP. No. XLV. (P. 94). Original of Memorandum inserted in the T.C.D. copy of 
the Annals of Loch Ce (a.d. 1061), .... 534 

APP. No. XLVI. (P. 94j. Original of second Memorandum in same (a d. 1515), 534 
APP. No. XLVII. (P. 94). Original of third Memorandum in same (ad. 1581), 534 
APP. No. XLVIII. (P. 94). Original of fourth Memorandum in same (a d. 1462), 534 
APP. No. XLIX. (P. 95). Original of entry (at a.d. 1581) in Fragment of Continua- 
tion of the Annals of Loch Ce, in the Brit. Museum i and of Note ctppended thereto, 
by Brian j\[uc Dermot, Chief of Magh Luirg, . . . 534 

APP. No. L. (P. 96). Original of entry of Death of Brian Mac Dermot (a.d. 1592), 
in the Annals of the Four Masters, .... 535 

APP. No. LI. (P. 102). Original of entry in Annals of Loch Ce, at a.d. 1087, 535 
APP. No. LIL (P. 101). Original of eiitryuisanie, at A.T). [087, . ■ 535 

APP. No. LIIL (P. 101). Original of account of the Battle of Magh Slecht (a.d. 
\25^), from the Annals of Loch Ce, .... 536 

APP. No. LIV. (P. 102). Original (and translation') of passage in the Tripartite 
Life of Saint Patrick concerning the Idol called Cenn Cruaich, or Crom Cruach, 
and the Plain of Magh Slecht, ..... 538 

APP. No. LV. (P. 102). Original of Memorandum at the end of the T CD. copy of 
the Annals of Connacht (H. 1. 2.), . . . . . 539 

APP. No. LVI. (P. 109). Original of Memorandum in the Brit. Museum copy of the 

so- ca//ef/ Annals OF Boyle, (under year 1594), . . . 639 

APP. No. LVII. (P. 111). Oiiginal of Second Memorandum in same, . 536 

APP. No. LVIII. (P. 111). Original of third Memoratidum in same, . 540 

APP. No. LIX. (P. 112). Original of passage in O'Donnel's Life of Saint Colum 

C///e(2. 52. R.L A.), ...... 540 

APP. No. LX. (P. 115). Original of entry in the Annals of Connacht, at a.d. 1464; 
and Original of abstract of same in the handwriting of the Venerable Charles 
0'' Conor of Ballynagar, ...... 540-1 

APP. No. LXI. (P. 1 1 5). Original of Corresponding entry in the Annals of Loch Ce 
(H. 1. 19., T.C.D.), ...... 541 

APP. No. LXII. (P. 121). Original of Title of Mac Firbis Book of Pedigrees and 
Genealogies, . . . . . . .541 

APP. No LXIII. (P. 126). Original of description oftheLiauguration of the O'Dowda, 
in the Book (f Lecain. ...... 542 

APP. No. LXIV. (P. 127). Original of Title, and conunencement of Preface, of the 
CuRONicoM Scotoruji, ..... 542 

APP. No. LXV. (P. 127). Original of a Note, by Mac Firbis, in the Chronicum 
Scotorum, . . . . . . .113 



CONTENTS. XXI 

APP. No. LXVI. (P. 12;'). Original of Memotandum in the Chronicum Scotordm 

(a.d. 722), explaining a deficiencg thare, . . ; .643 

APP. Ko LXVII. (P. 146). Original of Dedication of the Annals of the Four 

Masters, ....... 543 

APP. No LXVIII. (P. 147). Original of Testimonium of the Annals of the Four 

Masters, .....•• 543 

APP. No. LXIX. (P. 15S). Of the succession of the Chiefs of the O'Gara Family, 

from A D. 932 to 1537 ; from the Annals of the Four Masters, . , 5i6 

APP. No. LXX. (P. 163). Original of O'Clerfs Preface to the Eeim Riograidhe, 

(^succession of the Kings), from the R I.A. MS. (40, 4), . . 548 

APP. No. LXXI. (P. 164). Original of O'Clery's Dedication to the same, . 550 

APP. No. LXXII. (P. 165). Original of 0''Clerys Address to the Reader, prefixed 

tothesameU'-omtheT.C.'D.'M^.; Yl. i.Q), . . .551 

APP, No. LXXIII. (P. J 63). Original of O'Clery^s Dedication to the Leabhar 

Gabhala (Boot of Invasions), from the T.CD. MS. (H. 1. 12), . . 552 

APP. No. LXXIV. (P. 169). Original of O'Clerfs Address to the Header, prefixed 

to the same (from a copy in the Library of the R.I. A., made in 1685), . 554 

APP. No. LXXV. (P. 175). Original of Title and Dedication of O'Clerx's Glos- 
sary, ....... 557 

APP. No. LXXVI. (P. 1 76). Original of Address to the Header, prefixed to the same, 558 
APP. No. LXXVII. (P. 178). [Erroneous reference as to List of Contractions, etc.] 560 
APP. No. LXXVIII. (P. 178). Original (and Translation) of the Last Will of 

Cuchoighcriche O'Clery (^called Cucogry, or Peregrine O'Clej-y), . 560 

APP. No. LXXIX. (P. 179). Original (and Translation) of Two Poems by Cu- 

coighcriche O'Clery, ..... 562 

APP. No. LXXX. (P. 182). Origiwd of Two Memoranda in the Leabhar na 

H-UiDHRE (concerning the history of that celebrated MS.), . . 570 

Note concerning Conchobhar, the son of Aedh O'Donnell (ob. a.d. 1367), 570, note. 
APP. No. LXXXI. (P. 183). Original of entry in the Annals of the Foitr 

Masters (a< A.D. 1470), ... . . 570 

APP. No. LXXXII. (P. 184.) Original of entry in same Annals (at a.d. 1106), 571 

APP. No. LXXXIII. (P. 1S4). Original of a Memorandum in the Leabhar na 

H-UlDHRE, ....... 571 

APP. No. LXXXIV. (P. 186) Original of a Memorandum in the Book of Leinster, 571 
APP. No. LXXXV. (P. 187). Original of a second Memorandum in the same, 571 

Al'P. No. LXXXVI. (P. 1 95). [Apology for not giving a complete List of the MSS. 

in the Libraries of the R I A. and of Trin. Coll. Dublin], . . 571 

APP. No. LXXXVII. (P. 216). Original of Title and Introduction to Mac Firbis' 
Book of Genealogies, ..... 572 

Original (and Translation) of ancient Poem on the celebrated Builders of ancient 
times, 577. Original (and Translation) of ancient Poem on the Characteristics 
of the various Races in Erinn, 580. Original (with Translation) of ancient Toem 
on the Characteristics of various Nations, 580. 
APP. No. LXXXVIII. (P. 243). Original (and Translation) of passage, concerning 

the Historic Tales, m the Book of Leinster, . . . 583 

APP. No. LXXXIX. (P. 243). Original (and Translation, with Notes), of the List 
of the Historic Tales, in the Book of Leinster, . . 584 



XXn CONTENTS. 

APP. No. XC. (P. 276). Of the Place of the Death- Wound of Conchobbar Mac 
Nessa, ....... 593 

Original Cancl Translation) of Note, by Michael O'Clery on this subject, 593. 

APP. No. XCI. (P. 293). Original oj Stanza of a Poem by Saint Mocliolinog, about 
the Ua Corra ; from the Book of Fermoy, . . . 593 

APP. No. XCII. (P. 302, 303). Original of the first lines of Six Poems attributed to 
Finn Mac Cumhaill, ..... 594 

APP. No. XCIII. (P. 306, 307). Original of the first line of Poem attributed to Fergus 
FiNNBHEOiL; and of first line of Poem attributed to Caeilte Mac Konain (^from 
the UlNNSEANCHUS), ...... 591 

APP. No. XCIV. (P. 308, 311). Original of passage (poem) from the Agallamh na 
Sean&rach, concerning Gael Ua Neamnainn and the Lady Credhi (from the Book 
OF Lismore), ...... 594 

Original (and Translation) of Prose passage from the same, 597. 

APP. No. XCV. (P. 315). Of the ancient Monuments called Cromlech, . 598 

APP. No. XCVI. (P. 325). Original of passage in the " Tripartite Life" oJ Saii.t 
Patrick, concerning the Domhnach Airgid, . - . 598 

APP. No. XCVII. (P. 329, 330). Original of first stanza of the Prayer of Saint 
Cohan Cille (from the Yelloiu Book of Lecain) ; and Original (and Translation) 
of passage concerning the Cathachfrom 0''DonnelVs Life of Saint Colum Cille. 599 

APP. No. XCVIII. (P. 331.) Original of Inscription on the Shrine of the Cuthach, 599 

APP. No. XCIX. (P. 334). Original oj entry in the Annals of Tighernach (a.d. 
1090), as to the Cdilefadh, ..... 599 

APP. No. C. (P. 335). Original (and Translation) of reference to a Cuilefadh 
of Saint Emhin, in a MS. of a.d, 1463, in the R.I.A. (43. 6.), . . 599 

APP. No. CI. (P. 33G). Oiiginal (and Translation) of passage concerning the Mios- 
ach, from the Yellow Book o/Lecain, .... 600 

APP. No. CII. (P. 338). Of the Belie called the Bachall Isu, or •' Staff of Jesus," 601 
Original (and Translation) of the account of the ancient tradition respecting this 
relic in the " Tripartite Life" of St. Patrick, Gal. — Remarks of the Rev. Dr. Todd, 
P.R.I.A , upon the accounts of this Relic, 602. — Original (and Translation) of 
passage concerning it in the Annals of Loch Ce', 604. — Original (and Translation) 
of passage concerning it in the Annals of the Four Masters, 605. 

APP. No. cm. (P. 343). Original (and Translation) of Stanza in Poem by Saint 
Fiacc (alluding to the desertio?i of Tara), .... 606 

APP. No. civ. (P. 344.). Original (and Translation) of passage in the " Tripar- 
tite Life" of Saint Patrick (concerning the chariot of Saint Patrick), . 606 
Original (and Translation) of passage concernuig the same in the Book of 
Armagh, 607. 

APP. No. CV. (P. 346). Oviginal of entry at the end of the "Tripartite Life", 608 

APP. No. CVI. (P. 347). Original (and Translation) of passage alluding to Saint 
Ultan in the " Tripartite Life", .... 608 

Original of passage from Tierchan's Annotations, in the Book of Armagh, 608. 

APP. No. CVII. (P. 350). Origimd of concluding words of First Part of the Tri- . 
partite Life, ...... 609 

APP. No. CVIII. (P. 350). Original (and Translation) of observations, by the 
original writer, on the opening passage of the Third Part of the " Tripartite 
Life" of St. Patrick, ...... 609 



CONTENTS. XXlll 

APP. No. CIX. (P. 360). 0)-i(jinal of Two Lines of the spurious Sai,taiu tixUANti; 

and of the First Line of same Poem ("Brit. Mus. ; MS. Eg. 185.), . 009 

APP. No. ex. (P. 362). Original of the Tivo First Lines of the Martyrolocjij of 

Maelmuire Ua Gormain (MS. vol. xvii., Bury. Lib., Brussels), . 609 

APP. No. CXI. (P. 363). The Pedigree o/ Aengus Ceile De (from the Leabhar 

Mor Duna Doighre, c«//ec? //ie LeabharBreac), . . . 610 

APP. No. CXII. (P. 364). On^riHw/ o/ /Ac " Canon" o/ Fothadh, . 010 

APP. No. CXIII. (P. 365). Original of the Livocation from the Fe-liris A-EifiGUSX, 610 
APP. No. CXIV. (P. 367). Original of First Stanza (Jan. 1) of the Felire 

Aengusa, . . . . . . .611 

APP. No. CXV. (P. 368), Original of Stanza of the Felire Aengusa at 

March 17, . . . . • • .611 

APP. No. CXVL (P. 308). Original of Stanza of same at April 13 (Festival of 

Bishop Tassach), . . . . . .611 

APP. No. CXVII. (P. 373). Original (and Translation) of the " Canon of Saint 

P«</iH", from the Book OF Armagh, . . . . 613 

Translation of this Canon by Archbishop Ussher, 012. 
APP. No. CXVIII. (P. 374). Original of last sentence of the"'RvLB of Saint 

Colum Cille", ...... 613 

APP. No. CXIX. (P. 376). Original of Extract from an Ancient Treatise hy way 

of Exposition of the Mass ..... 013 

APP. No. CXX. (P. 378, 379). Original of commencements of Invocations in the 

Prayer of Saint Aireran " the Wise", .... 614 

APP. No. CXXI. (P. 379). Original of explanation of the word Oirchis, or Air- 

chis, in an ancient Glossary (H. 3, 18, T.C.D.), referring to the Prayer of Saint 

Aireran "i/ic Wise", ...... 015 

APP. No. CXXII. (P. 379,' 380). Original of commencements of the First and 

Second Parts of the Prayer of Co-LGV \jADviSEcm3A, . . 615 

APP. No. CXXIII (P. 380). Original of commencement of an Ancient Litany 

OF THE Blessed Virgin, ..... 015 

APP. No. CXXIV. (P. 381). Original (and Translation) of commencement of the 

Litany of Aengus Ceile De, ..... 015 

Original (and Translation) of Poem ascribed to St. Brigid, 616. 
APP. No. CXXV. (P. 383). Origincd of passage in the Agallamh An da 

Shdagh, ....... 616 

APP. No. CXXVI. (P. 386). Original of two passages in the Baile Chuinn, 617 
APP. No. CXXVII. (P. 386, 387). Original of passage in the " Tripartite 

Life" of Saint Patrick, quoted from the Baile Chuin (as to the wore? Tailcenn), 617 

Of the word Tailcenn, Tailginn,ov Tailgenn, 617. — Original (and Gloss) of Expla- 
nation of it from the Senchus Mdr (MS. H. 3, 17, T.C.D.), 617.— Original (and 

Translation) of passage in the ancient Tale of the Bruighean Da Derga, 618. 
APP. No. CXXVIII (P. 387). Original (and translation) of ancient account of the 

Baile an Scail ('' Ecstary of the Champion") ; from MS. Harl. 5280, Brit. Mus., 018 
APP. No. CXXIX. (P. 389, 390). Original of stanza referring to the same, in Poem 

by Flann ; and original of first line of same Poem, . . . G22 

APP. No. CXXX. (P. 391). Original of first line of " Prophetic'" Poem ascribed to 

Art ^^ the Lonely", son of Coiii^, ..... 622 



XXIV CONTENTS. 

APP. No. CXXXI. (P. 392). Original (and Translation) of heading and commence- 
ment of a "Fropuecy" ascribed to Finn Mac CnmhuiU, . . 622 
Note on the " Flag-stone, or "Rock of Patrick'', 623-4, 

APP. No. CXXXIi. (P. 395). Original of stanzas in one of the " Ossianic Poems'", 
co?!^rt('rt«V/ a "Prophecy" asc?-i6ec? <o Pinn Mac Cumhaill, . , 624 

APP. No. CXXXIII. (P. 397) Original of stanza, containing the "Prophecy" attri- 
buted to the Druid of King Laeghaire' (from the " Tripai-tite Life"), . 622 

APP. No. CXXXIV. (P. 399). Original of first line of ^' Prophetic Poem" attributed 
to Beg Mac De, ..... . 622 

APP. No. CXXXV. (P. 399). Original of first sentence of the "Prophecy" attri- 
buted to Beg Mac De, ...... 622 

APP. No. CXXXVI (P. 400). Original of stanza of a " Prophecy", attributed to 
Saint Colum Cille, quoted in the Wars of the Danes (Book of Leinster); and of 
first verse oj same Poem (from MS. H. 1, 10., T.C.D.), . . 625 

APP. No. CXXXVII. (P. 401). Original of Stanza o/Maolin 6g Mac Bruaideadha 
(Mac Brodg), referring to the same "Prophecy"; (quoted in the Annals of the 
Four Masters, at A.D. 1599), ..... 62G 

APP. No. CXXXVIII. (P. 40G). Original of first stanza of a second "Prophetic'' 
Poem, attributed to Sai?it Colum Cille, .... 626 

APP. No. CXXXIX. (P. 407). Original of first line of a third (like), . 626 

APP. No. CXL. (P. 409, 410). Original of first stanzas of three other "Prophetic' 
Poems, and of the first line of another, attributed to the same Saint, . 626-7 

APP. No. CXLI. (P. 412, 413, 414, 416). Original of three stanzas of a Poetical 
"Prophecy", ascribed to Saint Berchan ,• of the first stanza of same Poem; of the 
IQth stanza ; of the \2th stanza ; and of the ^Ith stanza of th& same, . 627 8 

APP. No. CXLII. (P. 417). Original of first line of a second "Prophetic" Poem 
attributed to Saint Berclian, ..... 62S 

APP. No. CXLIII. (P. 417). Original of rose quoted by Ferfessa 0' Clerigh from 
from a so-called " Prophecy" of Saint Berclian (from the Annals of the Four 
Masters, about A.D, 1598), ..... 628 

APP. No. CXLIV. (P. 417). Original of first stanza of a "Prophetic" Poem, attri- 
buted to Saint Berchan (but believed to have been written by Tadhg O'Neachtain, 
about AD. 1716), ...... 62S 

APP. No CXLV. (P. 420). Original of commencement of the'Bxii.% Mholing (/?-07« 
the Yellow Book of Lecain), ..... 629 

APP. No. CXL VI. (P. 422), Original of first stanza of the so-ccdled ' ' Prophecy" of 
Sedna, ....... 629 

APP. No. CXLVII. (P. 423). Original of first line o/Poem (by DonnellMac Brody, 
circa 1570), referring to the same " Prophecy", . . . 629 

APP. No. CXL VIII. (P. 423). Original of first words of the so-called " Prophecy", 
attributed to Maeltamhlachta. ..... 629 

APP. No. CXLIX. (P. 423). Original of passage f-om the Life of Saint Adamnan 
(from the MS. vol. XL, 4190-4200, Burg. Lib. Brussels), . . 629 

APP. No. CL. (P. 424). Original of the " Vision" of Saint Adabinan from the 
Leabhar Mor Duna Doighre, called the Leabhar Breac), . . 630 

APP. No. CLI. (P. 425). Of the Pestilences called the Buidhe Chonnaill, and the 
Crom Chonnaill, ...... 630 

Original (and Translation) of passage in ancient Life of Saint Mac Creich^, 631-2. 



CONTENTS. XXV 

—Original (and Translation) of two stanzas from a curious Poem in the same Life, 
632.— Note on the word Crom, 632. 

VPP. No. CLII. (P. 426). Original of passage in the Leabhar M&r Duna Doighre 
{called the Leabliar Breac), concerning the Scuap a Fanait, . . 632 

yPP. No. CLIII. (P. 429). Original oj Note on the Scuap a Fanait, in the 
Felire Aengusa ( from the same book), .... 634 

\.PP. No. CLIV. (P, 431, 432). Original of two passages from Giraldus Cam- 
brensis Q^ Hibernia Expugnata") concer7iing "Fropuecies" forged for the use of 
John De Courci/ and others of the invaders, . . • 635 

\PP. No. CLV. (P. 434). Original of stanza of a pretended " Prophecy" g-MOfec? 
bi/ Sir George Carew in 1602 from the Careiu MSS., Lambeth Lib., London'), 637 

\PP. No. CLVI. (P. 453). Of the accounts of the celebrated King of Ulster, CoN- 
CHOBHAR Mac Nessa ...... 637 

Original of entry of tiie Death of Conchobhar Mac Nessa in the Annals of 
TiGHERNACH (a.d. 33), 638. — Original (and Translation) of the Account of the 
Death of Conchobhar Mac Nessa from the Historic Tale of the "Aided Conco- 
bair" (" Tragic Fate of Conchobhar''), preserved in the Book of Leinster, 638, 
— Original (and Translation) of Keating's account of it, 642. — Original (and 
Translation of distich, with Gloss, from Poebi by Cinaeth O'Hartagdin (ob. 
973), 643, 

A.PP. No. CLVII. (Note to Preface, P. x.) Statement relative to the Irish MSS. of 
the College of St. Isidore, at Rome, drawn up for the information of their Lordships 
the Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland, and laid before them by the Senate of the 
Catholic University of Ireland, in \^5d. .... 64:4 

EXPLANATIONS OF FAC-SIMILES. .... 649—663 

FAC-SIMILES OF THE AnciExNT MSS. . . . [opp.p. 664 

(A.) MS. in the " Domhnach Airgid", [R.I.A.]. (temp. St. Patrick ; circa a.d. 430.) 

(B.) MS. in the " Calhach". (Gth Century. MS. attributed to St. Coluin CilU.) 

(C.) " Book of Kells", [T.C.D.]. (Gth Century. MS. attributed to St. Colum CilU.) 

(D.) "Book of Durrow", [T.C.D.]. (6tJ Century. MS. attributed to St. Colum Cilll) 

(E.) Memorandum in " Book of Burrow", [T.C.D.]. (6th Century.— att. to St. C. C.) 

(F.) Memorandum in " Book of Durrow", [T.C.D.]. (6th Century.— att. to St. C. C.) 

(G.) " Book of Dimma'\ [T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 620.) 

(H.) "Book of Dimitia", [T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. C20.) 

(I.) " Book of Dimma", [T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 620.) 

(J.) Memorandum in "Book of Dimma'\ [T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 620.) 

(K.) "Book of Dinnna", [T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 620.) 

(L.) " Book of Dimmer, [T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 620.) 

(M.) Evangelistarium of St. Moling, [T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 690.) 

(N.) Evangelistarium of St. Moling, [T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 690.) 

(0.) " Book of Armagh", [T.C.D.]. (a.d. 724.) 

(P.) " Rook of Armagh", [T.C.D.]. (a.d. 724.) 

(Q.) " Lil)er Hymnorum", [E. 4. 2. ; T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 900.) 

(R.) Entry in "Book of Armagh", [T.C.D.]. (made temp. Brian BoroimM, a.d. 1004.) 

(S.) ''Leabhar na h-Uidhre", [R.I.A.]. (circa a.d. 1100.) 

(T.) " Book of Leinster", [H. 2. 18. ; T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 1130.) 

(U.) " Book of Leinster", [H. 2. 18.; T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 11-30.) 

(V.) MS. in Trim Coll. Dubl., [H. 2. 15.]. (a.d. 1300.) 

(AV.) Entry in ''Leabhar na h-Uidhrff', [R.I.A.], (by Sigraidh O'Cuirnin, a.d. 1345.) 

(X.) " Book of Ballymote", [R.LA.]. (a.d. 1391.) 

(Y.) " Book of Ballymote". [R.I.A.]. (a.d. 1391.) 

(Z ) " Book of Ballymote", [R LA.], (a.d. 1391.) 



XXVI CONTENTS. 

(AA.) " Yellow Book of Lecain", [H. 2. 16. ; T.C.D.]. (circa a.d. 1300.) 

(BB.) " Yellow Book of Lecain", [II. 2. 16 ; T.C.D], (circa a.d. 1390.) 

(CC.) " Leabhar M6r Duna Doighrff\ (called " Leahhar Breac"), [R.I.A.]. (circa a.d 1-tOO.) 

(DD.) '■'■ Leahhar Mdr Duna Doighrff\ [R.I.A.]. (circa a.d. 1400.) 

(EE.) '■'■Leabhar Mdr Duna Doighr&\ [R.I. A. J. (circa a.d. 1400.) 

(FF.) MS. in Roy. Ir. Acad. [H. & S. 3. 67.] (circa a.d. 1400.) 

(GG.) MS. in Roy. Ir. Acad. (Astronom : Tract ; circa a.d. 1400.) 

(HH.) MS. in Trin, Coll. Dubl. [H. 2. 7.] (circa a.d. 1400.) 

(II.) " Book of iecam", [R.I.A.]. (A.D. 1416.) 

(JJ.) "Book of Lecain", [R.I.A.]. (a.d. 1416.) 

(KK.) " Book of Lecain", [R.I.A.]. (a.d. 1416.) 

(LL.) " Liber Flavus Fergusiorum". (a.d. 1434.) 

(MM.) " Book of Acaiir, [E. 3. 5. ; T.C.D.]. (circa ad. 1450.) 

(NN.) "Bookof Fermoy". (a.d. 1463.) 

(00.) MS. in Roy. Ir. Acad. [43. 6.] (a.d. 1467.) 

(PP.) Entv^f m Leahharnah-Uidhri,\'R.l.k.\. (a.d. 1470) 

(QQ.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dubl. [H. 1. 8.]. (loth Century.) 

(RR.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dubl. [H. 1. 8.]. (15th Century.) 

(SS.) " Book of Lismore". (15th Century.) 

(TT.) Memorandum in Leabhar Mdr Duna Doighri, [R.I.A.]. (circa a d 1.500.) 

(UU.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dubl. [H. 3. 18.]. (a.d. 1509.) 

(VV.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dubl. [H. 1. 8.]. (16th Century.) 

(WW.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dubl. [H. 3. 17.]. (15th & ICth Cent.) 

(XX.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dubl. [H. 1. 19. J. (a.d. 1580.) 

(YY.) Handwriting of Michael O'Clery, [Vellum MS. ; R.I.A. J. 

(ZZ.) Signature of Michael O'Clery, [VelUim MS. ; R.I.A. J. 

(AAA.) Handwriting of Cucogry O'Clery, [Vellum MS. ; R.I.A.]. 

(BBB.) MS. in Trin. Coll. Dubl. [H. 1. 18. ; T.C.D.]. (a.d. 1650.) 

(CCC.) Handwriting of Duald Mac Firbis, [H. 1. 18. ; T.C.D.]. (a d. 1650.) 

(DDD.) Handwriting of Michael and Cucogry O'Clery, [Paper MS. ; R.I.A.]. 

(EEE.) Handwriting of Conairi O'Clery, [Paper MS. ; R.I.A.]. 

(FFF.) Handwriting of John O'Donovan, LL.D., M.R.I.A. (1861.) 

(GGG.) Handwriting (small) of Eugene O'Curry, M.R.I.A. (1848.) 

(HHH ) Handwriting (large) of Eugene O'Curry, M.R.I.A. (1848.) 

GENERAL INDEX ...... 6G5— 72 



LIST OF 
ERRATA AND CORRECTIONS. 



Page 3, line 32; for " Gaedhlic", read " Gaedhilic" (as well wherever it may 

occur as here). 
,, 3, note 5, line 3 ; for " Gaelic", read " Gael". 
,, 4, Hne 6 ; for " recent", read " more recent". 

„ 36, note, line 2 ; for " land immortality", read " land of immortality". 
„ 38, line 19 ; for " His is Eeochaid'\ read " He is Reochaidk'\ 
,, 70, line 1; for " GiUa-an-Chomdech", read " GiUa-an-Chomdedh'\ 
„ 70, line oi ; for " Einlialn Macha'", read " Emhain Mhacha". 
„ 7G, line 23 ; for " about 1002", read " in 1004". 
„ 94, last line but two; for " Daniel", read "David". 

„ 101, line 18 ; for " Connchair% read " Conachail". 

,, 111, line 34 ; for " Roscommon", read " Galway". 

„ 118, line 15 ; for " submersis", read " submersus". 

„ 120, last line; for " Tir-FldachradK\ read " Tir-Fhiachrach" . 

„ 146, hne 27; for " Gaed/dr, read " GacdheV. 

„ 147, line 4 ; for " Tead(jK\ read " Tadlup. 

„ 148, line 9 ; for " was a guardian", read " was guardian". 

„ 158, line 18 ; for " they year 1200", read " the year 1200". 

„ 169, line 4 ; for " Brien Roe", read " Brian Ruadh". 

„ 171, line 1 ; for " Fiontain", read " Fiontcm". 
„ „ line 30; for Ua'Cfwiir/hail", rea,d Ua Chonghbhad". 

„ 176, line 30; for '^ Nekle the profound in just laws", read '■' Ntidhe W\q 

profound, and Ferchertne". 

„ 189, line 27 ; for " Luaidet", read " Luain€". 

„ 214, line 24 ; for " Tad(jK\ read " Tadhf. 

„ 217, hne 3 ; for " Benn-chair\ read " Bennchair". 

„ 219, line 24 ; for " 0' Ca}ian)is'\ read " 0' Canannans" . 

„ 243, line 13 ; for "Amrath", read " Anroth". 

„ 250, line 26 ; for " Meagh", read " Mag]i'._ 

„ 251, last line ; for '■^ Moriadh", read " Moriath'\ 

,, 264, line 8 ; for " Fiacha Finnolaidh", read " Feradhach, the son of 

Fiacha Finnolaidh". 
,, „ line 9 ; for " i^tac/iw"," read " -Feraf/AacA". 

,', 277, line 39 ; for " Grayhounds", read " Greyhound". 

„ 301, line 36; for FiimhheoUr, read " Finnbheod'\ 

„ 302, line 36 ; for " ancient lost tract", read " ancient tract''. 

„ 303, line 12 ; for " chean", read " cheann". 
„ „ line 24 ; for " Drean", read " Deaif. 

„ 304, line 5 ; for " Snaelt", read " Suaelt". 

„ 319, line 1; for " Dull Dearmalrt", read " Duil Dearmaif. 
„ „ line 8 ; for " Lear", read " Lir". 

„ 336, line 24; for '-Torloch", read " Conor" [see " Cambrensis Eversus", 

published by the Celtic Society; vol. ii., p. 397]. 

„ 340, line 28 ; for " Cinn", read " Cenn". 

'., 363, last hne but four ; for " three quatrains", read " four quatrains". 

„ 369, last line but four; '' Monaf and '' Faronis", though so written in 

the original text, must be read "Moses" and "Pharaoh". " John", 

too, in this passage, should, of course, be " Paul". 



XXVlll ERRATA 

Page 404, line 33 ; for " Maranacli'\ read " Mearanach". 

„ 429, line 33 ; for " in 664", read " in the year 664". 

„ 431, line 16 ; for " wordly", read " worldly". 

„ 442, line 12 ; for " Protestant"', read " local". 

„ 480, note 21 ; for " Mdet\ read " Mdir\ 

„ 488, line J9 ; for " -petx, iia -ivM-pec", read " ye]\ ha nAi|\ec". 

„ 496, line 21 ; for " funn", read" -puim". 
„ „ line 32 ; for "i:[oci\u<.\ic1iJ", read " [•f]oc|\uaicTi". 

„ 498, line 4; for " mliAjoj", read "111 h Agog". 

„ 503, line 35 ; for " hand", read " band". 

„ 508, last line but one ; for " NeicUie", read " Neidhi". 

„ 509, note 85 ; for " when", read " where". 

„ 518, line 20; for " ocuf ", read " ocuf". 
„ „ line 24; for " ixegnAfe", read " -pegriAjxe". 

„ 5-21, line 29 ; for " two hundred", read " one hundred". 

„ 522, hne 4 ; for " 200", read " 100". 

„ 523, line 1 ; for " coiAgiMbAin", read " co]\|'5]MbAni". 

„ 520, line 24 ; for " hAnnj-Atii", read " hAnnfA". 

,, 535, line 29 ; for " f iii", read " pp". 

„ 542, line 1 7 ; for " -ooic a'oo", read " •ooicA "oo". 

„ 551, line 17 ; for " teAjceoiyvA", read " LeAjco^iA". 

„ 652, line 10 ; for " lAA-pi", read " f aia". 
„ „ line 28 ; for "-ooiiiAn", read "■ooiiiAiri". 

„ 553, line 2; for " tiom", read " tiom". 

„ 556, line 2 ; for "^veAncufd", read "-peAnciifA". 

„ 558, line 14 ; for " ciu\iiiiAij\", read "ciiAtAniAi|\". 
,, „ line 17 ; for " iAecb", read " lAecib". 
„ „ luie 34; for " niei'o", read " tiiei-o", 

„ 500, last line ; for " cipgceix", read " cipjce^A". 

„ 562, line 34 ; for " from M.S.S." read " from a MS." 

„ 563, last line but 7 ; for '• Connacht", read " Crmichau". 

„ 570, line 9; for " Achnni-onigAt)", read "Aclitmi'onijd'o". 

,, 574, line 18 ; for " Vipcit\ci\e", read " |:'l^cn\ctie". 

„ 576, last line but 6 ; for " ha", read " iia". 

„ 581, line 6 ; for " Britons", read " true Britons". 

„ 581, line 21 ; for " mbiiAA-oAn", read " rtibbiA-oAn". 
„ „ line 37; for "leAriAitiinA", read " beAnAihiiA". 

„ 582, line 25 ; for " cmeA-o", read " cinneA-o". 

„ 590, last line of last note; for " H. 8. 17. TC.D.", read " H. 3. 18. 

T.C.D ". 

„ 597, line 21 ; for " kings", read " king". 

„ 598, last line but 2 ; for " JAn", read " gAti". 

,, 599, line 21 ; (no comma after the word cAbAijAc). 

„ 600, line 29; for " UlakW\ read " Uladh". 

„ 601, line 15 ; for " ocu]'", read " ocuf". 

„ 602, line 9 ; (quotation should end with inverted commas). 

„ 605, line 29 ; for " cccmn", read " ccinn". 

„ 616, line 17 ; for " caves", read " cans". 

„ 629, line 14 ; for " attributed Se-onA", read " attributed to Se-oiiA". 

„ 630, line 8 ; after " Ultonians", read " were". 

[In consequence of a mistake in the List furnished by the Secretary of the University to 
the Printer, the Dates given at the head of Lectures V. to XII. (pp. 93, 120, 140, 1C2, 181, 203, 
229, 251), are incorrect; (see Note at p. 320.) Lectures V., VI., VIL, VIII., IX., and X., were 
in fact delivered in the Spring (March) of 18.56. Lectures XL, XIL, XIII., and XIV., and 
XVII. to XXI., were all delivered in the months of June and July, 1856. Lectures XV. and 
XVI. (in the order now printed), were in fact delivered in March, 1855, after Lect. IV., and 
are now restored to their proper order. Lect. V. (p. 93), as delivered (in March, 1856) opened 
with an explanation, now, of course, omitted, so as to take up the subject from the close of 
the previous Lect. the year before.] 



LECTURE 1. 

[Delivered 13th Mai-ol!. 18di.] 

Introduction. Of Learning before S. Patrick's time. Of the lost Books, 
and what is known of them. 1. The Cuibnenn. II. The Saltair of Tara. III. 
The Book of the Uachongbhail. IV. Tlie Ciii Droma Snechta. V. The Sean- 
chas M6r. VI. Tiie Book of Saint Mochta. VII. Tlie Book of Guana. 
VIII. The Book of Dubh-da-leiihe. IX. The Saltan- of Cashel. Of the 
existing collections of ancient Manusci'ipts. 

I BELIEVE tliat tlie tendency may 'be called a law of our nature, 
which induces us to look back with interest and reverence to 
the moniuiients and records of our progenitors ; and that the more 
remote and ancient such monuments and records are, the greater 
is the interest which we feel in them. At no period, perhaps, 
was this feeling of interest and reverence for the remains of 
antiquity more generally cherished than it is amongst the civi- 
lized nations of Europe in ova: own days. A desire to learn 
and to understand the manners, the habits and customs, the 
arts, the science, the religion, nay, even the ordinary pursuits, 
of the nations of ancient times has largely seized on the minds 
of living men ; and the possession of even the few relics of 
ancient art which have come down to our own century is 
deemed of great value. Of how much higher and more special 
interest and importance, therefore, must it be to us to under- 
stand the language, and through it to become acquainted with 
the actions, the range of thought, tlie character of mind, the 
habits, the tastes, and the every-day life of those to whom in our 
o"WTi coimtry those relics belonged, and who have perhaps taken 
a prominent part in the ancient history of the nations among 
whom such vestiges of former days have been discovered! 
The various subjects connected with historical and antiquarian 
researches in general occupy at the present moment so promi- 
nent a place in the literature of modern Europe, and theu' value 
and importance are so generally recognized, that it is unneces- 
sary to make any apology for undertaking here a coru'se of lec- 
tures such as that upon which we are now about to enter : nor 
is it necessary, I am sure, to point out the special usefulness in 
our own country, in particular, of any new attempt to develop 
Avhat may be learned of her early history. 

1 



OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 



Neglect of 

antiquarian 

inquiry. 



In all otlier countries these departments of knowledge are 
both earnestly and industriously cultivated ; and not only in all 
that relates to the early state of those classic nations which 
have filled the most distinguished place in the history of the 
world, but also as regards nations of lesser prominence, where, 
as a matter both of natural affection and duty, the labours of 
the antiquarian are directed with zeal and diligence to eluci- 
date the early condition of his own native land. 

In Ireland, however, it is deeply to be regretted that as yet 
we have not at all adequately explored the numerous valuable 
monuments, and the great abimdance of national records, wliicli 
have been bequeathed to us by our Celtic ancestors. But if in 
our days the language, history, and traditions of our country 
and our race, are not prized by Irishmen as they ought to be, 
we know that this has not been always the case. Even a 
limited acqviaintance with oiu' manuscript records will suffice to 
show us how the national poet, the historian, and the musician, 
as well as the man of excellence in any other of the arts or 
sciences, were cherished and honoured. We find them indeed '-: 
from a very early period placed in a position not merely of 
independence, but even of elevated rank; and their persons 
and property declared inviolate, and protected specially by 
the law. Thus, an Ollamh,'-^^ or Doctor in Filedecht,^^' when 
ordained by the king or chief, — for such is the expression used 
on the occasion, — was entitled to rank next in precedence to 
the monarch himself at table. He was not permitted to lodge, 
or accept refection when on his travels, at the house of any one 



I 



(1) OttAiTi, pronounced " Ollav". 

(2) It is very difficult to find an adequate translation in the English language 
for the words •pl.e'oecc Qwonounced nearly "fillidecht", — the cA guttural), and 
Vile (which is pronounced nearly "fiUey"). The word P</e (the reader will 
observe the pronunciation), is commonly rendered by the English word "Toet": 
but it was in fact the general name applied to a Scholar in or Professor of Lite- 
rature and Philosophy; the art of composition in verse, or "Poetry", being in- 
cluded under the former. Perhaps the best general name to represent the File 
would be that of " Philosopher", in the Greek sense of the word ; but the term 
would be too vague as it is understood in modern English. Instead therefore of 
translating Filidecht " Philosophy", and File " Philosopher", the Irish Avords 
are retained in the following pages ; the filidecht,— in the knowledge of which 
the degree of OUamh was the highest, in that system of education which in 
ancient Erinn preceded the University system of after times,— included the 
study of law, of history, and of philosophy properly so called, as well as of 
languages, of music, of druidism, and of poetry in all its departments, and the 
practice of recitation in prose and verse; the word file, taken by itself, 
abstractedly, means generally a Poet, — but in connection with the system of 
learning the term is applied to a Sai (pron. " See"), in some one or more of 
the branches of learning included in the filedecht; so that an OUamh would 
be called File, and so also a Drumcli, etc. ; so also would a Ferleiyhinn, or 
Professor of classical learning, etc, [See also Appendix, No. L] 



OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 6 

below tlie rank of a FlaithP' Pie, that was tlie Ollamh, was al- lect. i. 
lowed a standing income of " twenty-one cows and their grass" 
in the chieftain's territory, besides ample refections for himself learned men 
and for his attendants, to the nnmber of twenty -fonr ; including Erinn!'^"' 
his subordinate tutors, his advanced pupils, and his retinue of 
servants. He was entitled to have two hounds and six horses. 
He was, besides, entitled to a singular privilege within his terri- 
tory: that of conferring a temporary sanctuary from injury or 
arrest, by carrying his wand, or having it carried around or 
over the person or place to be protected. His wife also en- 
joyed certain other valuable privileges; and similar privileges 
were accorded to all the degrees of the legal, historical, musical 
and poetic art below him, according to their rank. 

Similar rank and emohiments, again, were awarded to the 
Seatichaidhe,^*^ or Historian ; so that in this very brief reference 
you will already obtain some idea of the honour and respect 
which were paid to the national literature and traditions, in the 
persons of those who were in ancient times looked on as their 
guardians from age to age. And, surely, by the Irishman of 
the present day, it ought to be felt an imperative duty, which 
he owes to his country not less than to himself, to learn something 
at least of her history, her literature, and her antiquities, and, as 
far as existing means will allow, to ascertain for himself what 
her position was in past times, when she had a name and a 
civihzation, a law and life of her own. 

In the present course of lectures, then, it will be my duty to 
endeavour to lay before you an outline of the Materials which 
still exist for the elucidation of our National History. For, it 
may be truly said that the history of ancient Erinn, as of 
modern Ireland, is yet unwritten ; though, as we shall see in 
the progress of this course, most ample materials still remain 
in the Gaedhlid^^ or Irish language from which that history may 
be constructed. 

Amongst the large quantities of MS. records which have 

1^3) The ptAiu (now pronounced nearly "Flah") was a Noble, or Landlord- 
Chief; a class in the ancient Irish community in many respects analogous to the 
Noble class in Germany, or in France before the Eevolulion of 1789, though the 
rights and privileges of the ancient Irish were by no means those of the Feudal 
law of the continent, which never prevailed in any form in ancient Ermn. 

(■*J SeAncAix)e (now pronounced nearly " Shanchie") was the Historian or 
Antiquarian ; and, in his character of Eeciter, also the Story Teller. 

t*'The ancient Irish called themselves 5Aei-6il, (now pronounced nearly 
" Gaeil"), and their language ■^dei-oetg, or Gaedhlic (pron : "Gaelic"). In modern 
English the word " Gaelic" is applied only to that branch of the race which forms 
the Celtic population of modern Scotland. But the word refers to the true 
name of the entire race ; and in these Lectures, accordingly, it is always used 
to designate the Milesian population of ancient Erinn. 

1 B 



4 OF THE LOST BOOKS OF AXCIENT ESINN. 

LECT. I. come down to our times, will be found examples of the lite- 

~ rature of very diiferent periods in our history. Some, as there 

in ancient is abundant evidence to prove, possess a degree of antiquity 

lain" Pa-""^^ ^^^T remarkable, indeed, when compared with the similar 

tricic. records of other countries of modern Europe. Others again 

have been comj)iled within still recent times. Those MSS. 

which we now possess belonging to the earliest periods are 

themselves, we have just reason to believe, either in great part 

or in the whole, but transcripts of still more ancient works. 

At what period in Irish history written records began to be 
kept it is, perhaps, impossible to determine at present with pre- 
cision. However, the national traditions assign a very remote 
antiquity and a high degree of cultivation to the civilization of 
our pagan ancestors. [See Appendix No. II.] 

Without granting to such traditions a greater degree of 
credibility than they are strictly entitled to, it must, I think, 
be admitted that the immense quantity of historical, legendary, 
and genealogical matter relating to the pagan age of ancient 
Erinn, and which we can trace to the very oldest written docu- 
ments of which we yet retain any account, could only have been 
transmitted to our times by some form of written record. 

Passing over those earher periods, however, for the present, 
and first directing our inquiries to an era in our history of 
which we possess copious records (though one already far re- 
moved from modern times), it may be found most convenient 
that I should ask your attention at the opening of tliis course 
of Lectures to the probable state of learning in Erinn about the 
period of the introduction of Christianity by Saint Patrick. 

There is abundant evidence in the MSS. relating to this 
period (the authority and credibility of which will be fidly 
proved to you), to show that Saint Patrick found on his coming 
to Erinn a regularly defined system of law and ]3olicy, and a 
fixed classification of the people according to various grades 
and ranks, rmder the sway of a single monarch, presiding over 
certain subordinate provincial kings. 

We find mention likewise of books in the possession of the 
Druids before the arrival of Saint Patrick; and it is repeatedly 
stated (in the Tripartite Life of the saint) that he placed 
primers or lessons in the Latin language in the hands of those 
whom he wished to take into his ministry. 

We have also several remarkable examples of the literary 
eminence which was rapidly attained by many of his disciples, 
amongst whom may be particularly mentioned, JBenSn, or 
Benignus ; Mochoe ; and Fiacc, of SlehhU, or Sletty. This last 



OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT EEINN 

is the author of a biographical poem on the Life of the Apostle lect. i. 
in the Gaedhlic language, a most ancient copy of which still ^^^^^^^^^^j^^ 
exists, and which bears internal evidence of a high degree of loss of the 
perfection in the language at the time at which it was com- ?^'g,s" ^"'" 
posed. And it is unquestionably in all respects a genuine and 
native production, quite untincturcd with the Latin or any other 
foreign contemporary style or idiom. 

There are besides many other valuable poems and other com- 
positions referable to this period which possess much of the 
same excellence, though not all of equal ability : and among 
these are even a few still extant, attributed, and with much 
probability, to Dubthach (now pronounced " Duvach", and in 
the old Norse sagas spelt Diifthakr), Ua Lngair, chief poet of the 
monarch X«e^/iai>g (pron : nearly as "Layry"), who was uncle, 
on the mother's side, and preceptor of the Fiacc just mentioned."^^ 

It is to be remarked here that, in dealing with these early 
periods of Irish history, the inquirer of the present day has to 
contend with difficulties of a more than ordinary kind. Our 
isolated position prevented the contemjDorary chroniclers of other 
countries from oivinof to the affairs of ancient Erinn anything 
more than a passmg notice; while many causes have combined 
to deprive us of much of the light which the works of our own 
annalists would have thrown on the passing events of their day 
in the rest of Europe. 

The first and chief of these causes was the destruction and 
mutilation of so many ancient writings during the Danish occu- 
pation of Erinn; for we have it on trustworthy record, that 
those hardy and imscrupulous adventurers made it a special 
part of their savage warfare to tear, burn, and drown (as it is 
expressed) all books and records that came to their hands, in 
the sacking of churches and monasteries, and the plundering of 
the habitations of the chiefs and nobles. And that they des- 
troyed them, and did not take them away, as some have thought 
(contrary to the evidence of our records), is confirmed by the 
fact that not a fragment of any such manuscripts has as yet 
been found among the collections of ancient records in Copen- 
hagen, Stockholm, or any of the other great northern reposi- 
tories of antiquities that we are acquainted with. 

Another, and, we may beheve, the chief cause, was the oc- 

f65 It has been thought proper to _insert in the Appendix (No. III.) the text 
(with translation) of tliree of these curious poems, as specimens of the style 
and composition of so very early a writer. They are all on the subject of the 
battles and triumphs of King Crimtkan, son of Enna Ceinnselacli (King of 
l.einster in the time of the poet, i.e., the fifth century), and on those of Enna 
himseU". 



6 OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINX. 

LECT . I. currence of tlie Anglo-Nonuan invasion so soon after the expul- 
Nciect f ^^^^^ °^ ^^^® Danes, and tlie sinister results which it produced 
thc'iangurtge upou thc literary as well as upon all the other interests of the 
dern'times."" country. The protracted conflicts between the natives and 
their invaders were fatal not only to the vigorous resumption of 
the study of our language, but also to the very existence of a 
great part of our ancient literature. The old practice of repro- 
ducing our ancient books, and adding to them a record of such 
events as had occurred from the period of their first compila- 
tion, as well as the composition of new and independent works, 
was almost altogether suspended. And thus our national litera- 
ture received a fatal check at the most important period of its 
development, and at a time when the mind of Europe was be- 
ginning to expand under the influence of new impulses. 

Again, the discovery of printiug at a subsequent period made 
works in other languages so miich more easy of access than 
those transcribed by hand in the Irish tongue, that this also 
may have contributed to the farther neglect of native composi- 
tions. 

Aided by the new political mle under which the coimtry, 
after a long and gallant resistance, was at length brought, these 
and similar influences banished, at last, almost the possibility of 
cultivating the Gaedhlic literature and learning. The long- 
continuing insecurity of life and property drove out the native 
chiefs and gentry. Or gradually changed their minds and feel- 
ings — the class which had ever before supplied liberal patrons 
of the national hterature. 

Not only were the old Irish nobility, gentry, and people in 
general, lovers of their native language and literature, and 
patrons of literary men, but even the great Anglo-Norman 
nobles themselves who eflected a permanent settlement among 
us, appear from the first to have adopted what doubtless must 
have seemed to them the better manners, customs, language, 
and literature of the natives ; and not only did they miuiificently 
patronize their professors, but became themselves proficients in 
these studies ; so that the Geraldines, the Butlers, the Burkes, 
the Keatings, and others, thought, spoke, and wrote in the 
Gaedhlic, and stored their libraries with choice and expensive 
volumes in that language ; and they were reproached by their 
own compatriots with having become " ipsis Hibernis Hiber- 
niores", — " more Irish than the Irish themselves". So great 
indeed was the value in those days set on literary and historical 
documents by chiefs and princes, that it has more than once 
happened that a much-prized MS. was the stipulated ransom of 
a captive noble, and became the object of a tedious warfare ; 



OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. / 

and tliis state of tilings continued to exist for several centuries, lect. i . 
even after the whole framework of Irish society was shaken to ^., ^ 

11 • • • r 1 -r\ 1 TVT Literature 

pieces by the successive invasions or the Danes, the JNorsemen, encouraged 
and the Anglo-Normans, followed by the Elizabethan, Crom- cMct^lins,''" 
wellian, and WilHamite wars and confiscations, and accompanied "f^'^ti^e^r na' 
by the e"\'er-increasing dissensions of the native princes among f'onai miie- 
themselves, disunited as they were ever after the fall of the 
supreme monarchy at the close of the twelfth century. 

With the dispersion of the native chiefs, not a few of the great 
books that had escaped the wreck of time were altogether lost 
to us ; many followed the exiled fortunes of their owners ; and 
not a few were placed in inaccessible security at home. Indeed, 
it may be said that after the termination of the great wars of 
the seventeenth centmy, so few and inaccessible were the exam- 
ples of the old Gaedhlic literature, that it was almost impos- 
sible to acquire a perfect knowledge of the language in its 
purity. 

With such various causes, active and long-continued, in ope- 
ration to effect its destruction, there is reason for wonder that 
we should still be in possession of any fragments of the ancient 
literature of oiu- country, however extensive it may once have 
been. And that it was extensive, and comprehended a wide 
range of subjects — justifying the expressions of the old writers 
who spoke of " the hosts of the books of Erinn" — may be judged 
from those wliich have survived the destructive ravages of in- 
vasion, the accidents of time, and the other causes just enume- 
rated. When we come to inqmre concerning the fragments 
which exist in England and elsewhere, they will be found to be 
still of very large extent; and if we judge the value and pro- 
portions of the original literatiu'e of our Gaedhlic ancestors, as 
we may fairly do, l^y what remains of it, we may be justly ex- 
cused the indulgence of no small feeling of national j)ride. 

Amongst the collections of Irish MSS. now accessible, many 
of the most remarkable can be sho^vn to possess a high degree 
of antiquity ; and not only do they in many instances exhibit 
internal evidence of having been compiled from still more ancient 
dociunents, but this is distinctly so stated in reference to several 
of the most valuable tracts contained in them. 

We also find numerous references to books, of which we now 
unfortimately possess no copies ; and these invaluable records, it 
is to be feared, are now irrecoverably lost. Of the works the 
originals of which have not come down to us, but with whose 
contents we are made more or less familiar by references, cita- 
tions, or transcripts in still existing MSS., I shall now proceed 
to give you a brief general outline ; reserving for another lecture 



LECT. I. 



8 OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 

tlie more detailed discussion of tlie subjects wliicli they treat of, 
tlieir historic value, and the place whicli tliey are entitled to 
occupy in tlie reconstruction of our ancient literature. 

Of the I. The first ancient book that I shall mention is one to which 

I have found but one or two references, and which I must in- 
troduce by a rather circuitous train of evidence. 

In the time of Senchan (pron. " Shencan"), then Chief Poet 
of Erinn, and of Saint Ciaran (pronounced in English as if 
written "Kieran"), of Cluain mic JVois, or Clonmacnoise, — ^that 
is about A.D. 580, — Senchan is stated to have called a meeting 
of the poets and learned men of Erinn, to discover if any of 
them remembered the entire of the ancient Tale of the Tain bo 
Chuailgne, or the Cattle Spoil or Cattle plunder of Cuailgne,^^^ 
a romantic tale founded upon an occurrence which is referred 
to the beginning of the Christian Era. 

The assembled poets all answered that they remembered but 
fragments of the Tale ; whereupon Senchan commissioned two 
of his own pupils to travel into the country of Letha to learn 
the Tale of the Tain, loliich tlie Saoi, or Professor, liad taken to 
the East after the Cuilmenn [or the great book written on 
Skins] . 

The passage is as follows (see original in Appendix, No. IV.) : 
" The Files of Erinn were now called together by Senchan 
Torpeist, to know if they remembered the Tain ho Chuailgne 
in full ; and they said that they knew of it but fragments only. 
Senchan then spoke to his pupils to know wliich of them 
would go into the countries of Letha to learn the Tdiii, which 
the Sai had taken 'eastwards' after the Cuilmenn. Emine, 
the grandson of Ninine, and Muirgen, Senchan's own son, set 
out to go to the East". [Book of "Leinster (H. 2. 18. T.C.D.), 
fol. 183, a.] 

This, to be sure, is but a vague reference, but it is sufficient 
to show that in Senchan's time there was at least a tradition 
that some such book had existed, and had been carried into 
Letha, the name by which Italy in general, and particularly 
that part of it in which Rome is situated, was designated by 
ancient Irish writers. Now the carrying away of this book is 
a circumstance which may possibly have occurred during or 
shortly subsequent to St. Patrick's time. And so, finding this 
reference in a MS. of such authority as the Book of Leinster 
(a well-known and most valuable compilation of the middle 
of the twelfth century), I could not pass it over here. 

<7^ CuAiijne (Cuailgne), a district now called Cooley, in the modern county of 
Louth. 



OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 9 

I remember but one other reference to a Book known by the lect i . 
name of Cuihnenn: it occm's in the " Brehon Laws", and in an qj. j,^g 
ancient Irish Law Glossary, compiled by the learned Duhhal- saltaik of 
tach Mac Firhlsigh (Duald Mac Firbis), and preserved in the 
Library of T.C.D. (classed H. 5. 30.), in wdiich the Seven Orders 
(or degrees) of " Wisdom" are distinguished and explained, 
(Wisdom, I should tell you, here technically signifies history 
and antiquity, sacred and profane, as well as the whole range of 
what we should now call a collegiate education.) It is in these 
words : — 

" Druiracli^*^ is a man who has a perfect knowledge of wis- 
dom, from the greatest Book, which is called Cuihnenn, to the 
smallest Book, which is called ' Ten Words' \_I)eich m-Breithir, 
that is ' the Ten Commandments' ; a name given to the Penta- 
teuch], in which is well arranged the good testament which 
God made unto Moses". — [See Appendix, No. V.] 

The Cuihnenn here spoken of is placed in opposition to the 
Books of Moses, as if it were a repertory of history or other 
matter concerning events entirely apart from those contained 
in the sacred volume, 

II, The next ancient record which we shall consider is one 
about the authenticity of which much doubt and imcertainty 
have existed in modern times ; I allude to the Saltair of Tara, 
the composition of which is referred to the third century. 

The oldest reference to this book that I have met with is to 
be formd in a poem on the map or site of ancient Tara, written 
by a very distinguished scholar, Cuan O'Lochain, a native of 
Westmeath, who died in the year 1024, The oldest copy of 
O'Lochain's verses that I have seen is preserved in the ancient 
and very curious topographical tract so well known as the 
Dlnnsenchas (pron: nearly "Dinnshanacus"), of which several 
ancient IMS. editions have been made from time to time. The 
one from which I am about to quote is to be found in the Book 
of Ballymote, a magnificent vohune compiled in the year 1391, 
and now deposited among the rich treasures of the Royal 

(8' ■0|\tiinicVi, i.e., he who has (or knows) the top ridge (or highest range) 
of learning; a word compounded of "oivuini, the ridge of a iiill, or the back 
of a person, or the ridge of tlie roof of a liouse ; and cti, a form of cieic, 
the column, or tree, which in ancient times supported the house ; and the man 
who was a -oiAiiinicti was supposed to have cUmbed up tlie pillar or tree of 
learning to its very ridge or top, and was thus qualified to be a Vepl-eijinn — 
a Professor, or man qualified to teach or superintend the teaching of the whole 
course of a college education, [The entire passage, in which the "Seven 
Orders of Wisdom" are separately explained, will be found, with translation, 
in the Appenuix, No. V.] 



10 OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 

LECT. I. Irish Academy. Tlie following extract (the original of wliich 
~ T~ will be found in the Appendix, No. VI.) from the opening of 
Poem on O'Lochain's most valuable jjoem contains somewhat more than 
^^™' an allusion to the Saltair of Tara: — 

Temair,'^®-' choicest of hills, 

For [possession of] which Erinn is now devastated, 

The noble city of Cormac Son of Art, 

Who was the son of great Conn of the hundred battles : 

Cormac, the prudent and good, 

Was a sage, Sijlle (or poet), a prince: 

Was a righteous judge of the Fene-men,^'°^ 

Was a good friend and companion. 

Cormac gained fifty battles : 

He compiled the Saltair of Temur. 

In that Saltair is contained 

The best smnmary of history ; 

It is that Saltair which assigns 

Seven chief kings to Erinn of harbours ; 

They consisted of the five kings of the provinces, — 

The monarch of Erinn and his Deputy. 

In it are (written) on either side, 

What each provincial king is entitled to. 

What the king of Temur in the east is entitled to. 

From the king of each great musical province. 

The synchronisms and chronology of all. 

The kings, with each other [one with another] all ; 

The boundaries of each brave province,^"-' 

From a cantred up to a great chieftaincy. 

This important poem, which consists altogether of thirty -two 
quatrains, has been given (from the MS. H. 3. 3 in the Library 

(•') Ceiiu\i]\ i.e. CeAiimi^, is the nominative : CeAiiiyvAc, the genitive, which is 
in'onounced very nearly Tara, as the place is now called in English. This 
celebrated hill is situated in the present county of INIeath, but a few miles to 
the west of Dublin. The remains of the ancient i>alace of the Kings of Erinn 
are still visible upon it. (See the admirable Memoir upon these remains pub- 
lished by Dr. Petrie in the eighteenth vol. of the Transactions of the Royal 
Irish Academy, in which a detailed map of the ruins is given.) It is more than 
probable that this poem was written in the year 1001, when Brian Boroimhe 
showed the first symptoms of a design to dethrone King Maelseachlaimi or 
Malachy. 

(10) "Eene-men". — These were the fiirmers; and what is meant therefore is 
that Cormac was a rigliteous Judge of the " Agraria Lex" of the Gaels. 

<iOThis line has been translated " The boundaries of each pro^dnce /row 
the hiW" ; but after much consideration I have clearly come to the conclusion 
that the word in the original is intended for iro-ci\tu\i j, or po-ciuu\ix), brave, 
valiant, hardy, and not po cjmkmc, _/ro»i tlie hill. 



OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 11 

of Trinity College), with an English translation, by oiu" dis- lect. i. 
tinofiTished conntr^anan. Doctor Petrie, in his vakiable Memoir _„ ^, ,.,, 
of reniair, or lara, piibhshed m the eighteenth volume oi the of "Saitair" 
Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, p. 143. 

The Book of Ballymote, in the Library of the Royal Irish 
Academy [at fol. 145, a. a.], and the Yellow Book of Lecan, in 
that of Trinity College, DnbHn [classed H. 2. 16.] at col. 889, 
both contain a curious article on the excellence of Cormac 
Mac Art as a king, a judge, and a warrior, from which I may 
extract here the following passage as also referring to the Saitair 
of Tara [see Appendix, No. VII.] : — 

" A noble work was performed by Cormac at that time, 
namely, the compilation of Cormac's Saitair, which was com- 
posed by him and the Seanchaidhe, [or Historians] of Erinn, 
including Fintan, Son of Bochra, and Fithil, the poet and 
judge [both distinguished for ancient lore]. And their syn- 
chronisms andi genealogies, the succession of their kings and. 
monarchs, their battles, their contests, and their antiquities, 
from the world's beginning down to that time, were written ; 
and this is the Saitair of Temair, which is the origin and 
fountain of the Historians of Erinn from that period down to 
this time. This is taken from the Book of the Uachong- 
bhail". 

Dr. Petrie, in his remarks on the Saitair or Psalter of Tara 
(Transact. R. I. A., vol. xviii., p. 45), observes that " the very 
title given to this work is sufficient to excite well-founded sus- 
picion of its antiquity". His meaning evidently is, that the 
title of Saitair appears clearly to imply a knowledge of the 
Holy Scriptures, and can' scarcely have been selected as the 
title of his work by a heathen author. 

We do not, however, anywhere read that the name of 
Psalter or Saitair, was given to this work by its compiler. We 
know that in later times the celebrated King-Bishop Cormac 
Mac Cullinan gave the same name of Saitair to the great simi- 
lar collection made by him about the close of the ninth or be- 
ginning of the tenth century. Did he call his compilation, or 
was it called by others, after the Saitair of Tara, compiled by 
the older Cormac in the third century ? Or even if we suppose 
the name of Saitair or Psalter to have originated with the 
Christian Cormac, the same name may have been afterwards 
given to the older work, from the similar nature of its con- 
tents, and from its ha^dng been compiled by another Cormac. 
If the one was worthy of being named Psalter of Cashel, as 
having been compiled at the command of a King of Cashel, 
the other was equally entitled to the name of Psalter of Taraj 



I)r. Pctrie 



12 OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 

having been compiled by a King of Tara. There was time 
enough from the beginning of the tenth century to the time 
oil the we first find it mentioned under the name of Saltair and PsaUer 

of Tara, to give full currency to the title ; and this supposition 
may, in part, perhaps, furnish an answer to another of Dr. 
Petrie's difficulties, viz., that this book has not been quoted, 
nor any extract from it given, in any of our antient Irish au- 
thorities, although the Saltair of Casliel is frequently cited by 
them. Perhaps they have quoted it, although under other 
names, not yet ascertained by us to be identical with it, the 
name of Saltair of Tara not having been in their time univer- 
sally adopted as apphcable to it. But a better answer to the 
difficulty is probably to be found in the fact, that the Saltair of 
Tara had perished before the twelfth or thirteenth century, and 
consequently was inaccessible to the compilers of the Books of 
Ballymote, Lecan, Hy Many, etc. For in the passage just 
quoted from the Book of Ballymote, its contents are described 
on the authority of the Book of the Uachonghhail; whilst Cuan 
O'Lochain, writmg three centuries before, speaks of it (and 
under the name of Saltair of Tara) as being in his time extant. 
It follows, then, beyond all reasonable doubt, that whether 
or not the name of Saltair or Psalter was originally given to 
this compilation, such a compilation existed, and that m the 
beginning of the eleventh centiuy it was in existence, under 
the name of Saltair of Tara, and believed to have been collected 
luider the patronage of Cormac Mac Art, who died in the 
year 2QQ. 

Before I leave the subject of the " Saltair", I cannot but 
observe, that the Rev. Dr. Keating also, a most learned Gaedhhc 
scholar, gives an explanation of tire word quite in consonance 
with the preceding remarks. In the Preface to his History of 
Ireland he tells us that History in ancient times was all written 
in verse, for its better security, and for the greater facility of 
committing it to memory ; and he goes on to refer to the Saltair 
of Tara in the following words [see original in Appendix, No. 
VIII.]:— 

" And it is because of its having been written in poetic 
metre, that the chief book which was in the custody of the 
Ollamli of the King of Erinn, was called the ' Saltair of Teniair' ; 
and the Chronicle of holy Cormac Mac Cullinan, ' Saltair of 
Cashel'; and the Chronicle of Aengus Ceile De [or the 
" Culdee"], ' Saltair-na- Rami [that is, " Saltair of the Poems, 
or Verses"] ; because a Salm [Psalm] and a Poem are the 
same, and therefore a Salterium and a Duanaire [book of 
poems] are the same". 



OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 13 

III. Of tlie next in order of the lost books, tlie Book of lect. i. 
THE Vachoxgbhail (pron: " ooa cong-wall"), almost nothing is qj jj^g 
known beyond the bare name. Tlie passage jnst quoted from ^°°^h"L.; 
the Book of Ballvmote and from the Yellow Book of Lecan, bhail. 
was copied into those JNISS. from the lost book itself, accord- 
ing to the entry ; but what was the age of the book at that 

time it is now impossible to determine. The O'Clerys, how- 
ever, mention that they had access to it when compiling their 
Book of the Invasions of Erinn, that is in the year 1630 or 
1631. And Keating, in the Second Book of his History, 
mentions the Book of the Uachonghhail among the very ancient 
books or transcripts of very ancient books which were still 
extant in his own time, and of which he had made use. It was 
probably of the age of the Book of Leinster, and kept at Kil- 
dare in 1626. 

IV. The next book of considerable antiquity that we find c,^ ^^qma 
reference to is that called the Cin Droma S^'echta, or Cin s.nechta. 
of Drom Snechta. The word Cm (pron: in Engl. "Kin") 

is explained in our ancient Glossaries as signifying a stave 
of five sheets of vellum: and the name of this book would 
signify, thei'efore, the Vellum-stave Book of Drom Snechta. 
The words Drom Snechta signify the snow-capped hill, or 
mountain ridge, and it is beheved to have been the name 
of a mountain situated in the present county of Monaghan. 

The Cin of Drom Snechta is quoted in the Book of Bally- 
mote [fol. 12 a.] in support of the ancient legend of the ante- 
diluvian occupation of Erinn by the Lady JBanhha, who is 
however in other Books called Cesair (pron: "Kesar"). There 
are also two references to it in the Book of Lecan. The first 
of these [fol. 271 b.] is in the same words preserved in the 
Book of Ballymote : " From the Cin of Drom Snechta is [taken] 
this little [bit] as far as Cesair". — [See Appendix, No. IX.] 
The second is [fol. 77 b., col. 2] where the writer says in sum- 
ming up the genealogies of some of the families of Connacht, 
that he compiled them from the Chronicles of the Gaedhil : — 

" We have collected now this genealogy of the Ui-Diarmada 
out of the Chronicles of the Gaedhil, and out of Cormac's Saltair 
at Cashel, and out of the Book of Diuidahatligldas [Down- 
patrick] , and out of the Books of Flann Mainistrech [Flann of 
Monasterboice] , and out of the Cin of Drom Snechta, and out 
of the annals and historical books [of Erinn], until we have 
brought it all together here". — [See Appendix, No. X.] 

The same valuable book quotes the Cin Droma Snechta 
again by direct transcript [at folio 123 a.], where it gives, first, 



14 OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 

LECT. I. the genealogies of the chieftains of the ancient Rudiician race 
of Ulster, in the ordinary way in which they are found in 
writer' of the othcr books of the same and of a previous period ; and it then 
<S'wec^ta.'"" gives a different version, saying: — "The Cin of Drom Snechta 
says that it is (as follows) it ought to he". — [See Appendix, 
No. XL] This has reference to the pedigrees of the Irian race 
of Ulster, and immediately to that of the celebrated Knight of 
the Craehh Ruadli, or Royal Branch, Conall Cearnach.^''^-" 

A short account of the Destruction of Bruigliean Da Derga 
(The Court of Da Derga), and the death of tlie monarch Co- 
naire Mor, is quoted from the Cin of Drom Snechta in LeahJiar 
na h- Uidhre, fol. 67 a. ; and again, the Account of the birth of 
Cuchulainn, at fol. 80 b. from the same book. 

Doctor Keating, in his History, when introducing the Mile- 
sian colonists, gives their descent from Magog, the son of 
Japhet, on the authority of the Cin of Drom Snechta, which, 
he states, was compiled before Saint Patrick's mission to Erinn. 
His words are : " We will set doAvn here the branching off of 
the race of Magog, according to the Book of Invasions (of Ire- 
land), which was called the Cin of Drom Snechta, and it was 
before the coming of (St.) Patrick to Ireland the author of 
that book existed". — [See Appendix, No. XII.] What autho- 
rity Dr. Keating had for this statement we know not, as imfor- 
tunately he has not given it; and the only reference to the 
author's name that I have myself ever found is in a partially 
effaced memorandum in the Book of Leinster. This memo- 
randum is written in the lower margin of a page [fol. 230 b.], 
which contains ffenealomes of several of the chienain lines of 
Ireland and Scotland. 

There is apparently but one word — the name of the writer — 
illesfible at the be^innino^ of this memorandum : and with this 
word provisionally restored, the note would read thus : — 

" [Ernin, son of] Duach [that is], son of the King of Con- 
nacht, an Ollamh, and a prophet, and a professor in history, and 
a professor in wisdom, it was he that collected the Genea- 
logies and Histories of the men of Erinn in one book, that is, 
the Cin Droma Snechta^ — [See Appendix, No. XHI.] 

The Duach here referred to (who was probably still alive at 
the time of Saint Patrick's coming) was the son of Brian, son 
of the Monarch Eochaidh Muighnhedlioin, who died a.d. 365. 
(This Eochaidh was also the father of Niall of the Nine Ho*^- 

(12) The chiefs whose pedigrees are here collected are those whose names ap- 
pear in the ancient story of Deirilre and the tragical death of the sons of Uis- 
neach, of which the Gaelic Society of Dublin published an inaccurate version 
in the year 1808 



OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 15 

tages, who was tlie father of Laeghaire, the Monarch of Erinn lect. r. 
at the time when Saint Patrick came on his mission in the year ^j^ ^ 
432). Duach had two sons — Eoghan Srem, who succeeded ted in the 

1 - T.r- x" /^ -I , 1 TTv / BookofLein- 

him as King oi Connacnt and Ernin. ster. 

A descendant in the fourth generation of this Duach was 
King of Connacht, and a Christian, namely, Duach Tengumha, 
or Duach the sweet-tongued, who died, according to the An- 
nals of the Four Masters, a.d. 499, leaving an only son, Senach, 
who was the ancestor of the O'Flahertys of West Connacht. 

Now, as there are but two of the name of Duach to be found 
in the whole Ime of the Kings of Connacht (of whom the first 
was a pagan and the second a Christian), the compiler of the 
Cin of Drom Snechta must have been the son of one or other ; 
and as the tradition concerning the book is, that it was written 
before Patrick's time, it is pretty clear, if we assume this tradi- 
tion to be correct, that the son of Duach Galacli was the com- 
piler. Finally, as his elder son, Eoghan Srem, succeeded him as 
king, it appears to me very probable that his younger son, Ernin, 
was the author of the Cin of Drom Snechta. This woidd fairly 
enough bear out the statement which Keating has put forward.^'*^ 

Dr. Keating makes another reference to the Cin, where, in 
speaking of the schools said to have been instituted by Fenius 
Farsaidh, he says: — 

" Fenius sets up schools to teach the several languages, on the 
Plain of Seanar, in the city which the Cin Droma Sneachta calls 
Eothona, as the poet says", etc. — [See Appendix, No. XV.] 

It has been already observed that the ancient book called the 
Leabhar na li-Uidhre (which is in some part preserved in a 
M.S. of circa a.d. 1100, bearing the same name, in the Library 
of the Royal Irish Academy) contains a reference to the Cin 
of Drom Snechta. And to this very old authority may be added 
that of the Book of Leinster, in which (at fol. 149 b.) occurs 
the following curious passage : — 

" From the Cin of Drom Snechta, this below. Historians 
say that there were exiles of Hebrew women in Erinn at the 

(13) While these sheets were passing through the press (August, 1858), I took 
advantage of an unusually bright day to make another careful examination of 
the time-blackened leaf of the Book of Leinster, in which this curious entry 
appears. I have tliis time had the satisfaction of being able to make out perfectly 
all the words, except the very first — the name of the son of Duach ; and this 
name itself, though not so clear as the remainder of the sentence, is, in my 
opinion, equally unmistakeable. To my eyes it is certainly epnin. It will be 
observed, on reference to the original (m the Appendix), that tliere is no word 
between Ernin and Duach. The word iuac, " son", which should have been 
written here, seems to liave been accidentally omitted by the scribe. Tlie 
word however occurs only once, that is, after '-Duach". The sentence reads 
literally: "Ernin [of] Duach, [that is] son of the King of Connacht",— Duach 



JIOR, 



16 OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT EBIXN. 

_ coming of tlie sons of Milesliis, wlio had been driven by a sea 
^^ ^j^g tempest into the ocean by tlie Tirren Sea. Tliey were in Eiinn 
senchas before the sons of Milesius. They said, however, to the sons 
of iVlilesius [who it would appear j)ressed marriage on them] 
that they preferred their own country, and that they Avould not 
abandon it without receiving dowry for alliance with tliem. It 
is from this circumstance that it is the men that purchase wives 
in Erinn for ever ; whilst it is the husbands that are purchased 
by the wives throughout the world besides". — [See Appendix, 
No. XVI.] 

This short extract is found also in a much longer and very 
curious article in the Book of Lecain [fol. 181 b.], and there 
can be little doubt that both jNISS. followed the original in the 
Cin of Drom Snechta. 

V. The next ancient written work that we find ascribed to 
this early period is the Senchas Mor (pron : " Shanchus mor"), 
or Great Law-Compilation ; which was made, according to the 
Annals of Ulster, in the year 439, imder the direction of nine 
eminent persons, consisting of three kings, three bishops, and 
tlu'ee Files, [see ante, note (2)]. The three chief personages 
engaged in this great work were Laeghaire, the Monarch of 
Erinn ; Patrick, the Apostle of Erinn ; and Ros, the Chief File 
of Erinn. 

A large portion, if not the whole, of this work has come down 
to us by successive transcriptions, dating from the close of the 
thirteenth, or beginning of the fourteenth, to the latter part of 
the sixteenth centmy. 

In the account of this work, generally prefixed to it, and 
Avhich is in itself of great antiquity, we are told that it was 
Ros, the poet, that placed before Saint Patrick tlie arranged 
body of the previously existing Laws of Erinn ; that the Saint 
expimged from them all that was specially antichristian or 
otherwise objectionable, and proposed such alterations as would 
make them harmonize with the new system of religion and morals 
which he had brought into the country ; that these alterations 
were approved of, adopted, and embodied in the ancient 
code ; and that code thus amended was established as the Na- 
tional Law throughout the land. 

The great antiquity of this compilation is admitted by Dr. 
Petrie, in his Memoir on Tara, already alluded to ; but that the 
professed authors of it could possibly have been brought toge- 

having been the King of Connaclit. In tlie Appendix (No. XIV.) will be 
found the pedigree of Duach Galnch, who is by mistake confounded with his 
descendant Duach Tengumha, a succeeihng King of Connaeht, in the note (p) 
at J). 161 of Dr. O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters, under the year 499. 



OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT EKINN. 17 

tlier at the time of its reputed compilation, he denies, as did lect. i. 
Dr. Lanigan before him. Every year's investigation of onr ^^ ^ 
ancient records, however, shows more and more their veritable Library of 
cliaraeter; and I trust that the forthcoming Report of the (vi.Ten'-''* 
Brehon Law Commission, of which Dr. Petrie is a member, ^^^'^'^' 
will remove the excusable scepticism into which the caution 
of the more conscientious school of critics who succeeded the 
reckless theorists of Vallancey's time, has driven them. I believe 
it will show that the recorded account of this great revision of 
the Body of the Laws of Erinn is as fully entitled to confidence 
as any other well-authenticated fact of ancient history. 

But this subject (one obviously of great importance) will be 
thoroughly discussed in the forthcoming pubhcation by the 
Brehon Law Commission, of this great monument of our ancient 
civilization ; so that you will understand why the subject cannot 
with propriety be entered into further here. So far as the ques- 
tion of the antiquity of the contents of the Senehas Jlor is 
concerned, I may only observe that Cormac Mac CuUinan often 
quotes passages from this work in his Glossary, which is known 
to have been written not later than about the close of the 
ninth century. 

There is a curious account of a private collection of books, " of 
all the sciences", as it is expressed, given in a note to the Felire, 
or metrical Festology of Aengus CeU De^ or the " Culdee"; it 
is to this effect : Saint Colum Cille having paid a visit to Saint 
Longarad of Ossory, requested permission to examine his 
books, but Longarad having refused, Colum then prayed that 
his friend should not profit much by his refusal, whereupon the 
books became illegible immediately after his death ; and these 
books were in existence in that state in the time of the origi- 
nal author, whoever he was, of the note in the FelirS. 

The passage (for the original of which see Appendix. No, 
XVII.) is as follows : it is a note to the stanza of the great poem, 
for September 3 ; which is as follows : — 

" COLMAN OF DrOM-FERTA, 

Longarad, a shining sun; 
Mac Nisse with his thousands, 
From great Condere". 

[Note.] — "Longarad the white-legged, of Magh Tuathat, in 
the north of Ossory (Osraifjhe) ; i.e,m Uihh Foirchellain ; i.e 
in Magh Garad, in JDisert Garad particularly, and in Cill 
Gahhra in Sliabh Mairge, in Lis Longarad. The ' white- 

9 



18 01- THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 

LECT I. legged', i.e., from great wliite hair wlilcli was on his legs ; or his 
Of the Book ^^S^ Were transparently fair. He was a Suidh (Doctor or Pro- 
of s.Mochta. fessor) in classics, and in history, and in judgment (law), and 
in philosophy [_JilidecJit], [see ante, note (2)]. It was to him 
Colmn Cille went on a visit; and he concealed his books 
from him ; and Colum Cille left a ' word' [of imprecation] 
on his books, i.e., 'May it not be of avail after thee', said 
he, ' that for which thou hast shown inhospitality'. And this 
is what has been fulfilled, for the books exist still, and no man 
can read them. Now, when Longarad was dead, what the 
learned tell us is, that all the book-satchels of Erinn dropped 
[from their racks] on that night. Or they were the satchels 
which contained the books of sciences [or, professions] which 
were in the chamber in wliich Colum Cille was, that fell. And 
Colum Cille and all that were in that house wondered, and 
they were all astounded at the convulsions of the books, 
upon which Colum Cille said : ' Longai'ad ', said he, ' in 
Ossory, i.e., a Sai^^*^ (Doctor) in every science [it is he] that has 
died now'. ' It will be long until that is verified', said Baithin. 
' May your successor [for ever] be suspected, on account of 
this', said Colum Cille ; et dixit Colum Cille : — 

Lon is dead [Lon is dead] ;^'^^ 

To cm Garad it is a great misfortune ; 

To Erinn with its countless tribes ; 

It is a destruction of learning and of schools. 

Lon has died, [Lon has died] ; 

In cm Garad great the misfortune ; 

It is a destruction of learning and of schools, 

To the Island of Erinn beyond her boundaries". 

However fabulous this legend may appear, it will SLifiice, 
at all events, to show in what estimation books were held 
in the time of the schoHast of the works of Aengus, and also 
the prevalent belief in his time m the existence of an Irish 
literature at a period so long antecedent to his own. The pro- 
bability is that the books were so old at the time of this writer 
as to be illegible, and hence the legend to account for their 
condition. 

(14) The word occurs in the original so, — not spelled the same way in which it 
appears just before, probably owing to the carelessness of the scribe. 

o-)^In ancient poetry, when the second half line was a repetition of the first, 
it was very seldom written, though it was always well understood that it ought 
to be repeated. And in fact the metre would not be complete without this 
repetition. 



OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 19 

VI. There are some otlier ancient books quoted in the Annals lect. i. 
ofUlster, of which one is called the Book of Saint Mochta, oftj^ggoo^, 
who was a disciple of Saint Patrick. This book is quoted at a.d. of cuana, 
527, but it is uncertain whether it was a book of general An- d'albuhk. 
nals, or a Sacred Biography. 

We also find mention of the Book of Cuana and the Book 
of Dubli da leithe. 

VII. The Book of Cuana, or Guana's Book of Annals, is 
quoted for the first time in the Annals of Ulster, at the year 
468, and repeatedly afterwards down to 610. The death of 
a person named Cuana, a scribe of Treoit (now Trevit, in 
Meatli), is recorded in the same Annals (of Ulster), at the year 
738, after which year no quotation from Cuana's Book occurs in 
these Annals ; whence it may be inferred that this Cuana was the 
compiler of the work known as the Book of Cuana, or Cuanach. 

VIII. The same Annals of Ulster quote, as we have already 
said, the Book of Dubiwaleithe, at the years 962 and 1021, 
but not after. There were two persons of this name : one of 
them an Abbot, and the other a Bishop (of Armagh) ; the 
former from the year ^65 to the year 998, and the latter from 
1049 to 1064 ; so that the latter must be presumed to have been 
the compiler of the Book of Dubhdaleithe. 

IX. Next after these, because of the certainty of Its author's TiiR^of^^'' 
time, I would class the Saltair of Cashel, compiled by the Cashel. 
learned and venerable Cormac MacCullinan, King of Munster 

and Archbishop of Cashel, who was killed in the year 903. 

At what time this book was lost we have no precise know- 
ledge ; but that it existed, though in a dilapidated state, in the 
year 1454, is evident from the fact, that there is in the Bodleian 
Library in Oxford (Laud, 610), a copy of such portions of it as 
could be deciphered at that time, made by Sedan^ or Shane, 
O'Clery for Mac Richard Butler. From the contents of this copy, 
and from the frequent references to the original, for history and 
genealogies found in the Books of Ballymote, Lecan, and others, 
it must have been a historical and genealogical compilation of 
large size and great diversity. 

If, as there is every reason to believe, the ancient compila- 
tion, so well known as Cormac's Glossary, was compiled from the 
interlined gloss to the Saltair, we may well feel that its loss is 
the greatest we have suffered, so numerous are the references 
and citations of history, law, romance, druidism, mythology, 
and other subjects in which this Glossary abounds. It is be- 

2b 



20 OF THE LOST BOOKS OF AXCIENT ERINN. 

LECT. I. sides invaluable in the study of Gacdlilic comparative philo- 
logy, as the author traces a great many of the words either by 
lost books, derivation from, or comparison with, the Hebrew, the Greek, 
the Latin, the British, and, as he terms it, the Northmantic 
language ; and it contains at least one Pictish word \_Cartait], — 
almost the only word of the Pictish language that we possess. 
There is a small fragment of this Glossary remaining in the an- 
cient Book of Leinster (wliich is as old as the year 1150), and a 
perfect copy made about the year 1400 is preserved in the Royal 
Irish Academy, besides two fragments of it in O'Clery's copy 
of the Saltair already mentioned, the volume in the Bodleian 
Library, at Oxford (Laud, 610). 

Besides the several books enumerated above, and the pro- 
bable dates of which we have attempted to fix, we find in 
several existing MSS. reference to many other lost books, 
whose exact ages and the relative order of time in which they 
were composed are quite uncertain. But the references to 
them are so numerous, and occur in MSS. of such different 
dates, that we may readily believe them to have embraced a 
tolerably extensive period in our history ; and it is highly pro- 
bable that they connected the most ancient periods with those 
which we find so well illustrated in the oldest manuscript re- 
cords which have come down to us. 

I do not profess to give here a complete enumeration of all 
the books mentioned in our records, and of which we have now 
no further knowledge, but the following list will be found to 
contain the names of those which are most frequently referred to. 

In the first place must be enumerated again the Cuihnenn; 
the Saltair of Tara; The Cin Droma Snechta; the Book of 
St. Mochta; the Book of Cuana; the Book of Duhlidaleithe; 
and the Saltair of Cashel. Besides these we find mention of 
the Leahhar buidhe Slaine, or Yellow Book of Slane ; the ori- 
ginal Leahhai^ na h-Uidhre; the Books o£ Eochaidh O'Flanna- 
gain; a certain book known as the Book eaten by the poor 
people in the desert; the Book of Inis an Duin; the Short 
Book of Saint Buithe's Monastery (or Monasterboice) ; the 
Books of Flann, of the same Monastery ; the Book of Flann 
of Dungeimhin (Dungiven, Co. Derry) ; the Book of Dun da 
Letli Ghlas (or Downpatrick) ; the Book of Doire (or Derry) ; 
the Book of Sahhall Phatraic (or Saull, Co. Down) ; the Book 
of the Uaclionghliail (Navan, probably) ; the Leahhar duhh 
Malaga, or Black Book of Saint Molaga; the Leahhar huidhe 
Moling, or Yellow Book of Saint Moling ; the Leahhfir buidhe 
Mhio Murchadha, or Yellow Book of Mac Murrach; the 



OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 21 

Leahhar Arda Macha, or Book of Armagh (quoted by Keat- lect. i. 
ing) ; the Leahhar ruadh Mkic Aedhagain, or Red Book of j^^^^^^ 
Mac Aedhagan or Mac Aegaii; the Leabhar breac Mldc Aedh- referred to 
again, or Speckled Book of Mac Aegan ; the Leahhar fada ^ ^'^'^""s- 
L^eitlighlinne, or Long Book of Leithghhnn, or Leithhn ; the 
Books of O'Scoba of Cluain Mic Nois (or Clonmacnois) ; 
the Dull Droma Ceata, or Book of Drom Ceat; and the 
Leahhar Chluana Sost, or Book of Clonsost (in Leix, in the 
Queen's Coimty). 

Such, then, is a brief glance at what constituted probably 
but a few of the books and records of Erinn wlaich we are sure 
must have existed, with perhaps three or four exceptions, an- 
terior to the year 1100, and of which there are now no frag- 
ments known to me to remain, though some of them are 
referred to in works of comparatively modern date. 

The Rev. GeofFry Keating (Parish Priest of Tubrid, near 
Clonmel) compiled, about the year 1630, from several ancient 
MSS. then accessible, a History of Erinn, from its earliest 
ascribed colonization, down to the Anglo-Norman Invasion in 
the year 1170. This book is written in the modified Gaedhlic 
of Keatmcr's own time : and although he has used but little dis- 
crmiination in his selections from old records, and has almost en- 
tirely neglected any critical examination of his authorities, still 
his book is a valuable one, and not at all, in my opinion, the 
despicable prodviction that it is often ignorantly said to be. 

Some of the lost works that I have mentioned are spoken of, 
and even quoted by this writer. He refers to the following 
books as being extant in his own time ; namely, the Book of 
Armagh (but evidently not the book now known imder this 
name) ; the Saltair of Cashel ; the Book of the Uachongbhail; the 
Book of Cluain Eidhneach (in Leix) ; the Saltair na Rann (writ- 
ten by Aengus Ceile De); the Book of Glenn da Locha; the 
L^eahhar na h-Uidhre, which was written originally at Cluain 
Mic JVois, or Clonmacnoise, in Saint Ciaran's tune ; the Yellow 
Book of Saint MoHng ; the Black Book of Saint Molaga ; the Red 
Book of Mac Aegan ; and the Speckled Book of Mac Aegan, 

Of this list of Books, all of which were certainly extant in 
1630, we now know only the Saltair na Mann, which still exists 
in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. 

Prefixed to the Leabhar Gabhdla, or Book of Invasions, com- 
piled by the O'Clerys in 1630 or 1631, there is a hst of the 
ancient books from which that compilation was made. They 
were the foUowine;: — The Book o^ BaiU ui llhaoilchonaire 
or Bally Mulconroy, which had been copied by Maurice 



22 OF THE LOST BOOKS OF ANCIENT ERINN. 

LECT. I. O'Maelchonaire, or O'Mulconroy (who died in 1543), out of 

tlie Leabhar na li- Uidhre, which had been written at Cluain 

referred to Mic JVots (Clonmacnois), in the time of Saint Ciaran ; the Book 

lusters."'^'" of Baile ui Chleirigh, or Bally Clery, which was written in the 

time of Maelsechlainn Mar, or Malachy the Great, son of Donih- 

nall, monarch of Erinn (who began his reign a.d. 979) ; the 

Book of Muintir Duibhghenainn, or of the O'Duigenans of 

J> Seanchuach in Tir Oililla, or Tirerrill, in the county of Sligo, 

and which was called the Leahhar Glilinn da Locha, or Book 

of Glenndaloch ; and Leabhar' na h~ Uacliongbhala, or the Book 

of the Uachongbhail ; with many other histories, or historical 

books besides. 

Of this list of Books not one is known to me to be now extant. 
The ever to be remembered Michael O'Clery, and his fel- 
low-labourers (who together with him are familiarly known as 
the Four Masters), insert in their Annals a list of the ancient 
books from which that noble work was compiled. They were 
the following: — The Book of Chiain Mic Nois, or Clonmac- 
noise ; the Book of the Island of the Saints in Loch Ribh (or 
Loch Bee), in the Shannon; the Book of Secmadh MMc Magh- 
nusa, in Loch Eirne, or Loch Erne ; the Book of Muintir 
Mhaoilchonaire, or the O'Mulconroys ; the Book of Muintir 
Duibhghenan7i, or of the O'Duigenans, of Cill Ronain ; and the 
Historical Book of Leacain Mic Fhirbhisigh, or Lecan Mac 
Fn'bis. The Books of Cluain Mic Nois and of the Island of the 
Saints come down but to the year 1225. The Book of the 
O'Mulconroys came down to the year 1505. The Book of the 
O'Duigenans contained entries extending only from the year 
1)00 to the year 1563. The Annals of Seanadh Mic Magh- 
nusa (now called the Annals of Ulster) came down to the 
year 1632, The Foiir Masters had also a fragment of Cucoi- 
griche (a name sometimes Englished Peregrine), O'Clery 's Book, 
containing Annals from the year 1281 to the year 1537, The 
Book of Maoilin 6g Mac Bruaideadha, or Maoilin the younger 
Mac Brody, of Thomond, containing Annals from the year 
1588 to the year 1602, was also in their possession, as well as 
Lughaidh O'Clery's Book, containing Annals from the year 
1586 to 1603. This last book was probably that known at 
the present day as the Life of Aedh Muadh, or Hugh Hoe 
O'Donnell ; which was written by this same Lughaidh O'Clery, 
and from which the Four Masters have evidently taken all the 
details given in their Annals relating to that brave and vmfor- 
tunate Prince.^'^^ 

(16) A MS. copy of this work, in the handwriting of Cucogry O'Clery, the 
son of the origmal compiler, has been lately [1858] purchased by the Rev. Dr. 



OF THE EXISTING COLLECTIONS OF MSS. 23 

Of this list of Books (witli the exception of the last men- lect. i 
tioned) not one is known to me to be now in existence except- ^^^^g .^ ^.^^^ 
ing the Annals of Ulster, the copy of Lugaidh O'Clery's Book, LiWary of 
made by his son Cucogry, and the book which is now known Duwin 
as the Book of Lecain, m the Royal Irish Academy, but which 
at present contains nothing that could be properly called Annals, 
though there are in it some pages of occurrences with no dates 
attached. 

The language in which such a number of books was written 
must have been highly cultivated, and found fully adapted to 
the pm-poses of the historian, the poet, the lawyer, the physi- 
cian, and the ecclesiastic, and extensively so used; else it may be 
fairly assumed that Aengus Ceile De, Cormac Mac Cullinan, 
Eocliaidh O'Flannagan, Cuan O'Lochain, Flann of Saint Buithes 
Monastery, and all the other great Irish writers from the seventh 
to the twelfth century, who were so well acquainted with Latin, 
then the imiversal medium, would not have employed the Gaeclh- 
lic for their compositions. 

Notwithstanding, however, the irreparable loss of the before- 
named books, there still exists an immense quantity of Gaedhlic 
waiting of great purity, and of the highest value as regards 
the history of this country. And these MSS. comprise general 
and national history ; civil and ecclesiastical records ; and abun- 
dant materials of genealogy ; besides poetry, romance, law, and 
medicine ; and some fragments of tracts on mathematics and 
astronomy. 

The collection in Trinity College consists of over 140 
volumes, several of them on vellum, dating from the early part 
of the twelfth down to the middle of the last century. There 
are also in this fine collection beautiful copies of the Gospels, 
known as the Books of Kells, and Durrow, and Dimma's Book, 
attributable to the sixth and seventh centuries ; the Saltair of St. 
Ricemarch, bishop of St. David's, in the eleventh century, con- 
taining also an exquisite copy of the Roman Martyrology ; and 
a very ancient ante-Hieronymian version of the Gospels, the 
history of which is unknown, but which is evidently an Irish MS. 
of not later than the ninth century ; also the Evangelistarium of 
St. Moling, bishop of Ferns in the seventh centmy, with its an- 
cient box ; and the fragment of another copy of the Gospels, of 
the same period, evidently Irish. In the same hbrary will 
be found, too, the chief body of our more ancient laws and 

Todd, S.F.T.C.D., at the sale of the books of Mr. W. Monck Mason, in London, 
and is destined soon (if funds to secure it can be raised) to enrich still farther 
the splendid collection of the Royal Irish Academy. 



24 OF THE EXISTING COLLECTIONS OF MSS. 

LECT. I. ^nnals: all, witli tlie exception of two tracts, written on vel- 
lum ; and, in addition to these invaluable volumes, many liis- 

MSS. in the ,','-,„ ., p , . . .,, • "^ n ^ 

Library of toricai and lamily poems oi great antiquity, illustrative oi the 
I'i'fsh "^ '""^ battles, the personal achievements, and the social habits of the 
Academy. wamoi'S, chicfs, Biid otlicr distingviished personages of our early 
history. There is also a large number of ancient historical and 
romantic tales, in which all the incidents of war, of love, and of 
social life in general, are portrayed, often with considerable power 
of description and great brilliancy of language ; and there are 
besides several sacred tracts and poems, amongst the most 
remarkable of which is the Liber Hyinnorum, believed to be 
more than a thousand years old.^"-' The Trinity College col- 
lection is also rich in'Lives of Irish Saints, and in ancient forms 
of prayer ; and it contains, in addition to all these, many curious 
treatises on medicine, beautifully written on vellum. Lastly, 
amongst these ancient MSS. are preserved numerous Ossianic 
poems relating to the Fenian heroes, some of them of very 
great antiquity. 

The next great collection is that of the Hoj^al Irish Aca- 
demy, which, though formed at a later period than that of Tri- 
nity College, is far more extensive, and taken in connection 
with the unrivalled collection of antiquities secured to this 
coiuitry by the liberality of this body, forms a national monu- 
ment of which we may well be proud. It includes some noble 
old volumes written on vellum, abounding in history as well as 
poetry ; ancient laws, and genealogy ; science (for it embraces 
several curious medical treatises, as well as an ancient astrono- 
mical tract) ; grammar ; and romance. There is there also a 
great body of most important theological and ecclesiastical com- 
positions, of the highest antiquity, and in the purest style per- 
haps that the ancient Gaedhlic language ever attained. 

The most valuable of these are original Gaedhlic composi- 
tions, but there is also a large amount of translations from the 
Latin, Greek, and other languages. A great part of these 
translations is, indeed, of a religious character, but there are 
others from various Latin authors, of the greatest possible im- 
portance to the Gaedhhc student of the present day, as they 
enable liim by reference to the originals to determine the value 
of many now obsolete or obscm-e Gaedhlic words and phrases. 

Among these latter translations into Irish, we find an exten- 
sive range of subjects in ancient Mythology, Poetry, and His- 

(i7> This iiiTahiable MS. is in course of publicatioii (a portion haying been 
issued since the above lecture was deHvered), by the Irish Archa?ologi- 
cal and Celtic Society, undei- the able superintendence of the Rev. Dr. Todd. 



OF THE EXISTING COLLECTIONS OF MSS. 25 

tory, and the Classical Literature of tire Greeks and Romania lect. i 
as well as many copious illustrations of tlie most remarkable ^j^^ .^ 
events of tlie IMiddle Ages. So that any one well read in the ^""io"^ li 
comparatively few existing fragments of oiu' Gaedlilic Litera- England. 
ture, and whose education had been confined solely to this 
source, woidd find that there are but very few, indeed, of the 
great events in the history of the world, the knowledge of 
which is usually attained through the Classic Languages, or 
tliose of the middle ages, with which he was not acquainted. 
I may mention by way of illustration, the Irish versions 
of the Argonautic Expedition ; the Destruction of Troy ; the 
Life of Alexander the Great ; the Destruction of Jenisalem ; 
the Wars of Charlemagne, including the History of Roland 
the Brave ; the History of the Lombards ; the almost contem- 
porary translation into Gaedhlic of the Travels of Marco Polo, 
etc., etc 

It is quite evident that a Language which has embraced so 
wide a field of historic and other important subjects, must have 
undergone a considerable amount of development, and must 
liave T3een at once copious and flexible ; and it may be ob- 
served, in passing, that the very fact of so much of translation 
into Irish having taken place, shows that there must have been 
a considerable number of readers ; since men of learning would 
not have translated for themselves what they could so easily un- 
derstand in the original. 

Passing over some collections of MSS. in private hands 
at home, I may next notice that of the British INIuseum in 
London, which is very considerable, and contains much valuable 
matter ; that of the Bodleian Library at Oxford, which, though 
consisting of but about sixteen volumes, is enriched by some 
most precious books, among which is the copy already alluded to 
of the remains of the Saltair of Cashel, made m the year 1454 ; 
and some two or three works of an older date. Next comes 
the Stowe collection, now in the possession of Lord Ash- 
burnham, and which is tolerably well described in the Stowe 
Catalogue by the late Rev. Charles O'Conor. There are also 
in England some other collections in the hands of private indi- 
viduals, as that of Mr. Joseph Monck Mason"*^ in the neigh- 

(18) This collection has been lately sold (1S58) — since the preparation of thig 
lecture; and through the exertions of the Rev. Dr. Todd, F.T.C.D., two of the 
most valuable MSS. contained in it haA-e been secured for Ireland, and, ii 
funds can be procured, will probably be added to the collection of the Koyal 
Irish Academy; the ie>.\'b>.\i\ Ve^^P^^i^i<^i5e, or Book of Fermoy, on vellum, 
and the copy before mentioned of Luphaidh O'Clery's Life of Red Ilvigb 
O'Donnell in the handwriting of Cucogry O'Clery. 



26 OF THE EXISTING COLLECTIONS OF MSS. 

LECT. I. bourhood of London, and that of Sir Thomas Phillipps in Wor- 
cestershire. The Advocates' Library in Edinburgh contains a 
Continent, few important vohimes, some of which are shortly described in 
the Highland Society's Report on MacPherson's Poems of 
Oisin, published in 1794. 

And passing over to the Continent, in the National or Im- 
perial Library of Paris (which, however, has not yet been 
thoroughly examined), there will be found a few Gaedhlic 
volumes; and in Belgium (between which and Ireland such in- 
timate relations existed in past times), — and particularly in the 
Burgundian Library at Brussels, — there is a very important 
collection, consisting of a part of the treasures formerly in the 
possession of the Franciscan College of Lou vain, for which our 
justly celebrated Friar, Michael O'Clery, collected, by transcript 
and otherwise, all that he could bring together at home of 
matters relating to the ancient ecclesiastical history of his 
country. 
MSS. in the The Louvaiu collection, formed chiefly, if not wholly, by 
sfc'itlLre's, Fathers Hugh Ward, John Colgan, and Michael O'Clery, be- 
inRome. twccn the years 1G20 and 1640, appears to have been widely 
scattered at the French Revolution. For there are in the Col- 
lege of St. Isidore, in Rome, about twenty volumes of GaedhHc 
MSS., which we know at one time to have formed part of 
the Louvain collection. Among these manuscripts now at 
Rome are some of the most valuable materials for the study of 
our language and history — the chief of which is an ancient cojjy 
of the Felire Aengusa, the Martyrology, or Festology of Aengus 
Cede De, (pron: " KJli DJ"), incorrectly called Aengus the 
Culdee, who composed the original of this extraordinary work, 
partly at Tamhlacht^ now Tallaght, in the county of DubKn, 
and partly at Cliiain Eidhnech in the present Queen's County, 
in the year 798. The collection contains, besides, the Festology 
of Cathal M'Guire,^'^^ a work only known by name to the Irish 
scholars of the present day ; and it includes the autograph of the 
first volume of the Annals of the Four Masters. There is also 
a copy, or fragment, of the Liber Hymnorum already spoken of, 
and which is a work of great importance to the Ecclesiastical 
History of Ireland; and besides these the collection contains 
several important pieces relating to Irish History, of which no 
copies are known to exist elsewhere. It may be hoped, there- 
fore, that ovxr Holy Father the Pope — who feels such a deep 
interest in the success of this National Institution — will at no 
distant day be pleased to take steps to make these invaluable 

09) This is probably a copy of Aengus's Festology, with additional Notes by 
MacGuire, ayIio died a.d. 1499. 



OF THE EXISTING COLLECTIONS OF MSS 27 

works accessible to tlie Irish student, by placing them within the lkct. i 
walls of the Catholic University of Ireland, where only they can 
be made available to the illustration of the early History of the 
Catholic Faith in this country. 

Lastly should be noticed the Latin MSS. from which Zcuss mps. dcscri 
di-ew the materials for the Irish portion of his celebrated ^'^'^'^y^''^"ss. 
Grammatica Celtica (Lipsias, 1853). The language of the 
Irish glosses in these codices is probably older, in point of 
transcription, than any specimens of Irish now left in Ire- 
land, excepting the few passages and glosses contained in 
the Books of Armagh and Dimma, with the orthography and 
grammatical forms of which the Zeussian glosses correspond 
admirably. The following is a list of the Zeussian Codices 
Hibernici, which, as Zeuss himself observes, are all of the 
eighth or the ninth century, and were either brought from 
Ireland, or written by Irish monks in continental monasteries. 

I. A codex of Priscian, preserved in the hbrary [at St. Gall 
in Switzerland, and crowded Avith Irish glosses, interhnear 
or marcrinal, from the bewinninor down to page 222. A mar- 
ginal gloss at p. 194, shows that the scribe was connected 
with Inis Madoc, an islet in the lake of Templeport, coimty 
Leitrim. 

II. A codex of St. Paxil's Epistles, preserved in the library 
of the university of Wiirzburg, and containing a still greater 
nimiber of glosses than the St. Gall Priscian. 

III. A Latin commentary on the Psalms, formerly attributed 
to St. Jerome, but which Muratori, Peyi'on, and Zeuss concvu' 
in ascribing to St. Columbamis. This codex, which is now 
preserved in the Ambrosian Hbrary at Milan, was brought 
thither from Bobbio. It contains a vast amount of Irish 
glosses, and will probably, when properly investigated,*^"^ 
throw more hght on the ancient Irish language than any 
other MS. 

IV. A codex containing some of the venerable Bede's works, 
preserved at Carlsruhe, and formerly belonging to the Irish 
monastery of Reichenau. This MS. contains, besides many 
Irish glosses, two entries which may tend to fix its date : 
one is a notice of the death of Aed, king of Ireland, in the 
year 817; the other a notice of the death oi Muirchad mac 
Maileddin at Clonmacnois, in St. Ciaran's hnda or bed. 

V. A second codex of Priscian, also preserved at Caiisrulie, 

(20^ Zeuss (Praef., xxxi.) mentions that he was unable to devote the neces- 
sary time either to this MS. or to the fragment of an Irish codex preserved at 
Turin, wliich, I believe, is a copiously glossed portion of St. Mark's Gosiiel. 



28 OF THE EXISTING COLLECTIONS OF MS3. 

L ECT. I. and brought thither from Reichenan. It contains fewer Irish 
d cri glosses than the St. Gall Priscian. 
bedbyzeuss. VI. A miscellaneous codex, preserved at St. Gall (No. 
1395), and containing some curious charms against strangiuy, 
headache, etc., which have been printed by Zeuss. Goihnenn 
the smith, and Diancecht the leech, of the Taatlia De Danann, 
are mentioned in these incantations. 

VII. A codex preserved at Cambray, and containing, besides 
the canons of an Irish council held a.d. 684, a fragment of 
an Irish sermon intermixed with Latin sentences. This MS. 
was written between the years 763 and 790. A facsimile, 
but inaccurate, of this Irish fragment may be found in Appen- 
dix A (unpublished) to the Report of the Enghsh Record Com- 
mission.*^^^^ 

It is, I may observe in conclusion, a circumstance of great 
importance, that so much of our ancient tongue should have 
been preserved in the form of glosses on the words of a lan- 
guage so thoroughly knoA\n.i as Latin. Let us avail ourselves 
of our advantages in this respect by collecting and aiTanging 
the whole of these glosses, before time or accident shall have 
rendered it difficult or impossible to do so. 

I have thus endeavoured to place before you some evidences 
of an early cultivation of the language and literature of Ire- 
land. The subject would require much more extensive illus- 
tration and much more minute discussion than can be given to 
it in a public Lecture; and time did not allow more than a 
rapid enumeration of the more ancient works, and a brief 
glance at their contents, such as you have heard. Sufficient, 
however, has been said in opening to you the consideration of 
the subject, to show what an immense field lies before us, and 
what abundant materials still exist for the illustration of the 
History and Antiquities of our country, and, above all, of that 
most glorious period in our Annals, the early ages of Catholi- 
cism in Ireland. 

The materials are, I say, still abundant : we want but men 
able to use them as they deserve. 

(21) This Sermon is printed entire, together with corrections and a translation 
furnished by me some years ago (through the Kev. J. Miley, then President 
of tlie Irish College in Paris), in the Bibliothvque de I'Ecole des Charles, 3""= 
serie, tome S'"*^'- Janv.-Fevr., 1852, 3'"'' livraison, p 193. [Paris: Dumoulin, 
1852.] 



LECTURE II. 



[Delivered 15th JIarch, 1855.] 



Of the Cuilmenn. Of the Tain bo Chuailgne. Of Cormac Mac Airt. Of 
the Book of Acaill. 

In speaking of the earliest written documents of ancient Erinn, ofthe 
of which any account has come down to us, I mentioned that Cuilmenn. 
we had incidental notices of the existence, at a very remote 
period, of a Book called the Cuilmenn^ It is brought under 
consideration by references made to a very ancient tale, of 
which copies still exist. The first notices of the Cuilmenn have 
been already partly alluded to in the first lecture, but we shall 
now consider them at greater length ; and in doing so, we shall 
avail ourselves ofthe opportiuiity thus afforded, to illustrate, in 
passing, a period of our history, remote indeed, and but little 
known, yet filled with stirring incidents, and distinguished by 
the presence of very remarkable characters. 

According to the accovuits given in the Book of Leinster, to 
which I shall presently refer, Dalian ForgaiU, the chief poet 
and File of Erinn, [see ante, note (2)] (author of the celebrated 
Amhra or post mortem Panegyric on St. Colum Cille), having 
died about the year 598, Senclian Torpeist, then a File of dis- 
tinction, was called upon to pronounce the funeral elegy or 
oration on the deceased bard. The young File acquitted him- 
self of this so much to the satisfaction of his assembled brethren, 
that they immediately elected him Ard Ollamh in Filedecht, 
that is chief File of Erinn. 

Some time after this, Senchan called a meeting ofthe Files of of the i-eoo- 
Erinn, to ascertain whether any of them remembered the Avhole xfue of the 
of the celebrated tale of the Tain Bo Chuailgne, or " Cattle J!'/"' .f*^ . 
spod of Cuailgne" (a place now called Cooley, m the modern 
county of Louth). All the Files said that they remembered 
only fragments of it. On recei\dng this answer, Senchan ad- 
di-essed himself to his pupils, and asked if any of them would 
take his blessing and go into the country of Letlia to learn the 
Tain, which a certain Saoi or professor had taken to the east 
after the Cuilmenn (that is, the Book called Cuilmenn), had been • 

carried away. (Letha was the ancient name, in the Gaedhilg, 
for Italy, particularly that region of it in which the city of 
Rome is situated). — [See Appendix, No. Xyill.] 



30 OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS 

LECT. II. Emine, tlie grandson of Ninene, and Murgen, Senchan's 
own son, volunteered to go to the east for tliat purpose. 

The Tcfin Bo • • • • -i 

Cuaiign^re- Having Set out on tlieir journey, it happened that the first 

^guf^Mac^^^' place to which they came was the grave ol' the renowned chief 

Edigh. Fcrgus Mac E,6igh, in Connacht ; and Murgen sat at the grave 

while Emine went in search of a house of hospitahty. 

While Murgen was thus seated he composed and spoke a 
laidh, or lay, for the gravestone of Fergus, as if it had been 
Fergus himself he was addressing. 

Suddenly, as the story runs, there came a great mist which 
enveloped him so that he coidd not be discovered for three 
days ; and during that time Fergus himself appeared to him 
in a beautiful form, — for he is described as adorned with brown 
hair, clad in a green cloak, and wearing a collared gold-ribbed 
shirt, a gold-hilted sword, and sandals of bronze : and it is said 
that this apparition related to Murgen the whole tale of the 
Tdhi, from beginning to end, — the tale which he was sent to 
seek in a foreign land. 

This Fergus Mac Roigh was a great Ulster prince, who had 
gone into voluntary exile, into Connacht, through feelings of 
disHke and hostility to Conor Mac Nessa, the king of Ulster, 
for his treacherously putting to death the sous of Uisnech, for 
whose safety Fergus had pledged his faith according to the 
knightly customs of the time. And afterwards when the Tain 
Bo Chuailgne occurred, Fergus was the great giude and director 
of the expedition on the side of the Connacht men against that 
of Conor Mac Nessa, and, as it would appear, he was hunself 
also the historian of the war. 

This version of the story is from the Book of Leinster. 
However, according to another account, it was at a meeting of 
the Files, and some of the saints of Erinn, which was held near 
the Carn, or grave that Fergus appeared to them and related the 
tale ; and St. Ciaran thereupon wrote down the tale at his dic- 
tation, in a book which he had made from the hide of his pet 
cow. This cow from its colour was called the Odliar, or dark 
gray ; and from this circumstance the book was ever after known 
as Leabhar na h-Uidhre (^^ron: nearly " Lewar, or Lowr na 
heer-a"), or "The Book of the dark gray [Cow]", — the form 
Uidhre being the genitive case of the word Odhm'. 

According to this account (which is that given in the ancient 
tale called Imtlieclit na troni ddimlie, or the Adventures of the 
I Great Company, i.e., the company or following of Senchan), 

after the election of Senchan to the position of Chief File, he 
paid a visit to Guaire the Hospitable, King of Connacht, at 
his palace of Durlus, accompanied by a large retinue of atten- 



OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 31 

dants, or subordinate files, aud piipils, as well as women, and lect. ii. 
servants, and dogs; so tliat tlieir sojovirn there was so oppres- 
sive, that at their going away, Marhhan, King Guaire's wise to the lost 
brother, imposed it as an obligation on Senchan to recover the '"'"'*'"'• 
Tale of the Tain Bo Chuailgne. Senchan accordingly went 
into Scotland to search for it, but having foimd no trace of 
it there, he retiu-ned home again ; and then Marhlian advised 
him to invite the saints of Ireland to meet him at the grave of 
Fergus, where they were to fast three days and three nights to 
God, praying that he would send them Fergus to relate to 
them the history of the Tain. The story goes on to say that 
St. Caillin of Fiodhnacha (m the present county of Leitrim), 
who was Senchan's brother by his mother, undertook to invite 
the saints ; and that the following distinguished saints came to 
the meeting, namely, St. Colum Cille, St. Caillin himself, St. 
Ciaran of Clonmacnois, St. Brendan of Birra, and St. Brendan 
the son of Finnlogha; and that after their fast and prayer, 
Fergus did appear to them, and related the story, and that St. 
Ciaran of Clonmacnois, and St. Caillin of Fiodluiacha, wrote it 
down. 

This ancient tale is referred to in the Book of Leinster, 
a MS. of the earlier half of the twelfth century, though it re- 
mains to us only in the form preserved in copies of a much . 
more modern date, one of which is in my possession. 

The next notice of a Cuihnenn, as 1 have already shortly 
stated, is to be found in an ancient glossary, where the " seven 
Orders of Wisdom", — that is, the seven degrees in a Hterary 
college, including the student on his first entrance, — are distin- 
guished by name and qualifications. The highest degree was 
the Druimcli, who, as it is stated, had knowledge " of all wis- 
dom, from the greatest book which is called Cuilmenn to the 
smallest book which is called Deich m-Breithir, in which is 
well arranged the good Testament which God made unto 
Moses". — [See Appendix, No. V.] 

What the Cuilmenn mentioned here was, we have no positive 
means of knomng ; but as an acquaintance with both profane 
and sacred writings is set down amongst the qualification of 
each degree of the order of Wisdom, it may be assumed that 
the Cuilmenn embraced profane, as the Deich m-Breitliir did 
sacred learning ; since it appears that the Drumcli was versed 
in all profane and sacred knowledge. 

Another instance of the occm'rence of the word Cuilmenn is 
found in the lower margin of a page of the book now called the 
Leabhar Breac, the proper name of which was Leahhar Mor 
Duna Doighre, that is, the Great Book of Dun Doighre (a 



32 OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 

LECT. II. place on tlie Connaclit side of tlie Shannon, some miles below 
\ccountof ^^® town of Atlilone). In this book, which is preserved in the 
the Tain Bo Library of the Royal Irish Academy, the following words appear 
tia^'jn ■ ^^ ^ hand three hundi'ed years old: — "A trymg of his pen by 
Fergal, son of William, on the great Cuilmend". — [See Appen- 
dix, No. XIX.] This " great Cuilmend" was of course the 
book on which he wrote these words, viz., the Leabhar Duna 
Doighre jnst mentioned; and this passage establishes the use of 
the word to designate a book, generally. It may be also ob- 
served that the word (Cuilmenn) in its original meaning lite- 
rally signifies the skin of a covv.*^^^-* 

To retm'n to the Tciin B6 Chuailgne. 

This tale belongs to a period of considerable antiquity, and 
in it we find introduced in the course of the narration the 
names of several personages who acted a very important part 
in our history, and whose deeds are recorded by most of our 
annalists. As the tale is itself curious and interesting, and be- 
sides supplies a pretty good view of the customs and manners 
of the times, it will be interesting to give you here a brief 
sketch of it. 

When the Argonautic Expedition, the Siege of Troy, or any 
others of the notable occurrences of the very old pei-iods of the 
world's history, are brought under consideration, not the least 
interesting and valuable features which they present are the 
illustrations they furnish us of the habits and life of the various 
people to whom they relate, and it is of little moment to 
attempt to fix the precise year of the world's age in which they 
actually happened. 

Some persons complain that our Irish Annals are too precise 
in the time and place assigned to remote events, to be altoge- 
ther true; but this is a subject not to be disposed of in a cur- 
sory review like the present. At present my intention is only 
to draw briefly, for the purpose of illustration, from one of the 
oldest and most remarkable of our national historic tales. I do 

(22) That the word Cvnbnent-i signified, in the first instance, a Cow-skin, 
appears from the following passage in an ancient Glossary hi the Library of 
the Royal Irish Academy (MS. No. 74 of the collection, purchased from 
Messrs. Hodges and Smith): ColAi-nnA -peA^xb, .i. Ctiibneniux -peA-tAb; "the 
skins of cows", — from ctiilme-nn a skin, and i:eA|\b a cow. That the word 
Cuibmenii Avas applied to a Book, is proved not only by the passage above 
quoted, in wliich the leAbAiA in6|\ 'Ouiia •Ooij^Ne is so called, but still more di- 
rectly by an explanation of it which is to be found in another ancient Glos- 
sary, preserved in a IMS. in the Library of Trin. Coll., Dublin (classed H. 3. 
18.). In this Glossary the word occurs in reference to the lost book above 
mentioned, and to the quotation from it alluded to in the text: — " Cuiimenn, 
i e., a Book ; ut est: ' Which the Professor carried to the East after the Cuil- 
menw'".— [See original in Appendix, No. XX.] 



OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 3*3 

not propose here to enter into any critical discussion as to the lect. n. 
historic accuracy of its details ; but I may observe that, though 
often exhibiting liigh poetic colouring in the description of par- the Tain no 
ticular circumstances, it unquestionably embraces and is all ""*^^" • 
through founded upon authentic historic facts. The Tain Bo 
Chuailgnc is to Irish, what the Argonautic Expedition, or the 
ScA^en against Thebes, is to Grecian history. 

Many copies of the tale still exist. As has been seen, we 
have traced it back to one of perhaps the oldest written records, 
one of which we now retain little more than the name.. We know 
unfortunately nothing of the other contents of the Cuihnenn; 
but if we may judge from the character of the events detailed in 
the Tidn, we may fairly suppose this Great Book to have been a 
depository of the most remarkable occurrences which had taken 
place in Ancient Erinn up to the time of its composition. 

We are told in om- Annals and other ancient writings, that 
Eochaidh Feidlech closed a reign of twelve years as Monarch 
of Erinn in Anno Mundi 5069, or a little above a hundred 
years before the Incarnation, according to the chronology of the 
Annals of the Four Masters. This prince was directly descended 
from Eremon (one of the surviving leaders of the Milesian colo- 
nists), and succeeded to the monarchy by right of descent. 

Eochaidh had three sons and several daughters, and among 
his daughters one named Meadhhh (pron: "Meav"), who, from 
her early youth, exhibited remarkable traits of strength of mind 
and ^agour of character Meav, in the full bloom of life and 
beau.ty, was married to Conor, the celebrated provincial King 
of Ulster ; but the marriage was not a happy one, and she soon 
left her husband and returned to her father's court. The reign 
of the monarch, her father, had at this time been embittered by 
the rebellion of his three sons, which was carried so far that he 
was at last compelled to give them battle ; and a final engage- 
ment took place between the two parties at Ath Cumair (the 
ancient name of a ford near MuUingar), in which the king's 
arms triumphed, and his three sons were slain. 

The victory over his sons brought but little peace to Eoch- 
aidh; for the men of Connacht, taking advantage of his weak- 
ened condition after it, revolted against him ; and to overcome 
their opposition he set up his daughter Meav as Queen of Con- 
nacht, and gave her in marriage to Ailill, a powerful chief of 
that province, and son of Conrach, a former king — the same 
Conrach who built the royal residence of Rath CruachanP^^ 
Ailill died soon after, and Meav finding herself a young widow, 

(-3) The remains of tlie Eatb of Cruachan are still to be seen, near Carrick- 
on-Sliannou, in the modern county of Roscommon. 

3 



34 OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 

LECT. II. and an independent queen, proceeded to exercise her own riglit 
and taste in tlie selection of a new husband; and with this view 
the Tdin Bo shc made a royal progress into Leinster, where Ross Ruadli was 
Chiiaiign . ^^q-^ king, residing at the residence of the Leinster kings, at 
Naas. Meav there selected, from the princes of the com"t, the 
king's younger son, \f\\o bore the same name as her previous 
husband, Ailill, and whom she married and made king-consoit of 
her province. 

Their union was happy, and Meav became the mother of 
many sons, and of one daughter. 

One day, however (as tlie story runs), a dispute arose between 
Queen Meav and her husband about their respective wealth 
and treasures, — for all women at this time had their private 
fortunes and dowries secured to them in marriage. This dis- 
pute led them to an actual comparison of their various kinds 
of property, to determine which of them had the most and 
the best. There were compared before them then (says the 
tale) all their wooden and their metal vessels of value; and 
they were found to be equal. There were brought to them 
their finger rings, their clasps, their bracelets, their thumb 
rings, their diadems, and their gorgets of gold ; and they were 
found to be equal. There were brought to them their gar- 
ments of crimson, and blue, and black, and green, and yellow, 
and mottled, and white, and streaked ; and they were found 
to be equal. There were brought before them their great flocks 
of sheep, from greens and lawns and plains ; and they were 
found to be equ.al. There were broiight before them their 
steeds, and their studs, from pastures and from fields ; and they 
were found to be equal. There were brought before them their 
great herds of swine, from forests, from deep glens, and from 
solitudes ; their herds and their droves of cows were brought 
before them from the forests and most remote solitudes of the 
province ; and on counting and comparing them they were found 
to be equal in niunber and in excellence. But there was found 
among Ailill's herds a young bull, which had been calved by 
one of Meav's cows, and which, "not deeming it honourable to 
be under a woman's control", went over and attached himself to 
Aihll's herds. The name of tliis fine animal was Finnhlieannach 
or the Wliite-horned ; and it was formd that the queen had 
not among her herds one to match him. This was a matter of 
deep disappointment to her. She immediately ordered Mac 
Roth, her chief courier, to her jDresence, and asked him if he 
knew where a young bull to match the Finnbheannacli, or 
White-horned, could be found among the five provinces of 
Erinn. Mac Roth answered that he knew where there was a 



OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 35 

better and a finer bull, namely in the possession of Dare, son of lect . n. 

Fachtna, in tlie Cantred of Cuailgne and province of Ulster, 

and that his name was the Donn Chuailgne, or Brown [Bull] of the T&in no 

Cuailgne. Go thou, then, said JMeav, with a request to Dare '"'"'''""^• 

from me, for the loan of the Donn Chuailgne for my herds for 

one year, and tell him that he shall be well repaid for his loan ; 

that he shall receive fifty heifers and the Donn Chuailgne back 

at the expiration of that time. And you may make another 

proposition to him, said the queen, namely, that should the 

people of the district object to his lending us the Donn Chuailgne, 

he may come himself with his bull, and that he shall have the 

full extent of his ovn\ territory given him of the best lands in 

Hagh Ai [Flams of Roscommon], a chariot worth thrice seven 

cumals (or sixty -three cows), and my future friendship. 

The courier set out with a company of nine subordinates, and 
in due time arrived in Cuailgne and delivered his message to 
Dare Mac Fachtna. 

Dare received hnn in a true spirit of hospitality, and on learn- 
ing his errand, consented at once to accept the terms. He then 
sent the covmer and his company into a separate part of his 
establishment, furnishing them abundantly with the best of food 
and drink that liis stores could supply. 

In the course of the night, and when deep in their cups, one 
of the Connacht couriers said to another : It is a truth that the 
man of this house is a good man, and it is very good of him to 
grant to us, nine messengers, what it wordd be a great work for 
the other four great provinces of Erinn to take by force out of 
Ulster, namely the Donn Chnailgne. Then a third courier in- 
terposed and said that httle thanks were due to Dare, because 
if he had not consented fi,xely to give the Donn Chuailgne, he 
should be compelled to do so. 

At this moment Dare's chief steward, accompanied by a man 
laden with food and another with drink, entered ; and overhear- 
ing the vaunt of the third courier, flew into a passion and cast 
down their meat and drmk before them without inviting them 
to partake of it ; after which he repaired to his master and re- 
ported to him what he had heard. Dare swore by his gods 
that they should not have the Donn Chuailgne, either by con- 
sent or by force. 

The couriers appeared before Dare early on the following 
morning and requested the fulfihnent of his promise ; but he 
made answer that if it had been a practice of his to punish cou- 
riers for their impertinence, not one of them should depart alive 
from him. The couriers returned to their mistress to Rath 
Cruachan, the royal palace of the kings of Connacht. On his 

3b 



36 OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 

LECT. II. arrival Mac Roth related to Meav tlie issue of his embassy and 
the cause of its failure ; iipon which Meav took up the words 
the Tcim Bo of licr boastful messengor, and said that as Dare had not granted 
maiipi , ^1^^ request freely, he should be compelled to do so by force. 

Meav accordingly immediately summoned her sons to her 
presence, as well as the seven sons of Ilagach, her relatives, with 
all their forces and followers. She also invited the men of Muns- 
ter and Leinster to join her cause, and take vengeance on the 
Ulstermen for the many wrongs which they had of old inflicted 
on them. There was besides at this time a large body of exiled 
Ulstermen in Meav's ser\ace, namely, those who had abandoned 
Conor after his treachery to the sons of Uisneach. This body 
of brave men, amounting to fifteen hundi'ed, was under the lea- 
dership of Fergus Mac Roigh and Conor's own son, Cormac 
Conloingeas, or the Exile. 

All these forces met at Cruachain; and after consulting her 
Druid, and a. Bean sidhe (pron: nearly " banshee"), ^^^^ who ap- 
peared to her, Meav set out at the head of her troops, crossed the 
Shannon at Athlone, and marched through ancient Meath, till she 
had arrived at the place now called Kells (within a fcAV miles of 
the borders of the modern county of Louth, in Ulster), where she 
encamped her army. Meav's consort, Ailill, and their daughter, 
Finnahhair (the Fairbrowed), accompanied the expedition. 
When they had encamped for the night, the queen invited all 
the leaders of the army to feast with her, and in the course of 
the evening contrived to enter into a private conversation with 
each of the most brave and powerful amongst them, exhortig 
them to valoiu" and fidelity in her cause, and secretly promising 
to each the hand of her beautiful daugliter in marriage. So far 
the plot of the tale as regards Queen Meav's movements. 

(21^ The word beAn -p-oe (literally, " woman of the fairy mansions"), meant a 
Woman from the fairy mansions of the Hills, or the land Immortality. In other 
words, it meant, according to the ancient legendary belief, a Woman of that 
Tiiath De Dunann race Avhicli preceded the Milesians, and which, on their con- 
quest by the latter, were believed to have retired from this life to enjoy an in- 
visible inmiortaUty in the hills, fountains, lakes, and islands of Eiinn, where 
it M-as reported they are to remain till the last Judgment. From this state of 
existence they were of old believed to be able to reappear at pleasiu-e in the 
ordinary forms of men and women; and this ancient belief respecting the 
Titath De Danann (whose sudden disappeai'ance from our ancient history 
seems to have been only accounted for in this manner) still hngers among the 
people of modern Ireland, in the form of the superstitious reverence for what 
they now call the "Pairies" or " Good People". Some account of M'hat they 
were anciently believed to be will be found in the Tripartite Life of St. 
Patrick. A cmrious example of their api^carance, as introduced in our ancient 
literature, occurs also in the tale of " The Sick-bed of CuchuUainn", printed 
in the second number of the Atlantis, for July, 1858. — [See also Appendix, 
No. XXL] 



OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS 37 

Although the Ulstermen had sufficient notice of the approach lect. ir. 
of such a formidable invasion, they exhibited no sims of de- , ^ ^ 

rm • • 1 • • 1 • • Account of 

tensive preparation. Ihis singular inaction on their part is ac- the Tain bo 
counted for in another talc so often spoken of as the Ceasnaidh- ""' ^" ' 
ean Uladh, or Child-birth-debility of the Ultonians. 

It happened that Meav's expedition into Louth occurred at 
the very time that Conor and all the warriors of Emania were 
suffering imder the effects of the curse described in that tale, so 
that the border lay quite unguarded except by one youth. This 
youth was the renowned Cuclmlainn, whose patrimony was the 
first part of Ulster that the hostile forces entered upon, and 
within it the owner of the Donn Chuailgne resided. 

This part of the tale relates many wonderful and various 
stories of Cuchulainn's youthful achievements, which compli- 
cate it to no small extent, but on the other hand, make no small 
addition to its interest. 

Cuchulainn confronts the invaders of liis province, demands 
single combat, and conjures his opponents by the laws of Irish 
chivah-y (the Fir comhlairm) not to advance farther until they 
conquered him. This demand, in accordance with the Irish 
laws of warfare, is granted ; and then the whole contest is re- 
solved into a succession of single combats, in each of which 
Cuchulainn was victorious. 

Soon, however, Meav, impatient of this slow mode of pro- 
ceeding, broke through the compact with Cuchulainn, marched 
forward herself at the head of a section of her army, and 
biuiied and ravaged the province up to the very precincts of 
Conor's palace at Emania. She had by this time secvu'ed the 
Donn Chuailgne ; and she now marched her forces back into 
Meath and encamped at Clartha (pron : " Clarha", — now Clare 
Castle m the modern comity of Westmeath). 

In the meantime the Ulstermen having recovered from the 
temporary state of debility to which the curse above alluded to 
had subjected them, Conor summoned all the chiefs of his pro- 
vince to muster their forces and join his standard in the pursuit 
of the army of Connacht. This done, they marched in separate 
bodies, under their respective chiefs, and took up a position in 
the immediate neighbourhood of Meav's camp. The march 
and array of these troops, including Cuchulainn's, — the distin- 
giiishing descriptions of their horses, chariots, arms, ornaments, 
and vesture, — even their size, and complexion, and the colour 
of their hair, — are described with great vividness and power. 
In the story the description of all these details is delivered by 
Meav's courier, Mac Roth, to her and her husband ; and the 
recognition of the various chiefs of Ulster as they arrived at 



38 OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 

LECT. II. Conor's camp is ascribed to Fergus Mac Roigh, the exiled 

p r- nai Ulstcr princc already spoken of. I may quote tlie following 

description sliort passages, merely as specimens of the kind of description 

ciiiettin\iie tlius givcu by Mac Roth to Meav and AiHll: 

Tdiii^Bo^^ "There came another company there, said Mac Roth; no 

chuaiigni. cliampiou could bc found more comely than he who leads them. 

His hair is of a deep red yellow, and bushy ; liis forehead broad 

and his face tapering ; he has sparkling blue laughing eyes ; — 

a man regularly formed, tall and tapering ; thin red lips ; pearly, 

shiny teeth ; a white, smooth body. A red and white cloak 

flutters about him ; a golden brooch in that cloak, at his breast ; 

a shirt of white, kingly linen, with gold embroidery at his 

skin ; a white shield, with gold fastenings at his shoulder ; a 

gold-hilted long sword at his left side ; a long, sharp, dark green 

spear, together "with a short, sharp spear, with a rich band and 

carved silver rivets in his hand. Who is he, O Fergus, said 

AiKU? The man who has come there is in himself half a 

battle, the valour of combat, the fury of the slaughter- hoimd. 

His is Reochaid Mac Fatlieman (pron: " Faheman"), from 

Rigdonn [or Rachlainn], in the north [said Fergus".] — [See 

original in Appendix, No. XXII.] And again: — 

" Another company have come to the same hill, at Slemain 
of Meath, said Mac Roth, with a long-faced, dark complexioned 
champion at their head ; [a champion] with black hair and long 
limbs, i.e., long legs; wearing a red shaggy cloak wrapped 
round him, and a white silver brooch in the cloak over his 
heart ; a linen shirt to his skin ; a blood-red shield with devices 
at his shoulder ; a silver-hilted sword at his left side ; an elbowed 
gold-socketed spear to his shoulder. Who is he, O Fergus ? 
said AiHll to Fergus. We know him well indeed, said Fergus ; 
he is Fergna, the son of Finncona, chief of Burach, in Ulster".'-^^^ 
— [See original in Appendix, No. XXIII.]' 

And again : "Another company have come to the same hill m 
Sleamain of Meath, said Mac Roth. It is wild, and miHke the 
other companies. Some are with red cloaks; others with 
light blue cloaks ; others with deep blue cloaks ; others with 
green, or blay, or white, or yellow cloaks, bright and flut- 
tering about them. There is a young red-freckled lad, with 

(2a) And here, lest it may be thought that these gorgeous descriptions of arms 
and ornaments are but idle creations of the poet or the Seanchaidhe, drawn from 
his imagination alone, I may recommend such of my hearers as are doubtful or 
sceptical on these points to visit and inspect for themselves the rich and beau- 
tiful collection of the Royal Irish Academy ; when they will find that no pen 
could do justice to the exquisite workmanship, the graceful design, and dehcate 
finish of those mirivalled relics of Ancient Irish Art, of which the best modern 
imitations fall so immeasurably short. 



OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 39 

a crimson cloak, in tlieii' midst; a golden broocli in tliat lect. ii. 
cloak at his breast ; a shirt of kingly linen, -with fastenings ^^ ^^^.^^^ ^^ 
of red gold at liis skin ; a white shield with hooks of red gold legendary 
at his shoulder, faced with gold, and with a golden rim ; "he xliiTof'" 
a small gold-hilted sword at liis side ; a light, sharp, shining ^^^^Jif,'X^° 
spear to his shoulder. Who is he, my dear Fergus ? said AiliU. 
I don't remember, indeed, said Fergus, having left any such per- 
sonages as these in Ulster, when leaving it, — and I can only 
guess that they are the young princes and nobles of Tara, led by 
Ere, the son of Conor's daughter Feidilim Nuachriithach^ [or 
' of the ever-new form'], and of Carbry Niafear [the king of 
Tara"]. — [See original in Appendix, No. XXIV.] 

With descriptions like these, more or less picturesque, the 
whole tale abounds. The most remarkable of these, but it is 
too long for insertion here, is that of Cuchulainn, liis chariot, 
his horses, and his charioteer, at the battle of Atli Firdiadh, 
where he killed Ferdiadh in single combat ; a circumstance from 
which the place has derived its name oi Ath Firdiadh, or Fer- 
diad's Ford (pronoimced Ardee), in the modern county of Louth. 

The armies of Queen Meav and Conor, her former husband, at 
length met in battle at the hill of Gairech, some distance south- 
east of Athlone, where the Ulstermen routed their enemies, and 
drove them in disorder over the Shannon into Connacht. Meav, 
however, had taken care to secure her prize, the Donn Chu- 
aihjne, by despatching him to her palace, at Cruachaiu, before 
the final battle ; and thus, notwithstanding the loss of umnbers 
of her best champions and warriors, she congratulated herself 
on having gained the two greatest objects of her expedition, 
namely, the possession of the Donn Chuailgne, and the chas- 
tisement of Conor, her former husband, and his proud Ulster- 
men, at the very gates of his palace at Emania. 

This wild tale does not, however, end here ; for it gravely 
informs us that when the Donn Chuailgne found himself in a 
strange country, and among strange herds, he raised such a loud 
bellowing as had never before been heard in the province of 
Connacht ; that on hearing those unusual sounds, AiHll's bull, the 
Finnbheannach or White-horned, knew that some strange and 
formidable foe had entered his territory ; and that he immediately 
advanced at full speed to the point from which they issued, where 
he soon arrived in the presence of his noble enemy. The sight 
of each other was the signal of battle. In the poetic language 
of the tale, the province rang with the echoes of their roaring, 
the sky was darkened by the sods of earth they threw up with 
their feet and the foam that flew from their mouths; faint- 
hearted men, women, and children hid themselves in caves, 



40 OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 

LECT. ir. caverns, and clefts of tlie rocks ; whilst even tlie most veteran 



Histo • "warriors but dared to view the combat from the neighbouring 
value of the liills and eminences. The Finnhheannach, or White-horned, 
oit\\l Tdin ^^ length gavc way, and retreated towards a certain pass which 
aiianT" opcncd into the plain in which the battle raged, and where six- 
teen warriors bolder than the rest had planted themselves ; but so 
rapid was the retreat, and the pursuit, that not only were all these 
trampled to the ground, but they were buried several feet in it. 
The Donn Chuailgne, at last, coming up with his opponent, 
raised him on his horns, ran off with him, passed the gates of 
Meav's palace, tossing and shaking him as he went, until at last 
he shattered him to pieces, dropping his disjointed members as 
he went along. And wherever a part fell, that place retained 
the name of that joint ever after. And thus it was (we are told) 
that Ath Luahi, now Athlone, which was before called Ath 
Mar, or the Great Ford, received its present name from the 
Finnhlieannacli s Luan, or loin, having been dropped there. 

The Donn Chuaihjne, after having shaken his enemy in this 
m.anner from his horns, returned into his OAvn country, but in 
such a frenzied state of excitement and fury, that all fled every- 
where at his approach. He faced directly to his old home ; 
but the people of the haile or hamlet fled, and hid themselves 
behind a huge mass of rock, which his madmess transformed 
into the shape of another bull ; so that coming with all his 
force against it he dashed out his brains, and was killed. 

I have dwelt, perhaps rather tediously, on the history of this 
strange tale ; but one of the objects of this course of Lectures 
is to give to the student of the Gaedhlic language an idea of 
the nature of some of the countless ancient compositions con- 
tained in it ; and notwithstanding the extreme wildness of the 
legend of the Bull, I am not acquainted mth any tale in the 
whole range of our literature, in which he will find more of 
valuable details concerning general and local liistory ; more of 
description of the manners and customs of the people; of the 
druidical and fairy influence supposed to be exercised in the 
affairs of men ; of the laws of Irish chivalry and honour ; of 
the standards of beauty, morality, valour, truth, and fidelity, 
recognized by the people of old ; of the regal power and dig- 
nity of the monarch and the provincial kings, as well as much 
concerning the division of the country into its local dependencies ; 
lists of its chieftains and chieftaincies ; many valuable topogra- 
phical names ; the names and kinds of articles of dress and or- 
nament ; of military weajDons ; of horses, chariots, and trap- 
pings ; of leechcraft, and of medicinal plants and springs ; as well 



OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 41 

as instances of, perhaps, every occnrrence that could be supposed lect. ii. 
to happen in ancient Irish Hfe : all of these details of the utmost ~ 

value to the student of history, even though mixed up with any quity ofthe 
amount of the marvellous or incredible in poetical traditions. <^'t"''"enn. 

The chief actors in this "svarfare are all "well-known and un- 
doubted historical characters, and are to be met with not only 
in our ancient tales, but in our authentic annals also. 

Tighernach (the most credited in our days of all our an- 
nalists) mentions the Tain Bo Chuailgnh, and gives the age of 
Cuchulainn as scA^enteen at the time he followed the Tain, which 
IS calculated by OTlaherty to have taken place about a.d. 39. — 
[See Appendix, No. XX V.J 

As I have already stated, this tale may be traced back to the 
first record to which we find the name of Cuilmenn attached, but 
of which we have now no means of fixing the precise date, 
any more than the nature and character of its other contents. 

I have ventm-ed to assign the compilation of the Cuihnenn, or 
Great Book of Skins, to an earlier date than that of the Saltair of 
Tara, which was compiled about the middle of the third, and 
the Gin Droma Snechta, which has been traced to the close of 
the fourth or beginning of the fifth century ; and for two rea- 
sons, among many others. The first is, that the manner in 
which the Cuilmenn is spoken of, in the time of Senchann and 
Saint Cohun Cille, implies a belief on their part that the tale 
of the Tain had been written, in an authentic form, either in 
a separate volume, or into this book, at or immediately after the 
occurrence of the events so graphically narrated in it ; and the 
fact, as related, of Saint Ciaran writing the recovered version 
of it, no matter from what source it was obtained at the time, 
on the skin of his pet cow, shows that this was done with the 
clear intention of handing it down to posterity as nearly as 
possible in the same form as that in which tradition had taught 
them to believe it had existed in the Cuilmenn. 

The second reason is, that, from the part which is ascribed to 
Fergus in the conduct of the expedition, the frequent mention 
in the tale of liis reading the Ogham writings, and using their 
characters liimself, and the jDretended revelation of it at his grave, 
to Seanchan's pupil, in the one version, as well as the recovery 
of it, according to another account, at a great meeting of poets 
and ecclesiastics, said to have taken place at his grave, it appears, 
to me at least, that there is sufiicient ground to warrant the con- 
jecture, that in the times of Seanchan and Saint Colum Cille, it 
was generally believed that Fergus was the original writer of 
the tale, that it had been written by him, or by some person of 
his time, into a great book, and that this book was at some sub- 



42 



OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 



Of the 
Saltair of 
Taba. 



Of King 
Cormac Mac 
Airt. 



sequent period carried out of the country ; and this, as we have 
said before, jDrobably may have taken place in the early Chris- 
tian times. It is also not impossible that it was followed by the 
owner or keeper of it, who, from his being called a Saoi, that is, 
a Doctor or Professor in learning, was probably, it may be sup- 
posed, converted to Christianity, and went into Italy, as many 
certainly did in those times, carrying with him the only copy 
or copies then in existence. It would be curious to find this 
ancient book still existing in some neglected corner of the 
Vatican, or of one of the other great Libraries of Italy. 

In the first lectvu'e (to pass to the next of our oldest lost books), 
we partly considered the history of that very ancient record, now 
lost, known as the Saltair of Tara. It was stated that its 
composition is referred to the period of the reign of Cormac 
Mac Art (^Cormac Mac Airt, or son of Art), and that by some 
this king was actually supposed to have been its author. 

To give full value to all the evidence we possess as to the 
nature of this record, the time at which it was said to have been 
composed, and its reputed author, it will be necessary for us to 
enter into a brief historical account of the period, and to give 
some particulars about this celebrated prince ; from which I con- 
ceive it will be fully evident, that to attribute the composition 
of the Saltair to the time of Cormac, or even to state that he was 
its author, would be to make no extravagant assumption. 

The character and career of Cormac Mac Art, as a governor, 
a warrior, a philosopher, and a judge deeply versed in the laws 
which he was called on to administer, have, if not from his own 
time, at least from a very remote period, formed a fruitful subject 
for panegyric to the poet, the historian, and the legislator. 

Om' oldest and most accredited annals record his victories and 
military glories ; our historians dwell with rapture on his honour, 
his justice, and the native dignity of his character; our writers 
of historical romance make him the hero of many a tale of 
curious adventure ; and our poets find in his personal accom- 
plishments, and in the regal splendom* of his reign, inexhaus- 
tible themes for their choicest numbers. 

The poet Maelmura, of Othna, who died a.d. 844, styles him 
Cormac Ceolach, or the Musical, in allusion to his refined and 
happy mind and disposition. Cinaeth (or Kenneth) O'Harti- 
gan (who died a.d. 973) gives a glowing description of the 
magnificence of Cormac and of his palace at Tara. And Cuan 
O'Lochain, quoted in the former lecture, and who died a.d. 
1024, is no less eloquent on the subject of Cormac's mental 
and personal qualities and the glories of his reign. He also, 
in the poem which has been already quoted, describes the con- 



OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 43 

dition aud dispc \ion of the rulus of the principal edifices at lect. i i. 
Tara, as they e' ated in his time ; for, even at this early period ^^.^^^^ ^^ 
(1024), the x^ ,- dl Tara was but a ruin. Flann, of Saint Buithes KingCormaG 
Monastery, who died a.d. 1056 (the greatest, perhaps, of the ' ""^ 
scholars, historians, and poets of his time), is equally fluent in 
praise of Cormac as a king, a warrior, a scholar, and a judge. 

Cormac's father. Art, chief monarch of Erinn, was killed in 
the Battle of Jfar/h Jlucruimhe that is, the Plain of MucruimM 
(pron: " Mucrivy") about a.d. 195, by Mac Con, who was the 
son of his sister. Tliis Mac Con was a Munster prince, who 
had been banished out of Erinn by OiHll Oluim, King of Mun- 
ster; after which, passing into Britain and Scotland, he returned 
in a few years at the head of a large army of foreign adven- 
tiu'ers, commanded chiefly by Benne Brit, son of the King of 
Britain. They sailed round by the south coast of Ireland, and 
lauded in the Bay of Gal way ; and, being joined there by some 
of Mac Con's Irish adherents, they overran and ravaged the 
country of West Connacht. Art, the monarch, immediately 
mustered all the forces that he could command, and marched 
into Connacht, where he was joined by Mac Con's seven (or 
six) step-brothers, the sons of Oilill Olum, with the forces of 
Munster. A battle ensued, as stated above, on the Plain of 
]\Iucruimlie (between Athenree and Galway), in which Art 
was killed, leaving behind him an only son, Cormac, usually dis- 
tinguished as Cormac Mac Airt, that is, Cormac the son of Art. 

On the death of his tmcle Art, Mac Con assumed the 
monarchy of Erinn, to the prejudice of the young prince Cor- 
mac, who was still in liis boyhood, and who was forced to lie con- 
cealed for the time among his mother's friends in Connacht. 

Mac Con's usm-pation, and his severe rule, disposed his svibjects 
after some time to wish for his removal ; and to that end young 
Cormac, at the solicitation of some powerful friends of his father, 
appeared suddenly at Tara, where his j)erson had by this time 
ceased to be known. One day, we are told, he entered the 
judgment hall of the palace at the moment that a case of royal 
privilege was brought before the king, Mac Con, for adjudication. 
For the king in ancient Erinn was, in eastern fashion, behoved 
to be gifted with pecuHar wisdom as a judge among liis people ; 
and it was a part of his duty, as well as one of the chief privileges 
of his prerogative, to give judgment in any cases of difficulty 
brought before him, even though the litigants might be among 
the meanest of his subjects, and the subject of litigation of the 
smallest value. The case is thus related : Certain sheep, the pro- 
perty of a certain widow residing near Tara, had strayed into the 
queen's private lawn, and eaten of its grass; they were captured 



LECT. II. 



of Coi-mac 
Mac Airt. 



44 OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 

by some of tlie houseliolcl officers, and tlie case was brought be- 
fore the king for judgment. The king, on hearing the case, con- 
deJcHpUon dcmucd the sheep to be forfeited. Young Cormac, hoAvever, 
hearmg this sentence, exclaimed that it was unjust ; and declared 
that as the sheep had eaten but the fleece of the land, the most 
that they ought to forfeit should be their own fleeces. This 
view of the law appeared so wise and reasonable to the people 
around, that a murmur of approbation ran through the hall. 
Mac Con started from his seat and exclaimed : " That is the 
judgment of a king" ; and, immediately recognizing the youthful 
prince, ordered him to be seized; but Cormac succeeded in 
effecting his escape. The people, then, having recognized their 
rightful chief, soon revolted against the monarch ; upon which 
Mac Con was driven into Munster, and Cormac assumed the 
government at Tara. And thus commenced one of the most 
brilliant and important reigns in Irish history. 

The following description of Cormac, from the Book of Bal- 
lymote (142, b.b.), gives a very vivid picture of the person, man- 
ners, and acts of this monarch, which it gives however on the 
authority of the older Book of Uaclionghhail; and, even though 
the language is often high-coloured, it is but a picturesque 
clothing for actual facts, as we know from other sources, — [See 
original in Appendix, No. XXVL] 

" A noble and illustrious king assmned the sovereignty and 
rule of Erinn, namely, Cormac, the grandson of Conn of the 
Hundred Battles. The world was full of all goodness in his 
time ; there were fruit and fatness of the land, and abundant pro- 
duce of the sea, with peace, and ease, and happiness, in his time, 
There were no killings nor plunderings in his time, but every 
one occupied his lands in happiness. 

" The nobles of Erinn assembled to drink the banquet of 
Tara, with Cormac, at a certain time. These were the kings who 
were assembled at that feast, namely, Fergus Dubhdeadach (of 
the black teeth), and Eocliaidh Gunnat, the two kings of Ulster ; 
Dunlang, son of Enna Nia, king of Leinster ; Cormac Cas, son 
of AiHU Oluim, — and Fiacha Muilleatlian, son of Eoghan 3l6r, 
the two kings of Munster ; Nia Mar, the son of Lugaidh Firtri, 
Cormac's brother by his mother, and Eocliaidh, son of Conall, 
the two kings of Connacht ; Oengus of the poisoned spear, king 
of Bregia (East Meath) ; and Feradhach the son of Asal, son of 
Conor the champion, king of Meath. 

" The manner in which fairs and great assemblies were at- 
tended by the men of Erinn, at this time, was : each king wore 
his kingly robe upon him, and his golden helmet on his head ; 
for, they never put their kingly diadems on, but in the field of 
battle only. 



OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 45 

" ^Magnificently did Connac come to this great assembly; for lect. ii. 
no man, his equal in beauty, had preceded him, excepting Co- 
naive JJor, son of Edersgel, or Conor, son of Cathhadh (pron: ^tv^atiaia. 
nearly " Caa-fah"), or Aengus, son of the Daghda. Splendid, 
indeed, was Cormac's appearance in that assembly. His hair 
was slightly curled, and of golden colour : a scarlet shield with 
engraved devices, and golden hooks, and clasps of silver: a 
wide-folding purple cloak on him, with a gem-set gold brooch 
over his breast ; a gold torque around his neck ; a white-collared 
shirt, embroidered Avith gold, upon him ; a girdle with golden 
buckles, and studded with precious stones, aroimd him; two 
golden net-work sandals with golden buckles upon him ; two 
spears with golden sockets, and many red bronze rivets, in his 
hand; while he stood in the full glow of beauty, withou.t 
defect or blemish. You would think it was a shower of pearls 
that were set in his mouth ; his lips were rubies ; his symme- 
trical body was as white as snow; his cheek was like the 
mountain-ash berry ; his eyes were like the sloe ; his brows and 
eye lashes were like the sheen of a blue-black lance. 

" This, then, was the shape and form in which Cormac went 
to this great assembly of the men of Erinn. And authors say 
that this was the noblest convocation ever held in Erinn before 
the Christian Faith ; for, the laws and enactments instituted in 
that meeting were those which shall prevail in Erinn for ever. 

" The nobles of Erinn proposed to make a new classification of 
the people, according to their various mental and material quaHfi- 
cations; both kings and ollamhs (or chiefs of professions), and 
druids, and farmers, and soldiers, and all difierent classes like- 
wise ; because they were certain, that, whatever regulations should 
be ordered for Erinn in that assembly, by the men of Eiinn, 
would be those which would live in it for ever. For, from the 
time that Amergen Gluingeal (or of the White Knee), the File 
(or Poet) and one of the chiefs of the Milesian colonists, deli- 
vered the first judgment in Erinn, it was to the Files alone that 
belonged the right of pronouncing judgments, until the dispu- 
tation of the Two Sages, Ferceirtne the File, and Neidhe, son 
of Adhna, at Emauia, about the beautiful mantle of the chief 
File, Adhna, who had lately died. More and more obscure to 
the people, were the words in which these two Files discussed 
and decided their dispute ; nor could the kings or the other Files 
understand them. Concobar (or Conor), and the other princes, at 
that time present at Emania, said that the disputation and deci- 
sion could be understood only by the two parties themselves, for 
that thei/ did not imderstand them. It is manifest, said Concobar: 
all men shall have share in it from this day out for ever, but they 



46 OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 

LECT. II. [the Files] sliall have tlieir liereditary judgment out of it; ol 
what all others require, every man may take his share of it. 
cormac Mac Judgment was then taken from the Files, except their inheritance 
^*'''" of it, and several of the men of Erinn took their part of the judg- 

ment; such as the judgments of ^oc/ia^c?/i, the son oi Luchta; 
and the judgments of Fachtna, the son of Senchadh; and the 
(aj)parently) false judgments of Caradniadh Teisctlie; and the 
judgments of Morann, the son of Maen ; and the judgments 
of Eoghan, the son of Durrthaclit [king of Farney] ; and the 
judgments of Doet of JVeimthenn, and the judgments of Brigh 
Anibui [daughter of Senchadli] ; and the judgments of Dian- 
cecht [the Tuath De Dandnn Doctor] in matters relating to 
medical doctors. Although these were thus first ordered at 
this time, the nobles of the men of Erinn (subsequently) insis- 
ted on judgment and eloquence (advocacy) being allowed to 
persons according to rank in the Bretha Nemlieadh (laws of 
ranks) ; and so each man usurped the profession of another 
again, until this great meeting assembled around Cormac. 
They then again separated the professors of every art from 
each other in that great meeting, and each of them was or- 
dained to liis legitimate profession". 

And thus when Cormac came to the sovereignty of Erinn, 
he found that Conor's regulations had been disregarded ; and 
this was what induced the nobles to propose to him a new 
organization, in accordance with the advancement and progress 
of the people, from the former period. And this Cormac did ; 
for he ordered a new code of laws and regulations to be drawn 
up, extending to all classes and professions. He also put the 
state or court regulations of the Teach Midhchuarta, or Great 
Banqueting House of Tara, on a new and permanent footing; 
and revived obsolete tests and ordeals, and instituted some 
important new ones ; thus making the law of Testimony and 
Evidence as perfect and safe as it could be in such times. 

If we take this, and various other descriptions of Cormac's 
character as a man, a king, a scholar, a judge, and a warrior, 
into account, we shall see that he was no ordinary prince ; and 
that if he had not impressed the nation with a full sense of his 
great superiority over his predecessors and those who came 
after him, there is no reason why he should have been specially 
selected from all the rest of the line of monarchs, to be made 
above all the possessor of such excellences. 

Such a man could scarcely have carried out his various be- 
hests, and the numerous provisions of his comprehensive enact- 
ments, without some written medium. And it is no unwar- 
rantable presumption to suppose that, either by his own hand, 



OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 



47 



or, at least, in his own time, by liis command, liis laws were lect. it. 
committed to writing ; and wlien we possess very ancient tes- ^j^^ j^^^^ 
timony to tliis effect, I can see no reason for reiectinff it, or andiegai 

% . Kf o * writiiitrs of 

even for casting a doubt upon the statement. King cormac 

It is not probable that any laws or enactments forged at a ^^"''^ '^"''" 
later period, could be imposed on a people who possessed in 
such abundance the means of testing the genuineness of their 
origin, by recourse to other sources of information; and the 
same arguments which apply in the case of the Saltair of Tara, 
may be used in regard to another work assigned to Cormac, of 
which mention will be presently made. Nor is this all, but 
there is no reason whatever to deny that a book, such as the 
Saltair of Tara is represented to have been, was in existence at 
Tara a long time before Cormac's reign ; and that Cormac only 
altered and enlarged it to meet the circiuiistances of his own times. 

These bards and druids, of which our ancient records make 
such frequent mention, must have had some mode of perpetuating 
their arts, else it would have been impossible for those arts to 
have been transmitted so faithfully and fully as we know they 
were. It is true that the student in the learning of the File is 
said to have spent some twelve years in study, before he was pro- 
noiniced an adept ; and this may be supposed to imply that the 
instruction was verbal ; but we have it from various writers, even 
as late as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, that it was 
customary with the medical, law, and civil students of these 
times, to read the classics and study their professions for twenty 
years. 

All this is indeed but presumptive evidence of the possession 
of writing by the Irish in the time of Cormac ; but, from other 
sources we have reason to believe that the art existed here long 
antecedent to his reign: this subject is, however, of too great 
extent and importance to admit of its full discussion at present. 

There still exists, I should state to you, a Law Tract, attri- 
buted to Cormac. It is called the Book of Acaill ; and is always 
found annexed to a Law Treatise by Cennfaelad the learned, 
who died in a.d. 677. The following preface always prefixed 
to this first work gives its history. — [See original in Appendix, 
No. XXVIL] 

"The locus^'^^ of the Book was Aicill (or Acaill, pron: 

(26) It was always the habit of the old Irish -writers to state four circum- 
stances concerning the comjDosition of their works : the j^Iace at which they 
were written (or the locus of the work, according to tlie form here used),— the 
date, — the name of the author, — and the occasion or circumstances which sug- 
gested the undertaking. Tiiese forms were adhered to by writers using the 
native language down even to the time of the Four Masters, as will be seen 
in a subsequent Lecture (VIII.), on the various works of the O'Clerys. 



48 



OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 



Of the Book 
of Acaill. 



Of Cenn/ae - 
lad. 



Akill'), near Teamair [Tara] ; and the time of it was tlie 
time of Cairbre Lifeachair (Cairbre of tlie Liffey), son of 
Cormac, and the person [author] of it was Cormac; and 
the cause of making it was, the bhnding of Cormac's eye 
by Aengus Gabuaideeh (Aengus of the poisoned spear), after 
the abduction of the daughter of Sorar, son of Art Corb, 
by Cellach, the son of Cormac. This Aengus Gabuaideeh 
was an Aire Eclita (an avenging chief) at this time, avenging 
the wrongs of his tribe in the territories of Luigline (Leyney) ; 
and he went into the house of a woman there, and forcibly 
drank milk there. " It would be fitter for you", said the wo- 
man, " to avenge your brother's daughter on Cellach, the son of 
Cormac, than to consume my food forcibly". And books do not 
record that he committed any evil upon the woman's person ; but 
he went forward to Teamair; and it was after sunset he reached 
Teamair; and it was prohibited at Tecnnair to take a champion's 
arms into it after sunset ; but only the arms that happened to 
be in it ; and Aengus took Cormac's Crimall (bloody spear) down 
off its rack (as he was passing in) and gave a thrust of it into 
Ceallach, son of Cormac, which killed him ; and its angle struck 
Cormac's eye, so that he remamed hah'blmd ; and its heel struck 
in the back of the steward of Teamair, when drawing it out 
of Cellach, and killed him ; and it was prohibited to a kmg 
with a blemish to be in Teamair; and Cormac was sent out to 
be cured to Aicill, near Teamair; and Teamar could be seen 
from Aicill, and Aicill could not be seen from Teamar ; and 
the sovereignty of Erinn was (then) given to Cairbre Lifea- 
chair, the son of Cormac ; and it was then this book was com- 
piled ; and that which is Cormac's share in it is every place where 
"jB^ai" (immunity) occurs, and ^^Ameic arafeiser'^ (my son would 
you know) ; and Ceimdfaelad's share is, everything from that 
out". 

Such is the account of this curious tract, as found prefixed to 
all the copies of it that we now know ; and, though the compo- 
sition of this preface must be of a much later date than Cor- 
mac's time, still it bears internal evidence of great antiquity. 



Cormac's book is, as I have observed, always found prefixed 
to the laws compiled by Cennfaelad just mentioned. Tliis 
Cennfaelad had been an Ulster warrior, but, happening to re- 
ceive a fracture of the skull, at the battle of Magh Rath, fought 
A.D. 634, he was carried to be cured, to the house of Bricin'^^^^ of 



(2'') The reader will please to observe, once for all, that the letter c is in the 
Gaedhlic always ijronounced hard, or like the English k; it never has the soft 
sound of au s, even before an e or an i. 



OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 49 

Tuaim Drecain, wliere tliere were tliree schools, iiamelj- : a Lite- lect. ii. 
rary (or Classical) school; a Fenechas, or Law school; and a 
school of Poetry. And, whilst there, and listening to the instruc- of Acaui. 
tions given to the pupils, and the subtle discussions of the schools, 
his memory, which, before, was not very good, became clear 
and retentive, so that whatever he heard in the day (it is re- 
corded) he remembered at night ; and thus, he finally came to 
be a master in the arts of the three schools, reducing what he 
had heard in each to order, and committing it to verse, which 
he first wrote upon slates and tablets, and afterwards in a 
White Book, in verse. The Fenechas, or law part only, of 
this book, is that now found annexed to Cormac's treatise. 
These laws, however, are not in verse noAv. And, whether the 
laws at present known, in connection with Cennfaeladlis name, 
are of his own composition, or those he learned in the schools 
here mentioned, is not certain. The explanation of the word 
Aicill, as well as the circumstances just mentioned respecting 
Cennfaeladli, occurs in the following passage, in continuation of 
that last quoted. — [See original in Appendix, JSTo. XXVIIL] 

^''Aicill [is derived] from Uch Oil [the Great Lamenta- 
tion], which A (cell, the daughter of Cairbre [_Cairhre Niafear, 
monarch of Erinn], made there, lamenting Ere, the son of 
Cairbre, her brother ; and here is a proof of it : — 

" The daughter of Cairbre, that died,^^®' 
And of Feidelm, the ever-blooming. 
Of grief for Ere, beautiful her part. 
Who was slain in revenge of Cuchulainn". 

" Or, it was Aicell, the wife of Ere, son of Cairbre, that died of 
grief for her husband there, when he was killed by Conall Cear- 
nach (in revenge of Cucludainn) ; and this is a proof of it : — 

" Conall Cearnach, that brought Erc's head 
To the side of Temair, at the third hour ; 
Sad the deed that of it came. 
The breaking of AcailFs noble heart". 

*' If there was established law at the time the eric (reparation) 
which was paid for this crime (against Cormac, etc.) — provided 
it was on free wages'^-^^ Magh Bregh (Bregia) was held — was the 

(28) These t\vo verses are taken from the ancient Dinnsexchus, but there is 
no authority for the second version to be found in tlie copy of tliat tract, pre- 
served in the Book of Ball^Tnote. The poem from wliicli tliey are taken, and 
which gives the origin of the place called Acaill, was written by Cinaeth or 
Kenneth O'Hartigan, who died a.d. 973, and, consequently, this account, in its 
present state, of the Book of Acaill, was written after the writing of the poem. 

(29) Pfgg wages. — That is, if they had only held their lands and original stock, 

4 



50 



OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 



Of the Book 
of Acaill. 



same as if free wages had been given to half of them, and base 
wages to the other half, so that one half of them would be in 
free service, and the other half in base service. 

"If free wages were not on them at all, the eric which should 
be paid there was the same as if free wages had been given to 
the half of them and base wages to the other half, so that half 
of them would be in free service, and the other half in base 
service. 

" If there was not established law there, every one's right 
would be according to his strength. ^^°^ 

" And they (Aengus's tribe) left the tenitory, and they went 
to the south. They are the Deise (Decies or Deasys) of Poi't 
Laegliaire or Port Lairge (Waterford) from that time down. 
" Its (the book's) locus and time, as regards Cormac, so far. 
"In regard to Cennfaelad, however, the locus of [his part of] 
it was Doire Lurain, and the time of it was the time of [the 
Monarch] Aeclh Mac Ainmerech, and its person [i.e. author] 
was Cennfaelad, and the cause of compiling it, his brain of for- 
getfulncss having been extracted from Cennfaelad's head after 
having been cloven in the battle of Magh Rath'^^'-' [a.d. 634]. 

" The three victories of that battle were : the defeat of Congal 
Claen, in his falsehood, by Domnall, in his truthfulness ; and 
Suihhnk, the maniac, to become a maniac ; and it is not Siiihh- 
nes becoming a maniac that is (considered) a victory, but all 
the stories and all the poems which he left after him in Erinn ; 
and it was not a victory that his brain of forgetfuhiess was ex- 
tracted from Cennfaelad's head, but what he left of noble book 
works after him in Erinn. He had been carried to be ciu'ed to 
the house of [St.] Bricin, of Tuaim D7'ecain, and there were 
three schools in the toAvn, a school of classics, and a school of 

which -was the wages, or rath, on the condition of certain personal services, and 
the payment of a certain rent every third year, — which was called saer-rath, or 
free wages, — they should be now reduced, one half the tribe, to base wages, 
which amounted to a species of slavery, under which they were forced to pay 
every year what the parties on free wages paid but every third year. And even 
though according to the second clause the lands were not held by them on wages 
at all, but as independent inheritors (that is, owners owing only an acknow- 
ledgment to the king, with such contributions only as they pleased), which 
they were, being the descendants of Fiacha Sidd/ie, the brother of Conn of 
the Hundred Battles, and consequently cousins to Cormac himself. — even then 
they were reduced to the state of one half of them becoming free vassals, and 
the other half base vassals, their hereditary title to their lands having become 
for ever forfeited. 

(30) There is a most curious and important account of the trial and decision in 
this ancient case, preserved in the ancient Irish Manuscript lately purchased 
in London for the Eoyal Irish Academy, through the liberahty and fine na- 
tional spirit of the Rev. Dr. Todd, of T.C.D. 

(31) See The Battle of Mayh Rath, edited by John O'Donovan, LL.D., for 
the Irish Archaeological Society ; 1842. 



OF THE EARLIEST EXISTING MSS. 51 

Fenechas (laws), and a school of Filidhecht (pKilosophy, poetry, lect. h. 
etc.); and eveiy thing that he used to hear of what the three Qf^j^gg^^^ 
schools spoke every day he used to have of clear memory [i.e., ofAcani. 
perfectly by rote] every night ; and he put a clear thread of 
poetry to them [i.e., put them mto verse] ; and he wrote them 
on stones and on tables, and he put them into a vellum-book" /^^^ 
The whole of this volume, comprising the parts ascribed to 
the King Cormac, and those said to be Cennfaelad's, form a 
very important section of oiu' ancient national institutes, known 
as the Brehon Laws ; but it does not, for the reason I before 
alluded to, fall within my province to deal with those laws 
farther on the present occasion. 

(32) The latter portion of this passage is somewhat more minutely given in 
another MS. version (T.C.D. Library, H. 3. 18. p. 399), as follows :— 

" And where he was cured was at Tuaim Drecain, at the meeting of the 
tlu*ee streets, between the houses of the three professors (Sai), namely, a pro- 
fessor of Fenechas, a professor of Filidhecht, and a professor of Leighenn 
(classics). And all that the tlu-ee schools taught (or spoke) each day, he had, 
through the shai-pness of his intellect, each night ; and so much of it as he 
wished to show, he put into poetical arrangement, and it was written by him 
into wliite books". [See original in Appendix, No. XXVIII.] 



4b 



LECTURE III. 



[Delivered March 20, 1835.] 



Of the sjnQchronisms of Flann of Monasterboice. Of the Chronological Poem 
of Gilla Caemhain. Of Tighernach the Annalist. Of the foundation of 
Clonmacnois. The Annals. — I. The Annals of Tighernach. Of the 
Foundation of Emania, and of the Ultonian dynasty. 

In shortly sketching for you some account of our lost books of 
history, and in endeavouring to suggest to you. Avhat must have 
been the general state of learninof at and before the introduction 
of Christianity by our national Aj)ostle, I have, in fact, opened 
the whole subject of these lectures: the MS. materials existing 
in our ancient language for a real history of Erinn. Let us 
now proceed at once to the consideration of the more important 
branches of those materials ; and, first, of the extent and charac- 
ter of our national annals, and their importance in the study 
of oiu' history. 
Of the anci- The principal Annals now remaining in the Gaedlilic lan- 
ent Annals, guagc, and of wlucli wc liavc any accvirate knowledge, are 
known as: — the Annals of Tighernach (pron: nearly " Teer- 
nagh") ; — the Annals of Senait Mac Manus (a compilation now 
better known as the Annals of Ulster) ; — the Annals of hits Mac 
Nerinn in Loch Ce (erroneously called the Annals of Kiho- 
nan) ; — the Annals of Innisfallen ; — the Annals now known as 
the Annals of Boyle ; — the Annals now known as the Annals 
of Connacht ; — the Annals of Dun na n-Gall (Donegall), or those 
of the Four Masters ; — and lastly, the Chronicum Scotorum. 

Besides these we have also the Annals of Clonmacnois, a 
compilation of the same class, which was translated into English 
in 1627, but of which the original is unfortunately not now 
accessible or known to exist. 

With regard to annals in other languages relating to Ireland, 
I need only allude to the Latin Annals of Multifernan, of 
Grace, of Pembridge, Clyn, etc., pubhshed by the Irish Archseo- 
logical Society. 

At the head of our list I have placed the Annals of Tigher- 
nach, a composition, as we shall presently see, of a very re- 
markable character, whether we take into account the early 
period at which these annals were written, namely, the close of 
the eleventh century, or the amount of historical research, the 



OF THE EARLY HISTORICAL WRITERS. 53 

judicious care, and tlie sclaolarlilce discrimination, which distin- lect. ni. 
ffuish the compiler. These annals have accordino-ly been con- „„,, ,. 

c r . ID J Of the earlier 

sidered by many to constitute, ii not our earliest, at least one oi cinonoio- 
the most important of ovu" historical records now extant. Historians. 

How far the arrangement of events and the chronology ob- 
served in most of our annals are to be ascribed to Tighernach, 
is a matter that cannot now be clearly determined. It is certain, 
however, that there were careful and industrious chroniclers 
and chronologists before liis time, with whose works he was 
doubtless well acquainted. 

From a very early period, we find notices of chroniclers and 
historical comj)ilers. I have already mentioned the royal his- 
torian, Cormac INIac Art, and also the author of the Cin Dromd 
Sneachta. From the sixth to the eighth century we meet, 
amongst many others, the names of Amergin Mac AmalgaidJi, 
author of the Dinn Seanchas ; Cennfaeladh; and Aengus CeiU 
De. From the year 800 to the year 1000, we find Maolmura 
of Othan ; Cormac Mac Cidleannain; Flann Mac Lonan ; 
Eochaidh O'Flinn ; and Cinaeth or Kennett O'Hartigan. In the 
eleventh century the historical compilers are still more frequent : 
the chief names in this period are, those of Cuan O'Locliain; 
Colman 0' Seasnan ; Flann Mainistrech, or of the Monastery, 
and Gilla Caemhain. The two latter lived in the same cen- 
tury with Tighernach ; Flann, the professor of St. Bidthes 
Monastery (or Monasterboice), who died a.d. 1056 ; and Gilla 
Caemhain, a writer wdio died a.d. 1072, the translater into 
Gaedhlic of Nennius' history of the Britons. Of these, as they 
were contemporaries of Tighernach, it will be necessary to give 
some account, before we proceed to consider more particularly 
the Annals of that author. 

Flann compiled very extensive liistorical synchronisms, which of the Syn- 
have been much respected by some of the most able modern Fia,°n'o™Mo- 
writers on early Irish historv, such as Ussher, Ware, Father John na.'^teiboice 
Lynch (better known as Gratianus Lucius, the well known author tm-y). 
of Cambrensis E versus), O'Flaherty, and Charles O'Conor. 

The synchronisms of Flann go back to the most remote 
periods, and form an excellent abridgment of universal history. 
After synchronizing the chiefs of various lines of the children 
of Adam in the east, the author points out what monarchs of 
the Assyrians, IVIedes, Persians, and Greeks, and what em- 
perors of the Romans, were contemporary with the kings of 
Erinn and the leaders of its various early colonists, beginning 
wdth Ninus, the son of Belus, and coming down to the first of 
the Roman emperors, Julius Ceesar, who was contemporary with 



54 OF THE EARLY HISTORICAL WRITERS. 

LECT. m. Eochaidh Feidhlech, a monarcli of Erinn wlio died more than 

half a century before the Incarnation of our Lord. The parallel 

chronisms of lincs are then continued from Julius Caesar and his Irish con- 

nas'tertoice'' temporary Eochaidh Feidhlech, down to the Emperors Theo- 

^•\?^^' dosius the Third, and Leo the Third, and their contemporary 

Ferghal, son of Maelduin, monarch of Erinn, who was killed 

A.D. 718. 

Flann makes use of the length and periods of the reigns of 
the emperors to illustrate and show the consistency of the 
chronology of the Irish reigns, throughout this long list. 

After this he throws the whole series, from Julius Cassar 
down, into periods of 100 years each, grouping the emperors 
of Rome and the kings of Erinn in each centmy in the fol- 
lowing manner. Thus, he takes one hundred years, from the 
first year of Julius Cassar to the twelfth year of Claudius. 
Five emperors will be found to have reigned within this time, 
namely, Julius, Octavius, Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius. 
The Irish parallel period to this will be found in the one hun- 
dred years from the eighth year of Eochaidh Feidhlech to the 
fifth year of the reign of Lughaidh Riabh Derg. Six mo- 
narchs ruled in Erinn during that term, namely, Eochaidh 
Feidhlech, Eochaidh Ah^emh, his brother; Edersgel Mac lar, 
NuadJia Necht, Conaire Mor, and Lughaidh Riahh Derg. 

A second period of one hundred years, in Flann's computa- 
tions, extends from the second last year of Claudius to the 
eighteenth year of Antoninus Pius. Thirteen emperors reigned 
within that time. There were also one hundred years from the 
fifth year of Lughaidh Riahh Derg, monarch of Erinn, to the 
end of the reign of Elim Mac Conrach, and seven monarchs 
governed in that space of time, namely, Conchohhar or Conor, 
Crimthann, Cairbre, Eearadhach, Fiatach, Fiacha, and Elim 
MacConrach himself. 

And so Flann continues down to the time of the Emperor 
Leo, and Ferghal Mac Maelduin, King of Erinn, who was killed 
A.D. 718, That portion of the work wliich carries down the 
synchronisms to JuKus C^sar is next summed up in a poem of 
which there are two copies, one of 1096, and the other of 1220 
lines, intended no doubt to assist the student in committing to 
memory the substance of the synchronisms (Lecain; fol. 20. 36). 

There is another chronological piece of cm-ious interest and 
of very considerable value, which was also probably composed 
by Flann, or at least that portion of it which precedes A.D. 
1056, the year of Flann's death. It comprises a list of the reigns 
of the monarchs of Ireland, with those of the contemporary j^ro- 
vincial kings, and also of the kings of Scotland. This synchro- 



OF THE EARLY HISTORICAL WRITERS. 55 

nolo^ical list commences with LaeghairS, who succeeded to the lect. m. 
sovereignty in the year of om' Lord 429, and it is carried down oftheSyn- 
to the death of MuircJieartach O'Brien, in 1119, sixty-five years curonismsof 
after Flann's death. Wlio the continuator of Flann may have na^terboice " 
been we do not now know. twy)?^"' 

It may be interesting to give the following abstract as a spe- 
cimen of Flann's synchronisms of the kings of Scotland, as it 
shows their connection with the royal lines of Erinn. 

It was, he says, in the year 498 that Fergus Mor and liis 
brothers went into Scotland. They were the sons of Ere, the 
son o^ Eochaidh Muinreamhar, whose father was the renowned 
CoUa Uais, who, with his brothers, overthrew the Ulster dynasty 
and destroyed the palace of Emania. Muirchertach Mao Eire, 
one of the brothers, was the ancestor of the MacDonnells, Lords 
of the Isles, and of other great families in Scotland. Our tract 
says that from the Battle of Ocha, a.d. 478, to the death of the 
monarch, Diarmaid, son of Fergus Cerrbeoil, there was a space 
of eighty years. There were four monarchs of Erinn within 
that time, namely, Lnghaidh, son of Laegliaire; Mzcircheo'tach, 
son of Ere; Tuathal Mael Garhh; and Diarmaid. There were 
five kings of Scotland to correspond with these four of Erinn, 
namely, the above Fergus Mor; his brother, Aengus Mor; 
Domangort, the son of Fergus ; Comgall, the son of Domangort ; 
and Gabran, the son of Domangort. 

The parallel provincial kings of Erinn follow, but it is not 
necessary to enumerate them here. 

The first part of the synchronisms ascribed to Flann is lost 
from the Book of Lecan, but it is preserved in the Book of Bally- 
mote (fol. 6, a.) ; and as far as can be judged from their tenor in 
the latter book, they must have been those used by Tighernach, 
or they may possibly have been taken from an earher work 
which was common both to Tighernach and to the compiler of 
this tract. It is, in fact, the synchronism of Flann, now imper- 
fect, which we find at the commencement of Tighernach, but 
inserted there after having been first subjected to the critical 
examination and carefid balancing of authorities which gene- 
rally distinguish that learned annalist. 

There is yet another important chronological composition in of the cbro- 
existence, to which I must here allude: I mean the Poem ofp°g°^'of^ 
Gilla CaemJiain, who died a.d. 1072. ^'*""«. . 

This wTiter begins by stating that he will give the annals oi 
all time, from the beginning of the world to his own period. 
He computes the several periods from the Creation to the De- 
luge, from the Deluge to Abraham, from Abraham to David, 
and from David to the Babylonian Captivity, etc. From the 



56 OF THE EARLY HISTORICAL WRITERS. 

LECT. m. Creation to the Incarnation lie counts 3952 years. (This is 
Of the wit- obviously the common Hebrew computation.) He then goes 
ings of Fiaun on to Synchronize the Eastern sovereigns with each other, and 
caemhain afterwarcls with the Firbolgs and Tuatha De Danaiui of Erinn, 
tury)?'^"' and subsequently with the Milesians. 

He carries down the computation through several Eastern 
and Irish dynasties, giving the deaths of all the monarchs, and 
of several of the provincial kings of Erinn, as well as of many 
remarkable persons : such as the death of Finn Mac Cumhaill, 
of Saint Patrick, and of Saint Brigicl. He also notices the great 
mortality of the seventh century, the drowning of the Danish 
tyrant Turgesius, by King Maelsechlainn (or Malachy), etc. ; 
continuing still to give the intervening years, down to the death 
of Brian Boroinihe, in 1014, and so on to the "Saxon" battle in 
which the king of the Danes was killed, five years before the 
date of the composition of his poem. 

The names of many other early writers on Irish history, and 
even, in some instances, fragments of their works, have come 
down to us ; but the two of whose compositions I have given 
the foregoing brief sketch, are in many respects the most re- 
markable. 

The short notices we have given of the writings of Flann and 
Gilla Caemhain are quite sufficient to show that they were 
famihar with a large and extensive range of general history ; 
and their chronological computations, parallels, and synchro- 
nisms, prove that they must have industriously examined every 
possible available source of the chief great nations of anti- 
quity. Such learning will probably seem to you remarkable 
at so early a period (a.d. 1050) in Ireland ; and even were it 
confined to churchmen, it must be admitted to be evidence of 
very considerable cultivation. But in the instance of Flann of 
the Monastery we have proof that this learning and cultivation 
were not confined to the Irish ecclesiastics ; for though we always 
find the name of Flann associated with the ]\lonastery of Saint 
JBuithS, it is well known that he was not in orders. He is never 
mentioned as an ecclesiastic ; and we know that he was married 
and left issue, as I have shown in the genealogical table pub- 
lished in the Celtic Society's edition of the Battle of Magh 
Lena. In fact, his employment was that simply of a lay teacher 
in a great school ; and he filled the office of Fer Leghinn, or 
chief professor in the great College of Saint Buithe (a college as 
well lay as ecclesiastical), the ruins of which may still perhaps be 
seen at Monasterboice, in the modern coimty of Louth. 

Flann's death is noticed by Tighernach, under the year 1056, 
thus: — " Flann, of the monastery, a Gadelian [i.e., Gaedhlic, 



OF THE EARLY HISTORICAL WRITERS. 57 

or Irish] author in history, in genealogy, in poetry, and in elo- lect. hi 
quence, on the 7th of the kalends of December, the 16th day 
of the moon, happily finished his life in Christ". — [See original nach. (xr. 
in Appendix, No. XXIX.] The O'Clerys, in the Book of In- ^"•'*^'^^- 
vasions (page 52), speak of him in the following terms: — 
" Flami, a Saoi of the wisdom, chronicles, and poetry of the 
Gaels, made this poem on the Christian kings of Erinn, from 
Laeghaire to Maelseacldainn Mor, beginning, ' The Kings of 
faithful Temar afterwards'", etc. — [See original in Appendix, 
No. XXIX] 

It is to be observed- that Flann was the predecessor of Tigher- 
nach ; and without in the least degree derogating from the well- 
earned reputation of that distinguished annahst, enough of the 
works of Flann remain to show that he was a scholar of fully 
equal learning, and a historic investigator of the greatest merit. 

Let us now return to Tighernach, whose name stands among 
the first of Irish annalists ; and, as we shall see in investigating the 
portions of his works whicli remain to us, this position has been 
not unjustly assigned him. If we take into account the early 
period at whicli he wrote, the variety and extent of his know- 
ledge, the accuracy of his details, and the scholarly ciiticism 
and excellent judgment he displays, we must agree with the 
opinion expressed by the Rev. Charles O'Conor, that not one of 
the countries of northern Europe can exhibit a historian of equal 
antiquity, learning, and judgment with Tighernach. " No 
chronicler", says this author, " more ancient than Tighernach 
can be produced by the northern nations. Nestor, the father of 
Russian history, died in 1113; Snorro, the father of Icelandic 
history, did not appear until a century after Nestor ; Kadlubeck, 
the first historian of Poland, died in 1223; and Stierman could 
not discover a scrap of writing in all Sweden older than 1159". — 
[Stowe Catalogue, vol. i., p. 35.] 

In this statement, I may however observe, the learned author 
makes no mention of Bede, Gildas, or Nennius. With the great 
ecclesiastical historian of the Saxons, the Irish annahst does not 
come into comparison, as he did not treat exclusively of Church 
history ; but with the historians of the Britons, Tighernach may 
be most favourably compared. 

As to Tighernach's personal history, but Httle, unfortunately, 
is known. Little more can be said of him than that he was of 
the Siol Muireadhaigh, or Murray-race of Connacht, of which 
the O'Conors were the chief sept; his own name was Tigher- 
nach CBraoin. He appears to have risen to high consideration 
and ecclesiastical rank, for we find that he was Abbot of the 



58 



OF THE EARLY HISTORICAL WRITERS. 



Of Ticjher- 
nach (XI. 
Century). 



Monasteries of Clonmacnois and Roscommon, being styled the 
Comharba or " Successor" of Saint Ciaran and Saint Coman. 
The obituary notice in the Chronicimi Scotorum runs thus : — 
" A.D. 1088, Tifjhernach Ua Braoin, of the Siol Muireadhaigh 
[the race of the O'Conors of Connacht,] Comarba of Ciaran of 
Cluain-mic-nois and of Coman, died". — [See original in Ap- 
pendix, No. XXX.] The Annals of Innisfallen describe him 
as a Saoi, or Doctor in " Wisdom", Learning, and Oratory; and 
they record his death at the year 1088, stating that he was 
buried at Clonmacnois. These statements are confirmed by 
the Annals of Ulster. 



Of the Mo- 
nastery of 
Clonmac- 
nois. 



In speaking of Tighernach, I cannot pass without some notice 
the monastery over which he presided : an institution of great 
antiquity. It was one of those remarkable establishments, eccle- 
siastical and educational, which seem to have existed in great 
numbers, and to have attained a high degree of excellence in 
learning in ancient Erinn. Clonmacnois would appear to have 
been amply endowed, and to have enjoyed a large share of royal 
jDatronagc, several of the Kings and nobles of Meath and Con- 
nacht having chosen it as their place of sepulture. And we find 
it mentioned, that in many of the great establishments such as 
this, a very extensive staff of professors was maintained, repre- 
senting all branches of learning. We have already seen, in the 
case of Flann of the Monastery, that it was by no means neces- 
sary that those professors should be always ecclesiastics. 

Saint Ciaran was the founder of Clonmacnois. He was of 
Ulster extraction ; but his father (who was a carpenter) emi- 
grated into Connacht, and settled in Magh Ai (a plain, of which 
the present county of Roscommon forms the chief part) ; and 
here it was that young Ciaran was born, in the year 516. He 
studied at the great College of Clonard, in Westmeath, under 
the celebrated Saint Finnen ; and after finishing his education 
there, he went into the Island of Arann, on the coast of Clare, 
to perfect himself in religious discipline under the austere rule 
of Saint Enna. He returned again to Westmeath, where he 
received from a friendly chief a piece of ground upon which to 
erect a church. The situation of this church was low, and hence 
the church and locality obtained the name of Iseal Chiarain, or 
Ciaran's low place. 

Saint Ciaran, after some time, left one of his disciples to rule 
in this church, and, apparently for the purpose of greater soli- 
tude, retired into the island called Inis Ainghin, in the Shannon, 
now included in the barony of Kilkenny West, in the modern 
county of Westmeath. Here he founded another church, the 



OF THE EARLY HISTORICAL WRITERS. 59 

ruins (or site) of wliicli bear liis name to tliis clay. But the fame lect. m. 
of his wisdom, learning, and sanctity, soon brought round him Q^^j^gj^^ 
such a number of disciples and followers, that the limits of the nastery of 
island were insufficient for them, and he therefore resolved once nois!™*"" 
more to return to the main land of Westnicath. This was in the 
year 538, the last year of the reign of Tuathal Maelgarbh, mo- 
narch of Erinu. 

This Tuathal (pron: "Toohal") was the third in descent 
from the celebrated monarch Niall, known in history as Niall 
of the Nine Hostages ; and at the time that he came to the 
throne there was another young prince of the same race and of 
equal claims to the succession of Tara, namely, Diarmaid, the 
son of Fergus Cerrhheoil. 

The new king, Tuathal, feeling uneasy at the presence of a 
rival prince, banished Diarmaid from Tara, and ordered him to 
depart out of the territory of Meath. Diarmaid, attended by a 
few followers, betook himself in boats to the broad expansion of 
the Upper Shannon, living on the bounty of his friends at both 
sides of the river ; and in this manner did he spend the nine 
years that his opponent reigned. It was about this time that 
Saint Ciaran retiu-ned with his large establishment from Inis 
Ainghin to the main land, and Diarmaid, happening to be on the 
river in the neighbourhood of the place where they landed, went 
on shore and followed them to Druim Tihrait (Hill of the 
Well), now called Cluain-mic-nois, or Clonmacnois, where 
they stopped. As he approached them, he found Saint Ciaran 
planting the first pole of a church. " Wliat work is about being 
done here ?" said Diarmaid. " The erecting of a small church", 
said Saint Ciaran. " Well luay that indeed be its name", said 
Diarmaid, ^'■Eglais Beg, or The Little Church". " Plant the pole 
with me", said Saint Ciaran, "and let my hand be above your 
hand on it, and your hand and your sovereign sway shall be 
over the men of Erinn before long". " How can this be", said 
Diarmaid, "since Tuathal is monarch of Erinn, and I am exiled 
by him?" "God is powerful for that", said Ciaran. They then 
set up the pole, and Diarmaid made an offering of the place to 
God and Saint Ciaran. 

Diarmaid had a foster-brother in his train. This man's name 
was Maelmora. When he heard the prophetic words of the 
samt, he formed a resolution to verify them. With tliis purpose 
he set out, on horseback, to a place called Grellach Eillti (in 
the north part of the modern coimty of Westmeath), where he 
had learned that the monarch Tuathal then was : and havinfj 
by stratagem gained access to his presence, he struck him in the 
breast with his spear, and killed him. It is scarcely necessary 



60 OF THE EARLY HISTORICAL WRITERS. 

LECT. HI. to say tlaat Maelmora liimself was killed on the spot. However, 
no sooner was Tuatlial dead than Diarmaid's friends sought him 
nastery of out and brouglit him to Tara ; and the very next day he was 
aomnac- j^i-Qclaimed monarch of Erinn. [See Appendix, No. XXXI.] 

Diarmaid continued to be a bountiful benefactor to Clonmac- 
nois; and rmder his munificent patronage the Eglais heg, or 
Little Church, soon became the centre around which were 
grouped no less than seven churches, two Cloictechs, or Round 
Towers, and a large and important town, the lone ruins of which 
now form so picturesque an object on the east bank of the 
Shannon, about seven miles below Athlone. 

Clonmacnois continued to be the seat of learning and sanctity, 
the retreat of devotion and solitude, and the favourite place of 
interment for the kings, chiefs, and nobles of both sides of the 
Shannon, for a thousand years after the founder's time, till the 
rude hand of the despoiler plundered its shrines, profaned its 
sanctuaries, murdered or exiled its peaceful occupants, and 
seized on its sacred property. 

Fanciful as this account of the orioin of the far-famed Clon- 
macnois may at first sight appear, there still exists on the sj)ot 
evidence of its veracity, which the greatest sceptic would find it 
difficult to explain away. There stands within the ruined pre- 
cincts of this ancient monastery, a stone cross, on which, amongst 
many other subjects, are sculptured the figures of two men, 
holding an erect staff or pole between them ; and although the 
erection of this cross may belong (as I believe it does) to the 
beginning of the tenth century, and although it was then set up, 
no doubt, to commemorate the building of the Great Church by 
the monarch Flann and the Abbot Colman, there can be but 
little doubt, if any, that the two figures of men holding the pole 
were intended to perpetuate the memory of the manner of found- 
ing of the primitive Eglais beg, or Little Chm'ch, the liistory of 
which was then at least implicitly believed. 

Many abbots and scholars of distinction will be found amongst 
the inmates of this retreat of piety and learning at various 
periods. I shall mention here the names of but a few : 

A.D. 791. Saint Colchu Ua Dicinechda, surnamed The 
Wise, died on the 20tli February this year. He was supreme 
moderator or prelector, and master of the celebrated school of 
this abbey ; he was also a reader of divinity, and wrote a work, 
to which he gave the name of Scuap Crabhaigh, or the Besom 
of Devotion; he obtained the appellation of chief scribe, and 
was master of all the Scots of Ireland. Albin, or Alcuin, bishop 
of Tritzlar, in Germany, and one of Charlemagne's tutors, in a 
letter to Saint Colchu, informs him that he had sent fifty shekels 



OF THE EARLY HISTORICAL WRITERS. 61 

(a piece of money of the value of Is. 4d.) to tlie friars of his lect. iit. 
house, out of the alms of Charlemagne, and fifty shekels from q^^. ^^^. 
himself. nacfi. 

A.D. 887 died Suibhne, the son of Maehimha, a learned scribe 
and anchorite. Florence of Worcester calls him Suifneh, the 
most esteemed writer of the Scots, and says that he died in 892. 

A.D. 924. On the 7th February, the Sage, Doctor, and 
Abbot, Colman Mac Ailill, died full of years and honour ; he 
erected the Groat Chiu'ch where the patron saint lies interred. 

A.D. 981. On the IGth of January died Donncliadh OJBraoin^ 
liaAnng obtained a great repiitation for learning and piety; to 
avoid the appearance of vain glory, he resigned the govern- 
ment of his abbey in the year 974, and returned to Armagh, 
where he shut himself up in a small enclosure, and lived a lonely 
anchorite till his death. 

A.D. 1024. Fachtna, a learned professor and priest of Clon- 
macnois, Abbot of lona, and chief Abbot of Ireland, died this 
year in Rome, whither he had gone on a pilgrimage, etc. 

These are but a few of the distinguished childi'en of Clon- 
macnois previous to the time of Tighernach. 

Tighemach himself was undoubtedly one of the most remark- 
able of all the scholars of Clonmacnois. His learning appears 
to have been very varied and extensive. He quotes Eusebius, 
Orosius, Africanus, Bede, Josephus, Saint Jerome, and many 
other historic writers, and sometimes compares their statements 
on points in which they exhibit discrepancies, and afterwards 
endeavours to reconcile their conflicting testimony, and to cor- 
rect the chronological errors of one writer by comparison with 
the dates given by others. He also collates the Hebrew text 
with the Septuagint version of the Scriptures. 

These statements, which you will find amply verified when 
you come to examine the Annals of Tighernach in detail, will 
be sufiicient to show the extent of his general scholarship. It is 
to be presumed that he was perfectly acquainted with the seve- 
ral historical compositions which had been written previous to 
his time. 

The common era, or that computed from the Incarnation of 
our Lord, is used by Tighernach, though we have no reason to 
believe that it was so by the great Irish historical compilers 
who immediately preceded him. 

Tighernach also appears to have been familiar with some of 
the modes of correcting the calendar. He mentions the Lunar 
Cycle, and uses the Dominical letter with the kalends of several 
years ; but he makes no direct mention of the Solar Cycle or 
Golden Number. 



62 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



LECT. III. 

Of the An- 

KALS OF 
TlGHEK- 
NACH. 



I shall now proceed to consider tlie several copies of the 
Annals of Tighcrnach which have come down to us, all of 
which are nnfortiinately in a very imperfect state. 

Seven copies of these annals are now known to exist, besides 
the vellum fragment which I shall mention presently. Two 
of them in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, are described by 
Dr. O'Conor in his Stowe Catalogue ; and one of these he has 
pubhshed, without the continuation, in the second volume of 
his " Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores", a work which cannot 
be mentioned without a tribute of respect to the industry, 
learning, and patriotism of the author, and the spirited Hberality 
of the English nobleman (the late Marquis of Buckingham), 
at whose personal expense this work, in four volumes 4to, 
was printed. 

Two copies of Tighernach, one of them in English charac- 
ters, are to be found in the collection of the Royal Irish Aca- 
demy ; and one in the Hbrary of Trinity College. The last, 
although on paper, is the most perfect, the oldest, and the most 
original, of those now in Ireland. In the Trinity College 
Library there is however also preserved a fragment, consisting 
of three leaves of an ancient vellmn MS., apparently of Tig- 
hernach, though it is now bound up with the vellmn copy of 
the Annals of Ulster.^^^^ 

Two other but very inferior copies are to be found in the 
British Museum. The first of these (Egerton, 104, — Hardi- 
man MS.) is in small folio on paper, and has evidently been 
made either from one of the Stowe copies or from that in Trin. 
Coll. Dublin. It is a bad copy in every way. The handwrit- 
ing, both of the Gaedlilic text and of the inaccurate transla- 
tion which accompanies it, are (as well as my memory serves 
me) identical with that of the bad translation mixed with 
Gaedlilic words in the first volume of the MS. Annals of the 
Four Masters in the Library of the R.I. A., — the first of the two 
volumes in small folio. This copy of Tighernach commences 
at the same date as the T.C.D. copy, and comes down to 1163. 
The second in the British Museum (Egerton, 94, — Hardiman 
MS.) is but a bad copy of the last mentioned, made by a very 
inferior scribe. 

It is beheved that an eighth copy of these annals exists in 
the collection of Lord Ashburnham; but as that nobleman 
does not allow any access to his valuable Library of MSS., I 
am imable to say whether tliis is so or not. 

(33) See Appendix, No. XXXII., in which will be found some valuable re- 
marks xiiion this remarkable fragment kindly communicated to me by the Kev. 
Dr. Todd, S.F.T.C.D., while these sheets were passing through the press. 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 63 

These annals are of sucli importance to tlie illustration of lect. m. 
Irish History, that I shall offer no apology for introducing here q^^^^^ ^j,. 
some particular account of the copies which still remain. nals of 

Dr. O'Conor has carefully examined those in the Bodleian nach. 
Library, and from his account of them, the following extracts 
are taken (Stowe Catalogue, Vol. I. p. 191, etc.). 

" It has not been liitherto observed", says this writer, " that Dr.oconors 
there are two Oxford cojDies, both imperfect : the first escaped '^'"'^o'^^"'- 
Sir J. Ware, though he had the use of it, and entered it in his 
catalogue as another work. It is marked ' Rawlinson', No. 
502. In a label prefixed to it, in Ware's hand, it is described 
thus : — ' Annales ab Urbe condita usque ad initium Imperii An- 
tonini Pii ' (Annals from the building of the city to the reign of 
Antoninus Pius). 

" This MS. begins, in Its present mutilated condition, with 
that part of Tighernach's chronicle, where he mentions the 
foundation of Rome, and consists only of a few leaves ending 
with the reign of Antoninus ; but it is valuable as a fragment 
of the twelfth centmy. Very brief are the notices of Ireland, 
which are mixed up with the early parts of Tighernach. He 
questions the veracity of all the most ancient docmnents rela- 
ting to Ireland; and makes the historical epoch begin from 
Cimhaoth, and the founding of Emania, about the eighteenth 
year of Ptolemy Lagus, before Cluist 289. ' Omnia Monu- 
menta Scotorum', says he, ' usque Cimboeth incerta erant'. 
(All the monuments of the Scots to the time of Cimboeth 
were uncertain.) 

" But yet he gives the ancient lists of the kings as he found 
them in the ' Vetera Monumenta'. 

" In the fragment, RawHnson, 502, fol. 1 b., col. 1, line 33, 
the end of the reign of Cobthach, the son of Ugaine, he syn- 
chronizes Avith the Prophet Ezechias, thus given : — Cobtach the 
Slender, of Bregia, the son of Ugan the Great, was burned with 
thirty royal Princes about him in Dun Riga, of the plain of 
Ailb, in the royal palace of the hill of Tin-bath (^Tin is fire, 
hath is to slay), as the ancients relate, by Labrad, of ships, the 
beloved son of Ailill, the illustrious son of Laogare the Fierce, 
son of Ugan the Great, in revenge for the murder of his father 
and grandfather, killed by Cobtach the Slender. A war arose 
fi'om this between Leinster and the Northern half of Ireland. 

" The second copy of Tighernach in the Bodleian, ' Raw- 
linson', 488, has not tliis passage, neither has it any part of 
this MS. preceding the time of Alexander. But from thence 
both agree, to where the fu'st ceases, in the reign of Anto- 
ninus; the loss of the remainder of that MS. is the more 



64 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



LECT. iir. 

Of tlie An- 
nals OF 
TlGHER- 
NACH. 



lamentable, as the MS., No. 488, is imperfect and very ill 
transcribed. ' The quotations from I^atin and Greek authors 
in Tighernach are very numerous ; and his balancing their autho- 
rities against each other, manifests a degree of criticism uncom- 
mon m the iron age in which he Hved. He quotes Maehnura's 
poem, thus: 

" Finit quarta setas, incipit quinta, quae continet annos 589, 
ut Poeta ait: — The foiu'th age of the world finishes, the fifth 
commences, which contains 589 years as the poet says". — [See 
original in Appendix, No. XXXIIL] 

[From the bondage of the people to the birth of the Lord, 
Five hundred and eighty nine years of a truth ; 
From Adam to the birth of Mary's glorious Son, 
Was three thousand nine himdred and fifty -two years.] 

" This is a quotation from the Irish poem of Maelmura 
already mentioned ; from which it appears that both followed 
the chronology of the Hebrew text, rejecting that of the 
Seventy. 

" Several leaves of this MS. are missinof at the bcffinnino-. 
In its present state, the first words are, ' regnare inchoans', and 
then follows the reign of Ptolemy Lagus, king of Egypt, the 
successor of Alexander, from whose eighteenth year he dates 
the founding of Eomania. The leaf paged 4 by Ware, is 
really the third leaf of the book ; so that in Ware's time it ap • 
pears to have had one leaf more than at present. The leaf 
marked 5, is the 4th — that marked 6, is the 5th — that marked 

7, is the 6th. The next leaf is numbered 8 ; but this is an ad- 
ditional error, for one folio is missing between it and the pre- 
ceding ; so that it is neither the 8th in its present state (but 
the 7th), nor was it the 8th in Ware's time, or at any time. Its 
preceding leaf ends with an account of St. Patrick's captivity, 
and the reign of Julian ; whereas the first fine of the leaf paged 

8, relates the death of St. Cianan, of Duleek, to whom St. 
Patrick committed his copy of the Gospels ; so that there is a 
whole century missing, from St. Patiick's captivity, A.D. 388, to 
Ciaran's death in 490. 

" In the MS., Rawlinson, 488, the years are frequently 
marked on the margins in Arabic numerals, opposite to leading 
facts — thus, at fol. 7, col. 3, of the MS., counting the leaves as 
they now are, opposite to the words ' Patricius nunc natus est', 
the margin bears the date 372 ; and opposite the words, ' Pa- 
tricius captivus in Hiberniam ductus est ' (col. 4), the margin 
bears the date 388 ; and opposite to the words kal. iii. Aiias- 
tasius Regnat, annis xxviii. ' Patricius Archiepiscopus et Apos- 



NACH. 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 65 

tolus Hiberniensium anno oetatis siice, cxx. die. xvi. kal. April, lect. hi. 
quievit, folio, paged 8, col. 1, tlie margin bears tlie date 491. ^ ^^^^^ 

" The two former of these dates are accurate ; but the latter is annals of 
repugnant to the mind of Tighernach, who quotes a very ancient 
Irish Poem on St. Patrick's death, to prove that he died in 
493, thus [see original in Appendix, No. XXXIV.] : 

" From the birth of Christ — happy event, 
Four hundred and fair ninety. 
Three noble years along with that. 
Till the death of Patrick, Chief Apostle. 

" The next year is erroneously marked on the margin 492 ; 
it ought to be 494. 

" The marginal annotator has marked the years in Arabics, 
opposite to all the subsequent initials of years, in conformity 
with his calculation of 491 for the death of St. Patrick, and he 
errs also by omitting some of Tighernach's dates in that very 
page. Tighernach's work ends at page 20, col. 1, of this MS. 
The remainder, to folio pagM3d 29 inclusive, is the Continuation 
of Tighernach's Annals, from his death in 1088, to 1178 inclu- 
sive. The whole is in one hand. 

" It is also to be observed that one leaf is missing after that 
marked 14 ; the next is marked 16 ; and the hiatus is to be la- 
mented, extending from 765 inclusive, to 973 — a period of 228 
years. 

" From tliis account", says Dr. O'Conor, " it is clear that no 
good edition of Tighernach can be founded on any copy in 
the British Islands ; for that of Dublin, and all those hitherto 
discovered, are foimded on the Oxford MS., which is imperfect 
and corrupted by the ignorance of its transcriber. Lines, 
speaking of this MS., says — ' The Chronicle of Tighernach, 
which Sir J. Ware possessed, and is now in the Duke of 
Chandos' Library, is a very ancient MS., but seems not so 
entire as one that is often quoted by O'Flaherty' — Critical 
Essay^ vol. ii. p. 504. 

" O'Flaherty 's copy is quoted in the Journal des Scavans, 
tom. iv. p. 64, and tom. vi. p. 51, year 1764, in these words: — 
' Many learned strangers, in acknowledging the history of Ire- 
land, give her annals as of an antiquity very considerable and 
an universally approved authenticity. This is the judgment 
given by Stillingileet in the preface to his Antiquities, where 
he appears, on the contrary, to make of very little consequence 
all the moniunents of the Scotch. Mr. Innes, who never flat- 
ters the Irish, acknowledges the antiquity as well as the au- 
thenticity of their Annals, particularly those of Tighernach, 

5 



66 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



LECT. Ill 

Oftlie 
Annaxs op 

Tl'iHEE- 
KACH. 



. Inisfallen, and of several others. He remarks tliat tlie copy 
of tlie Annals of Tigliernacli, wliicli belonged to Mr. O'Fla- 
liertj, author of the Ogjgia, appears more perfect than that 
fomid in the library of the Duke of Chandos. I believe it 
my duty to declare here, continues this writer, that I pos- 
sess actually this same copy of the Annals of Tighernach, which 
was possessed by Mr. O'Flaherty, with an ancient Apograph 
of the Chronicle of Clonmacnois, which is well kno^vn under 
the title of Chronicon Scotorum Cluanense, and which belonged 
also to the same Mr. O'Flaherty, who cites it very often in Iris 
Ogygia. I possess also a perfect and authentic copy of the 
Aimals of Inisfallen". 

The copy of Tighcrnach's Annals here last alluded to, there is 
every reason to beheve, is that now in the library of Trinity Col- 
lege, DubUn [H. 1. 18]. The saionjmous writer in the Journal 
des Sgavans was, I have scarcely any doubt, the Abbe Connery ; 
though he may possibly have been the Rev., afterwards the 
Right Rev., Dr. J. O'Brien, Bishop of Cluain Uamha (Cloyne). 

How the MS. passed from the hands of R. O'Flaherty 
into those of the Abbe, we know not, nor is it certain what 
their destination was after his decease. I believe it Ukely that 
they were for some time the property of the Chevalier O'Gor- 
man, though at what period they came into Ireland is not clear ; 
but they appear to have been at one time in the possession of the 
above-mentioned Dr. O'Brien (the author of an Irish-English 
Dictionary, printed at Paris in 1768), who probably brought 
them to Ireland about that time. 

The copy in the hbrary of Trinity College, Dublin, under- 
went a pretty careful and accurate examination at the hands of 
the Rev. Dr. O'Conor, and he has left an autograph account 
of his investigation of it, which is now prefixed to the volume. 
This critical examination is the more important as having been 
made by one so familiar with the other copies of this codex in 
the Bodleian Library, and as it well shows the actual state and 
comparative value of the Trinity College MS., it is well worthy 
the attention of the student. ^^^^ 

The Trinity College MS. appears to have almost exactly 
the same defects as those in the RawHnson MS., No. 488 in 
the Bodleian Library. Both, Dr. O'Conor says, begin with the 
same words ; but this we do not find to be accurately and literally 
the case, comparing the Trinity College MS. with the version 
of the Rawlinson MS., 488, printed in the second volume of 
the Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores. Doctor O'Conor enters 

(34) The greater part of this MS, account by Dr. O'Couor of the MS. in 
T.C.D. will be found in the Appendix, No. XXXIV. 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 67 

with mucli detail into an argument to show that the T.C.D. lect. m. 
MS. was copied, and, as he tliinks, by a very illiterate scribe, 
from the Bodleian MS. (Rawlinson, 488). He points outA^^-ALsoy 
various faults in the Irish and Latin orthography and grammar nIcu!'^" 
peculiar to both, and indeed identical in the two copies. 

We have already mentioned that there are two copies of the 
Annals in the library of the Royal Irish Academy, but both, 
it is much to be regretted, are exceedingly imj^erfect. One, 
that in the Irish character, is probably from the hand of the 
Abbe Connery already alluded to. 

From all that has been said, it will appear that not any one, 
nor even a collation and combination of all the copies of these an- 
nals now known to be extant, afford us any possibihty of forming 
even a tolerably complete text. In their present state, all the 
copies want some of the most important parts relating to our 
early history, and many chasms exist at several of our most me- 
morable epochs. 

The authority of Tighernach is commonly appealed to by 
modern writers on Irish affairs, m fixing the date at which our 
national records should be deemed to fall within the domain 
of credible and authentic history. His well-known statement 
that the monuments of the Scoti before the time of Cimhaoth 
and the founding of Emania (about 300 years before the birth 
of our Lord) were uncertain, has been almost universally ac- 
cepted and ser^alely copied without examination. And yet, on 
examining the remains of his Amials which we now possess, 
we shall find it extremely difficult to decide how he was led to 
this conclusion, as to the value of our records previous to this 
period, records which we know to have existed in abundance 
in his time. [See Appendix, No. XXXIL] We have now no 
means of knowing why he was induced to adopt this opinion, or 
what may have been the grounds of it ; or why, again, he fixed 
on this particular event — one remarkable not in the general 
national annals, but in those of a single province — as that from 
wliich alone to date all the true history of the whole country. 
It is, at all events, exceedingly remarkable that he should have 
assumed a provincial era instead of a general national one, and 
that he should have chosen the buildhig of the palace of Emania, 
in the province of Ulster, near Ardmagh, instead of some event 
connected with the great national palace of Tara, the existence 
and preeminence of which he himself admits in the first passage 
of the fragments which remain to us. 

In the Rawhnson MS., 488, a,s printed by Dr. O'Conor, we 
find the passage rims thus : 

" In anno x"sdii. Ptolemsei, iuitiatus est reguare in Eamain 

5b 



68 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



Of the 

ASNALS OP 

TiGHEK- 

NACH. 



LECT. III. (i.e., in Eraania Ultoni^ Regia), Cimbaeth, filius Fintain, qui 
resnavit annis xviii. Tvmc in Temair, Eachach-buadhach 
ATHAiR Ugaine (i.e., Tunc in Temoria totius Hiberniae Regia 
regnabat Eocliaclius Victor, pater Ugaini)". That is (for the 
explanatory words in tlie parentlieses are O'Conor's) : "In tlie 
18tli year of Ptolemy, Cinibaotli, son of Fintan, began to reign 
in Emania, who reigned eighteen years. Then Eochaidh, the 
Victorious, the father of Ugaine, reigned in Tara". [But see 
Appendix, No. XXXV.] But he immediately after says, "all 
the monuments of the Scoti to the time of Cimbaoth were un- 
certain": (" Omnia monumenta Scotorum usque Cimbaoth in- 
certa erant"). 

Of this singular preference of the provincial to the national 
monarch as the one from whose reign to date the commence- 
ment of credible Irish history, we can offer no solution. It is, 
moreover, to be remarked that, at least in the copies of his An- 
nals now extant, Tighernach continues to give the succession of 
the Emanian monarchs in regular order through ten successive 
generations, without noticing the contemporary rulers at Tara, of 
whom no mention is again made until we come to the reign of 
Duach Dalta Deadhgha, whom he makes king of Erinn about 
48 years before the birth of our Lord, when Cormac Mac Lagh- 
tegJii, or Loitigh, reigned in Emania. This period he synchro- 
nizes with the battle between Julius Caesar and Pompey. 

The next kings of Erinn he mentions are the two Eochaidhs, 
whom he makes contemporary with Eochaidh Mac Daire, 
twelfth king of Emania. But throughout it is to be remarked, 
and not without great cause for surjarise, that the Emanian dy- 
nasty is given the place of precedence, which, as far as we know, 
is not to be found assigned to it in the works of any other 
historian of an earlier or later period. It is also to be observed, 
that this preference for the Emanian dynasty is quite inconsistent 
with his own statement as given under the reign of Findchadh 
mac Baicheda, eighth king of Emania, about 89 years before 
the Christian era, when he says : " Thirty kings there were of the 
Leinster men over Erinn from Labhraidh Loingsech to Caihair 
M6r\ — [See original in Appendix, No. XXXVL] Now accord- 
ing to the best Irish chronologists, Lahhraidh Loingseach reigned 
a.m. 4677 (B.C. 522), and (7a^/ua> il/o> died a.d. 166. By this it 
is evident, that Tighernach here recognizes the existence of a su- 
preme dynasty at Tara, ruling over Erinn at least 200 years before 
the founding of Emania, or the period at which he in a former 
statement says that the credible history of Erinn commences. 

It is also to be noticed, that while the details of foreign his- 
tory given by Tighernach relating to remarkable occurrences 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 69 

at and preceding' the Christian era are very ample, his accomits l ect. hi. 
of Irish events down to the third or fomth century, are ex- ^^ 
ceedingly meagre and scanty. annals of 

Thus, he only mentions by name many of the kings whose kIch^''" 
reigns, from other som'ccs, we know to have been filled with 
remarkable and important acts. He barely notices the birth 
and death of Cuclndainn, and gives but a few passing words to 
the Tain ho Chuailgne, a national event, as we have already 
shown, of such interest and importance ; and all these events, 
be it remarked, falling within the historic period as Hmited 
by himself. 

We may also observe that there is reason to think, from 
some few facts exclusively mentioned by him, that he had be- 
fore him at the time of compiling his annals, ancient records 
not available to subsequent writers, as is shown by his accomit 
of the manner of Conor Mac Nessa's death, and liis notice of 
the battle of "Craunagh" (vide O'Conor's Annals of Tigher- 
nach. Anno Domini 33). 

Tighernach undoubtedly takes the succession of the kings xhe chrono- 
of Emania from Eochaidh O'Flinn's poem, which enumerates ^of^Eolhai^dh 
them from Cimbaoth to Fergus Foglia. A fine copy of this <J'-t'i"'n- 
curious poem is preserved in the Book of Leinster (fol. 11.), 
and two in the Book of Lecan. These different copies give 
us an important instance of the irregularities which must, 
almost of necessity, creep into dates and records which depend 
on irresponsible transcription, where the smallest departvu'e 
from accuracy, particularly in the enumeration of dates, will lead 
to confusion and inconsistency. In the copy of this poem pre- 
served in the Book of Leinster, — a compilation of the middle of 
the twelfth centmy, — the duration of the Ulster dynasty, from 
Cimbaoth to Conor Mac Nessa, is set down at 400 years, and 
the dm-ation from Cimbaoth to the final overthrow ^of the 
Ulster sovereignty by the Three Collas, at 900 years. Now 
the destruction of this power by the Collas in the Battle of 
Achaidh Leitliderg, in Farney, took place in a.d. 331, which 
number, added to the four hundred years from Cimbaoth to 
Conor, would make but 731 years instead of 900. 

Again, in each of the copies in the Book of Lecain, the 
space from Cimbaoth to Conor is set down as 450 years, and 
still they give the entire duration as 900 years. 

Indeed the dangers of error in transcription are admitted 
in a very ancient poem in the Book of Leinster itself (folio 104), 
in which many matters of actual occurrence, but raised to fabu- 
lous importance, though not affecting chronology, are explained 
aAvay. This curious poem consists of 111 stanzas, and its 



70 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



Of the 

Anxals of 

TlGHEK- 
NACH. 



:.ECT. in. autliorsliip is ascribed to Gilla-an-Chomdech Ua Cormaic, of 
" whom I know nothing more. It begins: — 

" O, King of Heaven, clear my way". — [See original in 
Appendix, No. XXXVII.] 

However laboriously Tighernach may have worked to fix a 
starting date for Irish chronology, it is quite evident that the ma- 
terials froin which he drew, were those records, poems, and other 
compositions of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries, in 
which the length of reigns of the kings of Tara and of Emania 
are set out. For, having once fixed, say, the date of the found- 
ing of Emania, and the Roman era, and the corresponding 
king of Tara, he seems to have done little more, and indeed 
to have had occasion to do Httle more, than to correct the errors 
of dates, chiefly given in round nmnbers, and which after any 
considerable lapse of time must have led to errors in computa- 
tion and to false chronology. But as far as we can judge, Tigher- 
nach had not put the finishing hand to his work at the time of 
his death, and, his observations on the ante-Emanian period 
being lost, we are left very much in the dark as to the grounds 
of his views. 

From all that has been said, I think it is not unreasonable to 
conclude, that this great annalist was surprised by the hand of 
death, when he had but laid down the broad outlines, the 
skeleton as it were, of his annals ; and that the work was never 
finished. 



oftiieFoun- 'pj-^g founding of the palace of Emania, taken as the starting 
Emania. point of credible Irish history by Tighernach, is an event of 
such importance as to warrant a digression here, and to require 
us to give some account of the circumstances which led 
to the erection of this seat of royalty in the north. The fol- 
lowing is a nearly literal account of the event, from a tract in 
the Book of Leinster. — [See the text of the original, with an 
exact translation, in Appendix, No. XXXVIII.] 

"What is the origin of the name Emliain Madia?'' begins 
the wiiter, " Three kings that were upon Erinn in co-sove- 
reignty. They were of the Ulstermen, namely, Dithorba, the 
son of Dimaii, from Uisnech, in Meath; Aedh Ruadh, the son, 
of Badvirn, son of Airgetmar, of Tir Aedh [now Tir-Hugh, 
in Donegal] ; and Cimhaoth, the son of Fintan, son of Arget- 
mar, from Finnahair, of Magli Inis\ 

These kings made a compact, that each of them should 
reign seven years in turn, and this compact was confirmed by 
the guarantee of seven druids, seven jiles, and seven young 
chiefs (or champions) ; the seven druids to crush them by their 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS 71 

incantations, the seven files to lacerate tliem by their satires, lect. hi. 
and the seven young champions to slay and burn them, should oftheFoua- 
the proper man of them not receive the sovereignty at the end dationof 
of each seventh year. And the righteousness of their sove- 
reignty was to be made manifest by the usual accompaniments 
of a just government, namely, abundance of the fruits of the 
earth, an abundance of dye-stuffs for all colouring, and that 
women shoidd not die in childbirth. 

They Hved until each reigned three times in his turn, that 
is, during the space of sixty -three years. Aedli Ruadh was 
the first of them that died, ha'V'ing been ch'owned in the great 
cataract named from him Eas Ruaidli (or Easroe), at Bally- 
shannon, near Sligo, and his body was carried to the hill there ; 
hence Aedlis Hill, and Easruaidh. Aedh left no sons and but 
one daughter, who was named Macha Mongruadli (or Alacha the 
red-haired), who after her father's death claimed his place in the 
sovereignty ; but Dithorha and Cimbaoth said that they would 
not allow a woman to have any share in the government. 

Macha thereupon raised an army amongst her friends, 
marched against the two kings, gave them battle and defeated 
them, and then took her turn of seven years of the monarchy. 

Dithorha was killed in battle soon after, but left live sons 
who also claimed their turn of the sovereignty. Macha said 
she woidd not admit them, as it was not tmder the former gua- 
rantee that she had obtained her sovereignty, but by right of 
battle. The young - princes therefore raised an army and en- 
gaged the queen in battle, in which they were defeated with 
the loss of all their followers. 3Iacha then banished them into 
the wilds of Connacht, after which she married her co-sove- 
reig-n Cimbaoth, to whom she resigned the command of the 
national, or perhaps more correctly, the provincial army. 

Macha having now consolidated her power, and secured 
her throne against all claimants but the sons of Dithorha, laid 
a plan for their destruction ; and, with this intention, she went 
into Connacht, where she soon discovered their retreat, cap- 
tured and carried them prisoners into Ulster. The Ulstermen 
demanded that they should be put to death, but Macha said 
that that would make her reign mirighteous, and that she would 
not consent to it, but that she would enslave them, and con- 
demn them to build a rath or court for her, which should be 
the chief city of Ulster for ever. And she then marked out 
the foundations of the court with her golden brooch, which she 
took from her breast (or neck) ; and hence the name of Emain, 
or rather Eomuin, from Eo a breast-pin or brooch, and Muin 
the neck, — which when compomided make Eomuin, — now 



Collar. 



72 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 

LECT. Ill, inacciu-ately Latinized Emania, instead of Eomania. Ulster was 
then erected into a kingdom with Cimbaoth for its first king. 

This occm-red, according to some authorities, 405 years before 
the Incarnation of our Lord (O'Flinn's poem makes it 450 
years), and it was not till the year 331 of the Christian era 
that Emania was destroyed by the Collas, and the Ultonian 
dynasty overthrown. 

Of the Xhe princes known in the ancient Chronicles of Erinn as the 

Destruction rrw An i ^ • n • i • 

of Emania; Inrce Coilas, make such an important ngru'e m history m con- 
^The Three nection with the destruction of Emania, that it is but proper to 
give a brief account of them. 

Cairhre Lifechair succeeded his father, the celebrated Cormac 
Mac Art, in the sovereignty of Erinn, a.d. 267. This Cairbre, 
who was killed in the Battle of GabJira, or Gawra, left three 
sons, namely, Fiacha SrahtenS, Eochaidh, and Eochaidh Domh- 
Un. Fiaclia Srahtene succeeded his father, Cairhre; but his 
reign, though long, was not peaceable, being disturbed by the 
sons of his brother, Eochaidh DomUn, namely, the Three Collas 
(Colla Uais, or the Noble, — CoUa Meann, or the Stammerer, — 
and Colla Fochri, or of the Earth, earthy, claylike), who 
revolted against him, and at last, at the head of a large num- 
ber of followers, gave him battle at Dubh-Cho7nar, near Tailltin 
(now Telltown, in the modern county of Meath), Avhere they 
overthrew and killed him, after which Colla Uais assumed the 
monarchy of Erinn, which he held for four years. 

Fiacha, the late monarch, had, however, left a son, Muireadh- 
ach, who, in his turn, made war on Colla Uais, drove him from 
the sovereignty, and forced liimself and his brothers and their 
followers to fly into Scotland. Here they led such a Hfe of 
turmoil and danger, that in three years' time they returned into 
Ireland and surrendered themselves iij) to their cousin, the mo- 
narch, to be punished as he might think fit, for the death of his 
father. Muireadhach, however, seeing that they were brave 
men, declined to visit them with any pmiishment ; but, mak- 
ing friends with them, he took them into his pay and confi- 
dence, and gave them command in his army. After some years, 
however, he proposed to them to establish themselves in some 
more independent position than they could attain in his service, 
and pointed to the conquest of the kingdom of Ulster as a project 
worthy of their ambition. The Collas agreed to make war on 
Ulster, and for that purpose marched with a numerous band of 
followers into that country, and encamped at the Cam oiAchaidh 
Leith derg, in Fearnmhaigh (Farney, in the modern county of 
Monaghan). From this camp they ravaged the country around 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 73 

them, until the Ulstermen, under their king Fergus Fogha, lect. hi. 
came to meet tliem, when a contested battle was fought for ^^ ^^^ 
six days, in which, at length, the Ulstermen were defeated, Destruction 
and forced to abandon the field. They were followed by their 
victorious enemies, and driven over Glen JRighS (the valley 
of the present Newry Water), into the district, which forms 
the modern comities of Down and Antrim, from which they 
never after returned. The Collas destroyed Emania, and then 
took the whole of that part of Ulster (now forming the modern 
counties of Armagh, Louth, Monaghan, and Fermanagh) into 
theii' own hands as Swordland ; and it was held by their descen- 
dants, the Maguires, Mac Mahons, O'Hanlons, and others, down 
to the confiscation of Ulster under the English king, James 
the First. 

Thus ended the Ultonian dynasty, after a period of more than 
seven hundred years' duration, and the glories of Emania and 
of the House and Knights of the Royal Branch were lost for 
ever. 



LECTURE IV 



[Delivered March 22, 1855 ] 



The Annals (continued). 2. The Annals of Inisfallen. 3. The Annals 
called the Annals of Boyle. The Poems of O Huidhrin. i. The Annals 
of Senait Mac Manus, called the Annals of Ulster. 

According to the order I liave prescribed to myself, we proceed 
now to the consideration of the Annals compiled subsequent 
to the period of Tighernach (pronounced nearly "Teer-nah"). 

It is generally supposed that a considerable interval of time 
elapsed between the year 1088, in which this great Irish histo- 
rian died, and the appearance of any other body of historic 
composition deserving the name of Annals ; and it will be ne- 
cessary for us to inquire whether any writers on Irish affairs 
existed within this period requiring notice at oiu' hands, in order 
that we may folloAv the chain of historic composition with some 
degree of uniformity 
continua- It is, liowever, to be observed here, that in the existing 
A^inai^o'r copies of Tigliemacli we find the annals continued to the year 
Tighernach.', 1407; that is, to a date more than three hundred years subse- 
quent to Tighernach's own time. It is not improbable that the 
original body of these annals was gradually and progressively 
enlarged ; but we have no rehable information as to the precise 
manner in which, or the persons by whom, the earlier parts of 
the continuation were made. 

In the commencement of the fifteenth century we find re- 
corded the death of a certain Augustin MacGrady, who, it is 
well known, laboured at the continuation of these annals ; but 
we again find them continued after his death, which happened 
in 1405, down to the year 1407 (where they end imperfect), 
though by what hand is not certain. 

The following entry is found in the Annals themselves at the 
end of the year 1405 : — 

" Augustin Ma Gradoigh, a canon of the canons of the Island 
of the Saints [in Loch Ribh in the Shannon] , a Saoi (or Doctor) 
during his life, in divine and worldly Wisdom, in Literature, 
in History, and in various other Sciences in like manner, and 
the Doctor [Ollamli] of good oratory, of western Europe, — the 
man who compiled this book, and many other books, both of 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. iO 

tlie Lives of tlie Saints and of historical events, — died on tlie lkct. iv . 
Wednesday before tlie first day of November, in the fifty-sixth ^^ ^.^^^ 
year of his age, on the sixth day of the moon. May the mercy Annalists 
of the Saviom- Jesus Chnst come upon his soul". [See origi- to rigfer- 
nal in Appendix, No. XXXIX.] _ _ ""'"■ 

It is not improbable that the subsequent continuation of 
Tighernach may have been carried on by some member of the 
same fraternity. 

In enumerating those of om* national records to which the 
name of Annals has been given, we have commenced with those of 
Tighernach, because these annals seemed naturally to claim our 
attention in the first place, not only on account of their extent 
and importance, but in consideration of the scholarship and 
judgment exhibited in their composition. It is by no means 
certain, however, that they were the first in order of time. 
There is great reason to believe that both local and general an- 
nals were kept, even long before the tune of Tighernach, in some 
of the great ecclesiastical and educational estabhsliments, and 
also by some of those accomplished lay scholars of whom men- 
tion is so frequently made as having flourished in the eighth, 
ninth, and tenth centimes. 

We have before, in the remarkable instance of Flann 3Iai- 
nistrech, called attention to the great learning and the devotion to 
scholarly pm'suits which were to be found in Irish laymen of 
the tenth and eleventh centuries. And when we reflect that 
tliis learning and this devotion to the pursuit of knowledge 
were often combined with exalted social rank, sometimes even 
princely, and with the enjoyment of extensive territorial sway, 
I think the fact ofters evidence of a cultivation and difliiision of 
literatiu-e, which, at so early a period, would do honour to the 
history of any country. We shall have frequent occasion to 
speak of this class of Irish scholars. 

The next existing compilation after that of Tighernach, in of the 
order of time, is the very extensive body of ecclesiastical as bfisFALLEw. 
well as general historic records, known as the Annals of Inis- 
F ALLEN. The composition of these Annals is usually attri- 
buted to the early part of the thiiteenth century (about a.d. 
1215), but there is very good reason to believe that they were 
commenced at least two centuries before this period. 

The Monastery of Tnis Faitldenn (pron: " Inish Fah-len"), 
or Inisfallen, on the island of the same name, in Loch Lein 
(the Lake of Killarney), is of great antiquity, dating from the 
sixth century, in the latter part of which it was founded by 



76 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 

LECT. rv. Saint Finan Lohhar, wlio was also tlie founder of Ard Finan (in 
tlie modern County of Tipperary), and other cliurclies. The 

Monastery of festival of the Saint was observed on the 16th of March, accor- 

iNisFALLEN. ^^^ ^^ ^|^g Martyrology of Aengus CeiU De. 

Amongst those who floimshed in this monastery, at the close 
of the tenth century, we find the name of Maelsuthain OCear- 
hhcdll (pron: " Mailsoohan O'Carroll"). This remarkable man 
was Lord of the Eoganaclit or Eugenian Tribes of the terri- 
tory of Loch Lein. It is probable that he had received his 
early education within the walls of Inisfallen ; and at the close 
of his days, after an eventful life, we find him again amongst 
its inmates, as was not unusual with princes in those times. 
Maelsuthain appears to have attained great eminence as a scho- 
lar. He is styled the chief Saoi or Doctor of the western 
world, in the notice of his death, under the year 1009, in the 
Annals of the Foui* Masters. He attained also a high degree of 
consideration amongst his contemporary princes. 

There is reason to think that Brian BoroimhS was educated 
under the care of this Maelsuthain; and at a subsequent time 
we find him named the Anmchara, or Coimsellor, of that 
great Dalcassian chief, when monarch of Erinn. His asso- 
ciation with Brian is well evidenced by a curious note still 
leofible in the Book of Armagh. This note was written about 
1002, by Maelsuthahis own hand, in the presence of the king. 
This valuable entry shall be brought under yom* more imme- 
diate consideration on a futm'e occasion ; I only mention it at 
present, as affording proof of the important rank and position 
of O'Carroll. 

Lesenrt of Amougst somc fcw otlicr notices of Maelsuthain which I 

OTarroii!'"* liavc met with, the following is altogether so singidar, and 
throws light on so many subjects of interest to the Irish histo- 
rian, that, though of a legendary character, I think it worthy of 
a place here. [See original in Appendix, No. XL.] I may 
observe that I have seen bvit one copy of the tract in which it 
is found.^^^^ 

" There came three students at one time", says the narrator, 
" from Cuinnire" [the ancient church from which the diocese 
of Conor, in Ulster, is now named] " to receive education 

(35) This tract is in a MS. on vellum, in two parts or volumes quarto, writ- 
ten in the year 1434 (part i. fol. 63, a.) The writing is often apparently that of 
an unprofessional scribe, who seems to have copied largely from sources now 
lost to us. These MSS. belong to James Marinus Kennedy, Esq., of 47 
Gloucester Street, Dubhn, to whom they were handed down from his ancestor, 
Dr. Fergus. They are known by the name of the "Liber Flavus Fergu- 
sorum". These MSS. were lent me a few years ago by the owner, and a 
general Hst of their contents will be fomid in the Appendix, No. XLI. 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS 77 

from the Anmchara of Brian Mac Kennedy (or Brian Bo- lect. iv. 
roimhe); tliat is Maelsuthain O'Carroll, of the Eoo-anachts of, ^ , 

' • • LPffGncl of 

Loch Lein, because he was the best sage of his time. These Maeuuthnin 
three students resembled each other in figure, in featm'cs, and ^*^'*"°"- 
in their name, which was Domnall. They remained three 
years learning with him. At the end of three years, they said 
to their preceptor: ' It is our desire', said they, 'to go to Jeru- 
salem, in the laud of Judea, in order that our feet may tread 
every path which the Saviour walked in when on Earth'". 
The master answered: 'You shall not go until you have left 
with me the reward of my labour'. 

"Then the pupils said: ' We have not', said they, ' anything 
that we could give, but we will remain three years more, to 
serve you humbly, if you wish it'. ' I do not wish t1iat\ said he ; 
' but yoix shall grant me my demand, or I will lay my curse upon 
you'. ' We will grant you that', said they, ' if we have it'. He 
then bound them by an oath on the Gospel of the Lord. ' You 
shall go in the path that you desire', said he, ' and you shall die 
all at the same time together, on the pilgrimage. And the de- 
mand that I require from you is, that you go not to Heaven 
after your deaths, until you have first visited me, to tell me the 
length of my life, and until you tell me whether I shall obtain 
the peace of the Lord'. ' We promise you all this', said they, 
' for the sake of the Lord' ; and then they left him their bless- 
ings (and departed). 

" In due time they reached the land of Judea, and walked in 
every path in which they had heard the Saviour had walked. 

" They came at last to Jerusalem, and died together 
there ; and they were burled with great honour in Jerusalem. 
Then jNlichael the Archangel came from God for them. But 
they said : ' We will not go, vmtil we have fulfilled the promise 
which we made to oiu* preceptor, under our oaths on the Gospel 
of Christ'. ' Go', said the angel, ' and tell him that he has still 
three years and a half to live, and that he goes to Hell for all 
eternity, after the sentence of the day of judgment'. 

" ' Tell us', said they, ' why he is sent to Hell'. ' For three 
causes', said the angel, ' namely, because of how much he in- 
terpolates the canon; and because of the number of women 
with whom he has connexion ; and for having abandoned the 
Altus'.^^«^ 

(36) The AJtus. This was the celebrated poem or hymn written by Saint 
Colum Cille at lona, in honour of the Trinity, when the messengers of Pope 
Gregory came to him with tlie great cross and other presents. Tliis poem is 
published in Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum", and is now (1859) again in com^se of 
pubUcation, with notes and scholia, for the Irish Archasological and Celtic 
Society, under the editorship of the Rev. Dr. Todd, S.r.T.C.D. 



78 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 

LECT. IV. "The reason wliy lie abandoned the Altus", says the narra- 
tor of this singular story, " was tliis: He had a very good son, 
Maehuthain whose name was Maelpatrick. Tliis son was seized with a 
ocarrou. j^^ortal sickncss ; and the Altus was seven times sung around 
him, that he should not die. This was, however, of no avail 
for them, as the son died forthwith, llaelsnthain then said that 
he would never again sing the Altus, as he did not see that God 
honoured it. But", continues the narrator, " it was not in dis- 
honour of the Altus that God did not restore his son to health, 
but because he chose that the youth should be among the family 
of Heaven, rather than among the people of Earth. 

" Maelsuthaiii had then been seven years without singing the 
Altus. 

" After this his three former pupils came to talk to Mael- 
suthaiii, in the fonns of wliite doves, and he bade them a 
hearty welcome. ' Tell me', said he, ' what shall be the length 
of my life, and if I shall receive the Heavenly reward'. ' You 
have', said they, ' three years to live, and you go to Hell for 
ever then'. ' What should I go to Hell for?' said he. 'For 
three causes', said they ; and they related to him the tlu'ee causes 
that we have abeady mentioned. ' It is not true that I shall go 
to Heir, said he, ' for those three vices that are mine this day, 
shall not be mine even this day, nor shall they be mine from 
this time forth, for I will abandon these vices, and God will for- 
give me for them, as He Himself hath promised, when He said : 
"Impietas impii in quacumque hora conversus fuerit non nocebit 
ei" [Ezek., xxxiii. 12.] (The impiety of the impious, in what- 
ever hour he shall be turned from it, shall not injure him.) I 
will pvit no sense of my own into the canons, but such as I 
shall find in the divine books. I will j)erform an hundred 
genuflections every day. Seven years have I been without sing- 
ing the Altus, and now I will sing the Altus seven times every 
night while I live ; and I will keep a three days' fast every week. 
Go you now to Heaven', said he, ' and come on the day of my 
death to tell me the result'. ' We will come', said they ; and 
the three of them departed as they came, first leaving a blessing 
with him, and receiving a blessing from him. 

" On the day of his death the three came in the same forms, 
and they saluted him, and he returned their salutation, and said 
to them : ' Is my life the same before God that it was on the for- 
mer day that ye came to talk to me ?' ' It is not, indeed, the 
same', said they, ' for we were shown yoiu" place in Heaven, and 
we are satisfied with its goodness. We have come, as we pro- 
mised, for you, and come now you with us to the place winch 
is prepared for you, that you may be in the presence of God, 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 79 

and in tlie unity of tlie Trinity, and of the hosts of Heaven, lect. iv . 
till the day of judgment'. ^^^.j^^ 

"There were then assembled about him many priests and annals np 
ecclesiastics, aud he was anointed, and his pupils parted not 
from him until they all went to Heaven together. And it is 
this good man's manuscripts (" screptra") that are in Inisfallen, 
in the church, still". 

This singular, and, undoubtedly, very old legend, offers to 
our minds many interesting subjects of consideration; amongst 
which, not the least remarkable is that of this early pilgrimage 
from Ireland to the Holy Land. On these points, however, we 
shall not dwell at present, farther than to observe that the story 
furnishes e^sadence of the reputation for learning enjoyed by 
3Iaelsuthain, and also of the belief that manuscripts compiled by 
his hand were to be found in Inisfallen at his death. 

AVliether by the word " Screptra", thus mentioned, is meant 
a single vohune, or a collection of wiitings constituting a library, 
it is not easy to determine. We find the word used in the 
accoimt of the bm'ning of the Teach Screptra, or Hoiise of Wri- 
tings, of Armagh (a.d. 1020) ; and in that of the collection of 
MSS. of O'Cuirmn, the largest known to exist in Ireland in the 
fifteenth century (1416). 

There has always existed in the south of Ireland a tradition 
that the Annals of Inisfallen were originally composed by 
Maelsnthaw ; and a similar statement is made by Edward 
O'Reilly in his Irish writers. 

Taking into accorurt the acknowledged learning of O'Carroll, 
the character of liis mind, his own station, and the opportu- 
nities afforded him by lais association with the chief monarch of 
Erinn, there is certainly no improbabihty in connecting him 
with the composition of these annals ; and, for my own part, I 
have no doubt that he was either the original projector of 
them, or that he enlarged the more meagre outlines of ecclesi- 
astical events kept in the Monastery of Inisfallen, as probably 
in most others, into a general historic work. 

Of the continuations of these annals, in the two centuries 
subsequent to 3£aelsutJiain, down to the year 1215, little is 
known. Unfortunately no genuine copy of this important 
body of annals is now ■ to be found in Ireland, and we must 
therefore draw from the description of Dr. O'Conor. 

A compilation of the latter half of the last centmy by John 
O'Mulconry, has also received the name of Annals of Inisfallen. 
Why they have been thus named is not sufficiently clear ; but 
any notice that we shall take of them must be reserved for 
another occasion. 



80 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



Of the 
Annals of 
inisfaxlen. 



The Bodleian Library copy of tlie Annals of Inisfallen is a 
quarto MS. on parclnnent. It is thns described by Dr. O' Conor, 
under the No. 64, in the Stowe Catalogue [Vol. I., p. 202] : 

" It contains fifty-seven leaves, of which the three first are 
considerably damaged, and the fourth partly obliterated. Some 
leaves also are missing at the beginning. In its present state, 
the first treats of Abraham and the Patriarchs down to the 
sixth, where the title is — ' Hie incipit Regnum Grcecorum'. At 
the end of this leaf another chapter begins thus — ' Hie incipit 
Sexta astas Mundi'. The leaves follow in due order from folio 
nine to the end of folio thirty-six, but, rmfortunately, there are 
several blanks after this. On the fortieth leaf two lines occm* 
in Ogham characters, which have been thus deciphered [by Dr. 
O'Conor] — ' Nemo honoratur sine nmnmo, nullus amatur . 
Towards the end the writing varies considerably, and is un- 
questionably more recent and barbarous. 

" Indeed", adds Dr. O'Conor, " the latter part of this valu- 
able MS., from folio thirty-six, where the division of each page 
into three columns ceases, and where a leaf is missing, appears 
to be written by a more recent hand ; so that from inspection 
it might be argued, that the real original ended with the year 
1130, and that the remainder has been added by dififerent 
Abbots of Inisfallen afterwards. Down to 1130, the initials 
are rudely adorned and coloured, and the writing is elegant ; 
but from thence to the end, there is no attempt at any species 
of ornament, and the writing dechnes from barbarous to more 
barbarous still, in proportion as we approach the end. The 
last leaf is the fifty-seventh of the manuscript, and ends with 
the year 1319. 

" The few scattered notices relative to the pagan history of 
Ireland, which are occasionally introduced and synchronized 
with the universal history in the first leaves of this chronicle, 
have been carefully collated and published in the ' Rerum Hiber- 
nicarum', vol. I., and from a collation of these fragments with 
those preserved in the same manner by Tighernach, it is very 
clear that both are founded on a common source, since several 
of the quotations and several sentences are exactly in the same 
words. What this common source was, it would be difiicult to 
define. Tighernach quotes a great nmnber of Irish authors 
of the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries. 

" The folloAving account of this MS. is given by Innes, who 
saw it when it was preserved in the Duke of Chandos' library" — 
[I still quote the author of the Stowe Catalogue.] " In the 
same Chandos library are the Annals of Inisfallen and Tigher- 
nach. These, indeed, want some leaves in the beginning and 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 81 

elsewhere, and begin only about the time of Alexander the i. ect. iv. 
Great. But till St. Patrick's time, they treat chiefly of the ^^ ^^^ 
general history of the world. The Annals of Inisfallen, in annalsop 
the same library, contain a short account of the history of the '*'^^^^^''- 
"world in general, and very little of Ireland till the year 430, 
where the author properly begins (at folio nine) a chronicle of 
Ireland, thus — ' Laogaire Mac Neil regnavit annis xxiv.', and 
thenceforward it contains a short chronicle of Ireland to 1318. 
These three manuscrij)t chronicles, the Saltair of Cashel, Tigher- 
nach, and Inisfallen, are written in Irish characters, and in the 
Irish language intermixed wath Latin. They were formerly 
collected, with many other valuable MSS. relating to Ireland, 
by Sir J. Ware, and came first to the Earl of Clarendon, and- 
then to the Duke of Chandos. 

" To all this account by Innes", says Dr. O'Conor, *' the 
compiler of this catalogue, after a most patient examination, 
willingly subscribes. He only adds, what escaped Innes, that 
this MS- is not all in one hand, nor all the work of one author". 

In the same manuscript as that which contains the Annals of '^f /^e 
Inisfallen, there is a copy of those known as the Annals of boyle. 
Boyle, of which I shall have to say something in a future lec- 
ture in correction of the mistakes of Dr. O'Conor and others, 
as to the name thus attributed to the annals in question. No 
copy of these annals exists in Ireland ; and I must again quote 
Dr. O'Conor for a brief notice of the Bodleian MS. 

" The ancient Monastery of Boyle was founded by St. 
Columba, and called Eas-mac-n-Eirc, a name wliich it derived 
from its pleasant situation, near a cataract, about a mile from 
where the river Boyle discharges itself into Loch Cei. The 
Cistercian Monastery of Boyle was founded, not exactly on the 
site of the ancient monastery, but not far from it, in the year 1161. 

" The writers on Irish antiquities frequently confoimd the 
Annals of Boyle with the Annals of Connacht. To prevent 
mistakes of this kmd, we must observe, that the manuscrij)t in 
the Cotton Library (Titus A, xxv.), quarto, part on paper, 
part on parchment, and consisting of 138 leaves of both, is the 
original from which this Stowe copy was transcribed. The 
first article of that MS. is on parchment, and is entitled — 
' Annales Monasterii de BuelHo in Hibernia'. It is part in 
Irish, part in Latin, beginning from the Creation; treating 
briefly of tmiversal history to the arrival of St. Patrick, and 
from thence of Irish history down to 1253". 

It is to be regretted that we have no means of fixing, with 
any degree of precision, the period at which the Annals of 

6 



82 



OF THE ANCIENT AKNALS. 



Of tlie 
Annals of 
Boyle. 



Historic wri 
ters of tlie 
XII., XIII., 
and XIV. 
Centuries. 



Inisfallen, or tliose here called tlie Annals of Boyle, were 
composed. Tlie difficulty is refernble, not to any paucity of 
autliors in tlie centuries to wliicli tliey are usually assigned, 
but rather to the impossibility of fixing upon any one out of 
the hosts of writers whose names have come down to us, to whom 
their compilation may be with tolerable certainty attributed. 

With regard to the Annals of Inisfallen, there is, as we have 
just seen, a high degree of probability , that some body of records 
was compiled by O'C^arroll in his time ; but we do not know who 
continued them in the two following centuries. Less is unfortu- 
nately to be ascertained about the Annals called those of Boyle. 
The periods, however, within which tlie compihition of both may 
be comprised, were very fertile in men of learning, as Avill suf- 
ficiently appear from the following list, which comprises but a 
few only of the more remarkable historic writers of the period 
which intervened between the time of the composition of the 
Annals of Tighernach and that of the next body of historic 
records which we shall have to notice. They are selected from 
the very numerous writers whose deaths are recorded by the 
Four Masters, in almost every year of this period. 

A.D. 1136. Died Maelisa Mac Maelcoluim, the chief keeper 
of the calendar at Armagh, and the cliief topographical surveyor 
and librarian of that see. In the same year died Neidhe O'Mul- 
conroy, the historian. 

A.D. 1168. Died Flannagan ODubhtliaigh [or O'Duflfy], a 
bishop and chief professor of the men of Ireland, in history, 
genealogy, eloquence, and every species of knowledge known 
to man in his time. He died at Cunga [or Cong], in Connacht. 

A.D. V2?>2. Died Tiprcdte CBraoin [or O'Breen], a man 
deeply learned in theology and in law. He was successor of 
Saint Conian of Roscommon, and died in Inis Clothrann on his 
pilgrimage. 

A.D. 1279. Giolla losa 3f6r Mac Firbis, one of the chief 
historians of Tir Fiachra, or North-western Connacht, died. 

[This author, we are well aware, was succeeded by a line of 
historians and chroniclers of his own family, ending with the 
learned Duhhcdtach (or Duald) Mac Firbis, in the year 1668.] 

A.D. 1372. Died Shane O'Dugan, a distinguished poet and 
historian of Connacht, whose poems on the Cycles, Calendar, 
Epact, Dominical Letter, Golden Number, etc., are so well 
known. 

A.D. 1376. Conor O'Bcaghan and Ceallach Mac Curtiii, the 
two chief historians of Thomond, died. John ORuanaidli 
[or O'Rooney], chief poet to Magenis, died. Melaghlin O'Mul- 
vany, chief poet and historian to O'Caiie, died. Donogh Mac 
Firbis, a good historian of Connacht, died. 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 83 

A.D. 1390. Daihhgenn O'Duigenan, chief historian of East lect. iv. 
Connaught, died. of^v/a 

A.D. 1398. David O'Duigonan, chief historian to the MacnojVaem/j 
Dermots, etc., a man of all science and knowledge, and a wealthy 
Brugaidh [or farmer], died. 

A.D. 1400. Gregory, the son of Tanaidhe O'Mulconry, chief 
chronicler to the Siol Muiredhaidh [or O'Conors of Connacht] , 
and a master in various kinds of knowledge, was accidentally 
killed by William Mac Da\ad, who was condemned to pay a 
fine of 126 cows for the act. 

A.D. 1405. [We have already noticed the death of Augus- 
tin M' Grady, the continnator of Tighernach at this date.] 

Giolla na Naemli O'Huidhrin, a native of Leinster, who died 
A.D. 1420, was the author of several valuable historical poems 
and tracts. The most remarkable of them is his well known 
Irish topographical poem. 

Among his other compositions are, first, a tract and poem on 
the names, reigns, and deaths of the Assyi'ian emperors, from 
Ninus to Sardanapalus, synchronizing them with the monarchs 
of Erinn, from its earhest reported colonization down to the 
death of the monarch Muineaman, in the year of the world 
3872. Second, a tract on the names and length of the reigns 
of the kings of the Medes, from Arbactus to Astyages, and of the 
corresponding monarchs of Erinn, from the abovementioned 
Muineaman to Nuada Finnfdil, in the year of the world 4238. 
Third, a tract or poem on the length of the reigns of the Chal- 
dean kings, from Nebuchadnezzar to Baltazar, and the corres- 
ponding monarchs of Erinn, from the abovementioned Nuada 
to Lughaidh larrdonn, in the year of the world 4320, etc. And 
thus he goes on Avith the Persian, Greek, and Roman emperors 
in succession, and the succession of the contemporary monarchs 
of Erinn, down to Theodosius and Laoghaire Mac Neill, who 
was monarch of Erinn when Saint Patrick came in a.d. 432. 

The Annals of Senait (pron: " Shanaf) Mac Manus, com- ofthe 
monly called the Annals of Ulster, form the next P-reat annals op 

*' ' o Ulster 

body of national records which we have to consider ; and from 
the preceding list of writers, subsequent to the time of Tigher- 
nach, it will be apparent, that abundant materials must have 
been accumulated in tliis long interval, which lay ready to the 
hand of the compiler. 

Of these annals there are five copies known to exist at pre- 
sent — one in the Bodleian Library, at Oxford, wiitten on vel- 
lum, and classed as E.awHnson, 489 ; a second (only a small 
fragment), in the British Museum, classed Clarendon, 36 ; a 

6b 



Ulster. 



84 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 

LECT. IV. tlilrd (also but a small fragment), in the same museum, written 
Of the ^^^ paper, and classed Ayscougli, 49 — 4795 ; a fovu-th, in tlie Li- 
annalsop brary of Trinity College, Dublin, written on vellum, and 
classed II. 1. 8; and a liftli copy, on paper, in tlie Library of 
Trinity College (E. 3. 20), wliicli, however, extends only to 
A.D. 665.=*^ 

The reason why these annals are called the Annals of 
Sennit Mac Maglinusa is, because they were originally com- 
piled by Catlial Mac Guire, whose Clann or Chieftain title was 
Mac Maghnusa, and whose residence and property lay chiefly 
in the Island of Senait (pron: " Shanat"), in Loch Erne, be- 
tween the modern Counties of Donegall and Fermanagh ; and 
it was in this island that the annals were written. They have 
received the arbitrary name of Annals of Ulster, merely be- 
cause they were compiled in Ulster, and relate more to the 
affairs of Ulster than to those of any of the other provinces. 

The death of the original compiler is recorded by his con- 
tinuator in these annals, at the year 1498, in a passage of 
which the following is a strict translation. [See original in 
Appendix, No. XLIL] 

" Anno Domini 1498. A great mournful news throucfhout 
all Ireland this year, namely the following: Mac Manus Ma- 
guire died this year, t.e., Catlial 6g (^Cathal, — pron: " Cahal", — 
the younger), the son of Catlial, son of Catlial, son of Giolla- 
Patrick, son of Matthew, etc. He was a Biatach (or Hospi- 
taller), at Seanadh, a canon chorister at Armagh, and dean in 
the bishopric of Clogher; Dean of Lough Erne, and Rector 
of Inis Caein, in Lough Erne; and the representative of a 
bishop for fifteen years before his death. He was a precious 
stone, a bright gem, a luminous star, a casket of wisdom; a 
fruitful branch of the canons, and a fountain of charity, meek- 
ness, and mildness, a dove in purity of heart, and a turtledove 
in chastity ; the person to whom the learned, and the poor, and 
the destitute of Ireland were most thankful ; one who was full 
of grace and of wisdom in every science to the time of his death, 
m law, divinity, physic, and philosophy, and in all the Gaedhlic 
sciences ; and one who made, gathered, and collected this book 
from many other books. He died of the Galar Breac [the 
small pox] on the tenth of the calends of the month of April, 
being Friday, in the sixtieth year of his age. And let every 
person who shall read and profit by this book, pray for a 
blessing on that soul of Mac Manus". 

(37) I may mention that a sixth copy was made by myself in 1841, for the 
Kev. Dr. Todrl, from the vellum copy in T.C.D., with all the contractions 
expanded in full. 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 85 

Harris, in liis edition of Ware's Irisli Writers, p. 90, has lect. iv. 
the followinof notice of this remarkable man. 

o Qf the 

" Charles [the Gaedhlic name Cathal is often so translated annals of 
in English] Slaguire, a native of the county of Fermanagh, 
Canon of the Chm'ch of Armagh (and Dean of Clogher), was 
an eminent divine, philosopher, and historian, and writ Annales 
Hihcrnica2 to -his time. They are often called Annales Sena- 
tenses, from a place called Senat-Mac -Magnus, in the County of 
Fermanagh, where the author writ them, and oftener Annales 
Ultonienses, the Annals of Ulster, because they are chiefly 
taken up in relating the affairs of that province. They begin 
anno 444, and are carried down by the author to his death, in 
1498 ; but they were afterwards continued by Roderic Cassidy 
to the year 1541. Our author wi'it also a book, intitled, Aen- 
gusius Auctus, or the jMartyrology of Aengus enlarged ; wherein 
from Marian Gorman, and other writers, he adds such saints as 
are not to be met with in the composition of Aengus. He died 
on the 23rd of March, 1498, in the sixtieth year of his age". 

Seanadh, or Senait, where these annals were compiled, and 
from which, as we have said, they are often called Annales 
Senatenses, was the ancient name of an island situated in the 
Upper Lough Erne, between the modern baronies of Maghera- 
stephana and Clonawley, in the Coimty of Fermanagh. It is 
called Ballymacmanus Island in various deeds and leases, and 
by the natives of Clonawley, who speak the Irish language ; but 
it has lately received the fancy name of Belle Isle. [See Note 
in O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters, at the year 1498.] 

After the death of 3Iac Magh.nusa, the annals were continued 
by Ruaidhridhe O'Caiside, or Rory O'Cassidy, down to the year 
1537, or 1541, according to Ware. They were continued after 
this (I mean the Dubhn copy) by some other persons, probably 
the O'Luinins, down to the year 1604, where they now end. 
I say probably by the O'Luinins, because the Dublin copy was 
transcribed by Rnaidkriglie, or Rory O'Luinin, as appears 
from two insertions which occur in that volume in a blank 
space, at the end of the year 1373. The first is written in a 
good hand, as old at least as the year 1600, in the following 
words : " Let every one who reads this httle bit, bestow a bles- 
sing on the sovd of the man that wrote it". And this is im- 
mediately followed by these words : " It is fitter to bestow it on 
the soul of Rory OLuinin, who wrote the book well". [See 
original in Appendix, No. XLIIL] 

From another note which is written in this copy, in the lower 
margin of folio 35, col. a, it is evident that the writer of this 
latter note was engaged in making a transcript of the volume 
at the time, but we have no means of knowing who he was. 



86 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



Of the 

Annals of 
Ulstek. 



The O'Luinins [tlie name is now sometimes Anglicised Lyne- 
gar] were physicians, historians, and genealogists, chiefly to the 
MacGuires of Fermanagh, from the fom-teenth to the seven- 
teenth century. One of that family, named Gillapatrick OLui- 
nin^ of Ard Oljuimn, in the County of Fermanagh, chief 
chronicler to MacGuire, assisted the friar Michael O'Clery, the 
chief of the " Four Masters", in the compilation of the Leabhar 
Gabhala (or Book of Invasions and Monarchical Successions of 
Erinn), for Brian Ruadh MacGuire, first Baron of Liiskillen, in 
the year 1630 or 1631. 

" The Bodleian MS. (Rawlinson, 489) is called the original 
copy of those annals", says Dr. O'Conor, " because, it is the 
matrix of all the copies now known to exist. But it is not 
meant that there were not older manuscripts, from which Cathal 
Maguire collected and transcribed, before the year 1498. 

" Nicolson says that the Ulster Amials begin at 444, and end, 
not at 1041, as the printed catalogues of our MSS. assert, but at 
1541. Mr. Edward Llhwyd [the celebrated Welch antiqua- 
rian] mentions a copy of these annals which he calls Senatenses, 
which he had from Mr. John Conry, written on vellum in a fair 
character, but imperfect at the beginning and end, for it begins, 
says he, at the yeai- 454, ten years later than the Duke of Chan- 
dos', and ends several years sooner, at 1492. 

" The truth is, as stated in the Rermn Hibernicarmn, vol. 1., 
that neither Maguire nor Cassidi was the author of these annals, 
but only the collector. Augustin Magriadan had preceded both 
in the same task, and continued to his own time, says Ware, 
the chronicle, which the monks of his monastery in the island 
of All Saints, in the Shannon, had commenced ; and he died 
in 1405. 

" We have seen that MacGraidagh was in all probability the 
continuator of Tighernach ; biit I know of no reason for assign- 
ing to him any part in the compilation of the Annals of Ulster. 

" In the Bodleian MS. (Rawhnson, 489), better known by 
the name of the Chandos MS., fovu- folios are missing after the 
leaf paged 50. That leaf concludes with the seventh line of the 
year 1131, and the next leaf (nmnbered 55) begins Avith the 
conclusion of 1155, so that there is an hiatus of 24 years. The 
copy now before us concludes Avith the year 1131, where that 
hiatus occurs. 

" The first page of the Oxford MS. is nearly obliterated. By 
some vmaccountable barbarity the engraved seal of the Univer- 
sity is pasted over the written page, so as to efface all the writ- 
ing underneath: the words which are illegible there have 
been restored in tliis Stov/e transcript, by the aid of the copy in 



OF THE AXCIEiiT ANNALS 87 

the British Museum, wliicli is imperfect and interpolated, lect. iv. 
The folios of the original Bodleian are paged from 1 to 134, ^^ ^^^^ 
in modern Arabics, and they are rightly paged down to the ankals of 
vear 1131, after which four leaves are missino^ down to the 
year 1156. The leaf containing the first part of 1131, is rightly 
paged 51, and the next is rightly paged 55. How the four in- 
termediate leaves have been lost, it is impossible now to ascer- 
tain. Folio ijij is erroneously paged 67, as if one leaf were 
missing there, which is not the case. Folio 70 is paged 80, as 
if ten leaves were missing, whereas not one is lost. One foho 
is missing from the year 1303 to 1315 inclusive, and the pag- 
ing is then incorrect to the end. In its present state the folios 
of this MS. are precisely 126. 

" We must be cautious", continues Dr. O'Conor, " in assert- 
ing that the whole of this MS. was written by one person, or 
at one time. Down to 952, the ink and characters are uniform, 
but then a finer style of writing follows down to 1001. 

"When the transcriber comes to 999, he states on the op- 
posite margin, that really this was the year of our sera 1000 ; 
for that the Ulster Annals precede the common cera by one year, 
— a clear proof that the transcriber was not the compiler or 
author ; for this note is in the same ink and characters Avith the 
text. He annexes the same remark frequently to the subse- 
quent years; as at 1000, where he says, alias 1001. 

"It is remarkable that these are uniform in antedating 
the Christian JEra by one year only, down to the folio numbered 
QS, year 1263, and that there, instead of preceding our ajra by 
only one year, they precede by two; so that the year 1265 is 
really 1264, as stated on the margin in Ware's hand: this 
precedence of two years is regular to 1270. From thence to 
1284, the advance is of three years; from 1284, the advance is 
of foiu- years, down to 1303, wliich is really 1307. Then a 
folio is missing which has been evidently cut out, and we j)as3 
on to 1313, which is marked by Wai*e on the margin 1316, an 
advance only of three years. This advance of three years 
continues from that to 1366, which is marked on the margin by 
Ware 1370, an advance of four years again, which continues to 
1379, where the following note is in Ware's hand: — ' From this 
year 1379, the computation of years is well collected'. 

"It is pretty clear that the writer of this latter part of the 
Ulster Annals, who thus antedates even the latter ages of the 
Christian gera, must be very different from the writer of the 
first part down to the year 1263. 

" Johnston has published Extracts from a Version, part Eng- 
lish and part Latin, in the British Museum, which he has in- 



88 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



Of the 
Annals op 
Ulster. 



serted in his ' Antiquitates Celto-Normannic^e', Copenhagen, 
4to, 1786, p. 57. Of" this version he says very truly, that the lan- 
guage is extremely barbarous ; that it is often hard to discover 
whether the transcriber means the Scots, Mc Ercs, Dalriad, 
Cruachne, Athacliath of Ireland, or the Scots, Mc Ercs, Dal- 
riedge, Cruithne, and Alacluoith of Britain; that it is with great 
difSdence that he ventures to print these extracts, and that 
his prmcipal inducement was a hope that such a specimen 
might suggest to some Irish gentleman the idea of publishing, 
at least, the more material parts of these valuable records, 
in the original. 

" After such a modest avowal, no man can find pleasure in 
noticing the many errors in Mr. Johnston's work. But histo- 
rical truth demands that those errors which affect the very 
foundations of history, should be rectified. 

"At 471, Mr. Johnston's edition states, 'The Irish plun- 
dered the Saxons. Matthew, in the book of the Cuanac, 
says it was ha 472'. 

" Now", continues Dr. O'Conor, " the very words of the 
original are : ' Preda secunda Saxonum de Hibernia, ut alii 
dicunt, in isto anno deducta est, ut Mocteus dicit. Sic in 
Libro Cuanac inveni'. That is, 'In 471, Ireland was plun- 
dered a second time by the Saxons this year, as some say, as 
Mocteus says. I found it so in the Annals of Cuanac' [sic] — In 
Johnston's two short lines there are four material errors. — First, 
he makes the Irish plunder the Saxons ; whereas the truth is, 
that the Saxons a second time plundered them. — Secondly, he 
inakes the annals quote Matthew ; whereas even the interpo- 
lated copy in the museima has Mactenus: the original is pro- 
perly Mocteus, who was an Irish writer of the fifth century. 
Thirdly, he makes this Matthew a writer in the book of 
Cuanac. — Fourthly, he makes the book of Cuanac refer these 
transactions to 472 ! 

" At 473, Johnston's edition gives only ' The Skirmish of 
Bui' ; whereas the original has some foreign history under that 
year, and then adds : ' Quies Docci Episcopi Sancti, Brittonum 
Abbatis. [The death of Docci, a holy bishop, Abbot of the 
Britons] Dorngal Bri-Eile f. Laigniu ria n Alill Molt. 
[The Battle of Bri Eile was gained over the Leinster men 
by AHll Molt.]' 

"At 482, Johnston's edition has "The Battle of Ochc. 
From the time of Cormac to this battle, a period intervened 
of 206 years'. 

" Now here the original is strangely perverted and falsified. 

"The words of the original are — ' a.d. 482 — Bellum Oche 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 89 

la Lug. mac Laegaire agus le Mmrcearta mac Erca, in quo lect. iv. 
cecidit Alill Moll [recte, Molt]. A Concobaro iilio Nesse usque ^^^^^^ 
ad Cormacum filium Airt amii cccviii., a Cormaco usqu.e ad hoc annais op 
bellum cxvi., ut Cuana scripsit'. [That is, a.d. 482 — The ^''^'^^■ 
Battle of Ocha by Lughaidh, the son of Laegaire, and Muir- 
ceartach, son of Earc, in which AHU Molt fell. From Concobar, 
son of Nesse, to Cormac, son of Airt, 308 years. From Cor- 
niac to this battle 116 years, as Cuana has written.] 

" It would require", says Dr. O'Conor, " a quarto volume 
as large as Mr. Johnston's whole work, to point out the errors 
of his edition, with such illustrations as these unexplored re- 
gions of Irish history seem to require. — The Ulster Annals", 
he continues, " are written part in Latin, and part in Irish, and 
both languages are so mixed up, that one sentence is often in 
words of both ; a circumstance which renders a faithful edition 
of the original difficult. In some instances the Irish words are 
few, in others numerous, — in both, the version must be included 
in hyphens, to separate it from the text. The author of this 
Catalogue has most faithfully adliered to the original — tran- 
scribing the whole of this, and of the preceding MS. from the 
Bodleian MS., RawHnson 489, and inserting literal versions of 
the Irish words in each sentence, so as to preserve not only the 
meaning, but the manner of the author, from the year 431 to 
1131". — Stowe Catalogue, vol. i., p. 174. 

Another copy of these annals noticed by Dr. O'Conor, " con- 
tains", he says, "117 written folios. This volume has copious 
extracts from the Bodleian original, from 1156 to 1303, in- 
clusive ; and it has the merit, also, of marginal collations with 
the copy in the British Museum, Clarendon, tom. 36, in Ays- 
cough's Catalogue, No. 4787 ; which appears from this collation 
to be in many places interpolated. It has been collated, also, 
with a copy in the British Musemn, written by one O'Connel^ 
who was still more ignorant than the former transcriber, as may 
be seen by inspecting the MS. — Ayscough, tom. xlix., 4795". 
—Ibid., p. 176. 

[There is an English translation of the Annals of Ulster in 
the British Museum — Clarendon MS., vol. xlix., Ayscough's 
Catalogue, No. 4795 ; commencing with the coming of Palla- 
cUus into Ireland, a.d. 431, and coming down to a.d. 1303 (or 
1307), as thus w^ritten; but there is a defect from 1131 to 
1156, at page 65. The writing appears to be of Sir James 
Ware's time (XVII. Century), and the Latin of the original is 
not translated. This is the volume with which Doctor O'Conor 
says that he made marginal collations of the above manuscript ; 
but it will be seen that 1 is library reference is wrong, as well 
as that to the number in Ayscough's Catalogue. 



90 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



Of the 
Annals of 
Ulstek. 



I examined tliis translation witli great care, and I could not 
find any translator's name to it; no " one O'Connel". 1 think it 
possible that the reverend doctor never saw it. The Clarendon 
MS., xxxvi., British Museum, with which Dr. O'Conor says 
the Stowe copy of the Annals of Ulster was collated, is only a 
collection of short liistorical pieces, and extracts from unac- 
knowledged Annals. The writing is Hke Ware's, as may be 
seen from the volume i., No. 4787. The reverend doctor does 
not appear to have seen this volume any more than the other ; 
or if he did really see them, it is very strange that he should 
leave his readers to believe that they were both full copies, and 
written in the original Irish hand.] 

That the reverend doctor is quite correct in these strictures 
on Johnston's publication, he has given ample proof here; but 
his own inaccurate readings of the original text are full of con- 
tradictions, and are often as erroneous as those of Johnston; 
and his translations and deductions are as incorrect and unjusti- 
fiable. And, notwithstanding the respect in which his name 
and that of his more accurate grandfather, the venerable Charles 
O'Conor of Belanagare, are held by every investigator of the 
history and antiquities of Ireland, still it must be admitted, 
that his own writino-s — as regards matters in the Irish lan- 
guage, in his Stowe Catalogue, and in his Rerum Hibernicanmi 
Scrip tores, — would require very copious corrections of the inac- 
curacies of text, as well as of the many erroneous translations, 
imauthorized deductions, and unfounded assumptions which 
they contain. 

To retmii to the Annals of Senait Mac Manus. 

The volume in vellum containing the beautifvd copy of these 
annals now in the library of Trinity College, commences with 
three leaves which appear to be a fragment of a fine copy of 
Tighernach [see Appendix, No. XLIV.] After this the Annals 
of Senait Mac Manus, which begin with a long line of calends 
or initials of years, some of which are very briefly filled up, but 
without dates, except occasionally the years of the world's age, 
while others remain totally blank. 

These Annals begin thus — "Anno ab Incarnatione Domini 
ccccxxxi., Palladius ad Scotos a Celestino urbis Rome Epis- 
copo, ordinatur Episcopus, Actio et Valeriano Coss. Primus 
mittitur in Hiberniam, ut Christum credere potuissent, anno 
Theodosii viii." That is: "In the year from the Incarnation of 
our Lord four hundred and thhty-one, Palladius is ordained 
bishop to the Scoti by Celestine, Bishop of the City of Rome, 
in the consulship of Aetivis and Valerianus. He was the first 
who was sent to Ireland, that they might believe in Christ, in 
the eighth year of Theodosius". 



Of THE AKCIENT ANNALS. 1)1 

" Anno ccccxxxii. — Patricius pervenit ad Hiberniam in anno lect. iv. 
Theodosii jimioris, primo anno Episcopatus Sixti xlii., Rom. 
EccL, sic enunierant Beda, et Marcellinus, et Isidorus in annals or 
Clironicis suis. in xii. an. Leaghaire mic NeilV\ " Anno 432 — i-^'Tek- 
Patrick came to Ireland in the ninth year of Theodosius the 
Yoimger, and first of the episcopacy of Sixtus, the forty- 
second Bishop of Rome, so Bede and MarceUinus and Isidore 
enumerate them in their Chronicles, in the twelfth year of 
Laeghaire Mac Neilf. 

" Anno ccccxxxiv. Prima preda Saxonmn in Hibernia. 

" Anno ccccxxxv. Mors Breasail regis Lagenise. 

" Anno ccccxxxvi. Vel hie mors Breasail". 

" Vels", or aliases, occur very frequently in the early part of 
these amials, but they are generally written in a later and in- 
ferior hand. Doctor O'Conor notices them in the Bodleian 
copy, but has not observed whether they are written in the ori- 
ginal hand or not. 

The following additional early notices are interesting. 

" Anno 437. Finbar Mac Hui Bardene [a Saint] died. 

"Anno ccccxxxviii. Chronicon Magnum Scriptum est". 

This was the Seanchas Mor, or great law compilation, re- 
ferred to in my former lecture. 

" Anno ccccxxxix. Secundinus, Auxilius, et Iseminus mit- 
tuntur Episcopi ipsi in Hiberniam, in auxilium Patricii ". 

It is not until the middle of the sixth century that these an- 
nals begin to notice more than two or three events, often merely 
of an ecclesiastical character. Not even the early battles with 
the Danes are given with anytliing more than the simple record 
of the fact, and the chief persons concerned, or the names of 
those who fell on such occasions. Nor is it imtil the beginning 
of the ninth century that they commence to group events, and 
nai-rate them to any considerable extent; but after the year 
1000, they become diffuse enough, if not in narrative, at least 
in the mention of distinct events, and sometimes in both, par- 
ticularly as we approach the fifteenth centiuy. 

The book is written on fine strong vellum, large folio size, 
and in a very fine style of penmanship. 

There is a loss of forty-eight years between the years 1115 and 
1163, the beginning of the former and conclusion of the latter 
only remaining. There is another defect between the years 1373 
and 1379 ; and the volmne ends imperfectly v.dth the year 1504. 

The whole manuscript vohmie, in its present condition, 
consists of 121 folios or 242 pages ; the fii'st folio being paged 
12, and the last 144, from which it appears that there are 11 
folios, or twenty-two pages, lost at the beginning, and 12 folios. 



92 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



Of the 
Anxals of 

Ulstek. 



LECT. IV. or 24 pages more, deficient between the years 1115 and 1163. 
The missing years between 1373 and 1379 do not interrupt 
the pagination, from which it may be inferred that they were 
lost from the original MS. of the Annals of Ulster, of which 
this part of the MS. is but a transcript. The first tliree fohos 
are, I believe, a portion of the Annals of Tighernach. The 
third leaf belongs to neither compilation. The foui'th leaf 
begins the MS. of the Annals of Ulster. [See Appendix, No. 
XLIV.] 

Throughout this MS. the annals have the year of our Lord 
prefixed to them, but they are antedated by one year. This error 
is, however, generally corrected in a later hand throughout the 
volume. 

Throughout the earlier portion especially of these Annals of 
Ulster, the text is a mixture of Gaedhlic and Latm, sometunes 
being written partly in the one language and partly in the 
other. 

It may be remarked also, that throughout the entire MS. 
blank spaces had been left by the original scribe at the end of 
each year, and that in these spaces there have been added by a 
later hand several events, and aliases or corrections of dates. 

It will have been seen from Dr. O'Conor's remarks in the 
Stowe Catalogue, that the copy which Bishop Nicholson des- 
cribed, in his work called " Nicholson's Irish Library", was 
carried down to the year 1541 , whilst the Dublin cojDy in its 
present state ends with 1504. [See Nicholson's Irish Library, 
p. 37.] There is, however, every reason to be certain that 
this is the identical volume or copy of the same Annals men- 
tioned by him in his Appendix (6 ; p. 243). [See discussion 
on the Annals of Loch Ce; infra.] 



It may seem that I have dwelt with too much prolixity on 
the technical details of the Annals hitherto considered; but 
I believe their importance fully warrants this. They form the 
great framework around which the fabric of our history is yet 
to be built up. The copies of them which now remain are un- 
fortunately all imperfect and widely separated, in different libra- 
ries and MSS. collections ; and in the critical examination of 
them (short as such an examination must be in lectures such 
as the present), and the collation of all the evidences we 
can bring together about them, I believe that I am doing good 
service to the future historian of Ireland. 



LECTURE V. 



[Delivered June 19, 1856.] 



The Annals (continued). 5. The Annals of Loch Ce, liitherto sometimes 
caUed The Annals of Kilronan. Of the Plain of Magh Slecht. 6. The 
Annals of Connacht. Remarks on the so-called Annals of Boyle. 

In my last Lecture I gave yon some account of the Annals of 
Innisfallen, and those of Senait MacManus, commonly called 
the Annals of Ulster: havmg on the previous day commenced 
with the earlier compilation of Tighcrnach. Thus we have 
disposed of the most of the earlier compilations in that list of 
the more important annals, which I named to you as the 
sources of our history, which it was my intention, in accordance 
with the plan of these Lectures, to bring under your notice. 

Before, however, we reach the last and greatest monument 
of the learning of the Gaedliils, called the Annals of the Four 
Masters, there remain at least four other remarkable collections 
for your consideration : the Annals of Kilronan,^^*' or rather of 
Inis Mac Nerinn in Loch Ce, as they ought to be called ; the 
Annals of Boyle ; those called the Annals of Connacht ; and 
Mac Firbis' Chronicum Scotorum ; and it is to these works 
that, proceeding in regular order, I shall have this evening 
to direct your attention. 

And first, of the Annals which have been knowni for some oftiie 
time mider the name of the Annals of Kilronan, but which, loch^ck^ 
I think, it will presently be seen should be called the Annals 
of Inis Mac Nerinn in Loch Ce. 

The only copy of these Annals known to exist at present is 
that in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, Class H. 1, 19. 
It is on vellmn, of small foHo size ; the original writing in va- 
rious hands, but all of them fine and accurate. Several leaves 
having, however, been lost from the original volume in various 
parts of it, the chasms are filled up, sometimes with paper and 
sometimes with vellum, and some of the missing annals re- 

(38) It is only within the last few years that this name "Annals of Kilronan" 
■was aijplied to these Annals, which are referred to by tlie Four Masters 
(see Ann. IV. Masters, Preface, p. xxviii.) as the ' Book of the O'Duigenans 
of Kilronan'. [They are so referred to by Dr. O'Douovan at p. 778 of the 
Annals, note (6) to a.d. 1013.] lOlronan was in the country of the Mac 
Dermotts, in the present County of Roscommon. 



94 



OF THE AXCIENT ANNALi?. 



Of the 
Annals op 
Loch Ce. 



_ stored, altliougli in an inferior style of penmansliip. These 
restorations are principally in tlie handwriting of Brian Mac 
Dermot. The chief defects in the body of the book are obser- 
vable from the year 1138 to 1170, where thirty -two years are 
missing; and from the year 1316 to 1462, where 142 years are 
missing. The year 1468 is also omitted. 

The following notices will sufficiently show the names of the 
chief transcriber, of the owner, and the time of transcribing 
the volume. 

At the end of the year 1061 we find this notice: — "I am 
fatigued from Brian Mac Dermot's book ; Anno Domini 1580. 
I am Philip Badley". — [See original in Appendix, No. XLV.] 

The Christian name of the scribe appears in several places 
from this to the end of the year 1588 ; but a memorandum at 
the end of the year 1515 is conclusive in identifying not only 
the chief transci'lber, but the date of the original transcipt, as 
well as the place in which, and the person for whom, the volume 
was transcribed or compiled : — 

" I rest from this work. May God grant to the man [that 
is, the owner] of this book, to return safely from Athlone ; that 
is Brian, the son oi Rnaidln'igh Mac Dermot. I am Philip who 
wrote this, 1588, on the day of tlie festival of Saint Brendan 
in particular. And Cluain Hi Bhraoin is my place". — [See 
original in Appendix, No. XLVL] 

Of this Badley, if that be his real name, I have never 
been able to learn anything more than what he has written of 
himself in this volume. I may observe, however, that the name 
of Philip was not uncommon in the learned family of O'Diiibh- 
ghenainn or Duigenan; and Cluain I Bhraoin, where Philip 
wrote this book, was at this time the residence of a branch of the 
ODuihhghenainn or O'Duigenans, as will appear from the fol- 
lowing entry in these Annals, in the handwriting of the owner 
of the book, Brian Mac Dermot, at the year 1581 : — " Fear- 
caogadh O'Duigenan, the son of Fergal, son of Philip, died at 
Cluain I Bhraoin\ — [See original in Appendix, No. XLVIL] 

We find, too, the name of Duhhthach O'Duigenain, set 
down as a scribe in the book at the end of the year 1224. 

The following memorandum at the end of the page at which 
the year 1462 commences (the book is not paged), gives us fur- 
ther reason still for supposing that the O'Duigenans had some 
connection with this book. It runs thus: — " Three leaves and 
five scores of vellum that are contained in this book, per me, 
Daniel Duignan". — [See original in Appendix, No. XLVIIL] 
This memorandum is withovit date ; and I may observe that, as 
the book contains at present but ninety-nine of the original 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 95 

leaves, four leaves must have been lost since this memorandum lec t. y. 
was wiitten. ^^^^^ 

I have not, however, quoted these memoranda merely m a\-sals op 
order to show by what particular scribe the Annals in question 
were written. A mistake has, it appears to me, been long cur- 
rent with regard to the identity of the MS., and I believe I am 
in a position to correct it. 

It is my opinion that the notices just referred to are sufficient 
to show that these are not those Annals, or that ' Book of the 
O Duihligenainns of Kilronan', which was one of the books men- 
tioned by the Four Masters as having been used by them in their 
compilation, and wliich extended from the year 900 to the year 
1563. The present volume begins with the year 1014, and in its 
original form ends (imperfectly) with the year 1571 ; and we 
find that one of the O'Duigenan family was a transcriber in 
the early part of it, and that it was transcribed at Clucdn I 
Bhraoin. But it is, I think, more than probable that the 
volume is but a transcript of the original Book of the O'Dui- 
genans of Kih'onan, made, as far as it went, for Brian Mac 
Dermot ; and that to the text of this transcript that noble chief 
himself, and other scribes, made several additions, carrying the 
annals down to the year 1590, or two years before his death 
in 1592. Such is the opinion at which I have arrived as to 
this manuscript. 

That the present volume was carried down to the year 1590, 
I am rather fortunately in a position to prove beyond any 
doubt, haA^ng myself discovered a part of the continuation in the 
British Museum in the year 1849. This part contains sixteen 
consecutive years, and part of a dislocated year, extending from 
the latter part of 1568 to 1590, but still leaving a chasm in 
the volume from 1561 to 1568. This continuation is written 
partly on vellum and partly on paper, in various hands, among 
which that of Brian JNlac Dermot is still very plainly distin- 
guishable ; and the following translation of an entry, at the year 
1581, with Brian's note on it, seems to complete the identifica- 
tion of the volume : — 

" Calvagh {Calbhach), the son of Donnell, son of Teige 
(Tadhg), son of Cathal O'Conor, the heir of Sligo and of 
Lower Connacht, without dispute, died on the Friday between 
the two Easters [that is, between Easter Sunday and Low Sun- 
day] in this year". — [See original in Appendix, No. XLIX.] 

To this article Brian ]\Xac Dermot adds the following note : — 

" And the death of this only son of Donnell O'Conor and 
Mor Ai Rucdrc is one of the most lamentable events of Erinn. 
And there never came, of the descendants of Brian Luighneacli 



96 



OF THE AKCIENT ANNALS. 



Of the 
Annals of 
Loch Ce. 



O'Conor] a man of his years a greater loss than him, nor is it 
ikely that there will come. And this loss has pained the 
learts of all Connacht, and especially it has pained the scholars 
and poets of the province of Connacht. And it has divided 
my own heart into two parts. Uch ! Uch ! how pitiable my 
condition after my comrade and companion, and the man most 
dear and truthful to me in the world ! 

" I am Brian Mac Dermot, who wrote this, upon Mac Der- 
mot's Rock ; and I am now like Olioll Oluim after his sons, 
when they were slain, together with Art Aenfhir, the son of 
Conn of the Hundi'ed Battles, in the battle of Ifagh MucruimhS 
by Mac Con, the son of Mac JViadh, son oi Lughaidh; or like 
Deirdre after the sons of Uistieach had been treacherously slain 
in Eamhain Mhaclia [Emania] by Co7ichohha7' the son of 
Fachtna, son of Ruadli, son of Rudhraidhe [Conor Mac 
Nessa] ; for I am melancholy, sorrowful, distressed, and dis- 
pirited, in grief and in woe. And it cannot be described or 
related how I feel after the departure of my companion from 
me, that is the Calvach. And it was on the last day of the 
month of March that he was interred in Sligecli (Sligo)". — 
[See original in Appendix, No. XLIX.] 

Mac Dermot's Rock (Carraig Mhic-Diarmada), and the Rock 
of Loch Ce {Carraig Locha Ce) were the popular names of a 
castle built on an Island in Loch Ce, near Boyle, in the pre- 
sent County of Roscommon. This castle was the chief resi- 
dence and stronghold of Mac Dermot, the native chief and 
prince of Ifagh Luirg (or Moylorg), an extensive territory in 
the same County of Roscommon. 

The above Brian Mac Dermot, the owner, restorer, and conti- 
nuator of these Annals, was cliief of Magh Luirg between the 
years 1585 and 1592, though in what year he succeeded his 
father, Rory (Ruaidhri), the son of Teige {Tadhg), I am not 
able to say. The father was chief in 1540 and 1542. 

Of Brian Mac Dermot himself, we find in the Annals of the 
Four Masters, — under the year 1585 (in which year all the 
native chiefs of Erinn were called by proclamation to a parlia- 
ment in Dublin), — that Tadhg the son of JEoghan Mac Dermot 
attended this Parliament as deputy froin Mac Dermot of Magh 
Luirg ; that is, Brian the son of liuaidhri, son of Tadhg, son 
of Ruaidhri Og, which Brian was then a very old man. And 
at the year 1592 the same Annals record the death of this 
Brian Mac Dermot in the following words : 

"Mac Dermot of Magh Luirg, — Brian the son of Ruaidhri, 
son of Tadhg Mac Dermot, died in the month of November; 
and the death of tliis man was the more to be lamented, be- 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 97 

cause tliere was no other like him of the claim Maolrua- lect. v. 



naidli ['Maelrimy', the tribe name of the Mac Dermots,] to ^^.^j^^ 
succeed liim in the chieftainship". — [See original in Appendix, annals of 
No. L.] 

It -would then appear, I think, that these cannot be the so- 
called Annals of Kilronan ; but that they are those called the 
Annals of Loch Ce, quoted by Sir James Ware in his work on 
the Bishops of Erinn, is by no means certain. 

Dr. Nicholson (Protestant Bishop of Derry, and afterwards 
Archbishop of Cashel), in his valuable " Irish Historical Li- 
brary", published in Dubhn in 1724, p. 36, thus speaks of the 
Annals of Loch Ce, quoted by Sir James Ware : 

" The Annals of this monastery are frequently quoted by 
Sir James Ware ; but all that he ever saw was a Fragment of 
them (part in Latin and part in Irish) beginning at 1249 and 
ending at 1408. He supposes the author to have been a Canon- 
Reojular of the said Abbey, and to have lived about the middle 

• Till 

of the Fifteenth Century. His copy, perhaps, has had some 
farther loss since it fell into other hands ; seeing all that can be 
now said of it is ' Pars Annalium Ccenohii S. Trin. de Logh- 
kcea, incipiens ah An. 1249. et desinens An. 1381. ex Hiher- 
nico Idiomate in Angltcum versa ". 

The same writer (Appendix No. 6, page 243) says: 

" The most valuable collection of Irish MSS. that I have 
met with, in any private hand, here in Dublin, next to that of 
the Lord Bishop of Clogher, was communicated to me by Mr. 
John Conry ; who has great numbers of our Historico-Poetical 
Composures, and (being a perfect master of their language and 
prosodia) knows how to make the best use of them. Amongst 
these, there's 

" 1. An ancient copy of the Annales Senatenses (Annals of 
Ulster), written on Vellum and in a fair character; but imper- 
fect at the beginning and end: for it begins at the Year 454, 
ten Years later than the Duke of Chaudois's, and ends (about 
50 years sooner) at 1492. 

" 2. There is also, in the same Letter and Parchment, and the 
same folio Volmne, a copy of the Annals of the Old Abbey of 
Inch-Maccreen, an island in the Lake oi Loghkea, very diffe- 
rent from those of the Holy Trinity, an abbey (in the same 
Loch) of a much later foundation. This book commences at 
the year 1013, and ends with 1571. 

" 3. He has likewise the original Annals of Donegal (or the 
Quatuor Magistri), signed by the proper hands of the four 
Masters themselves, who were the Compilers of that Chronicle", 
etc., etc., etc. 



98 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



Of the 

Annals op 
Loch Ce. 



This, indeed, is a most valuable notice from the very candid 
Bishop Nicholson. 

The Annals of the Old Abbey of Inis Maccreen, properly 
Inis Mac Nerinn, an island in Loch Ce, which he mentions, 
are beyond any doubt those which I have already identified as 
such. According to Conry's report to the bishop, these Annals 
commenced with the year 1013, and ended with 1571 ; but it 
is quite clear that the year 1013 is a mere mistake for 1014, 
with which the book commences in its present, and I am siu-e 
in its then condition. For it commences with an account of 
the battle of Clontarf ; and as the original page is much de- 
faced and the date totally illegible, and as the date of that 
great event is given by the Four Masters under the year 1013, 
it seems probable that, without looking to the copy of the 
whole annal, and the date mentioned below, Conry gave that 
year as the commencement of the book to the bishop. The 
last page of the year 1571, with which the volume (without 
the British Museum addition) ends, is also illegible, showing 
plainly that the book had been a long time lying without a 
cover, probably in the ruined residence of some departed mem- 
ber of the Mac Dermot family, before it passed into Conry's 
hands. Still, notwithstanding that Conry gave this book the 
name of the Annals of the Abbey of Inis Mac Nerinn of Loch 
CS, it is quite clear from the circumstances under wliich they 
were written, that they were not the annals of that abbey, if 
any such annals ever existed. 

There is some mystery as to the way this volume passed 
from the hands of John Conry. It was, however, purchased 
at the sale of the books of Dr. John O'Fergus, in 1766, by 
Dr. Leland, the historian, along with the Annals of Ulster, — a 
transcrijDt made for the doctor of the first volume of the An- 
nals of the Four Masters, — and the imjDcrfect autograph of the 
second volume, described above by Dr. Nicholson, — and placed 
by him (Dr. Leland) in the College Library, where the group 
may now be seen together. It is fortunate that we actually 
have still in existence a copy of the printed catalogue of the 
books of the patriotic Doctor OTergus, which is preserved 
along with several other memorials of him, by his worthy great- 
grandson, my esteemed friend, James Marinus Kennedy, Esq. 
(of 47 Lower Gloucester Street, in this city), who has kindly 
permitted me to consult this interesting catalogue. On exa- 
mining it, I found included in it the Annals of Ulster, — a tran- 
script of the first volume of the Annals of the Four Masters, 
by Hugh O'Mulloy, an excellent scribe, in two volmnes, — and 
the imperfect autograph copy of the second volume, — among 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 99 

several other M'SS. of less value, set down for sale ; but no i.ect. v. 
account of the Annals of the Abbey of Inis Mac Nerinn, men- ^^ ^^^ 
tloned by John Conry in his communication to Dr. Nicholson, anxais op 
So far indeed we have lost the direct evidence of the volume 
being that which Conry had mentioned to the bishop ; but the 
fact of its having- been pm-cliased by the College along with the 
other books and transcripts belonging to Conry 's collection, the 
identity in the years of its beginning and ending, and the 
original locahty to which it was referred, wliich, though erro- 
neous, was approximately correct, can leave no rational doubt 
of its being the reputed Annals of the Abbey of Inis Mac 
Keriim in Loch Ce, though the internal evidences clearly prove 
it to be the Annals of the Rock of Loch Ce, or Mac Dermot's 
Rock, the residence of the owner and part-compiler, Brian Mac 
Dermot, in 1590. Indeed even the wanting link above alluded 
to is sujDplied in a contemporary list or catalogue of the Irish 
books sold at Dr. O'Fergus's sale, which is preserved in (pasted 
into) a MS. volume in the Library of the Royal Irish Aca- 
demy (commonly known by the name of " Vallancey's Green 
Book"), and contains the names of the persons to whom and the 
prices at which the various Irish MSS. there were sold. For 
in that list I find it mentioned tliat Dr. Leland bought " No. 
2427, Annals of the 4 Masters, 3 vols, [the two volumes of tran- 
scrijition and one of aiitograph before mentioned], a fine MS., 
£7 19s."; and also, " 2410, Annals of Ulster, by the 4 Masters 
[sic], a very ancient MS. on vellum"; and "2411, Continu- 
ation of the Annals of Tighernach, very ancient, on vellum", 
both together for £18. The last mentioned MS. was, I have 
no doubt, the one of which we have been speaking, mistaken by 
the maker of the catalogiie for a "Continuation of Tighernach", 
probably only because he could make no better guess at what 
it really was. And it is singular that this volume is now lettered 
" Tighernaci Continuatio" on the back (H. 1. 19, T.C.D.) 

I have thus, I think, conclusively identified the MS. spoken 
of by Dr. O'Donovan as the " Amials of Kilronan", and I have 
identified it as one different from the original Book of the 
O'Duigenans of Kilronan, referred to by the Four Masters. 
Wliether that IMS. is or is not the same as the Annals of Loch 
Ce, referred to by Sir James Ware, does not, however, appear 
to me to be by any means clearly settled by Nicholson, the ac- 
curacy of whose descriptions of Irish MSS. is not always im- 
plicitly to be depended on. Certainly Sir James Ware does 
quote from what he calls the Annals of Loch Ce at the year 
1217, as we shall presently see, though in the passage before 
quoted from Nicholson, that writer positively says that " all he 

7 B 



Loch Ce. 



100 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 

LECT. V. (Ware) ever saw was a fragment of them, beginning at 1249 
Qj ^jj and ending at 1408". 

annat-s of The references by Ware to these Annals are in his " History 
of the Bishops". In the fii'st vohime of this important work 
(as edited by Walter Harris, pp. 84, 250, 252, 271), we find it 
stated on the authority of the Annals of "Lough Kee" (Loch 
Ce), that Adam O'Muirg {Annadh 0'3fuireadhaigh),J^isho-p of 
Ardagh (Ardachadh), died in the year 1217; Cait'bre O'Scoba, 
Bishop of Raphoe (Rath BhothaJ, in the year 1275; William 
Mac Casac, Bishop of Ardagh, in the year 1373; and John 
Colton, Archbishop of Armagh, in the year 1404. On refer- 
ence to our volume of Annals, we find the death of AnnadJi 
O Muireadhaigli and Cah^hre O'Scoba mider the respective years 
of 1217 and 1275. The other years, 1373 and 1404, are now 
lost, though these lost sheets were probably in existence in 
Ware's time. 

The following little note, written in the lower margin of the 
eleventh page of the fragment in the British Museum, is not 
without interest in tracing this very volume of Annals to the 
possession of the family of Sir James Ware. 

" Honest, good, hospitable Robert Ware, Esq., of Stephen's 
Green; James Magrath is his servant for ever to command". 

This Robert was the son of the very candid writer on Irish 
history just mentioned. Sir James Ware ; and it is pretty clear 
that this entry was made in the book, of which the fragment in 
the British Museum formed a part, wliile it was in the hands 
of either the father or the son. 

Ha^dng thus endeavoured, and I trust successfully, to identify 
for the first time tliis valuable book of Irish Annals, I now pro- 
ceed to consider the character of its contents, so as to form a just 
estimate of its value, as a large item in the mass of materials 
which still exist for an ample and authentic History of Ireland. 

These Annals of Loch CS, as I shall henceforth call them, 
commence with the year of our Lord 1014, containing a very 
good account of the Battle of Clontarf ; the death of the ever 
memorable Brian Boroimhe; the final overthrow of the whole 
force of the Danes, assisted as they were by a numerous army 
of auxiliaries and mercenaries; and the total destruction of 
their cruel and barbarous sway within the 'Island of Saints'. 

The first page of the book is nearly illegible, but it was restored 
on inserted paper in a very good hand, at Cam Oilltriallaigh in 
Connacht, on the 1st of November 1698, by S. Mac Conmidhe. 

The account of the Battle of Clontarf just alluded to, is es- 
pecially interesting because it contains many details not to be 
found in any of the other annals now remaining to us. 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS 101 

In clironology as well as the general cliaracter, the Annals of lect. v. 
Loch Ce resemble the Annals of Tighernach, the Annals of Ul- 
ster, and the Chroniciun Scotoruni ; but they are much more annals ov 
copious in details of the affairs of Connacht than any of our °*^" 
other annals, not excepting even, perhaps, the Clironicle now 
known as the Annals of Connacht, — a collection which will 
presently engage our attention. And as all these additional de- 
tails involve much of family history and topography, every item 
of them will be deemed valuable by the diligent investigator of 
our history and antiquities. 

The dates are always written in the original hand, and in 
Roman numerals, represented by Irish letters. 

The text is all in the ancient Gaedhhc characters, and mainly 
in the Gaedhlic language, but mixed occasionally with Latin, 
particularly in recording births and deaths, when sometimes a 
sentence is given partly in both languages, as at a.d. 1087, 
which runs thus : 

" The Battle of Connchail in the territory of Corann (in 
Sligo), was gained by Rory O'Connor of the yellow hoimd, 
son of Hugh of the gapped spear, over Hugh the son of Art 
O'Ruairc ; and the best men of the Cojimaicne were slaughtered 
and slain. — [See original in Appendix, No. LL] 

" In tliis year was born Torloch O'Conor". — [See Appendix, 
No. LIL] 

The following specimen of the style and copiousness of the 
Annals of Loch Ce, may be appropriately introduced. The 
same events are given in but a few lines in the Annals of 
the Four Masters, a.d. 1256 It is the accoimt of the cele- 
brated Battle of Magh Slecht (or Plain of Genuflexions). — 
[See original in Appendix, No. LIH.] 

"A great army was raised by Walter INIac Rickard Mac 
William Burke, against Fedhlim, the son of Cathal Crohlidhearg 
[or Cathal O'Connor of the red hand], and against Aedh [or 
Hugh] the son of Feidlilim; and against the son of Tighernan 
O'Ruairc. And it was a long time before this period since a 
host so numerous as this was collected in Erinn, for their num- 
ber was counted as twenty thousand to a man. And these great 
hosts marched to Magh-Eo [jNIayo] of the Saxons, and from 
that to Balla, and from that all over Luighne [Leyney], and 
they ravaged Luighne in all directions around them. And they 
came to Achadh Conaire [Achonry], and sent messengers thence 
to the 0' Haghallaigli [O'Reillys), calHng upon them to come to 
meet them at Cros-Doire-Chaoin, upon the south end oi Bvat- 
Shliabh in Tir-Tiiathal. And the O'Reillys came to Clachan 
Mucadlia on Sliabh-an-Iarainn, but they turned back without 
ha^dng obtained a meeting from the English. 



102 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



Of the 
Annals of 
Loch Ce. 



"It was on tlaat very day, Friday precisely, and the day of 
tlie festival of the Cross, above all days, that Conchobhar the 
son of Tighernan O'Riiairc, assembled the men of BreifnS and 
Conmaicne, and all others whom he could, under the command 
of Aedh O'Conor, as were also the best men of Connacht, and 
of the Siol Muireadhaigh [the O'Conors]. And the best (or 
noblest) that were of that host were Conor the son of Tigher- 
nan O'Ruairc, King of the Ui Briuin and Conmaicne; Cathal 
O Flaitlibheartaigh [O'Flaherty] , and Murchadh Finn OFergh- 
ail; and Ruaidhri OFloinn of the wood ; and Flann Mac Oireach- 
taigh; aiidBonn 6g Mac Oireachtaigh ; and a great body of the 
Olvellys ; and Mac Dermot's three sons ; and Dermot OTlan- 
nagan; 2ii\d Cathal the son of Duarcan OHeaghra (O'Hara) ; 
and the two sons of Tighernan O'Conor, and Giolla-na- 
Nao7nh CTaidhg [O'Teige.] And numerous indeed were the 
warriors of Connacht there. And where the van of that host 
overtook the O'Reillys was at Soiltean-na-nGasan; and they 
pursued them to Alt Tighe Mhic Cuirin. Here the new recruits 
of the O'Reillys turned upon the united hosts, and three times 
drove them back. The main body of the hosts then came up, 
but not till some of their people had been killed, and among 
them Dermot O'Flannagan, and Mac 3faonaigh, and Coicle 
CCoicU [Cokely O'Cokely], and many more. 

"Both armies now marched to Alt~na-h-Filti, and to Doirin 
Cranncha, between Ath-na-Beithighe and Bel an Bheallaigh, 
and Coill Fassa, and Coill Airthir, upon Sliabh an larainn. 
Here the O'Reillys turned firmly, ardently, furiously, wildly, 
ungovernably, against the son of Feidhlim [O'Conor], and all 
the men of Connacht who were with him, to avenge upon them 
their wrongs and oppression. And each party then urged their 
people against the other, that is the Ui Briuin and the Con- 
nacht forces. Then arose the Connacht men on the one side of 
the battle, bold, expert, precipitate, ever moving. And they 
drew up in a bright-flaming, quick-handed phalanx, valiant, 
firm, imited in their ranks, under the command of their brave, 
strong-armed, youthful prince, Aedh [Hugh] the son of Feidh- 
lim, son of Cathal the red-handed. And, certainly, the son of 
the high king had in him the fury of an inflamed chief, the 
valour of a champion, and the bravery of a hero upon that day. 

" And a bloody, heroic, and triumphant battle then was 
fought between them. Numbers were killed and wounded on 
both sides. And Conor, the son of Tighernan (O'Ruairc), 
King of Breifne, and Murchadh Finn OFerghaill [Murrogh 
Finn O'Ferail], and Aedh [Hugh] O'Ferall, and Maolrua- 
naidh [Maelroney] Mac Donnogh, with many more, were left 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 103 

■wounded on the field. And some of tliese died of accumu- lect. v. 
lated wounds in tlicir own houses ; amonsf whom were Morroo'h ^, , 

. ^ . ■ Of tilG 

Finn O'Ferall ; and Flann Mac Oireachtaigh was killed in the annals op 
deadly strife of the battle, with many others. And now what ^"^" ^' 
those who had knowledge of this battle [who witnessed this 
battle] say, is, that neither the warriors on either side, nor the 
champions of the great battle themselves, could gaze at the face 
of the chief king; for thca-e were two great royal, torch-like, 
bi'oad eyes, flaming and rolling in his forehead ; and every one 
feared to address him at that time, for he was beyond speaking 
distance in advance of the hosts, going to attack the battalions 
of the Ui Briuin. And he raised his battle-cry of a chief king 
and his champion shout aloud in the middle of the great battle ; 
and he halted not from his career until the force of the Ui 
Briuin utterly gave Avay. 

" There were killed on this spot Cathal O'Reilly, King of 
the Muintir Maoilmoixlha, and of the clan of Aedh Finn, and 
his two sons along with him, namely — Donnell Roe and Niall ; 
and his brother CucJionnacht ; and Cathal Bubh O'Reilly's three 
sons, Geoffiy, Fergal, and Donnell. And Annadh, the son of 
Donnell O'Reilly, was killed by Conor, the son of Tighernan 
(O'Ruairc), and the Blind O'Reilly, that is, Niall; and Tigher- 
nan IMac Brady, and Gilla- Michael Mac Taichly, and Donogh 
0' Bibsaigh, and Manus Mac Gilla-JDuibh, and over three score 
of the best of then* _ people along with them. And there were 
sixteen men of the O'Reilly family killed there also, 

" This was the Battle o£ Magh Slecht, on the brink o£ Ath 
Dearg [the Red Ford] at Alt na hElllti [the Hill of the Doe] 
over Bealach na Beithighe [the Road of the Birch]". 

The precision with which the scene of this domestic battle 
(which took place in the modern county of Cavan) is laid down 
in this article, is a matter of singular interest, indeed of singular 
importance, to the Irish liistoriau. Magh Slecht [that is, the 
Plain of Adoration, or Genuflexions], the situation and bearings 
of which are so minutely set down here, was no other than that 
same plain of Magli Slecht in which stood Crom Criiach (called 
Ceann C^niach in the Tripartite Life), the great Idol of Milesian 
pagan worship, the Delphos of our Gadelian ancestors, from the 
time of their first coming into Erinn vmtil the destruction of the 
idol by Saint Patrick, in the early part of his apostleship among 
them. The precise situation of this historical locality has not 
been hitherto authoritatively ascertained by any of our antiqua- 
rian investigators ; but it is pretty clear, that, if any man fairly 
acquainted with our ancient native documents, and practised in 
the examination of the ruined monuments of antiquity, so thickly 

7 * 



104 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



Of the 
Annals op 
Loch Ce. 



scattered over the face of our country, — if, I say, such a man, 
with this article in his hand, and an extract from the Life of St. 
Patrick,^^^^ should go to any of the points here described in the 
route of the belligerent forces, he will have but little difficulty 
in reaching the actual scene of the battle, and will there stand, 
with certainty, in the veritable Magh Slecht ; nay, even may, 
perhaps, discover the identical Civm Cruach himself, with his 
twelve biu'ied satellites, where they fell and were interred when 
struck down by St. Patrick with his crozier, the Bachall losa, or 
Sacred Staff of Jesus ! 



Of the 
Annals of 
connacht. 



Much could be said on the value of these and of others of our 
local and independent chronicles, concerning the vast amount 
they contain of cumulative additions to what is recorded in 
other books, and of minor details, such as could never be found 
in any general compilation of national annals. Space will not, 
however, in lectures such as these, permit us to dwell longer on 
the subject at present, and we shall, therefore, pass on at once 
from the Annals of Loch Ce to the consideration of those com- 
monly called by the name of the Annals of Connacht. 

The only copies of the chronicle which bears tliis title now 
known to exist in Ireland are, a large folio paper copy, in two 
volumes, in the library of T.C.D. [class H. 1. 1. and H. 1. 2.] ; 
and a large quarto paper copy, in the library of the Royal Irish 
Academy, No. 25.4; 25.5 ; both in the same handAvriting. The 
writing is tolerably good, but the orthography is often inaccurate, 
owing to the ignorance of the copyist, whose name appears at 
the end of the second volimie in T.C.D., in the following entry : 

" Written out of an ancient vellum book, and finished the 
29th day of the month of October, in the year of the age of the 
Lord 1764, by Maurice O'Gorman". — [See original in Appen- 
dix, No. LV.] 

This IVIaurice O'Gorman, a well-known though a very incom- 
petent scribe, flourished in Dublin before and for some time after 
this year of 1764. The Trinity College copy was made by 
him for Dr. O'SuUivan, F.T.C.D., and Professor of Law in the 
University ; the two volumes in the Royal Irish Academy, for 
the Chevalier Thomas O'Gorman, of the county of Clare, in 
the year 1783, in the house of the Venerable Charles O'Conor, 
of Belanagare, in the county of Roscommon, as appears from a 
notice in English prefixed to the first volume. The scribe's 
name does not appear in this copy. 

These annals in their present condition begin with the yeajr of 

(39) The passage in the Life of St. Patrick M-ill be found, with translation, in 
the Appendix, No. LIV. 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 105 

our Lord 1224, and end witli the year 1562; but tlie years lect. v. 
1394, 1395, 1396, 1397, are missing; and this is the more to be ^^.^j^^ 
regretted as the same years are also missing from the Annals of annals of 
Loch Ce. At what time, or by what authority this chronicle 
received the name of the Annals of Connacht, it is now, perhaps, 
impossible to ascertain. • 

Usher quotes both from the Annals of Connacht, and from 
those of Boyle (Primordia, pp. 895, 966) ; but it is to be feared 
that Usher was his own authority, as Ave shall see presently. 

Sir James Ware gives the name of Annals of Connacht to the 
chronicle now known as the Annals of Boyle, in these words : 
"An anonymous monk of the Coenobiiun Buelliensis, added an 
index to the Annals of the affairs of Connacht up to the year 
1253, at which time he lived. The MS. book exists in the Cot- 
tonian Library, the gift of Oliver late Viscount Grandison, of 
Limerick". [Ware's Irish Writers, 4to, 1639, p. 60]. And in 
Ware's Catalogue of his own manuscripts (Dublin, 4to, 1648), 
p. 14, No. 44, he says, " A copy of the Annals of Connacht, or 
of the Coenobium Buelliensis, to the year 1253. The autograph 
exists in the Cottonian Library of Westminster". 

The book of which Ware makes mention in both these extracts, 
under the names of an index to the Annals of Connacht, and as 
the Annals of Connacht themselves, and the autograph of which, 
he says, was then in the Cottonian Library of Westminster, is 
certainly that now known as the Annals of Boyle. The auto- 
graph which w^as then in Westminster is now in the British 
Museum (under the library mark of Titus A. 25), and has been 
published by the Rev. Charles O'Conor, in his Rerum Hiber- 
nicarum Scriptores. 

When alluding to these Annals of Boyle in a former Lecture, 
I was reluctantly obliged to take the Rev. Charles O'Conor's 
very unsatisfactory account of them from the Stowe Catalogue ; 
but since that time, and during the summer of the last year 
(1855), I had an opportunity of examining the original book 
itself in the British Museum. As there is very much to correct 
in Dr. O'Conor's account, I am tempted shortly to state here 
the result of my own examination of the MS., but I shall do so 
only in the briefest manner. 

The book (the pages of which measure about eight inches in of the 
length, by five and a-half in breadth) contains, as I find, about botl^''." "" 
130 leaves, or 260 pages; and of these the Annals form the 34 
first leaves, or 68 pages, of good, strong, but somewhat disco- 
loured vellmn ; the remainder of the book is written in the En- 
glish language on paper, and has no concern with Ireland. It 
is written in a bold, but not elegant hand, chiefly in the old 



106 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 

LECT. V. black letter of (as I sliould tlimk) about tbe year 1300. The 

capital letters at tlie commencements of years and articles, and 

ansaIs op sometimes proper names, are generally of the Gaedhlic alphabet, 

Boi-LE. ^^^ gQ gracefully formed that it appears to me unaccountable 

how the same hand could have traced such chaste and graceful 

» Gaedhlic and such rude and heavy black letters, in one and the 

same word. 

The annals commence fourteen years before the birth of 
Lamech, the Father of Noah ; but those years are only marked 
by the letters " KL", which stand for the kalends or first day of 
January of the year. They then give the years from Adam to 
Lamech as 974. These blank kalends contain the dates (almost 
uninterruptedly) down to Noah ; then Abraham ; Isaac ; the In- 
carnation of our Lord ; and so to the coming of St. Patrick on 
his mission into Ireland, in the fourth year of the monarch 
Laeghaii^e, a.d. 432. Even from this time down to their pre- 
sent termination at the year 1257, the record of events is very 
meagre, seldom exceeding a line or two, generally of Latin and 
Irish mixed, until they reach the year 1100; indeed even from 
that year down to the end of the annals, the entries are still very 
poor, and without any attempt at description. 

The years throughout, to near the end, are distinguished by 
the initial kalends only, excepting at long intervals where the 
year of our Lord and the corresponding year of the world are 
inserted. In one instance the computation is from the Passion 
of our Lord, thus: "From the beginning of the world to the 
death of St. Martin, according to Dionisius, 5(511 years; from 
the Passion of the true Lord, 415". The year of the world is 
always given according to Dionisius, but in one instance the 
Hebrew computation is followed, and this is where the chrono- 
logy begins to agree with the common era ; as thus, at the year 
939 : " Here begin the wars of Brian, the son of Kennedy, son 
of Lorcan, the noble and great monarch of all Erinn, and they 
extend as far as the year 1014 from the Incarnation of Jesus 
Christ. From the beginning of the world, according to Dioni- 
sius, 6000 years, but according to the Hebrew, 5218 years". 

There is so much irregularity and confusion in the chronolo- 
gical progress and arrangement of these annals (a confusion 
which the Rev. Doctor O'Conor appears to me to have made 
more confused), that it would have been hopeless to attempt to 
reduce and correct them, without an expenditure of time, and a 
facility of collation with other annals, which a visit to London 
for other and weightier purposes would not admit of Nor 
should I have deemed it necessary to revert to them a second 
time in the course of these Lectures, but that I feel bound to cor- 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS- 107 

rect, as far as I can, any small errors into which such distin- lect. v. 
giiished scholars as Ussher, Ware, Nicholson, and O'Conor, may ^^ ^^^^ 
have fallen for want of a closer examination of these annals. axsals of 

In the first place we have seen that Ussher, Sir James Ware, 
his editor Walter Harris, Bishop Nicholson, and Doctor O'Co- 
nor, call them the Annals of Boyle ; and it may, I think, be 
beheved that Ussher was the father of the name, and that his 
successors followed him implicitly. 

As far as the annals themselves can show, there is nothing 
whatever in them to indicate that they are annals of Boyle, ex- 
cept the words 'Annales Monasterii in Buellio in Hibernia", 
which are written on the original vellum fly-leaf at the begin- 
ning of the book, in a line bold English hand, apparently of 
the early part of the last century. 

In a note by Doctor O'Conor on the death of Saint Maeclhog 
of Ferns, at the year 600 of his published copy of these annals, 
he says, it is evident that Ussher must have had another copy 
of them in his possession, because he places the death of Saint 
Masdhog at the year 632 on their authority. Now it is singular 
enough that here the doctor is wrong and Ussher right, for the 
year of our Lord 605 aj^pears distinctly in the original text 
in correspondence with the year of the world 5805. The doc- 
tor gives this annal 605, which is in Latin, coiTectly, but, in 
accordance with his adopted system, places it under the year 
573. The record runs thus: "In hoc anno Beatus Gregorius 
quievit. Scilicet in DCVto anno Dominice Incarnationis, ut 
Beda dicit in Historia sua. Beatus vero Gregorius XVI. annis, et 
mensibus VI. et diebus X. rexit Ecclesiam, Anni ab initio mundi 
VDCCCV". [i.e. " In this year the blessed Gregory rested. 
That is to say, in the 605th year of the Incarnation of our Lord, 
as Bede says in his History. Tndy the blessed Gregory ruled the 
Church 16 years, 6 months, and 10 days — Five thousand eight 
hundi'cd and five years from the beginning of the world".] 

As I had occasion to fix the date of a particidar occurrence in 
Irish history according to these annals, and as no other date ap- 
pears in them from 605 down to the record of that event, I 
wrote out the nvimber of blank kalends, with a few of their lead- 
ing records down to the occurrence in which I was interested. 
Among the items that I took dowm was the death of Saint Maed- 
hog of Ferns, and by counting the number of kalends between 
that event and the above date of 605, I find it to be 27 ; so that 
both numbers when added make 632, the precise year at which 
Ussher places it on the authority of these annals. This then, as 
far as Dr. O'Conor's observation goes, is the book that Ussher 
quotes from. 



108 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



Of the 
Annals of 
Boyle. 



It is only at the year 1234 tliat the regular insertion of the 
day of the week on which the kalends of January fell, and the 
year of our Lord in full, begin to be inserted in the text, and these 
Doctor O'Conor gives, down to 1238 ; after Avhich he passes with- 
out observation to the year 1240, and concludes with 1245. 

The learned doctor has fallen into a confusion of dates here, 
as the event which he places at the year 1251, and the three 
years that follow it in O'Conor, precede it in the original in re- 
gular order. 

The year 1251 is the last that can at present be read in these 
annals, but there are six distinct but illegible years after that, 
bringing down the records to the year 1257. 

There is but one occurrence recorded under the year 1251, 
and as it may be found, in connection with a few other facts, to 
throw some probable light on the original locality and history 
of the work, it may be well to give it in full. The record is 
in Latin, and rmis as follows : 

" Kl. enair for Domnach, m.cc.l°.i°. 

"Clarus, Arcloidiaconus Elphinensis vir prudens et discretus 
qui carnem suam jejimiis et orationibus macerabat, qui pauperes 
orfanos defendebat, qui patientia^ coronara observabat, qui perse- 
cutionem a multis propter justitiam patiebatur^ venerabilis fun- 
dator locorum Fraternitatis sanctce Trinitatis per totam Hiber- 
niam, et speciahter fundator monasterii sanctas Trinitatis apud 
Loch Che ubi locum sibi sepulturi elegit. Ibidem in Christo 
quievit Sabbato Dominice Pent, anno Domini M.CC.L°.I°. 
Cujus animal propitietur Deus omnipotens in coelo cui ipse ser- 
vivit in seculo. In cujus honorem Ecclesiam de Renduin et 
Monasterium Sanctas Trinitatis apud Loch Uachtair, Ecclesiam 
Sanctce Trinitatis apud Ath Mogi, Ecclesiam Sanctje Trinitatis 
apud Kkllras editicavit, pro cujus anima quilibet Hbrum le- 
gens, dicat Pater Noster". 

[The Calends of January on Sunday, m.cc.l°.i°. 

Clarus, Archdeacon of Elphin, a man prudent and discreet, 
who kept his flesh attenuated by lirajov and fasting, who de- 
fended the poor orphans, who waited for the crown of patience, 
who suffered persecution from many for the sake of justice ; the 
venerable founder of the places of the Confraternity of the Holy 
Trinity throughout all Ireland, especially the founder of the 
Monastery of the Holy Trinity of Loch Ce, where he selected 
his place of sepulture ; there he rested in Christ, on the Saturday 
before Pentecost Sunday, in the year of our Lord 1251. May 
the Almighty God in Heaven be propitious to his soul, whom 
he served in the world, in whose honour he built the Church of 
Renduin and the Monastery of the Hol}^ Trinity at Loch Uacli- 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 109 

tair (Upper Lake), also of tlie Holv Trinity at Cellrais, for lect. v. 
whose soul let whoever reads tliis book say a Pater Noster.] ^^ ^^^ 

It is quite apparent from this honourable and feehng tribute annals op 
paid to Clarus Mac Mailin, as he is called in the Annals of 
the Four Masters, a.d. 1235, — but who was a member of the 
learned family of O'Mulconry, — that the annalist, whoever he 
may have been, had a high A^eneration, if not a personal friend- 
ship, for him; and it is equally clear, or at least it is much 
more than probable, that an annalist of the Abbey of Boyle, 
with wliich he had no known coimexion whatever, would not 
speak so warmly and affectionately of one who perhaps was 
the light of a rival establishment. 

It is certain that he was a dignitary of the ancient church of 
Elfinn, which was founded by Saint Patrick, and the oldest foun- 
dation in that district, situate on the southern borders of Mac 
Dermot's country, though not in it ; that, among several others, 
he founded the Monastery of the Holy Trinity on an Island in 
Loch Ce; and that he was bru-ied in that monastery. It is evi- 
dent that the annals in which these events and personal memo- 
rials are so affectionately and religiously recorded, must have 
belonged to the immediate locality. It is also clear that they 
are not the annals of the Island of Saints in Loch Rihh [Ree], 
because the annals of that island, as recorded by the Four 
Masters, came down but to the year 1227, and because that 
island did not belong to Mac Dermot's country. It is equally 
clear, if we are to credit the venerable Charles O'Conor, of 
Belanagar, that they cannot be the Annals of Connacht, com- 
piled in the Cistercian Abbey of Boyle, since that chronicle 
commenced with the year 1224, and ended with the year 1546. 

We have no account of any annals of the Island of Saints in 
Loch Gamhna, and even if we had, we could not, mthout posi- 
tive evidence, believe that these could be they. Loch Gamhna be- 
ing in the County of Longford, a different district and province. 

Taking, then, all these circumstances into account, I cannot 
avoid coming to the conclusion that this ancient and curious chro-. 
nicle must have belonged to some church situated within Mac 
Dermot's coimtry, and that probably it belonged to the Island of 
Saints in Loch Ce, though we have no record of the time at 
which the church of that island became ruined and abandoned. 

I must confess that this idea would never probably have oc- 
curred to me, if it had not been suggested by what I found in the 
book itself; for at the lower margin of folio 14 b, I found this re- 
cord, in a good hand, of the period to which it refers — 1594. 

" Tomaltach, son of Owen, son of Hugh, son of Dermod, son of 
Rory Caech (the blind), died in the last month of this year, 



Boyle. 



110 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 

LECT. V. in Ills own liouse in Cluain FraoicK\ [See original in Ap- 
r~ PENDix, No. LVI.] 

Annals of Tliis is a remarkable entry to be found in this book. Cluain 
Fraoich, near Strokestown, in tlie County of Roscommon, was 
the name of the ancient palace of the O'Conor family, Kings of 
Connacht down to the sixteenth century; but the name of the man 
and the pedigree which are given in this obituary are not found 
among the O'Conor pedigrees, as far as I have been able to dis- 
cover, thousfh I have examined all the accessible old srenealo- 
gical tables of authority of that family ; and as there is no such 
Ime of pedigree as the present to be found among them, it na- 
turally follows that this Tomaltach, the son of Owen, must have 
been a member of some other important family situated in the 
same country, and in a residence of the same name. And such 
was the fact; for we find in Cucogry O'Clery's Book of Pe- 
digrees (R. I. Academy) the following curious line of a branch 
of the great Mac Dermot family, which must have struck off 
from the parent chieftain tree in the person of Dermod, the 
son of Rory Caech (or the blind) Mac Dermot, which Rory the 
bhnd must have flourished about the middle of the fifteentli cen- 
tury, as we find in the annals that his son Rory og, or junior, 
Lord of Moylurg, died in the year 1486. 

O'Clery says: "The Sliocht Diarmada are descended from 
Dermot, the son of Rory Caech (the blind), son of Hugh, 
etc., viz. — Tomaltach, the son of Owen, son of Hugh, son of 
Dermot, son of Rory (the blind), son of Hugh, son of Conor", 
etc. Now we find that the Tomaltach [or Thomas], the first, 
or rather the last, link in this line of pedigree preserved by 
O'Clery, is precisely the same Tomaltach whose death is so 
circumstantially recorded, in a post insertion, in what have been 
called the Annals of Boyle, at least since Ussher's time, that 
is for nearly 250 years. 

This record shows pretty clearly that at the time of making it. 
the book was in the possession of the Mac Dermot family ; and 
that it was so, there are still stronger proofs in the book itself to 
show ; for in several parts of it — towards the end, biit particularly 
at folios 10, 20, SO, 31, 33, — we find emendations and additions 
in the handwriting of Brian Mac Dermot, who made the addi- 
tions to the Annals of Loch Ce, which have already been no- 
ticed in speaking of that important chronicle These insertions 
are sufficient to show that the original book, now in the British 
Musemn, and known as the Annals of Boyle, was at the close of 
the sixteenth century in the possession of the chief, Brian Mao 
Dermot, lord of the territory in which Boyle is situated ; and 
this would and should be received as evidence enough for their 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. Ill 

lieing tlie Annals of Boyle, if really any siicli annals had ever lect. v 
existed. There is, however, in the lower margin of folio 30, „ 

oo IT • I'l Of the 

page a, or oo, page b, — 1 am not certain at present wnich, — a annals of 
memorandum, in a few words, which is incontestably fatal to the ^°^^^- 
name of Annals of Boyle. The words, which are written in a 
bad but old hand, run thus: "The historical book of the 
Island of the Saints". — [See original in Appendix, No. LVII.] 
And to connect them still further with some Island of the 
Saints, we find the following words in a good hand of the lat- 
ter part of the sixteenth century, in the lower margin of folio 
13, b, of the book: " Four score years from the death of Saint 
Patrick to the death of Dermot Mac Cerhhaill [monarch of 
Erinn], according to the Martyrology of the Island of the 
Saints". — [See original in Appendix, No. LVIIL] 

It must be confessed that, although these words prove clearly 
enough that this book of annals did not belong to the Abbey of 
Boyle, still they do not show with equal clearness to what place 
they really did belong, any more than that they must, according 
to these evidences, have belonged to some place in or about Loch 
Ce, in Mac Dermot's country. 

That they belonged to some island is plain enough, and that 
they are not the Annals of the Island of the Saints in Loch 
Ree in the Shannon, is evident, as the Four Masters say of that 
book of annals, that it came down but to the year 1227, whereas 
these came down to 1257; and if we may rely on the word 
of the venerable Charles O'Conor of Belanagar, they cannot 
be the Annals of Connacht ; for in a list of Irish manuscripts 
in his possession about the year 1774, and which list is in his 
own hand^vi-iting, I find — " The Annals of Connacht, compiled 
in the Cistercian Abbey of Boyle, beginning at the year 1224 
and ending 1546". [M.S. in the Royal Irish Academy, No. 
23.6; p. 126.] 

By the aid of my learned and esteemed friend, Denis H. 
Kelly, Esq., of Castle Kelly, in the county of Roscommon, I 
find that there really is an Oilean na Naemh, or Saints' Island, 
in Loch Ce, close to Mac Dermot's rock or castle, and about two 
miles from Boyle ; and that the local tradition is, that the ruined 
church which still remains on it, was founded by Saint Colum 
Cille, about the same time, probably, that he founded the church 
of Eas Mac nEirc, at the mouth of the river Boyle, in the same 
neighbourhood, and the church on Oilean na Naemh, or Saints' 
Island in Loch Gamhna, in the Comity of Longford. Tradition 
also has it that the church was occupied by "Culdees", or Ceilide 
De, down to the twelfth centmy. 

That Saint Colum Cille founded a church on some island in 



112 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



Of the 

Annals of 

BOTLE. 



Loch CS, some time about tlie year 550, will also clearly be 
seen from tlie following extract from O'Donnell's remarkable 
collection of ancient tracts, relating to the life and acts of that 
eminent saint. 

"On one occasion that Colum Cille was staying upon an is- 
land in Loch Ce in Connacht, and a poet and man of science 
came to visit him, and conversed with him for a while, and then 
went away from him. And the monks wondered that Colum 
Cille did not ask for a specimen of his composition from the 
poet, as he was wont to ask from every man of science who 
visited him. And they asked him why he had acted so. Co- 
lum Cille answered them, and said, that it would not be proper 
for him to ask for pleasant things from a man to whom sorrow 
was near at hand ; and that it should not be long before they 
should see a man coming unto him (Colum Cille) to tell him 
that that man had been killed. Scarcely had this conversation 
ended when they heard a shout at the port of that island (that 
is, the landing place on the main land opposite to it), and 
Colum Cille said that it was with an account of the killing of 
the poet the man came who raised that shout. And all was 
verified that Colmn Cille had said ; and the names of God and 
of Colum Cille were magnified on that account". — [See original 
in Appendix, No. LIX.] 

From this notice, as well as from several other references that 
could be adduced, it is certain that Saint Columba founded a 
monastery on the island in Loch Ce, which is now called the 
Island of the Saints. 

The Annals of the Four Masters, in the Testimonium, and 
again at the year 1005, mention and quote the Annals of the 
Island of Saints in Loch Rlbh [Ree]. (Loch Ree is an expan- 
sion of the river Shannon between Athlone and Lanesborough.) 
And the second continuation after the year 1405 of the chronicle 
now called the Annals of Tighernach, states in that work, that 
Augustin Mac Grady (the continuator probably, from 1088 
to 1405), was a canon of the Island of the Saints, but he does 
not say where this island was situated. There can be no doubt, 
however, that this Island of the Saints was the one situated in 
Loch Hibh [Ree], to the north of Liis Clothrann, and belong- 
ing to the County of Longford, — an island which still contains 
venerable though riuned monuments of ancient Catholic piety 
and taste. 

It is stated by Colgan, Ware, and Doctor Lanigan, that Liis 
Ainc/hin, an island situated in the Upper Shannon, above Ath- 
lone, and belonging to Westmeath, was this Island of the 
Saints. This, however, is not correct, as that island continued 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 113 

to bear its original name down to a recent period, — as it does lect. y. 
still with the Irish-speaking neighbours, though it is called ^^^^ 
Hare Island by English speakers. annals op 

Archdall, in his Monasticon, says that the Island of the Saints 
in Loch Gamhna in Longford, on which Saint Colum Cille 
founded his church, was anciently called Inis AingJiin; but I 
have shown in a former lectiu-e, from indispiitable authority, 
that the church of Liis Ainghin, the ruins of which remain still, 
was founded by the great Saint Ciaran, before the founding of 
his celebrated ecclesiastical city of Clonmacnois. 

To return to the Annals of Connacht. These annals, or of the 
rather the existing fragment of them, extend from the year Q^^m 
1224 to the year 1562. 

It is unfortunate that neither the transcriber, nor the person 
for whom they were transcribed, has left vis any notice of the 
extent or history of the old vellum MS. from which they were 
copied. There is reason, however, to beheve that they are a 
fragment of the book of Annals of the O'Duio-enamis, of Kil- 
ronan, in the coimty of Roscommon, mentioned, as we have 
already said, by the Four Masters as having been used by them 
in their great compilation, and which extended from the year 
900 to tiie year 1563. 

The original of this fragment, however, was in the late Stowe 
collection, and passed, by pvirchase, into the hands of Lord 
Ashbm-nham, an Enghsh nobleman, in whose custody they are 
as safe from the rude gaze of historical in"\'estigators as they were 
when in the hands of His Grace of Buckingham, who got pos- 
session of them by accident, and sold them as part of the ducal 
furniture, to the prejudice of the late Mathew O'Conor, Esq., 
of Dubhn, the true hereditary owner. 

The following observations on this ancient vellum fragment 
will be found in the Rev. Dr. O'Conor's catalogue of the Stowe 
manuscripts, vol. I., no. 9, p. 73. 

"Annals of Comiacht, folio, parchment. — The written pages 
are 174, beginnmg with the year 1223, and ending with 1562. 
Ireland produces no chronicle of the aiFairs of Connacht to be 
compared with this. The narrative is in many instances cir- 
cumstantial ; the occurrences of the different years in every part 
of the province are noticed ; as are the foimdations of castles and 
churches, and the chronology is every where minutely detailed. 

"There is no history of the pro\dnce of Connacht; neither is 
there of any town or district of that most populous part of 
Ireland, except this mipublished chronicle. 

8 



Of the 



114 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 

"This clironicle is, therefore, invaluable. 'Many are the in- 
ducements which it holds out to dwell upon some of its events ; 
Annals of many the notices which would inform and instruct the people 
CoNNACHT. ^^ -whose country they refer. But in the vast variety of matter 
hitherto unjniblished, the difficulty of making a selection, and the 
danger of exceeding the limits of a catalogue, forbid the attempt. 

"Those who have been misled by elaborate discussions on the 
antiquity of Irish castles and churches, will find the errors of 
ponderous volmnes corrected in this MS. with a brevity which 
leaves no room for doubt, and an accuracy which leaves none 
for conjecture. The pride and dogmatism of learning must bow 
before the 'barbarous' narrative which gives the following infor- 
mation". 

[Here follow the dates of the creation and destruction of cas- 
tles and monasteries from the year 1232 to 1507, with some 
particulars respecting them, after which the article concludes in 
the following words :] 

"It is to be lamented that the first part of the Annals of Con- 
nacht are missing in this collection ; they are quoted by Ussher 
in his Primordia, and confounded with the Annals of Boyle by 
Nicholson". [Nicholson, p. 34.] 

The same learned writer gives also the following extract, 
original and translation, in illustration of his observations on 
these annals, at page 76 of the above-mentioned volume : 

"a.d. 1464, Tadhg 0' Conor died, and was buried in Ros- 
common, the nobility of Connacht all witnessing that inter- 
ment ; so that not one of the Connacht kings, down from the 
reign of Cathal of the red hand, was more honourably interred ; 
and no wonder, since he was the best of the kings of Connacht, 
considering the gentleness of his reign. There was no king of 
Connacht after him — they afterwards obtained the title of 
O'Conor, and because they were not themselves steady to each 
other, they were crushed by lawless power and the usurpations 
of foreigners. May God forgive them their sins. Domine ne 
status nobis hoc peccatum. This extract is taken from the 
book of Kilronan, which has the approbation of the Four Mas- 
ters annexed to it, by me Cathal O'Conor (of Belanagare), 2 
August, 1728". 

It is very plain from the style of this article, in the GaedhHc 
of Mr. O'Conor of Belanagare, that it was an abstract of the ori- 
ginal record of this event, made by himself, and this will a23pear 
more decidedly from the following translation of the entire 
article, made by me from the copy of the book which he had 
then before him, which he calls the Annals of Kilronan, and 
which we have now, under the name of the Annals of Connacht : 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 115 

" A.D. 1464. Tadhg O'Conor, half-king of Connaght, mor- lect. v. 
tuus est on tlie Saturday after first Lady Day in autumn, et 
sepultus in Roscommon, so honourably and nobly by the Sil annals op 
Muiredhaigh, such as no king before him, of the race of Cathal ^''^^^°^'^- 
of the Red Hand, for a long time before had been. Where 
their cavalry and gallowglasses were in full armour around the 
corpse of the high king in the same state as if they were going 
to battle ; where their green levies were in battle array, and the 
men of learning and poetry, and the women of the Sil Miiired- 
haigh were in countless flocks following him. And countless 
were the alms of the church on that day for the [good of the] 
corpse [soul] of the high king, of cows, and horses, and money. 
And he had seen in a vision Michael [the Archangel] leading 
him to judgment". [See original in Appendix, No. LX.] 

The Annals of Loch Ce, which have been erroneously called 
the Annals of Kilronan, dispose of this article in three lines, re- 
cording merely the death, at this year, of " Tadhg the son of 
Torlogh Roe O'Conor, half-king of Connaght, a man the most 
intelligent and talented in Connaght, in his own time". [See 
original in Appendix, No. LXI.] 

It was from this man's mavisoleum that the stones with sculp- 
tured gallowglasses were procured for the Antiquarian Depart- 
ment of the late Great Irish Exhibition (1853). They have 
been again very properly restored to their original place ; but 
surely some individual or society ought to procure casts of them 
for our pubHc museums. 

And here, before Ave pass from this remarkable extract, can 
we fail to be struck by the feeUng terms in which the venerable 
Charles O'Conor sighs for the fallen fortimes of his house and 
family, and sighs the more, as their unfaitlifulness to each other 
was the cause of their decay and of their subjection, and that 
of their country, to a comparatively contemptible foreign foe ? 
This is a singular admission on the part of the best Irish his- 
torian of his time, — but it is a fact capable of positive historical 
demonstration, even from these very amials, — that the downfall 
of the Irish monarchy and of Irish independence was owing 
more to the barbarous selfishness of the house of O'Conor of 
Connaght, and their treachery towards each other, with all the 
disastrous consequences of that treachery to the country at large, 
than to any other cause either within or without the kingdom 
of Ireland. 

It must appear very clear, from the extract we have quoted 
from Mr. O'Conor, that the Annals of Kilronan, from which he 
made it, — the very book mentioned by the Four Masters, — was 
in existence in some condition, and in his possession, so late 

8b 



116 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 

LECT. V. as the year 1728. And as Mr. O'Conor's books were not scat- 

Of the tered during his own long life, nor until the cloief part of them 

Annals of Were Carried to Stowe by his grandson, the late Rev. Charles 

ON ACHT. Q'Qonor, it can scarcely admit of doubt that the vellum book, 

which the latter writer describes as part of this collection in the 

Stowe catalogue, must be the book of I^alronan from which the 

former made the extract. 

Those Annals, according to the Testimonium to the Annals 
of the Four Masters, extended from the year 900 to the year 
1563. How the first three hundred years of these annals could 
have disappeared, we have now no means of ascertaining ; but 
it is clear that tliey were missmg at the time that O'Gorman 
made his transcript, else he would have copied them with the 
remainder of the book. 

The following notices, in English, appear in the copy of these 
annals in the Royal Irish Academy, in the handwritmg, I think, 
of Theophilus O'Flannagan. 

On the fly-leaf of the first volume (there are two volumes), 
we find this entry : — " The Annals of Connacht, transcribed 
from the original in the possession of Charles O'Conor of Be- 
lanagar, Esq., of the house of O'Conor Dmi, at the expense of 
the Chevalier Thomas O'Gorman, Anno Domini 1783". 

Of the year 1378 there remains but the date and one fine, 
with the following notice, in the same English hand : " N.B. The 
remainder of this Annal, together with the years 1379, 1380, 
1381, 1382, 1383, 1384, are wanting to the Annals of Con- 
nacht, all to the following fragment of the year 1384, but they 
may be filled from the Four Masters, who have transcribed the 
above Annals". 

Again, at what appears to be the end of the year 1393, the 
following notice is fomid in the same English hand: "N.B. The 
years 1394, 1395, 1396, 1397, are wanting in the original, but 
may be filled from the Four Masters". 

And, again, at the end of the year 1544, we find this notice 
in the same English hand : " N.B. Here end the Annals of Con- 
nacht, the following annal (1562) has been inserted by a dif- 
ferent hand". 

The first of these notices is sufficient to show that this was the 
same book from which Charles O'Conor made the extract at the 
year 1464, and he says that that was the Book of Kih-onan, with 
the approbation of the Four Masters appended to it ; and it ap- 
pears from the third or last notice, that not only had the first 
three hundred years disappeared from the book, but also the 
years from 1544 to 1563, the last year in it, according to the 
Four Masters. 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 117 

It may, however, be doubted wbetlier the Four Masters did lect. v. 
not count the years in this book, from the first to the last, with- ^^ ^^^^ 
out pausing to notice any defect, or number of defects, in it, and asnals of 
that the last year of it in their time was the year 1563. We 
beheve that the Annals of Senait Mac Manus, now known as the 
Amials of Ulster, had, when in their hands, two deficiencies, 
one of them greater than the defect here between 1544 and 1562, 
and that they take no notice whatever of it. 

At what time local annals came to receive provincial names — 
such as the Annals of Ulster, the Annals of Connacht, etc. — 
I cannot discover. Such names, as far as I recollect, are only 
found in the works of Ussher, Ware, and their followers ; the 
Fom- INlasters do not cUstinguish by provincial names any of 
the old chronicles from which they compiled, and indeed it 
would be absurd if they had done so, as it might happen 
that any or each of the provinces might have several books of 
annals, none of which woidd be exclusively devoted to the re- 
cords of provincial transactions. Finding tliis book, therefore, 
kno-wn as the Annals of Connacht, is no evidence whatever of 
its not being the Book of Kilronan, or any other of the old 
chronicles mentioned by the Four Masters, with which it may 
be found to agree in extent. 

The following passage from the Rev. Dr. O'Conor's Stowe 
catalogue will show, among a thousand others, how cautious we 
ought to be in receiving, as facts, opinions and observations on 
subjects of this difficult kind, written hurriedly, or without ex- 
amination. In describing volume No. 3 of the Stowe collection 
of Irish manuscripts, page 50 of the catalogue, the writer says : 

"Folio 50. An Irish chronicle of the kings of Comiaught, 
from the arrival of Saint Patrick, with marginal notes by Mr. 
O'Conor of Belanagar, written in 1727. This chronicle begins 
from the arrival of Saint Patrick, and ends with 1464. It was 
transcribed from the ancient manuscript of the Church of Kil- 
ronan, called ' The Book of Kilronan', to which the Four Mas- 
ters affixed their approbation in their respective hands, as stated 
in this copy, folio 28". 

Now it is plain that the reverend doctor has added to the words 
of his grandfather here, or that the latter, which is very impro- 
bable, wrote what was not the fact, — namely, that he drew this 
clironicle of Connacht kings, from the coming of Saint Patrick 
to the year 1464, from the Book of Kilronan, since we have it 
on the authority of the Four Masters, that this book, not of the 
church of Kibonan, but of the O'Duigenanns of Kilronan, went 
no further back than the year 900, or nearly 500 years after 
the coming of Saint Patrick. 



118 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



Of the 
Annals of 
connacht. 



To sum up, then, it would seem that this old manuscript in the 
Stowe collection, must be a fragment of one of two books which 
the Four Masters had in their possession, namely, the Book of 
the O'Mulconrys, which came from the earliest times down to 
the year 1505, and which was, probably, added to afterwards, 
like the Annals of Ulster, down to its present conclusion; or 
the Book of the O'Duigenanns, of Kilronan ; and if the elder 
O'Conor was correctly informed, and that he is correctly re- 
ported by his grandson, it was without any doubt the latter. 
We must observe, however, that the elder O^onor, in his list of 
his own MSS., where he calls this book the Annals of Connacht, 
speaks of it as compiled in the Cistercian Abbey of Boyle. 

It is remarkable too, that we find in this book, at the end of 
the year 1410, the following entry: "Marianus filius Tathei 
O'Beirne submersis est on the 14th of the kalends October. 
Patin qui scripsit". Now there is little doubt that this "Patin" 
was Padm [Padeen] O'Mulconry, the poet, who died in the 
year 1506. 

Again, we find the name of Nicholas O'Mulconry at the end 
of the year 1544, in such a position as to induce the belief that 
he was the writer of the preceding annal ; or at least, as in the 
preceding case, of the concluding part of it. So that if the 
elder O'Conor be correct in his own written words, this book 
really consists of the Annals of Boyle, or else a fragment of the 
Book of the O'Mulconrys : but that book came down but to the 
year 1505. Had we the original manuscript to examine, it 
could be easily seen whether these were strange insertions or not ; 
and I only desire to piit these facts on record here from O'Gor- 
man's transcript, hoping that they may be foimd hereafter useful 
to some more favoiu'ed and accomplished investigator. 

To some of my hearers, the minute examination I have thought 
it necessary to make before them, of the identity and authority 
of the several important manuscripts which have engaged our 
attention, may, perhaps, have seemed tedious. Yet it is not 
merely for the sake of thus recording in a permanent shape the 
information which I have collected on these subjects, that I have 
taken this course. It is chiefly because the earnest student in 
this now almost untrodden path of historical inquiry (and I hope 
there are many among my hearers who desire to become earnest 
students of their couritry's history), will find in the examples I 
am endeavouring to trace for him, of the mode in which alone 
our subject must be mvestigated, the best introduction to a seri- 
ous study of it. And it is only by such careful canvass of au- 
thorities, by such jealous search into the materials which have 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 119 

been handed down to ns, that we can ever hope to separate the lect. v. 
true from the false, and to lay a truly sound and reliable founda- ^j^ ^^i^ 
tion for the superstructure of a complete History of Erinn. as materiuis 
For the present, you \vill remember, I am occupied in giving ° "^ "^^' 
you an account of the chief collections of annals or chronicles 
in which the skeleton of the events of Gaedlihc History is pre- 
served with greater or less completeness ; and that you. may vm- 
derstand the value and extent of the rehable records of this kind 
that remain to us, it is the more necessary that I should go into 
some details, because there is no published account of, or guide 
to, this immense mass of historical materials. But I shall not 
neglect to point out to you also, how these dry records may be 
nsed in the construction of a true history, as vivid in its pictures 
of Hfe, as accurate and trustworthy in its records of action. And 
before this short course terminates, I hope to satisfy you that 
collateral materials exist also in rich abundance, for the illustra- 
tion and completion of that history in a way fully as interest- 
ing to the general Irish reader as to the mere philologist or 
antiquarian. 



LECTURE yi. 



[Delivered June 23. 1856.] 



Existing 



The Annals (continued). 7. The Chronicum Scotorum of Duald Mac Firbis. 
Of Mac Firbis, his life and death, and liis works. 8. The Annals of Lecain. 
Of the Story of Queen Gormlaith. 9. The Annals of Clomnacnois. 

If we followed exactly a chronological order, the next great 
record which should claim our attention would be the Annals 
of the Fovu' Masters ; but the importance and extent of that im- 
mense work demand, at least, the space of an entire lectiu'e ; and 
I shall, accordingly, devote the greater part of the present to 
the consideration of an almost contemporary compilation, — the 
last but one of those I have already named to you, — the Chroni- 
cum Scotorum of the celebrated Duald Mac Firbis (Dublial- 
tach Mac FirbhisigJi). 

Of this chronicle there are three copies known to me to be in 
Mss. oAiie existence. One, the autograph, in the library of Trinity College, 
scoTOKUM. Dublin ; and two in the library of the Royal Irish Academy. 
Of the latter, one is in the handwriting of Jolm Conroy, whose 
name has been mentioned in a former lecture, in connection with 
this tract and the Annals of Tighemach ; the second is a copy 
lately made in Cork, by Paul O'Longan, from what source I am 
not able to say with certainty, but I believe it to have been from 
a copy made by his grandfather, IMichael O'Longan, in Dublin, 
about the year 1780; and if I am correct in this opinion, there 
are four copies in Ireland, besides any that the present O'Lon- 
gans may have made and sold in England. 

This chronicle has been aheady mentioned in our account of 
the Annals of Tighernach, and as nothing of its history is known 
to me but what can be gathered from the book itself, and the 
hand in wliich the autograph (or Trinity College copy) is ^vritten, 
I proceed without fmther delay to the consideration of that 
manuscript. 

The Trinity College MS. is written on paper of foolscap size, 
like that upon wliich the Annals of Tighernach in the same vo- 
lume are written, but apparently not so old. It is in the bold 
and most accurate hand of Dubhaltach (sometimes called Duvald, 
Duald, or Dudley) Mac Firbis, the last of a long line of histo- 
rians and chroniclers of Lecain Mic Fhirhhisigh, in the barony 
of Tir-Fhiacliradh, or Tireragh, in the county of Sligo. 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 121 

Duald ]Mac Firbis appears to have been intended for the he- lect. vi. 
reditary profession of an antiquarian and historian, or for that ^^ ^ 

„ . " j-f- J , K ^ n T • / .Of Duald 

oi the reneclias or ancient native laws or his coimtiy (now im- Mac Fiibis. 
properly called the Brehon Laws). To qualify him for either 
of these ancient and honoiu'able professions, and to improve and 
perfect his education, yoimg Mac Firbis appears at an early age 
to have passed into Mimster, and to have taken up his residence 
in the School of law and history, then kept by the Mac jEgans, 
of Lecain, in Ormond, in the present comity of Tipperary. He 
studied also for some time, either before or after this, but I be- 
hove after, in Burren, in the present county of Clare, at the not 
less distinguished literary and legal school of the O'Davoreus ; 
where we find him, with many other young Irish gentlemen, 
about the year 1595, under the presidency of Donnell O'Davoren. 

The next place in which we meet Mac Firbis is in the col- 
lege of Saint Nicholas, in the ancient town of Galway ; where 
he compiled his large and comprehensive volmne of Pedigrees 
of ancient Irish and Anglo-Norman families, in the year 1650. 

The autograph of this great compilation is now in the posses- xhe Book of 
sion of the Earl of Roden, and a fac-simile copy of it was made ?i':'^!?!^i'5 °^ 
by me for the Royal Irish Academy in the year 1836. Of this 
invaluable work, perhaps the best and shortest description that 
I could present you with, will be the simple translation of the 
Title prefixed to it by the author, which runs as follows [See 
original in Appendix, No. LXII.] : 

"The Branches of Relationship and the Genealogical Rami- 
fications of every Colony that took possession of Erinn, traced 
from this time up to Adam (excepting only those of the Fomo- 
rians, Lochlanns, and Saxon-Galls, of whom we, however, treat, 
as they have settled in oiu- cotmtry) ; together with a Sanctilo- 
gium, and a Catalogue of the Monarchs of Erinn ; and finally, 
an Index, which comprises, in alphabetical order, the surnames 
and the remarkable places mentioned in this book, which was 
compiled by Duhhaltacli Mac Firhhisigli of Lecain, 1650. 

"Although the above is the customary way of giving titles to 
books at the present time, we will not depart from the following 
of our ancestors, the ancient summaiy custom, because it is the 
plainest; thus: 

"The place, time, author, and cause of writing this book, 
are : — the place, the College of St. Nicholas, in Galway ; the 
time, the time of the religious war between the Catholics of 
Ireland and the Heretics of Ireland, Scotland, and England, 
particularly the year 1650; the person or author, Duhhaltacli, 
the son of Gilla Isa 3f6r Mac Firhhisigh, historian, etc., of 
Lecain Mac Firbis, in Tireragh, on the Moy ; and the cause of 



122 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 

LECT. VI. writing tlie book is, to increase the glory of God, and for the in- 

The Book of fo^i^^^tion of tlio peoplo in general". 

Pedigrees of It was to Dr. Pctrio that the Council of the Royal Irish Aca- 
demy entrusted the care of having the copy of this hook made, 
which I have just alluded to ; and, afterwards, on the occasion 
of laying that copy before them, he read an able paper, which 
is published in the eighteenth volume of the Transactions of the 
Academy, on the character and historic value of the work, and 
on the little that was known of the learned author's Mstory. 

Of the death In the com'sc of liis remarks, this accomphshed writer says : 

Mac Rrbis. " ^o these meagre facts I can only add that of his death, which, 
as we learn from Charles O'Conor, was tragical, — for this last of 
the Mac Firbises was unfortunately murdered at Dunilin, in the 
county of Sligo, in the year 1670. The circumstances connected 
with this event were known to that gentleman, but a proper re- 
spect for the feehngs of the descendents of the murderer, who 
was a gentleman of the country, prevented him from detailing 
them. They are, however, still remembered in the district in 
which it occurred, but I will not depart from the example set 
me, by exposing them to public hght". 

It was quite becoming Dr. Petrie's characteristic dehcacy of 
feeling to follow the cautious silence of Mr. O'Conor in rela- 
tion to this fearful crime. Now, however, there can be no 
offence or impropriety towards any living person, in putting on 
record, in a few words, the brief and simple facts of the cause 
and manner of this mm'der, as preserved in the living local 
tradition of the country. 

Mac Firbis was, at that time, under the ban of the penal laws, 
and, consequently, a marked and almost defenceless man in the 
eye of the law, whilst the friends of the miurderer enjoyed the 
full protection of the constitution. He must have been then past 
his eightieth year, and he was, it is believed, on his way to Dub- 
lin, probably to visit Robert, the son of Sir James Ware. He 
took up his lodgings for the night at a small house in the little 
village of Dun Flin, in his native county. Wliile sitting and 
resting himself in a little room off the shop, a young gentleman, 
of the Crofton family, came in, and began to take some liberties 
with a young woman who had care of the shop. She, to check 
his freedom, told him that he would be seen by the old gentle- 
man in the next room ; upon which, in a sudden rage, he snatched 
up a knife from the counter, rushed furiously into the room, and 
plunged it into the heart of Mac Firbis. Thus it was that, at 
the hand of a wanton assassin, this great scholar closed his long 
career, — the last of the regularly educated and most accom- 
plished masters of the history, antiquities, and laws and lan- 
guage of ancient Erinn. 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 123 

But to return lect. \^. 

Besides his important genealogical work, Mac Firbis compiled ^^ ^^^^ ^,^ 
two others of even still greater value, which unfortunately are rious works 
not now known to exist : namely, a Glossary of the Ancient MacTirWs. 
Laws of Erinn ; and a Biographical Dictionary of her ancient 
writers and most distinguished literary men. Of the former of 
these, I have had the good fortune to discover a fragment in the 
library of the Dublin University (class H. 5. 30) ; but of the 
latter, I am not aware that any trace has been discovered. 
There are fi-s'e other copies of ancient glossaries in Mac Firbis's 
handwriting preserved in the Dublin University library (all 
in H. 2. 15). Of these, one is a copy of Cormac's Glossary, 
another a copy of his tutor Donnell O'Davoren's own Law Glos- 
sary, compiled by him about the year 1595 ; besides which, 
separate fragments of three Derivative Glossaries, as well as 
a fragment of an ancient Law Tract, with the text, gloss, and 
commentary properly arranged and explained. So that in all 
there are six glossaries, or fragments of glossaries, in his hand- 
■wi'iting in T.C.D. It is in the introduction to his great book 
of Geneaologies that he states that he had written or compiled 
a Dictionary of the "Brehon Laws", in which he had explained 
them extensively; and also a catalogue of the wi'itings and 
writers of ancient Erinn ; but, with the exception of the frag- 
ments just referred to, these two important works are now un- 
known. [And I may here mention, that I have copied out 
these precious fragments of his own compilation in a more acces- 
sible form, for the DubHn University.] Besides these MSS. at 
home, I may mention that there is in the British Museum also 
a small quarto book, containing a rather modern Martyrology, or 
Litany of the Saints, in verse, chiefly in Mac Firbis's hand. 

Mac Firbis does not seem to have neglected the poetic art 
either, for I have in my own possession two poems, of no mean 
pretensions, written by him on the O Seachnasaigli (O'Shaugh- 
nessys) of Gort, about the year 1G50. 

Of Mac Firbis's translations from the earher Annals we have 
now no existing trace. That he did translate largely and gene- 
rally we can well imiderstand, from the folloAving remarks of Har- 
ris in his edition of Ware's Bishops, page 612, under the head 
of Tuam : — 

"One John was consecrated about the year 1441. [Sir 
James Ware declares he could not discover when he died ; and 
adds, that some called him John de Burgo, but that he could 
not answer for the truth of that name.] But both these parti- 
culars are cleared up, and his immediate successor, named by 
Dudley Firbisse, an amanuensis, whom Sir James Ware em- 



124 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



LECT. VI. ployed in his house, to translate and collect for him from the Irish 

~~ ] MSS., one of whose pieces begins thus, viz.: 'This translation 

nous works beginncd was by Dudley Firbisse, in the house of Sir James 

jia^Hrbis. Ware, in Castle Street, Dublin, 6th of November, 1666', whi-ch 

was twenty-four days before the death of the said knight. The 

annals or translation which he left behind him, begin in the year 

1443, and end in 1468. I suppose the death of his patron put 

a stop to lais fiu'ther progress. Not knowing from whence he 

translated these annals, wherever I have occasion to quote them, 

I mention them mider the name of Dudley Firbisse". 

Again under the head of Richard O'Fcrrall, bishop of Ar- 
dagh, page 253, Harris writes: 

"In MS. annals, intitled the Annals of Firbissy (not those of 
Gelasy [Gilla Isa\ Mac Firbissy, who died in 1301, but the 
collection or translation of one Dudley Firbissy), I find mention 
made of Richard, bishop of Ardagh, and that he was son to the 
Great Dean, Fitz Daniel Fitz John Golda O'Fergaill, and his 
death placed there under the year 1444". 

Of those Annals of Gilla Isa (or Gilhsa) Mac Firbis of 
Lecan, who died in 1301, we have no trace now ; it is probable 
that they were the Annals of Lecan mentioned by the Foiu' 
Masters as having come into their hands when theii- compilation 
from other sources was finished, and from which they added 
considerably to their text. 

Of Duald ]Mac Firbis's translation, extending from the year 
1443 to 1468, there are three copies extant, one in the British 
Museum, classed as "Clarendon 68", which is, I believe, in the 
translator's own handwriting. The second copy is in the Hbrary 
of Trinity College, Dublin [class F. 1. 18]. The third copy is in 
Harris's collections in the library of the Royal Dublin Society ; 
it is in Harris's own hand, and appears to have been copied from 
the Trinity College copy, with corrections of some of the former 
transcriber's inaccuracies. 

The following memorandum, prefixed to a list of Irish bishops, 
made for Sir James Ware, and now preserved in the manuscript 
above referred to in the British Museum, will enable us to form 
some idea of the sources, the only true ones, from which this list 
has been drawn. 

"The ensuing bishops' names are collected out of several Irish 
ancient and modern manuscripts, viz. : of Gilla-isa Mac Fferbisy, 
written before the year 1397 (it is he that wi'ote the greate Booke 
of Lcackan Mac Fferbissy, now kept in DubHn), and out of 
others the Mac Fferbisy Annals, out of saints' calendars and ge- 
nealogies also, for the Right Worshipful and ever honoured Sir 
James Ware, knight, and one of his Majesties Privie Council, 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 125 

and Auditor General of the Kingdom of Ireland. This collec- i.ect. yi. 
tion is made by Dudley Firbisse, 1655". — p. 17. oftueva- 

These translated annals have been edited by Dr. John O'Do- rious works 
novan, and published in the first volume of the Miscellany of Mac Fh-bis. 
the Archaeological Society, in the year 1846. 

Mac Firbis' was of no ordinary or ignoble race, being cer- 
tainly descended from Dathi, the last pagan monarch of Erinn, 
who was killed by lightning, at the foot of the Alps, in Anno 
Domini 428. At what time the Mac Firbises became professi- 
onal and hereditary historians, genealogists, and poets, to various 
princes m the province of Connacht, we now know not ; but we 
know that from some remote period down to the descent of 
Oliver Cromwell upon this country, they held a handsome patri- 
mony at Lecain Mac Firbis, on the banks of the River Muaidh, 
or Moy, in the county of Sligo, on which a castle was built by 
the brothers Ciothruadh, and James, and John oV/, their cousin, 
in 1560. So early as the year 1279, the Annals of the Four 
Masters record the death of Gilla Isa (or Gillisa) 3I6r Mac 
Firbis, " chief historian of Tir-Fiachrach''' [in the present 
county of Sligo.] Again, at the year 1376, they record the death 
of Donogh Mac Firbis, "an historian". And agam, at the year 
1379, they record the death of Firbis Mac Firbis, "a learned 
historian". 

The great Book of Lecain, now in the library of the Royal 
Irish Academy, was compiled in the year 1416, by Gilla Isa [or 
Gillisa] Mor, the direct ancestor of Duald Mac Firbis ; and the 
latter quotes in his work (p. 6Q), not only the Annals of Mac 
Firbis, but also the Leahhar GahJiala, or Book of Invasions of Ire- 
land, of his grandfather, Duhhaltach [or Dudley], as an authority 
for the Battle oi Magh Tuireadh [Moytnra], and the situation of 
that place ; and at p. 248, the Dumb Book of James Mac Firbis 
for the genealogy of liis own race. There is in the hbrary 
of Trinity College, Dublin, a large and important volume of 
fragments of various ancient manuscripts (classed H. 2, 16), 
part of which professes to have been written by Donogh Mac 
Firbis in the year 1391 ; and in another place, in a more modern 
hand, it is written, that this is the Yellow Book of Lecain. 

Duhhaltach Mac Firbis, in his introduction to his great gene- 
alogical book, states that his family were poets, historians, and 
genealogists to the great families of the following ancient Con- 
nacht chieftaincies, viz. : Lower Connacht, Ui Fiachrach of the 
Moy, Ui Amhalgaidh, Cera, Ui Fiachrach of Aidhne, and Facht- 
gha, and to the Mac Donnells of Scotland. 



126 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



of Duald 
Mac Firbis. 



LECT. VI. The Mac Firbis, in right of being the hereditary poet and 
Of the vcL- liistorian of his native territory of Ui Fiachrach of the Moy (in 
rious works the present county of Sligo), took an important part in the inau- 
guration oi the U Dowda, the hereditary chiel or that country. 
The following curious account of this ceremony will more clearly 
show the position of the Mac Firbis on these great occasions ; 
it is translated from a little tract in the Book of Lecan, in the 
library of the Royal Irish Academy. 

"The privilege of the first drink [at all assemblies] was given 
to O'Caomhain by O'Dowda, and 0' Caomhain w&s not to drink 
until he first presented it [the drink] to the poet, that is, to 
Mac Firbis ; also the arms and battle steed of O'Dowda, after 
his proclamation, were given to O'Caomhaiu, and the arms and 
dress of O'Caomhain to Mac Firbis ; and it is not competent ever 
to call him the O'Dowda until C Caomhain and Mac Firbis 
have first called the name, and until Mac Firbis carries the 
body of the wand over O'Dowda ; and every clergyman, and 
every representative of a church, and every bishop, and every 
chief of a territory present, all are to j)ronounce the name after 
G' Caomhain and Mac Firbis. And there is one circumstance, 
should O'Dowda happen to be in Tir Amhalghaidh [Tirawley], 
he is to go to Amhalghaidlis Cam to be proclaimed, so as that 
all the chiefs be abou.t him ; but should he happen to be at the 
Cam of the Daughter of Brian, he is not to go over [to Amlial- 
gaidfis Carn] to be proclaimed ; neither is he to come over from 
AmhalgaidJis Carn, for it was Amhalgaidh, the son of Fiaclira 
Ealgach, that raised that Carn for himself, in order that he him- 
self, and all those who should attain to the chieftainsliip after 
him, might be proclauned by the name of lord upon it. And it 
is in this Carn that Amhalgaidh himself is buried, and it is from 
him it is named. And every king of the race of Fiachra that 
shall not be thiis proclaimed, shall have shortness of life, and 
his seed and generation shall not be illustrious, and he shall never 
see the kingdom of God". — [See original in Appendix, No. 
LXIIL] 

This curious little tract, with topographical illustrations, will 
be found in the volume on the Tribes and Customs of Hy-Fi- 
achrach, among the important publications of the Irish Arch»- 
ological Society. 

So much, then, for the compiler of the chronicle which I am 
now about to describe, the value of which, as a historical docu- 
ment, has only, of late years, come to be properly understood. 

The Chronicum Scotorum, wliich, as I have already stated, 
is written on paper, begins with the following title and short 
preface, by the compiler. — [See original in Appendix, No. 
LXIV] 



Of the 

Chronicum 

scotordm. 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS 127 

" The Chronicle of the Scots (or Irish) begins here. — lect. vi. 

" Understand, O reader, that it is for a certain reason, and, ^^ ^j^^ 
particularly, to avoid tediousness, that our intention is to make chkonicum 
only a short abstract and compendium of the history of the 
Scots in this book, omitting the lengthened details of the his- 
torical books ; "wherefore it is that we beg of you not to criti- 
cize us on that account, as we know that it is an exceedingly 
great deficiency". 

The compiler then passes rapidly over the three first ages of 
the world, the earlier colonizations of Ireland, the death of the 
Partholanian colonists at Tallaght (in this county of Dublin) ; 
and the visit of Niul, the son of Fenius Farsaidh, to Egypt, to 
teach the langviages after the confusion of Babel; giving the 
years of the world according to the Hebrews and the Septuagint. 

This sketch extends to near the end of the first column of 
the third page, where the following curious note in the original 
hand occurs: — 

" Ye have heard from me, O readers, that I do not like to 
have the laboiu' of vsrriting this copy, and it is therefore that I 
beseech you, through true friendship, not to reproach me for it 
(if you imderstand what it is that causes me to be so) ; for it is 
certain that the Mac Firbises are not in fault". — [See original in 
Appendix, No. LXV.] 

What it was that caused Mac Firbis's reluctance to make 
this abridged copy of the old book or books before him, at this 
time, it is now difficult to imagine. The writing is identical 
with that in his book of genealogies, which was made by him 
in the year 1650; and this copy must have been made about 
the same disastrous period of our history, when the relentless 
rage of Oliver Cromwell spread ruin and desolation over all 
that was noble, honom'able, and virtuous in our land. It is 
very probable that it was about this time that Sir James Ware 
conceived the idea of availing himself of Mac Firbis's exten- 
sive and profomid antiquarian learning; and as that learned, 
and, I must say, well intentioned writer, was then concerned 
only with what related to the ecclesiastical liistory of Ireland, 
this was probably the reason that Mac Firbis offers those warm ,^ 
apologies for having been compelled to p_assj3ver the " long and 
tedious" account of the earlycoloiiizations of tKis^ country, and 
pass at one step to our Christian era. (We know that Ware 
quotes many of our old annals as sterling authorities in his 
work. As these were all in the Gaedlilic language, and as 
Ware had no acquaintance with that language, it follows clearly 
enough, that he mvist have had some competent person to assist 
him to read those annals, and whose business it was doubtless 



128 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 

LECT. VI. to select and translate for liim sucli parts of them as were 
deemed by liim essential to liis design.) Excepting for some such 
chronicum purpose as tliis, I can see no reason whatever why Mac Firbis 
coTOEUM. gi-^Q^^^(j apply himself, and with such apparent reluctance, to 
make tlais compendium from some ancient booh or books of 
annals belonging to his family. It appears, indeed, from his 
own words, that it was poverty or distress that caused him to 
j2ass_over the record of what he deemed the ancient^glory of 
his country, and to draw up a mere utilitarian abstract for some 
~ "person to whose patronage he was compelled to look for sup- 
port in his declining years ; and it is gratifying to observe the 
care he takes to record that his difficulties were not caused 
by any neglect on the part of his family, who were, as we 
know, totally ruined and despoiled of their ancestral pro- 
perty by the tide of robbers and murderers which the com- 
monwealth of England poured over defenceless Erinn at this 
period. 

To return to the Chronicum. Continuing his abstract, the 
compiler passes rapidly over the history of the early coloniza- 
tion of Ireland to the year of our Lord 375, that being the 
year in which St. Patrick was born. This date is written in 
the back margin in the hand of Mr. Charles O'Conor of Bela- 
nagar, and from that to the year 432 there is no date given. 

The date 432 is written in Roman numerals (in Gaedlilic 
characters, of course) in the original hand, and l^nder it the 
arrival of St. Patrick in Ireland from Rome, on his apostolic 
mission, by the direction of Pope Celestine. The arrival of 
the great apostle is given precisely in the same words as in the 
annals of Ulster. 

From this to the year of our Lord 1022, no date appears in 
the original hand, nor even after that, except occasionally the 
year of the world. The latter is set down at the end of the 
year of our Lord 1048, as 5,000 years, according to the Hebrew 
computation. 

The next dates that appear are 453, 454, 455, 456, 458, all 
in the margin ; and all these are, I believe, as well as the re- 
maining dates, all through to the end, in the handwriting of 
Roderick O'Flaherty, the author of the Ogygia. 

No date, however, is inserted from the year 458 to the year 
605 ; but from this year forward the dates appear regularly in 
the margin. 

A large deficiency occurs at the year 722, where the com- 
piler has written the following memorandum : — 

" The breasts [or fronts] of two leaves of the old book, out 
of which I write this, are wanting here, and I leave what is 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 129 

before me of this page for tliem. I am Dubhaltach FirhisigK\ lect . vi. 
— [See original in Appendix, No. LXVI.] p^ ^^^ 

Unfortunately, tliis defect occurs, by some unknown chance, chkonicum 
not only to the extent of the loss here noticed, but as far as 
from the year 722 to the year 805. 

It is remarkable that the defect in the annals of Tighernach 
should begin nearly with the same year (718) ; but it extends 
much fm-ther, to the year 1068. 

The order and arrangement of the events recorded, and the 
events themselves, often, though not always, agree with the 
annals of Tighernach. The details are brief and condensed, 
but they so often convey scraps of rare additional information, 
as to leave us reason to regret the unknown circumstances 
wliich caused the writer to leave out, as he said he did, the 
" tediousness" of the old historical books. 

The Clu'onicum comes down, in its present form, only to the 
year 1135; and, whether it was ever carried down with more 
ample details to the year 1443, when the compiler's translations 
for Ware commence, is a question which probably will never 
be cleared up. Such as it is, however, and as far as it goes, 
there can be no doubt of its being one of the most authentic 
existing copies of, or compilations from, more ancient annals. 

I have already stated that this manuscript is in the well-known 
hand of its compiler, Duald Mac Firbis, and that it was wi'itten, 
probably, about the year 1650 ; yet hear what the Rev. Charles 
O'Conor says of it, in the Stowe catalogue : 

" Some have confounded this chronicle with Tighernach's, be- 
cause it is frequently called Chronicon Cluanense, and was writ- 
ten in Tighernach's Monastery of Cluainmacnois". He then 
continues : " The Stowe copy now before us was carefully trans- 
cribed from the Dublin copy, by the compiler of this catalogue, 
from that Dubhn MS., wliich is quite a modern transcript, being 
the only copy he could find". — [Stowe Cat. vol. i. p. 201, No. 63.] 

How clearly do these words show that the reverend writer, 
though otherwise a sufficiently good scholar, was totally incom- 
petent to pronounce a correct opinion on the age of any Gaedlilic 
MS., from the character of the writing, or from an acquaintance 
with the pecuhar hands of the different writers who preceded 
him, excepting, indeed, that of liis own grandfather, Charles 
O'Conor, of Belanagar. Yet there is no man more dogmatic 
in liis decisions on the dates of manuscripts and compositions, — 
his two most favourite periods being, we may observe in passing, 
" the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries", and "the reign of James 
the First". Indeed, I am obliged to say, that his readings and 
renderings of text, as well as his translations of Irish, are as in- 

9 



130 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



Of the 

Chkonicum 

scotoeum. 



Of the 
Annals of 

Clonmac- 

KOIS. 



accurate, as liis historical deductions, and even positive state- 
ments, are often unfounded, however arrogantly advanced. 

In connexion with this fragment of the Lecain collection of 
annals, I may mention that there is a short tract of annals pre- 
served in the great Book of Lecain, now in the library of the 
Royal Irish Academy, the compilation of which was finished 
in the year 1416. These annals are without date, and some of the 
items are out of chronological order. They begin with the bat- 
tle of Uchbadh, which was fought in the year 733, at a place of 
that name in the county of Kildare, between Aedh Allan, the 
monarch of Ireland, and the kings and chiefs of Leinster,inwhich 
the latter were completely overthrown, and their whole country 
devastated and nearly depopulated. 

These chronicles come down to the treacherous death of the 
celebrated Tiernan O'Rourke, king o£ Breifne [Brefny], at the 
hands of the Anglo-Normans, in the year 1172. The events 
recorded, briefly of course, are the reigns, battles, and deaths of 
the monarchs and provincial kings of Ireland; the accessions 
and deaths of the bishops and abbots of Armagh ; and the more 
imusual atmospheric phenomena, such as remarkable seasons 
and other extraordinary occurrences, etc. 

There are several Httle additions, among the items of informa- 
tion recorded in these annals, which are not to be found in the 
Annals of the Fom' Masters ; as, for instance, in recordhig the 
death of the monarch MaelseacJdainn, or Malachy the Second 
(who died Anno Domini 1022), they give a list of five-and- 
twenty battles gained by him, of which the Fom' Masters men- 
tion but fom\ In connection with these battles also, many 
topographical names are preserved, not to be found in any of 
the other existing books of annals. And I may remark in con- 
clusion, that the annals contained in this short tract are, as regards 
date of transcription, the oldest annals that we have in Ireland. 

I shall close this lecture with some account of one other book 
of annals, to which I have already shortly referred, and which, 
though only remaining to us in the English language, is not 
without its interest and value. I allude to the book tolerably 
well known under the name of the Annals of Clonmacnois, 
the only copy or version of which known to be extant is an 
English translation made from the Irish in the year 1627, by 
Connla Mac Echagan, of Lismoyne, in the county of West- 
meath, for his friend and kinsman, Torlogh Mac Cochlan, Lord 
of Delvin, m that county. 

This translation is written in the quaint style of the Elizabe- 
than period, but by a man who seems to have well understood 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 131 

tlie value of tlie original Gaedlilic plii'aseology, and rendered it lect. vi. 
every justice, as far as we can determine in the absence of the 
original. It was believed, — and, indeed, there is reason still to anxals op 
beheve it, — that the original book was preserved in the posses- Kofs!'^*'^' 
sion of the family of the late Sir Richard Nagle, who was de- 
scended from the translator by the mother's side ; however, on 
the death of the worthy baronet, a few years ago, no trace of it 
could be found among the family papers, though other ancient 
memorials of the house of Mac Echagan were preserved among 
them. It was rmnoured in the coimtry, that tliis old book con- 
tained, or might possibly contain, some records of events that it 
would be as well for the Mac Echagan family not to have 
brought before the world ; and that for tliis reason, the female 
representatives of the family had for some generations kept the 
vohmie out of sight. I had the honom' of a slight acquaintance 
with the late Sir Richard Nagle, which I improved so far as to 
mention this tradition to him. He did not deny the correctness 
of the rumoiu', as far as the keeping out of sight of the book went ; 
but he had no knowledge of any particular reason, more than a 
laudable care for what was looked upon as a remarkable national 
record, and a witness to the respectabihty and identity of the fa- 
mily. Indeed, the impression left on my mind by my conver- 
sations on this subject with Sir Richard was, that the book had 
been in the custody of liis mother, but that that respected lady 
cherished so closely this rehc of her ancient name as to be re- 
luctant even to show it, much less to part with it for any con- 
sideration whatever. 

There is nothing in tliis book (so far as we can judge in the 
absence of the original) to show why it should be called the An- 
nals of Clonmacnois. We have already seen, and we shall have 
occasion to touch on the same fact again, that the Annals of 
Clonmacnois used by the Four Masters, came down but to the 
year 1227, whereas this book comes down to the year 1408. 

The records contained in it are brief, but they sometimes pre- 
serve details of singular interest, not to be found in any of our 
other annals. As a specimen of these additions — the most in- 
teresting of them, perhaps — let me take the following passage, 
which occurs at the year 905, but which should be placed at the 
year 913; I give it in the exact phraseology of the original: — 

" Neal Ghmdviffe was king [of Ireland] three years, and was 
married to the Lady Gormphley, daughter of King Flann, who 
was a very fair, ^drtuous, and learned demosell ; was first married 
to Cormacke Mac Coulenan, King of Mmister; secondly to 
King Neal, by whom she had a son, called Prince Donnell, who 
was drowned ; upon whose death she made many pitiful and 

9b 



132 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 

LECT. VI. learned ditties in Irish ; and lastly, slie was married to Cearbliall 
Mac Morgan, King of Leinster. After all wliicli royal mar- 
riages, she begged from door to door, forsaken of all her friends 
and allies, and glad to be reheved by her inferiors". 
The story The Order of GormlaitJis marriages is not accurately given in 

Goj-mfaith. tliis entry. Let ns correct the entry from another and more re- 
Hable authority, that of the Book of Leinster. 

It is true that Gormlaith was first married, or rather betrothed, 
to the celebrated king, bishop, and scholar, Cormac Mac Cul- 
lemian. King of Munster ; but that marriage was never consmn- 
mated, as the young king changed his mind, and restored the 
princess to her father, with all her fortune and dowry, while he 
himself took holy orders. He (as you are aware) became subse- 
quently Archbishop of Cashel, and was, as you may remember, 
the author of the celebrated Saltair of Cashel, as well as of the 
learned compilation since known as Cormac's Glossary. 

After having been thus deserted by King Cormac, Gormlaith 
was married against her will to Cearbhall, King of Leinster. 

Shortly afterwards, in the year 908, — probably in reahty on 
account of the repudiation of the princess by the King of 
Mmister, though ostensibly to assert his right to the presenta- 
tion to the ancient church of Mainister EihMn, now Monas- 
tereven (in the present Queen's county), which down to this time 
belonged to Mimster, — Flann Siona, the father of Gormlaith, 
who was hereditary King of Meath, and then Monarch of Erinn, 
proceeded to make war on the southern prince ; and, accom- 
panied by his son-in-law, the King of Leinster, he marched with 
their imited forces to Bealach Mughna (now Ballymoon, in the 
south of the present county of Kildare), within two miles of the 
present town of Carlow. Here they were met by King Cormac 
at the head of the men of Munster, and a furious battle ensued 
between them, in which the Mmistermen were defeated, and Cor- 
mac, the king and bishop, killed and beheaded on the field. 

Cearhhall, King of Leinster, and husband of the princess 
Gormlaith, was badly wounded in the battle, and carried home 
to his palace at Naas, where he was assiduously attended to by 
liis queen, who was scarcely ever absent from his couch. It hap- 
pened that one day, when he was convalescent, but still confined 
to his bed, the battle oi Bealach Mughna hcca,m.e the subject of 
their conversation. Cea7'hhall described the fight with anima- 
tion, and dwelt with seemingly exuberant satisfaction on the de- 
feat of Cormac, and the dismemberment of his body in his pre- 
sence. The queen, however, who was sitting on the foot-rail of 
the bed, said that it was a great pity that the body of the good 
and holy bishop should have been unnecessarily mutilated and 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS 133 

desecrated ; upon which the king, in a sudden fit of rage, struck lect. vi. 
her so rude a blow with his foot, as threw her headlong on the ^^ ^^^^ 
floor, by which her clothes were thrown into disorder, in the pre- of Queeu 
sence of all her ladies and attendants. Gormiait . 

The queen felt highly mortified and insulted at the indignity 
thus offered to her, and fled to her father for protection. Her 
father, however, in the presence of a powerful Danish enemy in 
Dubhn, did not choose to take any hostile steps to punish the 
rudeness of King Cearhhall, but sent his daughter back again to 
her husband. Not so her young kinsman, Niall Ghinduhli [" of 
the Black Knee"], the son of the brave Aedh Finnliath, King of 
Aileach [i.e. King of Ulster.] This brave prince, having heard of 
the indignity which had been put upon his relative, raised all 
the northern clans, and at their head marched to the borders of 
Leinster, with the intention of avenging the insult, as well as of 
taking the queen herself under the protection of the powerful 
forces of the north. Queen Gorinlaith, however, objected to any 
violent measures, and only insisted on a separation from her 
husband, and the restoration of her dowry. She had four-and- 
twenty residences given to her in Leinster by Cearhhall on her 
marriage, and these he consented to confirm to her, and to re- 
lease her legally from her vows as his wife. The queen being 
thus once more freed from conjugal ties, returned to her father's 
house for the third time. 

After this Niall Glundubh, deeming that the gross conduct 
of Cearhhall to his queen, and their final separation, had legally 
as well as virtually dissolved their mariiage, proposed for her 
hand to her father ; but boih father and daughter refused, and, for 
the time, she continued to reside in the court of Flann. 

In thecoiu'se of the following year (904), however, Cearhhall 
was killed in battle by the Danes of Dublin, under their leader 
Ulhh, and all impedhnents being now removed, Gormlaith be- 
came the wife of Niall Glunduhh. 

From this period to the year 917, we hear nothing more of 
Queen Gormlaith. Her father died in the mean time, in the 
year 914, and after liim the young Niall Glunduhh succeeded 
to the supreme throne as Monarch of Erinn. 

With the exception of the immortal Brian BoroimhS, no 
monarch ever wielded the sceptre, which was the sword, of 
Erinn with more vigour, than this tnily brave northern prince. 
His battles with the fierce and cruel Danes were incessant and 
bloody, and his victories many and glorious, and himself and 
his brave father Aedh were the only monarchs who ever 
attempted to relieve Munster of the presence of these cruel foes, 
before Brian. Having, in fine, hemmed in so closely the 



134 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



The story 
of Queen 
Gormlaith. 



Danes of Meatli, Dublin, and all Lelnster, that tliey dared not 
move from the immediate vicinity of Dublin, he determined at 
last to attack them even there, in their very stronghold. With 
this resolve, therefore, on Wednesday, the 17th day of October, 
in the year 917, he marched on Dublin with a large force, and 
attended by several of the chiefs and princes of Meath and 
Oriell ; but the Danes went out and met him at Ciil Mosomog 
(a place not yet identified), in the neighbourhood of the city, 
and a furious battle ensued, in which, mrfortunately, the army 
of Erinn was defeated, and Niall himself was killed, with most 
of his attendant chiefs and an immense number of their men. 
And thus was the unfortunate queen Gormlaith for the third 
time left a widow. Her elder brother Conor was killed in 
the battle, and her younger brother Donnchadh succeeded her 
husband in the sovereignty, wliich he enjoyed till his death in 
the year 942. 

Of Queen GormlaitKs history, during the reign of her bro- 
ther, we know nothing ; but, on his death, the sceptre passed 
away from the houses of her father and of her husband; 
and it is possible, or rather we may say probable, that it was 
then that commenced that poverty and neglect, of which she 
so feeHngly speaks in her poems, as well as in various stray 
verses which have come do-wn to us. Her misfortimes conti- 
nued during the remaining five years of her life — namely, from 
the death of her brother, the monarch Doniichadh, in the year 
942, to her own death in the year 947. 

I should not, perhaps, have dwelt so long on the short but 
eventful history of the unfortunate queen Gormlaith, but that 
the translator of these annals of Clonmacnois, as they are 
called, falls into several mistakes about her ; but, whether they 
be part of his original text, or only traditionary notes of his 
own, I cannot determine : I believe the latter to be the more 
probable explanation. He says, at the year 936 (which should 
be the year 943), that, after the death of Niall Glundubh, she 
was married to Cearhhall, king of Leinster ; but I have taken 
the proper order of her marriages, and the present sketch of her 
history, from the Book of Leinster (a MS. of the middle of 
the twelfth century), as well as from an ancient copy of a most 
curious poem, written during her long last ilhiess by Gormlaith 
herself, on her own life and misfortunes. In this poem she 
details the death of her son, who was accidentally drowned in 
the county Galway dming his fosterage, and the subsequent 
death of her husband ; and in it is also preserved an interesting 
account of her mode of living ; a sketch of the more fortunate 
or happy part of her life ; a character of Niall, of Cearbhall, 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 135 

and of Cormac ; a description of tlie place and mode of sepul- lect. vi. 
tiu'e of Niall ; and, on the whole, a greater variety of references ~ 7^ 
to habits, customs, and manners, than I have found in any other of Queen 
piece of its kind. I have, besides this, which is a long poem, ^''"'>"■^"■^"^■ 
collected a few of those stray verses which Gormlaith composed 
under a variety of impulses and circumstances. 

The folloAving short, but very curious, account of the im- 
mediate cause of her death (the date of which is given by 
Mac Echagan, at the year 943, by mistake for the year 948), 
appears to have been taken from the poem just mentioned. I 
quote again from the same translation of the annals of Clon- 
macnois : — 

" Gormphly, daughter of King Flann Mac Mayleseachlyn, 
and queen of Ireland, died of a tedious and grievous wound, 
which happened in this manner: she ch-eamed that she saw 
King Niall Glimduife ; whereupon she got up and sate in her bed 
to behold him ; whom he for anger would forsake, and leave the 
chamber ; and as he was departing in that angry motion (as she 
thought), she gave a snatch after hun, thinking to have taken 
him by the mantle, to keep him with her, and fell upon the bed- 
stick of her bed, that it pierced her breast, even to her very 
heart, wliich received no cure until she died thereof". 

The queen did not, however, immediately die of the injury 
thus strangely received. Her last illness was long and tedious, 
and it was diuing its continuance that she composed the curious 
poems which are still preserved, in one of which she gives an 
account of the manner of the womid which soon after caused 
her death. 

I cannot do better than close my remarks on this curious 
volume by transcribing the translator's address and dedication 
to Mac Coghlan, for whom he translated it. These documents 
are, besides, not only very explanatory of the design and idea 
of the work, but in themselves so quaint, so interesting, and so 
suggestive, that I am persuaded you would be sorry to lose 
them, and they have not hitherto been published. 

" A book containing all the inhabitants of Ireland since the 
creation of the world, vmtil the conquest of the English, wherein 
is showed all the kings of Clana Neimed, Firbolg, Tuathy 
De danan, and the sons of Miletius of Spain : translated out of 
Irish into English, faithfully and well agreeing to the History 
de Captionibus Hibernias, Historia Magna, and other authentic 
authors. Partly discovering the year of the reigns of the said 
kings, with the manner of their governments, and also the 
deaths of divers saints of this kingdom, as died in those several 
reigns, with the tyrannical rule "and government of the Danes 
for 219 years. 



Clonmac- 

KUIS. 



136 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 

LECT. VI. "A brief catalogue of all tlie kings of tlie several races, after 
the coming of Saint Patrick, imtil Donogli Mac Bryan carried 

ANN.vls OF the crown to Rome, and of the kings that reigned after, until 
the time of the conquest of the EngKsh, in the twentieth year 
of the reign of Roiy O'Connor, monarch of Ireland. 

"Also of certain things wliich happened in this kingdom after 
the conquest of the Enghsh, until the sixth year of the reign of 
King Henry the Fourth, in the year of our Lord God 1408. 

" To the worthy and of great expectation yomig gentleman, 
Mr. Terence Coghlan, his brother, Conell Ma; Geoghegan, 
wisheth long health, with good success in all his affairs. 

"Among all the worthy and memorable deeds of King Bryan 
Borowe, sometime king of this kingdom, this is not of the least 
account, that after that he had shaken off the intolerable yoke 
and bondage wherewith this land was cruelly tortured and har- 
ried by the Danes and Normans for the space of 219 years that 
they bore sway, and received tribute of the inhabitants in gene- 
ral, — and though they nor none of them ever had the name of 
king or monarch of the land, yet they had that power, as they 
executed what they pleased, and behaved themselves so cruel 
and pagan-like, as well towards the ecclesiasticals as temporals 
of the kingdom, that they broke down their churches, and razed 
them to their very foundations, and burned their books of chron- 
icles and prayers, to the end that there should be no memory left 
to their posterities, and all learning should be quite forgotten, — 
the said King Bryan seeing into what rudeness the kingdom 
was fallen, after setting himself in the quiet government thereof, 
and restored each one to his ancient patrimony, repaired their 
churches and houses of religion ; he caused open schools to be 
kept in the several parishes to instruct their youth, which by the 
said long wars were grown rude and altogether ilhterate ; he assem- 
bled together all the nobility of the kingdom, as well spiritual as 
temporal, to Cashel, in Minister, and caused them to compose a 
book containing all the inhabitants, events, and septs, that lived 
in this land from the first peopling, inhabitation, and discovery 
thereof, after the creation of the world, until that present, which 
book they caused to be called by the name of the Saltair of Cashel, 
signed it with his own hand, together with the hands of the kings 
of the five provinces, and also with the hands of all the bishops 
and prelates of the kingdom, caused several copies thereof to be 
given to the kings of the pro\dnces, with straight charge that 
there should be no credit given to any other chronicles thence- 
forth, but should be held as false, disannulled, and quite forbid- 
den for ever. Since which time there were many septs in the 



Of the 

NAL3 OP 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 137 

kingdom tliat lived by it, and whose profession it was to cliron- 
icle and keep in memory tlie state of the kingdom, as well for 
the time past, present, and to come ; and now because they cannot an 
enjoy that respect and gain by their said profession as heretofore Clonmac- 
tliey and tlieir ancestors received, they set nought by the said 
knowledge, neglect their books, and choose rather to put their 
cliildren to learn English than their own native language, inso- 
much that some of them suffer tailors to cut the leaves of the 
said books (which their ancestors held in great accoimt), and 
sew them in long pieces to make their measiu-es of, that the pos- 
terities are like to fall into more ignorance of any things which 
happened before their time. In the reign of the said King 
Bryan, and before, Ireland was well stored with learned men 
and schools, and that people came from all parts of Christendom 
to learn therein, and among all other nations that came thither, 
there was none so much made of nor respected with the Irish, 
as were the English and Welshmen, to whom they gave several 
colleges to dwell and learn in ; [such] as to the English a col- 
lege in the town of Mayo, in Connacht, which to this day is 
called Mayo of the English ; and to the Welshmen, the town of 
Gallon, in the King's County, which is likewise called Gallon of 
the Welshmen or Wales ; from whence the said two nations have 
brought their characters, especially the English Saxons, as by 
comparing the old Saxon characters to the Irish (which the 
Irish never changed), you shall find little or no difference at all. 
" The earnest desire I miderstand you have, to know these 
things, made me to undertake the translation of the old Irish Book 
for you, wliich, by long lying shut and unused, I could hardly 
read, and left places that I could not read, because they were 
altogether grown illegible and put out ; and if this my simple 
labour shall any way pleasure you, I shall hold myself thoroughly 
recompensed, and my pains well employed, which for your own 
reading I have done, and not for the reading of any other curious 
fellow that would rather carp at my phraze, than take any de- 
light in the History ; and in the meantime I bid you heartily 
farewell, from Leijevanchan, 20th April, Anno Domini 1627. 
" Yom" very loving brother, 

CONELL MaGeOGHEGAN". 

The translator then gives the following list of his authorities, 
to which I would ask your particrdar attention : — 

" The names of the several authors whom I have taken for the 
book : Saint Colum Kill ; St. Bohine ; Calvagh O'More, Esq. ; 
Venerable Bedc; Eochye O'Flannagan, Archdean of Armagh 
and Clonfiachna ; Gillcrnen Mac Conn-ne-mbocht, Archpriest of 
Clonvickenos ; Keileachair Mac Con, alias Gorman; Eusebius; 



138 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



Of the 
Annals 'of 
Clonmac- 

NOIS. 



i^ECT. VI. Marcellinus ; Moylen O'Mulclioniye ; and Tanaye O'Mulclion- 
rye ; two professed clironiclers". 

It is not easy to see what Mac Ecliagan means, wlien lie says 
tliat he had taken these authors for this book. We have only 
to beheve that he took from Eusebius, Marcellinus, and Bede, 
some items or additions, and some dates for the early part of his 
translations, and that he took the various readings and additions, 
to be found in it, from the Irish authorities to whom he refers. 
But, whatever his meaning may be, this is a curious list of au- 
thors to be consulted by an Irish comitry gentleman in the early 
part of the seventeenth century. 

Without going back to his very earher authorities, we may 
show the antiquity of the second class. 

Eochaidh OFlannagain, Archdean of Armagh and Clon- 
fiachna, cHed in the year 1003. If this learned man's books 
came down to Mac Echagan's times, he must have had a rich 
treat in them indeed. These books are referred to in the fol- 
lowing words, in the ancient book called Leabhar na h- Uidhre, 
written at Clonmacnois before the year 1106. At the end of a 
most curious and valuable tract on the ancient pagan cemeteries 
of Ireland, the writer says that it was Flaun, the learned pro- 
fessor of Monasterboice, who died in the year 1056, and Eoch- 
aidh,th.e learned, 0'Kerin,that compiled this tract from the books 
of Eochaidh O Flanyiagain at Armagh, and the books of Monas- 
terboice, and other books at both places, which had disappeared 
at the time of making this note. 

Of the books of Gillananaemh mac Conn-na-mBocht, Arch- 
priest of Clonmacnois, I have never heard anything more than 
Mac Echagan's reference to them. Of Ceileachair Mac Conn 
na-mBocht, I know nothing more than that the death of his son 
is recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters, at the year 1106, 
in the following words : — " Maelmuire, son of the son of Conn- 
na-7nBocht, was killed at Cluainmicnois by a party of plun- 
derers". This Maelmuire was the compiler or transcriber of 
the above mentioned Leabhar na h- Uidhre, in which he is set 
down as Maelmuire, the son of Ceileachair, son of Conn-na- 
vnBocht. 

The two O'Mulconrys, of whom he speaks, belonged to the 
fourteenth century, and were poets and historians of Connacht ; 
but it is not easy to distinguish their works now from the com- 
positions of other members of that talented family, of the same 
Christian names, but of a later period. 

It is much to be regretted that the original of the curious book 
of which I am now speaking, and which certainly existed in the 
early part of the last century, should be lost to us ; and, conse- 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS 139 

quently, that we have no means of ascertaining to what extent lect. -^^. 
Mac Echagan's translation is a faithful one. He appears to 
have drawn a little on his imagination, in his address to Mac annals op 
Cochlan, where he states that it was Brian BoroimJie that ordered noiT"'^*^' 
the compilation of the Saltair of Cashel. This certainly cannot 
be the truth, for we have the Saltair of Cashel repeatedly 
quoted in the Books of Ballymote and Lecan, and its authorship 
as repeatedly ascribed to the Holy King, Cormac Mac Cullennan, 
who floiuished more than one hundred years before the time 
ascribed to that work by Mac Echagan. 

It is true that Brian Boroimhe, after the expulsion and sub- 
jugation of the Danes, did rebuild and repair the churches and 
other ecclesiastical edifices which had been ruined and desecrated 
by the Danes ; that he restored the native princes, chiefs, and 
peo23le, to their ancient inheritances; established schools and 
colleges ; caused all the ancient books that had survived the de- 
solation and desecration of the two preceding centuries to be 
transcribed and multiplied ; and that he fixed and estabfished 
permanent family names : but, although we have an account of 
all tliis from various soiu'ces, some of them nearly contemporary 
with himself, we have no mention whatever of his having di- 
rected the writing of the Saltair of Cashel, or any work of its kind. 

There are three copies of Mac Echagan's translation known 
to me to be in existence : one in the library "of Trinity College, 
Dublin (class F. 3, 19) ; one in the British Museum; and one in 
Sir Thomas PliilHps's large collection, in Worcestershire. They 
are all ^\aitten in the hand of Teige O'Daly, and they are dated 
(the Dublin one at least) in the year 1684. O'Daly has pre- 
fixed some strictures on the translator, charging him with parti- 
ality for the Heremonian or northern race of Ireland, one of 
whom he was himself, to the prejudice of the Heberian or 
southern race. But O'Daly's remarks are couched in language 
of such a character that I do not think it necessary to allude to 
them farther here. 

I have now completed for you a short examination of all the 
principal collections of Annals which may be depended on as 
forming the sohd foundation of Irish history, with the exception 
of the last and greatest work of this kind, the Annals of the 
Four Masters of the Monastery of Donegal. That magnificent 
compilation shall form the subject of our next meeting, after 
wliich I shall proceed to the consideration of the other classes of 
historical authorities to which I have so frequently alluded in 
the course of the lectures I have already addressed to you. 



LECTURE VII. 



[DeUvered July 3, 1856.] 



The Annals (continued), 10. The Annals of the Four Masters. The " Con- 
tention of the Bards". Of Michael O'Clery. Of the Chronology of the Four 
Masters. 

In tlie last lecture we examined the " Clironicum Scotorum", and 
the Annals of Clonmacnois. The next on the list, in point of 
compilation, and the most important of all in point of interest 
and historic value, are the Annals of the Four Masters. 

In whatever point of view we regard these annals, they must 
awaken feelings of deep interest and I'espect ; not only as the 
largest collection of national, civil, military, and family history 
ever brought together in this or perhaps any other comitry, but 
also as the final winding up of the affairs of a people who had 
preserved their nationality and independence for a space of over 
two thousand years, till their complete overthrow about the time 
at which this work was compiled. It is no easy matter for an 
Irishman to suj)press fcehngs of deep emotion when speaking of 
the compilers of this great work ; and especially when he con- 
siders the circumstances under which, and the objects for which, 
it was undertaken. 

It was no mercenary or ignoble sentiment that prompted one 
of the last of Erinn's native princes, while the utter destruc- 
tion of his property, the persecution and oppression of his creed 
and race, and even the general ruin of his country, were not 
only staring him in the face, but actually upon him, — those 
were not, I say, any mean or mercenary motives that induced 
this nobleman to determine, that, although liimself and his 
country might sink for ever under the impending tempest, the 
history of that country, at least, should not be altogether lost. 

In a former lecture I have observed that, after the termination 
of the Ehzabethan wars, all, or nearly all, the Irish nobles had 
sunk into poverty and obscurity, had found untimely graves in 
their native land, or had sought another home far over the seas. 
It has been shown that, with the decHne of these nobles and 
chiefs, our national literature had become paralysed, and even 
all but totally dead. And this was absolutely the case during 
more than the first quarter of the seventeenth century, and even 
for some time afterwards ; for, although the Rev. Father Geof- 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 141 

fry Keting compiled in the native language his History of lect. vn. 
Erinn, his " Three Shafts of Death", and his " Key and Shield . ^ 

of the Mass", between 1628 and 1640, yet so far was he from tention 
receiving countenance or patronage, that it was among the in- Bai-as". 
accessible crags and caverns of the Gailte, or Galtee, mountains, 
and among the fastnesses of his native county of Tipperary, that 
he wrote these works, while in close concealment to escape the 
wanton vengeance of a local tyrant. 

Still, though the fostering care of the chief or the noble had 
disappeared, the native bardic spirit did not altogether die out ; 
and about the year 1604 (apparently by some preconcerted 
arrangement), a discussion sprang up between Tadhg Mac Brody, 
a distinguished Irish scholar and bard of the county of Clare, 
and the no less distinguished poet and scholar, Lughaidli O'Clery 
of Donegall, of whom mention was made in a former lecture. 
The subject of this discussion, which was carried on in verse, 
was the relative merits and importance of the two great clan- 
divisions of Erinn, as represented by the Heberians in the 
south (that is, the O'Briens and Mac Carthys, and the other in- 
dependent chiefs of Munster, the descendants of Eber), and the 
Heremonians of Ulster, Connacht, and Leinster (embracing the 
O'Neills, O'Donnells, O'Conors, Mac Murachs, etc.), who were 
descended from Eremon. 

It is quite evident that the real object of this discussion was 
simply to rouse and keep alive the national feehng and family 
pride of such of the native nobility and gentry as still continued 
to hold any station of rank or fortune in the country ; and, as 
the war of words progressed, several auxiliaries came up on 
both sides, and took an active part in the controversy, which 
thus assumed considerable importance. 

This discussion, which is popularly called "The Contention 
of the Bards", brought into prominent review all the great events 
and heroic characters of Irish history from the remotest ages, 
and inspired the livihest interest at the time. Indeed one of the 
northern auxiliaries in the controversy, Annluan Mac ^gan, 
seriously charges O'Clery with treachery, and with allowing 
himself to be worsted in the contest by Mac Brody, from par- 
tiahty to the south, where he had received his education. 

The scheme of the "Contention", hoAvever, seems to have pro- 
duced httle effect on the native gentry; for shortly after we 
find Mac Brody coming out with a very curious poem, addressed 
to the southern chiefs, demanding from them remuneration, 
according to ancient usage, for his defence of their claims to 
superior dignity and rank. 

Wliether this controversy had the desired effect of stimulat- 



142 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 

LKCT. Yii. Ing to any extent tlie liberality of the remaining native Irish 

Of the chiefs or not, is an inquiiy beyond tlie scope of our present pur- 

O'cierys. posc ; btit that it tended greatly to the renewed study of our 

native literature, may be fairly inferred from the important Irish 

works which soon followed it, such as those of Keting and the 

O'Clerys, and of Mac Firbis. 

Of Keting we shall again have to speak, and we shall now 
turn to a cotemporary of his, who, like himself, found the deep 
study of the language and liistory of his native land quite con- 
sistent with the strict observance and efficient discharge of the 
onerous duties of a Catholic priest. I allude to the celebrated 
friar, Michael O'Clery, the chief of the Four Masters, and the pro- 
jector of the great national literary work which bears their name. 

Michael O'Clery appears to have been born in Kilbarron, 
near Ballyshannon, in the county of Donegall, some time abovit 
the year 1580. He was descended of a family of hereditary 
scholars, lay and ecclesiastical, and received, we may presume, 
the rudiments of his education at the place of his birth. 

It appears from various circumstances that in the latter part 
of the sixteenth and early part of the seventeenth century, the 
south of Ireland afforded a higher order of education, and 
greater facilities for its attainment, than the north; and we 
learn, therefore (from Michael O'Clery's Gaedlilic Glossary, 
published by him in Louvain in 1643), that he, as well as his 
cousin, Lvghaidh O'Clery, already mentioned, had received, if 
not their classical, at least their Gaedhhg education, in the south, 
from Baothghalach Ruadh Mac ^Egan. 

Of the early Hfe of Michael O'Clery, or at what time he 
entered the Franciscan order, we know, unfortunately, nothing ; 
but in the year 1627 we find hmi engaged in visiting the va- 
rious monasteries of his order in Ireland, as well as other eccle- 
siastical and lay repositories of ancient Irish Manuscrij)ts, and 
laboriously transcribing from them with his OTvai most accurate 
hand all that they contained of the history of the Irish Catholic 
Church and the lives of the Irish Saints, as well as important 
tracts relating to the civil liistory of the coimtry. Among the 
latter is the detailed history of the great Danish invasion and 
occupation of Ireland, now in the Burgundian Library at Brus- 
sels. [I may add that this valuable book was lately borrowed 
by the Rev. Dr. Todd, for whom I made an accm-ate copy of it.] 

O'Clery's ecclesiastical collection was intended for the use of 
Father Aedli Mac a7i Bhaird (commonly called in English, 
Hugh Ward), a native of Donegal, a Franciscan friar, and, at this 
time, guardian of Saint Anthony's in Louvain, who contem- 
plated the pubhcation of the Lives of the Irish Saints ; but hav- 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 143 

ing died before lie had entered fully upon tliis great work, the lect. vii. 
materials supplied by O'Clery -were taken up by anotlier equally '^^^^ 
competent Franciscan, Father John Colgan. Tliis distinguished ccierys. 
writer accordingly produced, in 1645, two noble volumes in the 
Latin language. One of these, called the Trias Thaumaturgus, 
is devoted exclusively to the Lives of Saint Patrick, Saint 
Bridget, and Saint Colum Cillo, or Columba; the other vo- 
Imne contains as many as could be found of the Lives of the 
Irish Saints whose festival days occur from the 1st of January 
to the 3 1st of March, where the work stops. Whether it was 
the death of Father Michael O'Clery (who must have been the 
translator of the Irish Lives), which happened about this time, 
1643, that discouraged or incapacitated Father Colgan from 
proceeding with his work, we do not know ; but although he 
pubhshed other works relating to Ireland after this time, he 
never resumed the publication of the lives of her saints. The 
collection made by the noble-hearted Father O'Clery at that 
time, is that wliich is now divided between the Burgundian 
Library at Brussels, and the Library of the College of St. 
Isidore at Rome. 

Father John Colgan, in the preface to his Acta Sanctorum 
Hibernice, published at Louvain in 1645, after speaking of the 
labom-s of Fathers Fleming and Ward, in collecting and eluci- 
dating the Lives of the Irish Saints, and their subsequent mar- 
tyrdom in 1632, writes as follows of their religious Brother 
Michael O'Clery. 

" That those whose pious piu-suits he imitated, our third asso- 
ciate. Brother Michael O'Clery, also followed to the rewards of 
their merits, having died a few months ago, a man eminently 
versed in the antiquities of his country, to whose pious labours, 
through many years, both this and the other works which we 
labom' at are in a great measure owing. For, when he Avas a 
layman, he was by profession an Antiquarian, and in that faculty 
esteemed amongst the first of his time ; after he embraced our 
Seraphic Order, in this convent of Louvain, he was employed 
as coadjutor, and to this end, by obedience and with the per- 
mission of the superiors, he was sent back to his country to 
search out and obtain the lives of the saints and other sacred an- 
tiqviities of his country, which are, for the greater part, written 
in the language of his country, and very ancient. 

"But, in the province entrusted to him, he labom'ed with in- 
defatigable industry about fifteen years ; and in the meantime 
he copied many Hves of saints from many very ancient docu- 
ments in the language of the country, genealogies, three or four 
diiferent and ancient martyrologies, and many other monuments 



144 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 

LECT. vn. of great antiqixitj, wliicli, copied anew, lie transmitted liither to 
Of Friar ^- hardens. At length, bytlie charge of the superiors, deputed 
Michael to tliis, he dovotod his mind to clearing and arranging, in a 
'^^^' better method and order, the other sacred as well as j)rofane his- 
tories of his country, from which, with the assistance of three 
other distinguished antiquarians (whom, from the opportunity of 
the time and place, he employed as colleagues, as seeming more 
fit to that duty), he compiled, or, \vith more truth, since they 
had been composed by ancient authors, he cleared up, digested, 
and composed, three tracts of remote antiquity, by comparing 
many ancient documents. The first is of the Kings of Erinn, 
succinctly recording the kind of death of each, the years of their 
reign, the order of succession, the genealogy, and the year of 
the world, or of Christ, in which each departed, which tract, on 
account of its brevity, ought more properly to be called a cata- 
logue of those kings, than a history. The second, of the Genea- 
logy of the Saints of Erinn, which he has divided into thirty- 
seven classes or chapters, bringing back each saint, in a long 
series, to the first author and progenitor of the family from 
which he descends, which, therefore, some have been pleased to 
call Sanctilogium Genealogictim (the genealogies of the saints), 
and others Sancto- Genesis. The third treats of the first Inhabi- 
tants of Erinn, of their successive conquests from the Flood, 
tlirough the diiFerent races, of their battles, of the kings reign- 
ing amongst them, of the wars and battles arising between those, 
and the other notable accidents and events of the island, from 
the year 278 after the Flood, up to the year of Christ 1171. 

"Also, when in the same college, to which subsequently, at 
one time, he added two other works from the more ancient and 
approved chronicles and annals of the country, and particularly 
from those of Cluane, Insula, and Senat, he collected the sacred 
and profane Annals of Ireland, a work thoroughly noble, useful, 
and honourable to the country, and far surpassing in import- 
ance its own proper extent, by the fruitful variety of ancient 
affairs and the minute relation of them. For, he places before 
his eyes, not only the state of society and the various changes 
during upwards of three thousand years, for which that most 
ancient kingdom stood, by recording the exploits, the dissen- 
sions, conflicts, battles, and the year of the death of each of the 
kings, princes, and heroes ; but also (what is more pleasing and 
desirable for pious minds) the condition of Catholicity and eccle- 
siastical affairs, from the first introduction of the faith, twelve 
hundred years before, up to modern times, most flourishing at 
many periods, distm-bed at others, and subsequently mournful, 
wliilst hardly any year occurs, in the mean time, in which he 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 145 

does not record the death of one or many saints, bishops, abbots, lect. vn. 
and other men, iUustrious through piety and learning ; and also ^^^ p^,,^^. 
the building of churches, and their burnings, pillage, and de- Mu-haei 
vastation, in great part committed by the pagans, and after- 
wards by the heretical soldiers. His colleagues were pious men. 
As in the three before mentioned, so also in this fourth work, 
which far surpasses the others, three are eminently to be 
praised, namely, Ferfessius O" Maelchonaire, Peregrine (Cu- 
cogry) O'Clery, and Peregrine (Cucogry) ODuhhghennain, 
men of consummate learning in the antiquities of the country, 
and of approved faith. And to these subsequently was added 
the cooperation of other distinguished antiquarians. Maiu'itius 
G'Maelclionaire, who, for one month, as Conary Clery during 
many months, laboured in its promotion. But, since those an- 
nals which we in tliis volume, and in others following, very 
frequently quote, have been collected and compiled by the as- 
sistance and separate study of so many authors, neither the 
desire of brevity would permit us always to cite them indivi- 
dually by expressing the name, nor would justice allow us to 
attribute the labour of many to one ; hence, it sometimes seemed 
proper that those were called from the place the Annals of 
Donegal, for they were commenced and completed in our con- 
vent of Donegal. But, afterwards, on account of other reasons, 
chiefly from the compilers themselves, who were four most emi- 
nent masters in antiquarian lore, we have been led to call them 
the Annals of the Four Masters. Yet it is also said even 
now that more than four assisted in their preparation ; however, 
as their meeting was irregular, and but two of them, during a 
short time, laboured in the miimportant and latter part of the 
work, but the other four were engaged in the entire production, 
at least, up to the year 1267 (from which the first, and most im- 
portant and necessary part for us is closed), hence we quote it 
under their name ; since, hardly ever, or very rarely, anything 
which happened after that year comes to be related by us". 

We know not whether it was while engaged in collecting Of the 
the materials for the publication of the Lives of the Irish Saints, the vovr 
that Father O'Clery conceived the idea of collecting, digest- i^i^teks. 
ing, and compiling the Annals of the ancient Kingdom of 
Erinn ; and what fruitless essays for a patron he may have made 
among the broken-spirited representatives of the old native 
chiefs, we are not in a condition to say ; but that he succeeded 
in obtaining distinguished patronage from Fearghal [Ferral] 
O'Gara, hereditary Lord of Magh Ui Gadhra (Magh O'Gara), 
and Cull O-hh-Finn (Cuil O'Finn, or " Coolavin") (better known 
as the Prince of Coolovinn, in the County of Sligo), is testified 

10 



146 



OF THE ANCIKNT ANNALS. 



Of the 
Annals of 
THE Four 
Masters. 



LECT. VTT. in Father O'Clcry's simple and beautiful Dedication of the 
work to that nobleman, of which address the follo^ving is a 
literal translation [see original in Appendix, No. LXVII.] : — 

" I beseech God to bestow every happiness that may conduce 
to the welfare of his body and soul upon Fearghal 0' Gadhra, 
Lord of 3fagh Ui-Gadlira, and Cuil-0-hh-Finn, one of the two 
knights of Parliament who were elected (and sent) from the 
County of Sliijeach [Shgo] to Aili-cliath [Dublin], this year of 
the age of Christ 1634. 

" It is a thing general and plain throughout the whole world, 
in every place where nobihty or honour has prevailed, in each 
successive period, that nothing is more glorious, more respect- 
able, or more honourable (for many reasons), than to bring to 
light the knowledge of the antiquity of ancient authors, and a 
knowledge of the chieftains and nobles that existed in former 
times, in order that each successive generation might know how 
their ancestors spent their time and their hves, how long they 
lived in succession in the lordship of their countries, in dignity 
or in honour, and what sort of death they met. 

" I, Michael OClerigli, a poor friar of the Order of St. 
Francis (after having been for ten years transcribing every old 
material which I found concerning the saints of Ireland, observ- 
ing obedience to each provincial that was in Ireland succes- 
sively), have come before you, O noble Fearghal O'Gara. I have 
calculated on your honour that it seemed to you a cause of pity 
and regret, grief and sorrow (for the glory of God and the ho- 
nour of Ireland), how much the race of Gaedhil the son of Niul 
have passed under a cloud and darkness, without a knowledge 
or record of the death or obit of saint or virgin, archbishop, 
bishop, abbot, or other noble dignitary of the Chm'ch, of king 
or of prince, of lord or of chieftain, [or] of the synchronism or 
connexion of the one with the other. I explained to you that 
I thought I could get the assistance of the chroniclers for whom 
I had most esteem, in writing a book of Annals in which these 
matters might be put on record ; and that, should the writing 
of them be neglected at present, they would not again be found 
to be put on record or commemorated, even to the end of the 
world. There were collected by me all the best and most co- 
pious books of annals that I could find throughout all Ireland 
(though it was difficult for me to collect them to one place), to 
write this book in your name, and to your honour, for it was 
you that gave the reward of their laboiu* to the chroniclers, by 
whom it was written ; and it was the friars of the convent of 
Donegal that supplied them with food and attendance, in like 
manner. For every good that will result from this book, in 



\ 

! 

t 

OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 147 

giving liglit to all in. general, it is to you tliat tlianks should be lect. vii . 
given, and tliere should exist jio wonder or surprise, jealousy or ^^ ^^^ 
envy, at [any] good that yoi do; for you are of the race of annals op 
Eiher Mac Mileadh [Heber the son of jNIilesius] , from whom >lSteiw" 
descended thirty of the kings 6f Ireland, and sixty-one saints ; 
and to Teadgh mac Cein mic Qili Ua Oluiin , from whom eigh- 
teen of these saints are sprung, you can be traced, generation 
by generation. The descendants of this Tadhg [Teige] branched 
out, and inhabited various parts tlu'oughout Ireland, namely : 
the race of Cormac Gaileng in huighne Connacht, from whom 
ye, the Muintir-Gadhra, the two Ui Eaghra in Connacht, 
and Oli-Eaghra of the Ruta, O'Carroll of Ely, GMeachair in 
Ui-Camn, and O'Conor o^ Cianachta-Glinne-Geimhin. 

" As a proof of your coming from this noble blood we have 
mentioned, here is your pedigree : 

[Here follows the pedigree of O'Gara]. 

" On the twenty-second day of the month of January, a.d. 
1632, this book was commenced in the convent of Dun-na-ngall, 
and it was finished in the same convent on the tenth day of 
August, 1636, the eleventh year of the reign of our king Charles 
over England, France, Alba, and over EirS. 

" Your affectionate friend, 

" Brother Michael O'Clery". 

Wliat a simple unostentatious address and dedication to so 
important a work ! - 

O'Clery having thus collected his materials, and having fomid 
a patron willing both to identify himself with the undertaking, 
and to defray its expenses, he betook himself to the quiet solitude 
of the monastery of Donegall, then presided over by his bro- 
ther, Father Bemardine O'Clery, where he arranged his collec- 
tion of ancient books, and gathered about him such assistants as 
he had known by experience to be well qualified to carry out 
his intentions in the selection and treatment of his vast materials. 

The result of his exertions, and the nature of the great work 
thus to be produced, will perhaps appear in the most charac- 
teristic as well as complete form if I here quote the Testvmordum 
signed by the fathers of the monastery of Donegall, and inserted 
in the copy of the work presented to Fergal O'Gara. The 
following, then, is a literal translation of it [Appendix, No. 
LXVIIL] 

[Testimonium] . 

" The fathers of the Franciscan Order who shall put their 
hands on this, do bear witness that it was Fearghal O'Gadhra 
that prevailed on Brother Michael GClerigh to bring together 

10 B 



148 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



Of the 
Annals op 
THE Four 
Masters. 



LECT. VII. tlie clironiclers and learned men, by wliom were transcribed the 
books of history and Annals of Ireland (as much of them as it 
was possible to find to be transcribed), and that it was the same 
Fearghal OGara that gave them a reward for their writing. 

" The book is divided into two parts. The place at which 
it was transcribed from begiiming to end, was the convent of the 
friars of Dun-na-ngall, they supplying food and attendance. 

" The first book was begun and transcribed in the same con- 
vent this year, 1632, when Father Bernardine O'Clery was a 
guardian. 

" The chroniclers and learned men who were engaged in ex- 
tracting and transcribing this book from various books were, 
Brother Michael OClerigh ; Maurice, the son of Torna O'Mael- 
chonaire, for one month; Ferfeasa, the son o£ Lochlaimi OMael- 
chonaire, both of the County of Roscommon ; Cucoigcriche (Cu- 
cogry) O'Clerigh, of the County of Donegall ; Cucoigcriclie (Cu- 
cogry) O'Duiblighennain, of the County of Leitrim; and 
ConairS O'CIerigh, of the County of Donegall. 

" These are the old books they had: the book o£ Cluain mac 
Nois [a church], blessed by Saint Ciaran, son of the carpenter; 
the book of the Island of Saints, in Loch Mibh; the book of 
Seanadh Mic 3Iaghmisa, in Loch Erne ; the book of Clann Ua 
Maelchonaire ; the book of the O'Duigenans, of Kilronan ; the 
historical book of Lecan Mic Firbisigh, -which vras procured for 
them after the transcription of the greater part of the [work], 
and from which they transcribed all the important matter they 
found which they deemed necessary, and which was not in the 
first books they had ; for neither the book of Cluain nor the book 
of the Island were [carried] beyond the year of the age of our 
Lord 1227. 

" The second, which begins with the year 1208, was com- 
menced this year of the age of Christ 1635, in which Father 
Christopher Ulltach [O'Donlevy] was guardian. 

" These are the books from which was transcribed the greatest 
part of this work ; — the same book of the O'Mulconrys, as far as 
the year 1505, and this was the last year which it contained; 
the book of the O'Duigenans, of which we have sjaoken, from 
[the year] 900 to 1563; the book of Seanadh Mic Maghnusa, 
which extended to 1532 ; a portion of the book of Cucogry, 
the son of Dermot, son of Tadhg Cam OClerigh, from the year 
1281 to 1537; the book of Mac Bruaideadha (Maoilin dg), 
from the year 1588 to 1602. 

" We have seen all these books with the learned men of whom 
we have spoken before, and other historical books besides them. 
In proof of everything which has been written above, the fol- 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 149 

lowing persons put their hands to this in the convent of Donegal, lect. vii . 
the tenth day of August, the age of Christ being one thousand 
six hundred and thirty-six. annals of 

" Brother Bernardine O'Clery, m^tee's!' 

" Guardian of Donegal. 
" Brother Maurice Ulltach. 
" Brother Maurice Ulltach. 
" Brother Bonaventura O'Donnell, 
" Jubilate Lector", 

You will have noticed that the last signature to this testi- 
monium is that of Brother Bonaventura O'Donnell. Up to the 
year 1843, this signature was read as " O'Donnell" only, and 
it is curioiis that the learned and acute Charles O'Conor of 
Belanagar, should not only have so read it, but also written 
that this was the counter-signature of the O'Donnell, Prince of 
Donegall. The Rev. Charles O'Conor followed his grand- 
father in reading it the same way in 1825. 

It was Dr. Petrie that first identified (and purchased, at the 
sale of the library of Mr. Austin Cooper), the original volume 
of the second part of these Annals, which contains this testi- 
monium, and placed it in the libraiy of the Royal Irish Aca- 
demy. He immediately afterwards wrote a paper, which was 
read before the Academy on the 16th of March, 1831, entitled 
" Remarks on the History and Authenticity of the Autograph 
original of the Annals of the Four Masters, now deposited in 
the Library of the Royal Irish Academy". 

This profomid and accomplished antiquary followed the 
O'Conors unsuspectingly, in reading these signatures, and his 
and their reading was received and adopted by all the Irish 
scholars in Dublin at the tmie, and for some seventeen years 
after. However, in the year 1843, the Royal Irish Academy 
did me the honour to employ me to draw up a descriptive cata- 
logue of their fine collection of Irish manuscripts. For some 
considerable time before this I had entertained a suspicion that 
O'Donnell, Prince of Donegall, was a false reading of the sig- 
nature, for this, among other reasons, that there was no " O'Don- 
nell", Prince of Donegall, in existence at the time, namely, in 
the year 1636, nor for more than sixteen years before that pe- 
riod, those titles having become extinct when Hugh Roe O'Don- 
nell, and after him, his brother Rory, had received and adopted 
the English title of Earl of Tirconnell at the beginning of that 
century. The first of these brothers having died in Spain in 
1602, and the second having fled from Ireland in 1607, and 
died in Rome in 1608, and no chief having been lawfully 
elected in his place, consequently there was no man living in 



150 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



Of the 
Annals of 
THE Four 
Mastkes. 



LECT.vii. 1636 wlio could with propriety sign tlie name " O'Donnell" to 
tliis testimonium. And, even if there had been, it would be an 
act totally unbecoming his name and house to extend the dig- 
nity of his name only to a great national hterary work, which had 
been compiled within his own ancient principality, yet at the 
expense of one of the chiefs of a different race and province. 

Satisfied with this argument, and seeing that there was room 
for a Christian name before the surname, when I came to de- 
scribe this volume in my catalogue I applied to the Council of 
the Academy, through the then secretary, the Rev, Dr. Todd 
(now President of the Academy), for Hberty to apply a proper 
preparation to the part of the vellmn which appeared blank 
before the name O'Donnell, and between it and the margin of 
the page. The academy complied with my request. I took the 
necessary means of reviving the ink, and in a little time I was 
rewarded by the plain and clear reappearance of what had not 
been before dieamt of There, surely enough, were the name 
and the title of " Bonaventura O'Donnell", with the words 
added, "Jubilate Lector". 

Mr. Owen Connellan was ignorant of this reading when his 
translation of this volume of the Annals was published in the 
year 1846. Dr. O'Donovan, the able editor of the more elabo- 
I'ute, learned, and perfect edition of this volume, in the introduc- 
tion published by him to that work in 1848, acknowledged 
with satisfaction the discovery I had made, justly important as 
it seemed to him at the time. In the recast of his introduction 
to the first division of the work, as corrected for publication in 
1851, he has, however, only retained the reading, omitting to 
refer to what I had done, and thus leaving it uncertain at what 
time, under what circumstances, and by whom, the true read- 
ing was discovered, and these circumstances I have thought 
it but fair to myself here again to place on record. 

In making use of the rich materials thus collected, O'Clery, 
as might be expected from his education and position, took 
special care to collect from every available source, and to put 
on imperishable record, among the gi'eat monuments of the 
nation, not only the succession and obits of all the monarchs, 
provincial kings, chiefs, and heads or distinguished members of 
famihes, but also, as far as he could find them, the succession 
and deaths of the bishops, abbots, superiors, superioresses, and 
other distinguished ecclesiastics and religious of the countless 
churches, abbeys, and convents of Ireland, from the first founding 
of its civil and of its religious systems, down to the year 1611. 

The work of selection and compilation having been finished, 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 151 

as we have seen, in the year 1636, Father O'Clery, to stamp lect. vii. 
on it a character of truthfuhiess and importance, carried it for 
inspection to two of the most distinguished Irish scholars then annals op 
living, whose written approbation and signature he obtained masters!' 
for it ; these were Flann Mao Aedhagan of Bally Mac Aedh- 
again, in the County of Tipperary, and Conor Mac Bruaideadlia 
(or Brody) of Cill-Chaidhe and Leitir Maelain in the Coimty of 
Clare. And, along with these, he procured for his work the 
approbations and signatures of Malachy O'Kelly, Archbishop 
of Tuam; Baothghalach or Boetius Mac Aegan, Bishop of 
Elfinn ; Thomas Fleming, Archbishop of DubHn, Primate of 
Ireland; and Fr. Roche, Bishop of Kildare; and thus forti- 
fied with the only approbation which he deemed necessary 
to give general currency and a permanent character to his 
work, he committed it (in manuscript only) to the care of time 
and to the affection and veneration of his countrymen. 

Upon the chronology of the Annals Dr. O'Conor has made 
the following remarks in his Catalogue of the Stowe MSS. 
(among Avhich is one of the original copies of this work), 

" This volimie begins, hke most chronicles of the middle 
ages, from the Deluge, which it dates with the Septuagint, 
Anno ]\Iundi 2242 ; and ends with the Anglo Norman inva- 
sion of Ireland, a.d. 1171. * * * * * * 

" Notwithstanding these approbations, there are some glaring 
faults in these annals, which no partiality can disguise. The 
first, and greatest of all faults, relates to their system of chrono- 
logy. We quarrel not with their preferring the chronology of 
the Septuagint to that of the Hebrew text : great men have 
adopted the same system ; making the first year of om' era agree 
with the year of the world 5199. But in applying it to chrono- 
logy, they commit two faults. Dating by the Christian era, 
they generally place the events four years, and sometimes five, 
before the proper year of that era, down to the year 800, when 
they approach nearer to the true time; tliis is their greatest 
fault; and it is evident, from the eclipses and corresponding 
events occasionally mentioned by themselves. From the year 
800 to 1000, they differ sometimes by three years, sometimes by 
two. From the year 1000, their chronology is perfectly accu- 
rate. Their second fault is more excusable, because it is com- 
mon to all the annalists of the middle ages ; they advance the 
antiquities of their coimtry several centuries higher than their 
own successions of kings and generations by eldest sons will 
permit. 

" Following the technical chronology of Coeman, they ought 



LECT. VII 

Of the 



152 OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 

to have stated, in notes, the chronology of Flann, who preceded 
Coeman, and given the Christian era accurately, as it agrees 
Annals of with the ycars of the Julian period, and of the Roman Consvils 
mTsteks.' and Emperors, whom they synchronise. This is Bede's method, 
and has been that of all the best chronologers, who, by adliering 
to it, have successfully determined the chronology of Europe. 

" ' We see no reason for denjang to Ireland a series of kings 
older than any in Europe', says Mr. Pinkerton. 

" The oldest Greek writers mention Albion and lerne as in- 
habited ; and Pliny says, no doubt from the Pha?nician annals, 
which are quoted by Festus, that the Phoenicians traded with 
those islands in the days of Midacritus, a thousand years before 
the Christian era. But to begin the pagan history of Ireland 
nearly 3000 years before that era, is absurd ; and to make the 
events of the Christian period diiFer, by four years, from the re- 
gular course of that reckoning, is not excusable. This difference, 
hovv'ever, is easily adjusted, because it is uniform down to the 
year 900, except in a very few instances, which are corrected 
and restored to their true places in the notes. 

" The grand object of the Four Masters is to give chronological 
dates, and, with the exceptions above, nothing can be more ac- 
curate. The years of foundations and destructions of churches 
and castles, the obituaries of remarkable persons, the inaugura- 
tions of kings, the battles of chiefs, the contests of clans, the ages 
of bards, abbots, bishops, etc., are given with a meagre fidelity, 
which leaves nothing to be wished for but some details of man- 
ners, which are the grand desideratum in the Chronicles of the 
British Islands" [p. 133]. 

With all that Doctor O'Conor has so judiciously said here, I 
fully agree. A book, consisting of 1100 quarto pages, begin- 
ning with the year of the world 2242, and ending with the year 
of our Lord's Incarnation 1616, thus covering the immense space 
of 4500 years of a nation's history, must be dry and meagre of de- 
tails in some, if not in all, parts of it. And although the learned 
compilers had at their disposal, or within their reach, an immense 
mass of historic details, still the circumstances rmder which 
they wrote were so unfavourable, that they appear to have exer- 
cised a sound discretion, and one consistent with the economy of 
tune and of their resources, when they left the details of our very 
early history in the. safe keeping of such ancient original records 
as from remote ages preserved them, and collected as much as 
they could make room for of the events of more modern times, 
and particularly of the eventful times in which they lived them- 
selves. This was natural ; and it must have appeared to them 
that the national history, as written of old, and then still amply 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 153 

preserved, was in less danger of being quite lost or questioned lect. vii. 
than that more modern history wliicli approached more nearly 
to their own era, till at last it became conversant with facts of annals of 
which they were themselves witnesses, and many of the actors MrsTEi^s!' 
in which were personally known to them ; and so they thickened 
the records as much, I believe, as they possibly could, in the 
twelfth, thirteenth, foiu^teenth, and fifteenth, and particularly in 
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 

This last part of the Annals was evidently intended to be a 
history ; but it is clear that the first, perhaps for the reason I 
have just stated, was not intended to be anything more than a 
skeleton, to be at some future time clothed with flesh and blood 
from the large stock of materials which might still remain, and 
which in fact has remained to the successors of the Four Mas- 
ters ; and the exact value of these materials in reference to a 
complete history will be seen when, in a future lecture, we come 
to deal with the historical tales and other detailed compositions 
containing the minute occurrences of life, and the lesser and 
more unimportant but still most interesting facts of history in 
the early ages of the coimtry. 

You have already heard, in the quotations from Dr. O'Conor, 
the opinions of the learned but sceptical Pinkerton on the an- 
tiquity of our monarchy and the general authenticity of our 
history ; let me now read for you the opinion of another Scotch- 
man, in no way inferior to him in general literary knowledge, 
profound research, and accurate discrimination. I mean Sir 
James Mackintosh, who, having become acquainted with the 
character of these Annals from Dr. O'Conor s very inaccurate 
Latin translation of the early part of them down to 1170, ac- 
cords his favourable opinion of them in the following words : — 

" The Chronicles of Ireland, written in the Irish language, 
from the second century to the landing of Henry Plantagenet, 
have been recently published with the fullest evidence of their 
genuineness. The Irish nation, thoixgh they are robbed of 
their legends by this authentic publication, are yet by it enabled 
to boast that they possess genuine history several centuries 
more ancient than any other European nation possesses in its 
present spoken language. They have exchanged their legen- 
dary antiquity for historical fame. Indeed no other nation 
possesses any monument of literature in its present spoken lan- 
guage, which goes back within several centuries of these chi'o- 
nicles". — History of England, vol. i., chap. 2. 

Moore, who was less profound as an historian, and, conse- 
quently, more sceptical, remarks on this passage: "With the 
exception of the mistake into which Sir James Mackintosh lias 



154 \ OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 

\ 

LECT. VII . liere, rather unaccountably, been led, in supposing tbat, among 
Q^ ^,^ tlie written Irish chronicles which have come down to us, there 

Annals of are any so early as the second century, the tribute paid by him 
mj^ters!' to the authenticity and historical importance of these docu- 
ments appears to me in the highest degree deserved, and 
comes with more authority from a writer, whose command over 
the wide domain of history enabled him fully to appreciate any 
genuine addition to it". — History of Ireland, vol. i., p. 168. 

The poet, however, lived to doubt his own competence to 
offer such a criticism on the chronicles of his native country. 
The first volume of his history was published in the year 1835, 
and in the year 1839, dm'ing one of his last visits to the land of 
his birth, he, in company with his old and attached friend, Dr. 
Petrie, favoured me with quite an unexpected visit at the Royal 
Irish Academy, then in Grafton Street. I was at that period 
employed on the ordnance survey of Ireland ; and, at the time 
of his visit, happened to have before me, on my desk, the 
Books of Ballymote and Lecain, the Leabhar Breac, the An- 
nals of the Four Masters, and many other ancient books, for his- 
torical research and reference, I had never before seen Moore, 
and after a brief introduction and explanation of the nature of 
my occupation by Dr. Petrie, and seeing the formidable array 
of so many dark and time-worn volumes by which I was sur- 
rounded, he looked a little disconcerted, but after a while 
plucked up courage to open the Book of Ballymote, and ask 
what it was. Dr. Petrie and myself then entered into a short 
explanation of the history and character of the books then pre- 
sent, as well as of ancient Gaedlilic documents in general. Moore 
listened with great attention, alternately scanning the books and 
myself; and then asked me, in a serious tone, if I understood 
'' them, and how I had learned to do so. Having satisfied him 
upon these points, he turned to Dr. Petrie, and said: " Petrie, 
these huge tomes could not have been written by fools or for 
any foolish purpose. I never knew anything about them before, 
and I had no right to have undertaken the History of Ireland". 
Three volumes of his history had been before this time pub- 
lished, and it is quite possible that it was the new light which 
appeared to have broken in upon hun on this occasion, that 
deterred him from putting his fourth and last volume to press 
until after several years ; it is believed he was only compelled 
to do so at last by his publishers in 1846. 

I may be permitted here to observe, that what Sir James 
Mackintosh and other great writers speak of so lightly, as the " le- 
gendary" history of Ireland, is capable of authentic elucidation 
to an extent so far beyond what they believed or supposed them 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 155 

to be, as would both please and satisfy tluit distingixislied lect. vii. 
writer and philosopher himself, as well as all other candid ^^.^^^^^ 
investigators. annals of 

° THE FoUU 

JLVSTEKS. 

Of the Annals of the Four Masters, no perfect copy of 
the autograph is now known to exist, though the parts of them, 
so strangely scattered in difierent localities throughout Europe, 
would make one perfect copy, and another nearly perfect. 

To begin at home, the Royal Irish Academy holds, among its 
other treasures of ancient Irish hteratvu*e, a perfect original — I 
might say, the original — autograph copy of the Second Part of 
these Annals, from the year 1170, imperfect, to the year 1(516. 

The Ubrary of Trinity College, Dublin, also contains a part 
of an autograph copy, beginning with the year 1335, and end- 
ing with the year 1603. 

Of the part preceding the year 1171, there are also two difFe- 
Tent copies in existence, but unfortunately beyond the reach 
of collation or useful examination. Of these, one — which, a 
few years ago, and for some years previously, belonged to the 
great library of the Duke of Buckingham at Stowe — has passed 
by sale into the collection of Lord Ashburnham, where, with the 
other Irish manuscripts that accompanied it, it is very safely 
preserved from examination, lest an actual acquaintance with 
their contents should, in the opinion of the very noble-minded 
owner, decrease their value as mere matters of cmiosity at some 
future transfer or sale. 

How unfortunate and fatal that this vohmie, as well as the 
other Irish manuscripts v.hich accompany it, and the most part 
of which were but lent to the Stowe library, should have passed 
from the inaccessible shelves of that once princely establishment 
into another asylum equally secure and unapproachable to any 
sdiolar of the " mere Irish" ! 

At the time of the advertised sale of the Stowe hbrary, in 
1849, the British Museum made every effort to become the pur- 
chasers, with the consent and support of the Treasury, through 
Sir Robert Peel ; but the trustees delayed so long in determining 
on what should be done, that the sale took place privately, and 
the whole collection was carried off and incarcerated in a man- 
sion some seventy miles from London. 

The late Sir Robert Inglis and Lord Brougham were, I be- 
lieve, most anxious to have this great collection deposited in the 
British Museum ; but Mr. (now Lord) jMacaulay, the Essayist, 
having been among the Museum Trustees who examined it, de- 
clared that he saw nothing in the whole worth purchasing for 
the Museum, but the correspondence of Lord Melville, a Scotch 
nobleman, on the American war ! 



156 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



LECT. VII. 

Of the 
Anmals of 
THE Four 

Masteks. 



Tlie second original copy of this first part is, but owing only to 
its distance from us, as inaccessible as tlie one in Asbburnliam 
House. It is in tlie Irisli College of St. Isidore in Rome. The 
discovery of this volmne there, and of the important collection 
of manuscripts, Gaedlilic and Latin, of which it forms a part, was 
made by the late learned and lamented Dean Lyons, of Bel- 
mullet, in the County of Mayo, in the years 1842 and 1843. 
This learned priest, having occasion to spend some considerable 
part of those years in Rome, was requested at his departure, by 
some friends of Irish literatiue in Dublin, to examine, should time 
permit him, the great literary repositories of the Eternal City, 
and to bring, or send home, tracings of any ancient Gaedhhc ma- 
nuscripts wliich he might have the good fortune to light upon. 
He accordingly, on the 1st of Jmie, 1842, wrote home a letter 
to the Rev Dr. Todd and to Dr. O'Donovan, apprising them 
that he had discovered, in the College of St. Isidore, several an- 
cient Gaedlilic and Latin manuscripts, which formerly belonged 
to Ireland and to Irishmen ; and on the 1st of July in the ensuing 
year of 1843, he addressed another letter to the same parties on 
the same subject. These letters contained accurate descriptions 
of the condition and extent of the Gaedhhc ]\ISS., together with 
tracings from their contents, sufficient to enable me to identify 
the chief part of them. 

Among these JNISS. at St. Isidore's, there was found an auto- 
graph of the first part of the Annals of the Four Masters, com- 
ing doAvn to the year 1169, with the "Approbations" and all the 
prefatory matter. This is the only autograph of the first part now 
known, save that formerly at Stowe ; and both being inaccessible 
at the time of the publication of the whole work a few years ago, 
the learned and able editor, Dr. O'Donovan, was obhged to use 
Dr. O'Conor's inaccurate version, only correcting it by modern 
copies here, as may be seen in his introduction. 

The novel and important discovery of this collection excited 
so great a degree of interest in Dublin at the time, that a sub- 
scription for their purchase, should it be found practicable, was 
freely and warmly talked of 

Upon the return of Dr. Lyons to Ireland, Dr. Todd opened 
a correspondence with him as to his views of the possibility of 
the authorities in Rome consenting to the sale of these MSS. 
Dr. Lyons's answer was encouraging, and in order to prepare 
him for bringing the matter before the proper parties, he re- 
quested that I should di'aw up a short paper upon their contents, 
the importance of having them here at home, and the intrinsic 
value of the whole according to the rate at which Gaedlilic ma- 
nuscripts were estimated and sold in Dubhn at the time. 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 157 

This paper, or letter, was transmitted to Rome at the time by lect. yii. 



Of the 



Dr. Lyons ; but his own lamented death occurring shortly afte 
the correspondence through that channel was interrupted, and annals o^ 
the famine having set in about the same time, the spirit of the m^tei"' 
country was checked, objects of more immediate importance 
pressed themselves on the minds of men, and the subject was 
forgotten for a time. There are, however, in Dublin a few spi- 
rited men, who, within the last two years, have offered a hand- 
some sum of money from their private purses for those manu- 
scripts for public pm'poses ; but they seem not to have been able 
to convey their proposal through an eligible channel, and so no 
satisfactory result has followed their laudable endeavours. 

I may perhaps be pardoned for adding here, that the short ca- 
talogue of the St. Isidore manuscripts which I di'ew up for Dean 
Lyons, and Avhich he transmitted to Rome, was subsequently 
pubHshed without acknowledgment, by the Rev. J. Donovan, 
in the third volume of his "Ancient and Modern Rome". 

To resume. It will be remembered that in Michael O'Clery's 
address to Fergal O'Gara he pays him, along with many others, 
the following compliment : — 

" For every good that will result from this book, in giving 
light to the people in general, it is to you that thanks should 
be given, and there should exist no wonder or surprise, jealousy, 
or envy at any good that you do, for you are of the race of 
Ebe7' Mac Mileadli]\ etc., etc. 

On this passage the editor, Dr. Donovan, comments some- 
what unnecessarily, I think, in the following words : — 

" If O'Donnell were iu the country at the time, he ought to 
have felt great envy and jealousy that the Four Masters should 
have committed this work, which treats of the O'Donnells more 
than of any other family, to the world under the name and 
patronage of any of the rival race of Oilioll Ohiim, much less 
to so petty a chieftain of that race as O'Gara. This ■will appear 
ob^aous from the Contention of the Bards". 

Nothing, however, appears more obvious from the Conten- 
tion of the Bards, than (as I have already shown and as is 
proved by Annluan Mac jEgan's acknowledgment) that the 
northern Bards were worsted in the contest ; and notliing has 
been put forward to show O'Donnell's superior claims to the 
patronage of a historical work, but that his own family figures 
more conspicuously in it than any other of the nation. This 
argument, however, on inquiry, will scarcely be foimd to hold 
good, and before I pass on it may perhaps be worth while to 
answer it at once by referring to some few statistics of family 
names occurrinof in these Annals. 



158 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



LECT. VII. 

Of the 

Annals nr 
THE Four 
Masters. 



The name of O'Donnell of Donegall, I find, appears Avith 
Christian names 210 times, and under the general name of 
O'Donnell only 78 times, making an aggregate of 288 times. 

Now the O'Briens (the rival race of Oilioll Oluini), appear 
with Cliristian names 233 times, and under the general name 
of O'Briens 21 times, making an aggregate of 254 times in 
every way; so that, even as the annals stand, there is no great 
diiference in this respect. And it is certain that if the O'Clerys 
had swelled their Annals with entries from Mac Grath's Wars 
of Thomond, from the year 1272 to the year 1320, as they 
have filled them, from the local history, with the achievements 
of the O'Donnells from the year 1472 to the year 1600, the 
names of the O'Briens would be found far to outnumber those 
of the O'Donnells. Besides this, the O'Donnells had no pre- 
tension to extreme jealousy with the race of Oilioll Oluim, as the 
former only became known as chiefs of Tirconnell, on the de- 
cay or extinction of the more direct lines of Conall Gulban in 
they year 1200, whereas the Mac Carthys represented the line 
of Eoghan Mor, the eldest son of Oilioll Olicim, from the year 
1043 ; and the O'Briens represented Cormac Cas, the second 
son of Oilioll Oluim, from the battle of Clontarf, in the year 
1014. But what is somewhat singular, in reference to Dr. 
O'Donovan's remark, and as shown by these statistics, is, that 
the O'Gara represents Cian, another son of Oilioll Oluim, in 
their ancient principality of Luigline or Leyney, in Shgo, from 
a period so far back as the year 932 ; that is, the name of the 
O'Gara is older even than that of Mac Carthy by more than 
100 years ; than that of O'Brien by about 80 years ; and than 
that of O'Donnell by about 300 years. 

As a small tribute of respect, then, fairly, I think, due to the 
O'Gara family as the patrons of the splendid work of the 
O'Clerys, it may be permitted me to insert here from these 
Annals the succession of their chiefs, from the year 932 to the 
year 1495, after which (and it is rather singular), they dis- 
appear from the work. [See Appendix, No. LXIX.] 

I have devoted the entire of the present lecture to a very 
summary accoimt of the greatest body of Annals in existence 
relating to Irish History. The immense extent of the work 
would indeed render it impossible for me to include in one 
lecture, or even in two or three lectures, anything like an ade- 
quate analysis of the vast mass and comprehensive scope of the 
history contained in it. I have, therefore, confined myself to 
some explanation of the nature and plan of the labours of the 
Four Masters, that you may understand at least what it was 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 159 

they undertook to do, and that you may know wliy it is that lect. vii. 

this magnificent compilation has ever since been regarded by 

true scholars, and doubtless will ever be looked up to, as of the axnals of 

most certain and unimpeachable authority, and as affording a MTsTEiis" 

safe and soHd foundation for the labours of future historians. It 

is fortunate, however, that the Annals of the Four Masters are 

no longer like the other Annals, of which I have given you 

some account, preserved only in the almost inaccessible recesses 

of a few libraries of MSS. It is fortunate that you can now 

consult for yourselves (in the pages of a beautifully printed 

edition), those invaluable records, whose importance it has been 

my object in this lecture shortly to explain to you, and which, 

if you would acquire an accurate acquaintance with your 

country's history, you must diligently study again and again. 

Portions of these Annals had been published before the ap- 
pearance of the great volumes to which I allude. 

The Rev. Charles O'Conor, librarian to the late Duke of 
Buckingham, printed, in 1826, an edition of what is called the 
First Part of those Annals (that part, namely, which ends at 
the year 1171, or about the period of the Norman Invasion). It 
occupies the whole of the third volume of his Renim Hiheryii- 
carum Sa'iptores, a large quarto of 840 pages. It is printed 
from the autograph text in the Stowc Hbrary, and the editor 
has given the Irish text (but in Latin characters), as well as a 
translation and copious notes in the Latin language. This edi- 
tion is certainly valuable, but it is very inaccurate. I need not, 
however, occupy your time with any detailed account of it, not 
only because it has been since superseded by a work of real au- 
thority, bi^t because I have already discussed (and shall have 
reason again to observe at some little length on) the literary ca- 
pabihty and the historical knowledge of the reverend editor. 

A translation of the Second Part of the Annals, that is, 
from A.D. 1171 to the end of the work at a.d. 1616, was pub- 
lished in Dublin in 1846, by the late B. Geraghty, of Anglesca 
Street. The original Irish is not given in this edition, but 
the translation was made by ]Mr. Owen Connellan from a copy 
transcribed some years before by him from the autograph in the 
library of the Royal Irish Academy. This volume, though con- 
taining only the translation, extends to 720 pp., large 4to, closely 
printed in double columns, with notes by Dr. JNlac Dermott. 

I have mentioned both these publications only because it 
would be improper to omit noticing the fact that such attempts 
had been made to place the substance of the Annals in the hands 
of the reading public at large. But I need not enter into any 
criticism upon the labours of Mr. Connellan any more than those 



160 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 



Of the 

Anxals of 
THE Four 
Masters. 



LECT. VII. of Dr. O'Gonor. For tlae Annals of the Foiu' Masters are now 
at last accessible to all, in a form the most perfect as regards 
typography, and the most copious and correct as regards 
translation and annotation, that the anxious student of our 
history can desire. I allude, of coiu'se, to the magnificent work 
to which I have abeady more than once referred, edited by 
Dr. John O'Donovan, and published to the world, in 1851, 
by Mr. George Smith, of Grafton Street. It is to this edition 
that in future every student must apply himself, if he desires to 
acquire only reliable information ; it is, in the present state of 
om* knowledge, the standard edition of that work, which must 
form the basis of all fruitful study of the history of Ireland ; and it 
is in consequence of this, its peculiar character, that I feel bound 
to lay so strong an emphasis upon my recommendation of Dr. 
O'Donovan's Annals to yoiu" special, if not exclusive, attention. 
Dr. O'Donovan's work is in seven large quarto volumes ; and 
the immense extent of the O'Clerys' labours may be imagined 
by those of my hearers who have not yet opened these splendid 
books, when I inform them that the seven volumes contain no 
less than 4,215 pages of closely printed matter. The text is 
given in the Irish character, and is printed in the beautiful type 
employed in the printing ofiice of Trinity College, and the 
forms of which were carefully drawn from the earhest authori- 
ties by the accurate and elegant hand of my respected friend. 
Dr. Petrie. The translation is executed with extreme care. 
The immense mass of notes contains a vast amount of informa- 
tion, embracing every variety of topic — historical, topographical, 
and genealogical — upon which the text requires elucidation, 
addition, or correction ; and I may add, that of the accuracy 
of the researches which have borne fruit in that information, I 
can myself, in almost every instance, bear personal testimony. 
There is but one thing to be regretted in resjject of Dr. O'Don- 
ovan's text, and that is the circumstance to which I have 
abeady called jour attention. In the absence of both of the 
autograph INISS. of the First Part of the work (that is, before 
A.D. 1171), one of which is kept safe from the eye of every 
Irish scholar in the Stowe collection, now in the possession of 
Lord Ashburnham, while the other still remains in the Library 
of St. Isidore's, in Rome, the editor was obliged to take Dr. 
O'Conor's inaccurate text, correcting it, as best he could, by 
collation with two good copies which exist in Dublin. The 
second part of the annals is printed from the autograph MS. in 
the Royal Irish Academy, compared with another autograph 
copy in Trinity College. The text of this part is, therefore, 
absolutely free from errors. 



OF THE ANCIENT ANNALS. 161 

This noble work, extending to so great a length, and occu- lect. vn. 
pied (notes as well as text) with so many thousands of subjects, ^^ ^^^^ 
personal and historical, had need of an Index as copious as anxai.s op 
itself to complete its practical importance as a book of reference. mIIteks!' 
Tliis great labour has been included in the plan of Dr. O'Do- 
novan's publication, and the student will find appended to it 
hvo complete Indexes, one to all the names of persons, the other 
to all the names of places referred to throughout the entire. 
So that, in the form in which the work appears, as well as in 
the substantial contents of these splendid volmnes, there is 
absolutely nothing left to be desired. 

Upon the learning and well earned reputation of the editor, 
Dr. O'Donovan, it would ill become me, for so many years his 
intimate fellow labourer in the long untrodden path of Irish 
historical inquiry, to enlarge. But I cannot pass from the 
subject of this lecture without recording the grateful sense 
wdiich I am sure all of you (when yovi examine the magnificent 
volmnes of which I have been speaking) must feel, as I do, of 
the singular public spirit of Mr. George Smith, at whose sole 
risk and expense this vast publication was undertaken and com- 
pleted. There is no instance that I know of, in any country, 
of a work so vast being undertaken, much less of any com- 
pleted in a style so perfect and so beautiful, by the enterprise 
of a private publisher. Mr. Smith's edition of the Annals was 
brought out in a way worthy of a great national work, — nay, 
worthy of it, had it been undertaken at the public cost of a 
great, rich, and powerful peoj^le, as alone such works have 
been imdertaken in other countries. And the example of so 
much spirit in an Irish pubHsher — the printing of such a book 
in a city like Dublin, so long shorn of metropolitan wealth as 
well as honoiu's — cannot fail to redound abroad to the credit of 
the whole country, as well as to that of om- enterprising fellow- 
citizen. As, then, the memory of the Four Masters themselves 
will probably be long connected ■with the labours and name of 
their annotator, Dr. O'Donovan, so also I wovild not have any of 
you forget what is due to the pubHsher of the first complete edi- 
tion of the Annals when you open it, as I hope every student of 
this national University ■v\'ill often and anxiously do, to ^pply 
yourselves to study the gTcat events of your country's history in 
the time-honoured records collected by the O'Clerys. 



11 



LECTURE VIII. 

[Delivered July 7, 185fi.] 

Of the other Works of the Four Masters. The " Succession of the Kings". 
The " Book of Invasions". O'Clcry's Glossary. 

In my last lecture I concluded tlie subject of tlie various 
regular Annals wliicli liave come down to us. In connection 
with tlie subject of the last and greatest of these invaluable 
compilations, the Annals of the Four Masters, it became my 
duty, in explaining how that noble work was midertaken, to 
offer you some short accomit of the O'Clerys, its principal 
authors, and their learned associates. Before I pass, then, to 
an examination of the various other soiu'ces from which tlie 
student will have to draw the materials of the yet imwritten 
History of Erinn, it will perhaps be convenient that I should 
here conclude what I have to say to you upon the other histo- 
rical works handed down to us by the Foiu- Masters. These 
works (alluded to in that preface of Colgan's which you heard 
quoted at such length in the last lecture) are all to a great 
extent parallel with that which last engaged our attention. 
Their plan is not the same ; and, though a great number of 
facts are recorded in all the several series of the O'Clerys' 
writings, the details are rarely repeated; and each of these 
books, contemporaneous in execution as they were, must be 
studied as the necessary complement of the others of them. It 
is much to be regretted, that none of them, as yet, has met 
with the good fortune of the Annals, in being published in any 
form to the world; and I am sm-e, when you have become 
aware of their extent and value, you wiU join with me in the 
hope that the present generation may see these works also of 
our great annalists brought out in a style worthy of the splendid 
volumes edited by Dr. O'Donovan. 
The SuocEs The first of the historical books of the O'Clerys, referred to 
sioN' OF THE \)y Qolgau, to wliicli I sliall direct yom' attention, is that called 
the Rehn Rioghxddhe [pron : nearly, " Rem Ree-riah"], or Suc- 
cession OF THE Kings. And, as you are now acquainted with 
the manner in which the masters approach their subjects, in 
these serious histoi-ical compositions, perhaps the best course 



OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 163 

I can take to-day is to open at once the autlior's Preface to lect. yiii. 
the Reim Rioghraidhe, of which the following may be taken as ^^^^ ^^^^ct^^. 
a sufficiently accurate translation [see original in Appendix sign of the 
No. LXX.]:— '"''*''■ 

" In nomine Dei. Amen. 

" On the third day of the month of September, Anno 
Christi 1644, tliis book was commenced to be written, in the 
house of Conall, son of Niall, son of Rossa Mageoghegan, oi' Lios 
3faighnS, in Cenel Fhiachach (in Westmeath), one by whom are 
prized and preserved the ancient monuments of our ancestors ; 
one who is the industrious collecting Bee of everything that be- 
longs to the honour and history of the descendants of IMilesius 
and of Licgaidh, son of Ith, both ky and ecclesiastical, as far as 
he coidd find them. And what is written in this book is, 
the Reim Rioghraidhe (the Succession of the Kings), and the 
history of the Saints of Erinn, which are now corrected and 
amended by these persons following — viz., the Friar Michael 
O'Clery, Ferfeasa O'Mulconry, and Cucoigcriche O'Duigenan, 
all of them persons learned in the Irish language. And it is 
taken from the principal ancient Books of Erinn, in the Con- 
vent of Athlone, as v/e have before stated [it does not appear 
where] ; as well as from the historical poem, written by Gilla 
Caomhain CCuirnin, which begins (Eire 6g mis na naomJi) 
(Virgin Eire, Island of Saints), and another poem, written by 
Aengus Mac an Ghohhann (Aengus Ceile De., or the Culdee), 
which begina, ^ JVaomhsheanchiis naomh Inse FdiV (the sacred 
history of the saints of Inis Fail), and another poem, which 
begins ' Athair chdigh chuimsigh nimhe^ (Father of all, Ruler of 
Heaven). 

" This book contains also the Book of Rights, which was 
originally ordered by Saint Benean, and is copied from a book 
which was written by the aforesaid Conall [IMageoghegan] on 
the 4tli of August, 1636, from the Book of Lecain,wdiich had been 
lent to him by the Protestant Primate [Ussher], which Book of 
Lecain was written a long time before that, by Adam J/or O'Cuir- 
nin for Gilla Isa Mor Mac Firbis, Ollamh of Ui-Fhiachrach, 
Anno Domini 1418; and Morroch Riahhach GCoinlisg wrote 
more of it, in the house of Rory O'Dowda, King of Hy- 
Fiachrach of the jMoy. The present book contains, besides, 
the history of the cause why the Boromean tribute Avas imposed 
on the Lagenians, and the person by whom it was imposed ; 
and the history of the coming of the Delvians (Mac Cochlan) 
into ' Conn's Half of Erinn, out of Munster. It contains, also, 
the history of the cause why Feyiius Farsaidh went to learn 

11b 



164 OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 

I.KCT. VIII. poetry to the Tower of Nimrod, in preference to any other 
™ o place ; and the names of the various lano^uaofes that were known 

The SuccES- r ' . i • i i ^ ^i i- i 

sioNOFTHE at that time, and irom wnicn the (jraedhhc language was 
brought away by Gaedliel, the son of Etlteor, from whom it 
derives its name. And it contains an account of the death of 
Conn of the himdred battles. It also contains the seven fatali- 
ties of the monarchs of Erinn, and the fatalities of the pro- 
vincial kings in like manner; and the poem wliicli begins 
Roileag laoch leithe Cidnn (the burial place of the heroes of 
Conn's Half) [of Erinn], which was completed, and finished, 
and put into this book, on the 25th day of September of that 
same year before mentioned (1644), by the Friar Paul OColla, 
of the order of Saint Francis, in the house of the aforesaid 
Conall [Mageoghegan]. It Hkewise contains the pedigrees of 
the monarchs of Erinn, and the length of time that each 
reigned ; and it contains the genealogies of the Irish saints as 
they have been collected from the books of the old writers, set 
down according to their descent, in alphabetical order ; [all] to 
the glory of God, and the honour of the saints and of the 
kingdom ; and to diffuse the knowledge and iiitelligence of the 
things aforesaid, and of the authors who preserved the history 
of Erinn, before and after the introduction of Christianity. 
Finished in the Observantine Convent of Athlone, in the 
Bishopric of Clonmacnois, 1630". 

[It is observable that the authors profess to include, in a single 
book, not only the succession of the kmgs, but also the gene- 
alogy of such of the saints of Erinn as descended from them, 
and which Colgan treats as a separate work.] 

The following is O'Clery's Dedication [see original in Appen- 
dix, No. LXXL] :— 

" To Torloch Mac Cochlain". 

" After I, the poor Friar Michael O'Clery, had been four 
years, at the command of my superior, engaged in collecting 
and bringing together all that I could find of the history of the 
saints of Ireland, and of the kings to whom their pedigrees are 
carried uj), it occurred to me that it would not be judicious to 
put that collection into other lanciuatjes,'-^^^ without the authority, 
proof, and inspection of other historians. I also considered 
that the aforesaid work could not be finished without expense. 
But such was the poverty of the order to which I belong, on 
account of their vow and the oppressions of the time, that I 
was obliged to complain of it to gentlemen who were not bound 

(■lo^ It is to be remembered tliat I am not transcribing from tlie autograph 



OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 105 

to poverty by vow. And, among tliose to whom I made my lect. vm. 
complaint, 1 found no one to relieve my anxiety towards _ 4 

bringing this work to completion, but one person who was sionof the 
willing to assist me, to the promotion of the glory of God, the ^''"^*' 
honour of the saints and the kingdom, and the good of his own 
soul. And that one person is Torloch Mac Cochlain. [Here 
follows the pedigree of Mac Cochlain.] And it was this Tor- 
loch Mac Cochlain that forwarded this work, and that kept 
together the company that were engaged in completing it, along 
with the private assistance given by the aforesaid convent every 
day. On the 4th day of October, therefore, this book was com- 
menced, and on the 4th day of November, it was finished, in 
the convent of the friars before mentioned, in the fifth year of 
the king Charles of England, 1630". 

It is remarkable that we have not the a\itograph original of 
any part of these two books, or rather this one book, now in 
Ireland. 

After this Dedication, or notice, follows, in the original, an 
Address to the reader [see original in Appendix, No. LXXIL], 
much of which is so characteristic of the simple enthusiasm of 
the writer, and so pathetic in the appeal it contains to the ten- 
derness of Gaedhhc patriotism, that I cannot omit to lay it 
before you. " Strangers", says Michael O'Clery, " have taken 
the principal books of Erinn into strange countries and among 
unknown people". . You have heard of many new instances 
of this hard fate of our most ancient books since O'Clery 's 
time, and of the difficulties and annoyances which the humble 
followers of our great liistorians have met with in their re- 
searches, even in oiir own days, from the same cause. It is 
remarkable enough, that of the three books of the O'Clerys 
which Colgan spoke of, we do not possess, to-day, the original 
of any one in this country. 

" Address to the reader. 

" What true children are there that would not feel pity and 
distress, at seeing, or hearing of, their excellent mother and 
nurse being placed in a condition of indignity and contcinpt, 
of dishonour and contumely, without making a visit to her to 
bring her solace and happiness, and to give her assistance and 
relief? 

" Upon its having been observed by certain parties of the 
natural order of Saint Francis, that the holiness and righteous- 
ness of their mother and nurse — Erinn — had perceptibly dimi- 
nished, for not having the lives, wonders, and miracles of her 
saints disseminated within her, nor yet made known in other 



166 OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 

LKCT. VIII. kingdoms ; the counsel tliey adopted was, to send from tliem 
The succEs- ^^^^ Erinn a poor Friar Minor of their own, tlie Observantine 
sioN OF THE Order, Michael O'Cleiy (a chronicler by descent and education), 
^^^'^^' in order to collect and bring to one place all the books of 
authority in which he could discover anything that related to 
the sanctity of her saints, with their pedigrees and genealogies. 
" Upon the arrival of the aforesaid friar, he sought and 
searched through every part of Erinn in which he had heard 
there was a good or even a bad book [i.e. Gaedhlic MS.] ; so 
that he spent fovir full years in transcribing and procuring the 
matters that related to the saints of Erinn. However, though 
great his laboiu' and his hardships, he was able to find but a 
few out of the many of them, because strangers had carried off 
the principal books of Erinn into remote and unknown foreign 
countries and nations, so that they have left her but an insigni- 
ficant part of her books. 

"And, after what the aforesaid fiiar could find had been 
collected to one place, what he thought of and decided to do 
was this — viz., to bring together and assemble in one place, 
three persons whom he should consider most befitting and most 
suitable to finish the work which he had undertaken (with the 
consent of his superiors), for the purpose of examining all the 
collections that he had made. These were — Ferfema O'Mul- 
conry, from Bally Mulconry, in the County of Roscommon; 
CncoigcricM O'Clcry, from Bally Clery, in the County of 
Donegal; and Ciicoigcriche O'Duigenann from Baile-Coille- 
foghair [now Castlefbre], in the County of Leitrim. These 
persons, then, came to one place ; and, having come, the four 
of them decided to write the Roll of the monarchs of Erinn at 
the beginning of the book. They determined on this for two 
reasons. The first reason, because the pedigrees of the saints 
could not have been brought to their origin, -wathout having the 
pedigrees of the early kings placed before them, because it was 
from them they descended. The second reason, in order that, 
the duty and devotion of the noble people to their saints, their 
successors, and their chiu-ches, should be the greater, by their 
having a knowledge of their relationship and friendship with 
their blessed patrons, and of the descent of the saints from the 
stem from which each branch of them sprung, and the number 
of the saints of the same branch. 

" And there is, indeed, a considerable section of the saints 
of Erinn whose names may be found already entered in proper 
order in old genealogical books, without intermixtm'e of descent, 
the one with the other of them, as they branch off and separate 
from their original stems. 



OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS 167 

" Whoever tliou art, then, O reader! we leave it to thySelf lect. vm. 
to perceive that thou wilt find profit, sense, knowledo-e, and „, ^ 

1 • • 1 • 1 T-i 1 • • r ^1 ^ • The Slici:s- 

brevity m tins work. J^or the entire succession oi the kings, sionokths 
wdtli their pedigrees to their origin, will be found in it, in the 
order in which they obtained the sovereignty in succession ; 
together with the number of their years, the age of the world 
at the end of the reign of each king of them, and the age of our 
Lord Jesus from His Incarnation to the death of each, down to 
the death of Malachy the Great [in a.d. 1022]. And the 
saints are given according to their alpliabetical order, and their 
orio'in, as we have already said. Glory be unto God. 
" Your loving friends. 

Brother Michael O'Clery. 
Ferfeasa O'Mulconry. 
Cucoigcriche O'Clery. 
CucoigcrichS O'Diiigenan". 

The autograph of this valuable work is in the College of 
St. Isidore at Rome. There is, however, a copy of it in the 
library of Trmity College, Dublin, made by Maurice O'Gorman, 
about the year 1760 ; and another copy in the Royal Irish Aca- 
demy, made by Richard Tipper, in the year 1716 ; but neither 
of them contains the Book of Rights, spoken of above. The 
list of saints is confined to the saints mentioned in tlie poem 
before referred to, which begins " The Sacred History of the 
Saints of Inisfail" ; . and is different from the Maityrology of 
Donegall, comj)iled by the same pious and learned friar and his 
associates. 

The plan of this book, as you will have already seen, was, 
first, to give the succession of the Monarchs of Erinn, from 
the remotest times down to the death of Turlogh O'Conor, in 
A,D. 1156, under their respective years of the age of the world 
and of our Lord, according to the chronology of the Septua- 
gint. And, second, to carry back to, and connect with, the 
kings of this long line the generations of such of the primiti^^e 
and chief saints of Ireland as descended from them, down to 
the eighth century. 

This list of pedigrees of the saints extends only to the names of 
those found in the poem already mentioned, which begins, "The 
Sacred History of the Saints of Inis FdiF. Nor are these given 
promiscuously, but in classes ; such as all the saints that descend 
from Conall Gulhan, in one class ; all the saints that descend 
from Eoglian-i his brother, in another class ; all the saints that 
descend from CoUa Uais, in another class ; all the saints that 
descend from Oilioll Oluvn. in another class ; all the saints that 
descend from Catliair M6r, King of Leinster, in another class ; 



168 OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS^ 

LECT. vin, and so on, tliroughout tlie four provinces. Festival days, and 
^, „ a few historical notes, are added to some of them. 

1 llG SUCCES- • . • 

sioNOFTHE The poem from which this list of saints has been drawn is 
^'^'^^' ascribed, in the preface, to Aengus Ceile DS (or the Culdee) ; 
but this must be a mistake, as the composition of this poem is 
totally inferior in style, vigour, and purity of diction, to any 
other piece or fragment of the metrical compositions of that 
remarkable man that has come down to our time. It is remark- 
able, however, that although Michael O'Clery in the preface 
ascribes this poem to Aengus, yet, when we come to where it 
commences in the book, we find Eochaidh C Cleircein set 
down as the author of it. This writer flourished in a.d. 1000, 
or two hundred years later than Aengus. The poem certainly 
belongs to this period, and appears to have been founded on 
Aengus's prose tract on the pedigrees of the Irish saints ; and 
whether O'Clery fell into a mistake in ascribing it to Aengus, 
or whether Maiu'ice O'Gorman, the transcriber of the present 
copy, committed a blunder, we have here now no means of 
ascertaining. 

The book in Trinity College, DubHn, is a small octavo, of 
370 pages, in two volumes, and would make about 200 pages 
of O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters. 

The Book OP The Leahkav Gahhdla, or " Book of Invasions" (or " Con- 
i.NVAsioNs. quests"), — the third of those alluded to by Colgan, — is perhaps 
the most important of the three. It contains an ample record 
of those traditions of the successive early colonizations of Ire- 
land, which, in the most ancient times, appear to have been re- 
garded as true history, but which were not inserted at length in 
the Annals of Donegall. Upon the authenticity of these tradi- 
tions, or ancient records (if, indeed, they have come down to us 
in the form in which they really were believed two tliousand 
years ago), this is not the place to enter into any discussion. 
The object of the O'Clerys appears, however, to have been 
simply to collect and put in order the statements they found in 
the ancient books; and, as before, I shall let the Preface and 
Address of the author of the " Book of Invasions" explain that 
object in his own words. 

The following is the Dedication, prefixed to his Leabhar 
Gahhdla [see original in Appendix, No. LXXIIL] : — 

" I, the friar Michael O'Clery, have, by permission of my 
superiors, undertaken to purge of error, rectify, and transcribe 
this old Chronicle called Leahhar Gahhdla, that it may be to 
the glory of God, to the honour of the saints and the kingdom 



OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 169 

of Erinn, and to the welfare of my own soul. This under- lect. vm. 
taking I could not accomplish without the assistance of other 
chroniclers at some fixed abode. Upon communicating my in- ik^vasi"«s.°^ 
tention to thee, O ! Brien Roe Maguire, Lord of Enniskillen 
\_Inis Cethlionn'] , the first of the race of Odhar who received 
that title (which thou didst from his Majesty Charles, King of 
England, France, Scotland, and Ireland, on the 21st of January, 
in the year of our Lord Christ 1627, and the third year of the 
king's reign), thou didst take in hand to assist me to commence 
and conclude my undertaking, because thou didst deem it a pity 
to leave in oblivion and unencouraged a work which would exalt 
the honour of thine own ancestors, as well as of the saints, nobles, 
and history of Erinn in general. After having, then, received 
thine assistance, I myself, and the chroniclers whom, by the 
permission of the Church, I selected as assistants, viz., Fearfeasa 
O'Mulconry, Cucoigry O'Clcry, CucoigryO'Duigenan, and thine 
own chief chronicler, Gillapatrick OLuirdn, went, a fortnight 
before AlUiallow-tide, to the convent of Lisgoole, in the diocese 
of Clogher, in Fermanagh, and we remained there together until 
the following Christmas, by which time we had succeeded in 
completing our imdertaking, under thy assistance, Lord Maguire. 

" On the 22nd day of October, the corrections and comple- 
tion of this Book of Invasions were commenced, and on the 
22nd of December the transcription was completed in the con- 
vent of the friars aforesaid, in the sixth year of the reign of 
King Charles over England, France, Scotland, and Ireland, and 
in the year of our Lord 1631. 

" Thine affectionate friend. Brother Michael O'Clery". 

The Preface, or Address to the Reader, follows [see original 
in Appendix No. LXXIV.] : — 

" It appeared to certain of the people, and to me, the poor 
simple friar Michael O'Clery from Tirconnell, one of the native 
friars of the convent of Donegall, whose inheritance it is from 
my ancestors to be a chronicler, that it would be a charity for 
some one of the men of Erinn to purify, compile, and re-write 
the ancient honoured Chronicle which is called the Book of In- 
vasions, for these reasons. The first reason : My superiors hav- 
ing charged me to collect the Lives and Genealogies of the 
Saints of Erinn from all places in which I could find them 
throughout Erinn, after having done this, I selected associate 
chroniclers to adjust, purify, and wi-ite as much as I could find 
of tlris history of the saints, as well as the succession of the mo- 
narchs of Erinn, to whom the pedigrees of the saints are carried 
up, as may be seen in the book in which they are written. After 
that, it occuri'ed to me that the work of wliicli I have spoken 



170 OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 

LECT. VIII. was incomplete ■without correcting and writing tlie Book of In- 
^ „ vasions already mentioned, becaixsc it is tire orioinal fountain of 

TliG Book of *^ • • , o 

iNv.vsio.N3, the history of the saints and kings of Erinn, of her nobles and 
her people. 

" Another reason too : I was aware that men, learned in Latin 
and in English, had commenced to translate tliis Chronicle of 
Erinn from the GaedhHc into these languages that we have 
spoken of, and that they had not so profound a knowledge of the 
Gaedhlic as that they could put the hard and the soft parts of 
the said book together without ignorance or error ; and I felt 
that the translation which they would make must (for want of a 
knowledge of the Gaedhlic) become an eternal reproach and 
disgrace to all Erinn, and particularly so to her chroniclers. It 
was for these reasons that I iindertook, with the permission of 
my superiors, to purify and compile this book, and to collect for 
it, from other books, all that was wanting to it in history and in 
other learning, as much as we could, according to the space of 
time which we had to write it. 

" The chroniclers who were with us for this pui'pose, and for 
purifying the book, were, Fearfeasa O'Mulconry, from the 
County of Roscommon ; Cucoigry O'Clery, from Bally Clery, in 
the County of Doncgall ; Cucoigry O'Duigcnann, from Bally- 
Coilltifo(/Jiair, in the County of Leitrim ; and Giollapatrick 
OLuinin, from Ard Ui Liiinm, in the Coimty of Fermanagh. 

" It is right that you should know that it was ancient writers 
of remote times, and commemorating elders of great age, that 
preserved the history of Erinn in chronicles and books in suc- 
cession, from the period of the Deluge to the time of St. Patrick, 
who came in the fourth year of the reign of Laeghaire mac JVeill, 
monarch of Erinn, to plant religion and devotion in her ; when 
he blessed Erinn, men and boys, women and girls, and built 
numerous churches and towns throughout the land. 

" Saint Patrick, after all this, invited unto him the most 
illustrious authors of Erinn at that period, to jJreserve the chroni- 
cles, synchronisms, and genealogies of every colony that had 
taken possession of Erinn, down to that period. Those that 
he invited unto him, at that time, were Ros ; Duhhthach, the 
son of Ua Lughair; Ferghus, etc. These were the sustaining 
pillars of the History of Erinn, in the time of Saint Patrick. 

" St. Cohmi Cille, St. Finnen of Cluain lor ard [Clonard], 
and St. Comgall, of Beannclmir [Bangor, in the County Down], 
and the other saints of Erinn, induced the authors of their time 
to perpetuate and amj^lify the history and synchronisms exist- 
ing in their day. It was so done at their request. The authors 
of the period of these saints, as is manifest in the latter part of 



OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 171 

Eochaidh OTlinn's poem, were, Fiontain, tlie son of Bochna; lect. a^hi. 
Tiian^\\\Q son o^ C air ell, son oi Muiredhach Afuinderg, of the Dal ^^^ 
Fiatach; and Dalian Forgaill, the iUustrious author and saint. invasions. 

" The histories and S3aichronisins of Erinn were written and 
tested in the presence of these illustrious saints, as is manifest in 
the great books which were named after the saints themselves, 
and from their great churches ; for there was not an illustrious 
church in Erinn that had not a great book of history named 
from it, or from the saint who sanctified it. It would be. easy, 
too, to know, from the books which the saints wrote, and the 
songs of praise which they composed in GaedhHc, that they them- 
selves, and their churches, were the centres of the true know- 
ledge, and the archives and homes of the manuscripts of the 
authors of Erinn, in the olden times. 

" Sad evil ! short was the time imtil dispersion and decay 
overtook the churches of the saints, their relics, and their books ; 
for there is not to be found of them now, but a small remnant, 
that has not been carried away into distant countries and foreign 
nations ; carried away so that their fate is not known from that 
time hither. 

" The Books of Invasions which were present [_i.e., wdiich 
we had by us], at the writing of these Conquests of Erinn, 
were, the Book of Bally JMulconry, which Maurice, the son 
of Paidin O'Mulconry, transcribed out of the Leahhar-na- 
h- Uidhre, which was Aviitten at Cluainmicnois in Saint Ciaran's 
time ; the Book of Bally Clery, which was wi'itten in the time 
of Melsheachlainn 3I6r, the son of Domnall [king of Ireland, 
who began his reign in the year 979] ; the Book of the O'Dui- 
genanns, from Seanchua in Tirerill, and which is called the 
Book of Glenn-da-locha ; and the Book of the Ua Chonghail; 
together with other Books of Invasions and history, beside them. 

" The sum of the matters to be found in the following book 
is the taking of Erinn by [the Lady] Ceasair; the taking by 
Partholan; the taking by Nemedh; the taking by the Firbolgs ; 
the taking by the Tiiatha De Danann; the taking by the sons 
of Miledh [or INliletius] ; and their succession down to the mo- 
narch MelsheacJilairw, or Malachy the Great [who died in 1022] . 

" We have declined to speak of the Creator's first order, of 
the created things, the heavens, the angels, time, and the great 
uncreated mass out of which the four elements were formed, by 
the Divine will alone, in the six days work, \\ath all the animals 
that inhabit the laud, the water, and the air ; because it is to 
divines that it belongs to speak of these things, and because we 
have not deemed any of these things to be necessary to our work, 
with God's help. It is with men and time only that we deem 



172 OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 

LECT. VIII, it proper to begin oiir work'^^'^ tliat is to say, from tlie creation 
^, „ of the first man, Adam, whose descendants, our ancestors, we 

The Book OF ,1,^11 . ^ ,. ' ,. . ' . ' 

Invasions, shall lollow m the cUrect line, generation alter generation, to 
the conchision of this undertaking, with the end of the reign 
of Malachy the Great, son of Domnall, who was the last undis- 
puted king of Erinn within herself; and we have proceeded, 
in this work, upon the authority of the Gaedhlic chroniclers who 
have preceded us ; and we have adopted the rule of computation 
of tha ages, as they have been found in the well- attested faithful 
archives of the Church of Christ. For it is founded upon the 
authority and faithfulness of the Holy Scriptures ; and we shall 
show below how Hnk by link this rule of computation fixes the 
course of ages, in point and in perfection, from Adam to the 
birth of Christ down, and down again to the departiu'e of the 
sovereignty from our nobles, as it was willed by God. We 
give the computation of the Septuagint for the first four ages 
of the world, together wHth the computation which the intelli- 
gent and learned men who followed them applied to the ages 
from tlie creation of the world till the birth of Christ, which 
they divided into five parts — namely, from Adam to the Deluge, 
2,242 years; from the Deluge to Abraham, 942 years; from 
Abraham to David, 940 years ; from David to the Captivity, 485 
years ; and from the Bondage to the Birth of Christ, 590 years. 
" The reason that we have followed tlie authorities who 
follow the Septuagint is, because they add the fifth age to their 
ages, and, by so doing, they fill iip tlie period of 5,199 years, 
from the creation of Adam to the birth of Christ. Among the 
authors who follow the Septuagint, in the first four ages, are, 
Eusebius, who, in his chronicle, computes from the creation of 
Adam to the birth of Christ to be 5,199 years. Orosius, in 
the first chapter of his first book, says, that there are from 
Adam to Abraham 3,184 years; from Abraham to the birth of 
Christ, 2,015 years, which make up the same number. These 
were two illustrious and wise Christian historians. Saint 
Jerome said also, in his Epistle to Titus, that 6,000 years of 
the w^orlds age had not been then completed. Saint Augustine, 
in the tenth epistle of his twelfth book of the City of God, says, 
that the time from the creation of man to that time counts six 
thousand years. Both these are said to agree with the prece- 
ding authorities in the same enumeration of 5,199 years from 
Adam to the birth of Christ. Another authority for the same 
fact is the Roman Martyrology, which asserts that the full 

(ii) The custom of the compilers of the older Books of Invasions was always 
to commence with tlie Mosaic account of the creation. It is to this that 
O'Clery alludes, in explaining his departure from this ancient usage of his 
profession. 



OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 173 

•amount of tlie ages from tlie creation of the world to the bu-th lect. vin. 
of Christ was 5,199 years". ITZ 

' J The Book of 

Ikvasio.ns. 

The Preface ends here, and is followed by the certificates of 
the assistant compilers of the work, with the approbations, 
respectively, of Father Francis Mac Craith, Guardian of the 
Convent of Lisgoole, where the work was compiled (dated the 
22nd day of December, 1631), and of Carbry Mac ^gan, of 
Bally Mac ^gan, in the County of Tipperary (the 31st of 
August, 1631). 

The original of this valuable book is now in the collection of 
Lord Ashburnham, and there is a good copy of it in Trinity 
College Library [H. 1. 12.]. There is a fine paper copy of it 
in the Royal Irish Academy, made by Cucoigry O'Clery, evi- 
dently for himself, but it wants the "whole prefatory matter 
[No. 33. 4.]. This book is a small quarto of 245 pages, closely 
and beautifully written, and equal to about 400 pages of O'Dono- 
vau's Annals of the Four IMasters. 

Of the ancient " Books of Invasions", mentioned by O'Clery 
as having been used in the compilation of this book, we know 
of none at present existing but L,eahhar-7ia-h-Uidhre, which 
contains now but a small fragment of the Book of Invasions. 
There are, however, copies of the tract preserved in the Books 
of Leinster and Lecain, and a slightly imperfect copy in the 
Book of Ballymote. ' 

The other Irish works compiled or transcribed by Brother tj,^ oj,,gp 
Michael O'Clery, and of the existence of wliich we are aware, }y.°'"^*?^ 
are the following, now in the Burgundian Library at Brussels : O'Ciery. 

1. A volume of Lives of Irish Saints, compiled and written 
bj him in the year 1628. 

2. Another large vohune of the Lives of the Irish Saints, 
compiled and written in the year 1629. 

3. A volume of Poems on the O'Donnells of Donegall. [These 
three books I have never seen.]*^*-^ 

4. A volume containing many ancient and rare Irish Histo- 
rical Poems, together with the unportant Tract known as the 
Wars with the Danes. This volume was borrowed (with the Hbe- 
ral sanction of the Belgian Government), a few years ago, by the 
Rev. Dr. Todd, S.F.T.C.D., for whom I made a perfect copy of it. 

5. The Skeleton Martyrology of Donegall [which I have 
seen]. 

(42) Since the delivery of this lecture, the Brehon Law Commissioners borrowed 
these three books, in the summer of 185G ; and I have read, and had several 
extracts made from them. 



174 OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 

LECT. Yiii. 6. The Perfect Martjrology of Donegall, full of important 

The other ^^^tes aiicl aclditious. This volume was also borrowed by Dr. 

Works of Todd, and of this too I made for him a perfect copy. 

b'ciery. 7. A large volume containing, firstly, a collection of very cu- 

rious and important ancient forms of prayer, and several religious 
poems. It contains also a good copy of the Felive, or Festology 
of Aengus Ceile De (or the Culdee), as well as copies of the 
Martyrologies of Tamhlacht [Tallaght] and of Marianus Gorman. 
With the exception of the Festology or Martyrology of Aengus, 
no part of the contents of this most important book was to be 
found in Ireland, until this also was obtained for a short time 
from the Belgian Government by the same distinguished gentle- 
man, and I have made a copy of it for him. 

And here, while on the one hand I feel bound to express the 
strong and grateful sense every Irish archseologist and historian 
must feel of the enlightened liberality thus exhibited by the 
Belgian Government (affording so very marked a contrast to 
the conduct of the English pubhc authorities in such cases, as 
well as to that of English private owners of manuscript works 
of this kind), let me not omit to remark upon the example 
which Dr. Todd's conduct suggests to all Irishmen, and parti- 
cularly to those who are Catholics. For in this instance, as in- 
deed m others too in which Dr. Todd was concerned, you have 
an example of a Protestant gentleman, a clergyman of the Pro- 
testant Church, and a Fellow of the Protestant University of 
Dublin, casting away from him all the unworthy prejudices of 
creed, caste, and position, with which, unfortunately, too many 
of his class are filled to overflowing, and, like a true scholar and 
a man of enlarged mind and understanding, endeavouring to 
recover for his native country as much of her long-lost and 
widely dispersed ancient Hterary remains as he can ; and this 
too, I may add, at an exj)ense of time and money which few, if 
any, in these very utiHtarian times, are found disposed to incur. 
To my excellent friend, Mr. Lam'ence Waldi'on, IM.P., of 
Ballybrack, in the County of Dublin, is dvie the first discovery 
of the important collection of Irish MSS. at Brussels, about the 
year 1844. He was the first that examined (at my request) the 
Burgundian Library, and he brought me home tracings and de- 
scriptions of great accuracy and of deep interest. These tracings 
I placed in the hands of Dr. Todd, with a request that he would 
take an opportunity to make a more minute examination of the 
MSS. Mr. Samuel Bindon, however, having heard of their 
existence, and ha^^dng occasion to spend some time at Brussels 
in the year 1846, made an examination of them, and afterwards 
compiled a short catalogue of them, which he published on his 



OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 175 

return liome, and which was read by the Rev. Dr. Todd before lect. y iit. 
a meethig of the Royal Irish Academy on the 10th of May, 1847. ^^^j^^ 

Dr. Todd himself, and the Rev. Dr. Graves, F.T.C.D., both o-cieryMss. 
visited Brussels shortly afterwards, and each of them brought "^ ^ ^^^^^ 
home yet more ample and accurate reports of those newly-dis- 
covered literary treasm-es. Still, however, no competent person 
has had time enough to make a detailed analysis of the collec- 
tion. May I hope that it is reserved for the Catholic University 
to accomplish an object so desirable and so pecuUarly congenial 
to a yomig institution which aims to be a truly national one ? 

To return from this digression. Besides the above important of Michael 
compilations of the learned and tridy patriotic friar Michael ';!Ciery;s 
O'Clery, he compned m the Insh college m Louvain, and pub- 
lished in that city in the year 1643, a glossary of ancient and 
almost obsolete Irish words of great interest and value, not only 
at that period, but even still. And, as no description of mine 
could be as accurate or satisfactory as that of the author himself, 
I shall, as before, give you a literal translation of the title page, 
and the valuable prefatory address to the Bishop of Elphinn, 
who belonged himself, it appears, to the same Franciscan Order. 
The work is entitled: 

" A new Vocabulary or Glossary, in wliich are explained some 
part of the difficult words of the Gaedhlic, written in alphabe- 
tical order, by the poor rude friar Michael O'Clery, of the Order 
of Saint Francis, in the College of the Irish friars at Louvain, 
and printed by authority in the year 1643". [See original in 
Appendix No. LXXV.j 

The Dedication is as follows [see same App.] : — 

" To my houovired lord and friend, Baothglialach [Latinized 
Boetius] Mac -^gan, Bishop oi Ailjinn [Elphinn]. 

" Here is presented to you, my lord, a small gleaning of the 
hard words of our native tongue, collected out of many of the 
ancient books of our country, and explained according to the 
understanding and glosses of the chief authors of our country 
ill the latter times, to whom the explanation of the ancient 
Gaedhilg peculiarly belonged. 

" I know not in our country many to whom this gleaning 
should be first offered before yourself And it is not alone be- 
cause that our [conventual] habit is the same (areason which would 
otlieri;\'ise be sufficient to point our attention to you above all 
others), that has moved us to make you the patron of this book, but 
along with that, and especially because of yoiu' own excellence, 
and the hereditary attachment of youi- family to this profession. 
And fiu'ther that a man of your name and surname, Baothglialach 



176 



OF THK WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 



LECT. VIII 

Of Michael 
O'Clury's 

Glossaries. 



. RnadJi [Boetius the Red] Mac JE^gon, is one of tlie chief autho- 
rities whom we follow in the explanation of the words which 
are treated of in this book. 

" We have not, however, desired more than to give a little 
knowledge to those who are not well versed in their mother 
tongue, and to excite the more learned to supply such another 
work as this, but on a better and larger scale". 

After this Dedication follows the Preface, or Address to the 
reader [Appendix, No. LXXVI.] : — 

" Let the reader who desires to read this little work, know 
four things : the first is, that we have not set down any word 
of explanation or gloss of the hard words of om* mother tongue, 
but the words which we foinid with other persons, as explained 
by the most competent and learned masters in the knowledge 
of the difficult words of the Gaedlilic in our own days. Among 
these, more particularly, were Boetius Roe [Ruadli] Mac ^Egan, 
Torna O'Mulconry, Lugliaidh OClery^ and Maelseachlainn 'the 
moody' O'Mulconry. And though each of these was an accom- 
plished adept, it is Boetius Roe that we have followed the most, 
because it was from him we ourselves received, and we have 
found written with others the explanations of the words of 
which we treat. And, besides, because he was an ilhistrious 
and accomplished scholar in tliis [the antiquarian] profession, 
as is manifest in the character which the other scholar before 
mentioned, Lugliaidh O'Clery, gave of him after his death, as 
may be found in these verses : — 

" Athairne, the father of learning, 

Dalian Forgaill^ the prime scholar, 

To compare with him in intelligence would be unjust. 

Nor NeidS, the j)i"ofound in just laws. 

" Obscure history, the laws of the ancients. 

The occult language of the poets ; 

He, in a word, to our knowledge, 

Had the power to explain and analyze, etc. 

" We have known able professors of this science, and even m 
the latter times, such as the late John O'Mulconry \o£ Av'dchoill, 
ill the County of Clare] , the chief teacher in history of those we 
have already named, and indeed of all the men of Erinn Hke- 
wise in his own time ; and Flann, the son of Cairbrey Mac 
JEgan [of Lower Ormond in Tipperary] , who still lives ; and 
many more that we do not enumerate. But because we do not 
happen to have at this side of the sea, where we are in exile, 



OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR WASTERS. 177 

the ancient books which they glossed, except a few, we could lect. vm. 
not follow their explanation but to a small extent. ofMiohaei 

" In the second place, be it known to you, O reader ! that [^'^^""'y? ■ 

, Trr- 1 • 1 1 I'll- 1 Glos^iiiies 

the diincult ancient books, to which the ancient authors put 
glosses, and from wliicli we have taken the following words, 
with the farther explanation of the parties mentioned above, 
who taught in these latter times, were : the Amlira, [or Elegy] on 
the death of Saint Colum Cille ; the Agallamh, or Dialogue of 
the two Sages ; the Felire, or Festology of the Saints ; the Mar • 
tyrology of Marianus O'Gorman; the Liber Hymnorum, or 
Book of Hymns ; the Glossary of the (Tripartite) Life of Saint 
Patrick ; an ancient Scripture on vellum ; and a certain old paper 
book, in which many hard words were found, with their expla- 
nations; the glossary called jFbrz^s iN9ca27 (or, 'The True Know- 
ledge of Words') ; and the other glossary, called DeirbsJdur don 
Eagna an Eigse (or, ' Poetry is the Sister of Wisdom'). And, 
for the greater part of the book from that out, we received the 
explanation from the before-mentioned Boetius. 

" Be it known to the reader, thirdly, that we have only de- 
sii'ed, when proposing to write this little work, to give but a 
Httle hght to the young and the ignorant, and to stimulate and 
excite the professors and men of knowledge to produce a work 
similar to this, but on a better and larger scale. And the reason 
why we have not followed at length many of the various mean- 
ings which poets and professors give to many of these words, is, 
because that it is to the professors themselves it more particu- 
larly belongs, and the people in general are not in as great need 
of it, as they are in need of assistance to read and miderstand 
the ancient books. 

" Fourthly. Be it known to the young people, and to the 
ignorant, who desire to read the old books (which is not 
difficult to be learned of our country), that they [the old 
writers] seldom care to write ' the slender with the broad, and 
the broad with the slender' [as required by an ancient ortho- 
grapliical rule] ; and that they very rarely put the aspirate /* 
upon the consonants, as in the cases of h, c, d^ f, etc., and also 
that they seldom put the long dash [or accent] over the words 
[or vowels]. Some of the consonants, too, are often written the 
one for the other, such as c for g, and t for d. The following 
are a few specimens of words by which this will be understood : 
clog is the same as cloc; agad is the same as agat; heag is the 
same as heac; codlad is the same as cotlad; ard is the same as 
art^ etc. Very often, too, ae is put for ao; ai for aoi; and oi 
for aoi. As an example of this : aedh is often written for aodh; 
and cael is the same as caoU and haoi and hoi are the same as 

12 



178 OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 

LECT. VIII. hai. E is often written for a in the old books, sucli as die, 
whicli is the same as c/za, and cia the same as cie\ 

This vahiable preface closes with a fcAv examples of con- 
tractions, which are intelligible only to the eye [see Appendix, 
No. LXXVIL] 

These are all the works I know of by Michael O'Clery. 



Of the writings of Conaire O'Clery, brother of Fathers Ber- 

of the^ nardine and Michael, and who transcribed the chief part of the 

conairi&nd. fair copy of the Annals of the Fonr Masters now in the Royal 

o'Ctoy.^ Irish Academy, I have not been so fortunate as to discover any 

trace beyond his part in that work. 

In the beautiful handwriting of Cucoigcriche (Cucoigry or 
Peregrine) O'Clery, we have, besides his part of the Annals of 
the Four Masters, a few specimens preserved in the library of 
the Royal Irish Academy. We have : — 

1. A copy (evidently made for his own use) of the Leabhar 
Gabhdla, or Book of Conquests, already mentioned. 

2. A copy of the topographical poems of O'Dugan and 
OHuidlirin, together with some other ancient historical poems. 

3. A book of the genealogies and pedigrees of the great Irish 
races, as also of the Geraldines, Butlers, etc. 

In the volume in which these pieces are preserved, the last 
article is the Last Will and Testament of Cucoigry O'Clery 
himself, written in Gaedhlic, in his usual beautiful hand, on a 
small quarto page of paper, and dated at Cuirr-na-Heillte, in 
the county of Mayo, the 8th of February, 16(M, which must 
have been, I should think, some five or six years before his death. 

The will begins in the usual way: "In the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" ; and after or- 
dering that his body should be bm-ied in the Monastery of 
Buirgheis Umhaill, or in whatever other consecrated church his 
friends might choose, he proceeds to bequeath the property 
most dear to him of all that he had acquired in this world, 
namely, his books, to his two sons, Dermait and John, to be 
used by them as their necessities should require. And he di- 
rected that the books should be equally at the service of the 
children of his brother Cairbre, with a charge that his sons and 
liis nephews should instruct their childi'en in the acquaintance 
and use of these books. [See the original of this will in the 
Appendix, No. LXXVIII.] 

He appears to have had very little property besides to leave 
his sons, and they do not seem to have much increased it. The 
last recognized member of his descendants, the late John O'Clery, 
died quite a young man in Dublin about four years ago. This 



OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 179 

John was the son of John O'Clery, who was many years gate- lect. vni. 
clerk at the gas works in Great Brunswick Street in this city. ^^ ^^^ 
To him the books that we have been speaking of did actually writings of 
come down by la-wfvd descent ; and, having brought them to o'cTery.^ 
DubHn about the year 1817, they subsequently passed from 
his hands into those of the late Edward O'Reilly, at the sale of 
whose books they Avere fortimately purchased for the Library 
of the Royal Irish Academy by Dr. Petrie. 

With his other literary accomplishments, hereditary and ac- 
quired, Cucoigry O'Clery appears to have been no mean adept 
in the poetic art of his country. I have in my own possession 
two poems written by him a short time before his death for some 
members of the great house of his ancient patrons, the O'Domiells 
of Donegall. [See original in Appendix No. LXXIX.] 

The first of these is a poem of forty quatrains, addressed to 
Torloch, the son of Cathbharj' [pron: " Caftar"] O'Donnell. It 
is a philosophical and reHgious address on the vanities and the 
fleeting dignities and interests of the world. He condoles with 
O'Donnell upon the fallen fortmies of his house, and the dispersion 
of his family and people. He compliments him as having, after 
the plantation of Ulster, collected about him a body of his own 
people, and having visited at their head (during the Cromwellian 
wars) all parts of Ireland, gaining honour and emolument with 
them wherever they went, during the space of foiu'teen years ; 
and that then only he permitted them, when all hope of success 
was past, to submit themselves to the English law, and so dis- 
banded them at Port-Erne, on the borders of their own ancient 
territory. He exhorts the figed chieftain and warrior, that as he 
had been granted such a long life (being, at tliis time, over 
seventy years of age), he should now dismiss from his mind 
ambitious aspirations, and should rather turn it to devotion and 
to penance for his sins. He says, that he himself will be the 
first of the two to be called before the Heavenly throne, and 
that this is his last literary effort and gift bestowed upon him at 
the close of his life. 

The second poem is a poem of thirty-four quatrains, in 
answer to one addressed to him by Calbhacli Ruadli [Roe] 
O'Donnell. O'Donnell's poem appears to have contained a 
request to O'Clery to take up the history and genealogies of 
the Tirconnell race, as he was bound to do, he being the last 
of their hereditary Seanchaidhe. O'Donnell comj^lains, too, of 
his having been driven by the foreigners out of Mayo, where 
his family had taken refuge, and forced to seek for a new home 
in the neighbourhood of Cncachain, in the County Roscommon. 
In O'Clery's poem the poet recommends his voung friend 



180 OF THE WORKS OF THE FOUR MASTERS. 

LECT. vrri. O'Donnell to the attention of his o^vn learned tutors, the O'Mul- 
Of tfjg conrjs and the O'Higginses of the county Roscommon, who 
o'cierys. will, he assurcs him, extend to him the literary homage due to 
his own worth and to the well earned fame of his family. 

Whatever may be the poetical value of these pieces of Cuco- 
gry O'Clery, they certainly are not wanting in a clear apprecia- 
tion of the shifting of the scenes in this imcertain world, and 
the firmest religious conviction of the interference of an All- 
guiding hand in their direction. As specimens of the writing 
of one of our last Hterary scholars, they cannot fail to be in- 
teresting. 

I have now closed what I had prepared to say to you about the 
O'Clerys. If any apology were necessary for my having dwelt 
so long upon their labours and themselves, remember that I 
have done so on the ground of theirs being the last and greatest 
school of Irish historians, and not on account of the pecuhar 
authority which, of itself, every record and assertion of such 
careful and critical scholars has ever since been held to bear, 
and must ever continue to bear with it. 



LECTURE IX. 

CDelivered July 10, 1956.] 

Of the chief existing Ancient Books. The Leabhar na h- Uidhre. The " Book 
of Leinster". The " Book of Ballymote". The MS. commonly called 
the Leabhar Sreac. The "Yellow Book oi Lecain". The "Book of LecaM\ 
Of the other Books and ancient MSS. in the Libraries of Trinity College, 
DubUn ; the Royal Irish Academy ; and elsewhere. The " Book of Lis- 
more". The MSS. called the Brehon Law MSS. 

We have now disposed of tlie chief national Annals, and we 
have noticed the other historical works of the last and greatest 
of the annahsts. But, thovigh in some respects, undoubtedly, 
the most important, the compositions we have been considering 
form, after all, but a small portion of the immense mass of mate- 
rials which exist in Irish manuscripts for the elucidation of our 
history. 

In the course of the present series of Lectures, it will be my 
duty to describe to you, — not indeed in the same detail with 
which I have thought it right to deal with the annalists, but so 
as to make you understand, generally at least, their nature, 
value, and extent, — the vast collections of Historic Tracts 
which our gTeat MS. hbraries fortunately possess ; and I 
shall also have to bring under your notice some of the more 
important of those pieces which have come down to us in the 
form of systematic liistorical compositions, such as the "Wars of 
the Danes", the "Boromean Tribute", etc. 

But, before I do this, I desire to complete, in the first place, 
that part of my design, in this preparatory course, which con- 
sists of laying before you, at one view, the larger features of ova 
existing stock of materials for the elucidation of early Irish 
history. Accordingly, it is my intention, before passing to the 
consideration of the interesting pieces which record for us the 
special details of local and personal history, to present to you 
the outlines of the nature and contents of the great books them- 
selves in wlaich not only all these Tracts are preserved, but also the 
immense number of Genealogies in which the names and tribes 
of our people are recorded from the earhest ages ; books, many 
of wliich are themselves the sources from which the O'Clerys, 
and otlier annalists before them, drew all their knowledge. 

Fortunately, of these great books we have, as in the first 



182 OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 

i.ECT. IX. Lecture yovi have been sliortly informed, many still remaining 
Of the old *^ ^'^' ^^ perfect preservation. And there is not one of you to 
Mss. still whom the originals themselves, notwithstanding the wear and 
xis mg. ^^^^ ^|. ggj^^-ypjgg^ may not easily become intelligible — so beau- 
tifully was the scribe's work performed in early days in Ireland 
— whenever you shall be disposed to devote but half the time 
to the study of the noble old language of Erinn, which you 
devote to that of the great classic tongues of other ancient 
people. A visit to the Library of the Royal Irish Academy, 
or of Trinity College, will, however, little serve to make you 
aware of the vast extent of the treasures which lie in the dark- 
written musty-looking old books you are shown there as curi- 
osities, unless you shall provide yourselves with the key which 
some acquaintance with their characters and language alone will 
afford. In the short account, therefore, which I am about to 
lay before you, of the great vellum books and MSS. in Dublin, 
I shall add, in every case, some approximate calculation of their 
length, by reference to the niunber of pages each book would 
fill, if printed (the Irish text alone) in large quarto volumes, 
such as those of O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters. And 
when you have heard of what matter the contents of these books 
consist, and reflect upon the length to which, if printed in full, 
they would extend, I think you will agree with me that all that 
I have said upon the value of our MS. treasures will, on better ^ 
acquaintance with them, be found to fall far short of the reality. 



The Lea- The first of thcsc ancient books that merits notice, because it 

h"lTdhee. '^^ ^^^^ oldest, is that which is known by the name of Leabhab 
NA H-UiDHRE, or the Book of the Dun Cow, to which I have 
already shortly alluded in a former lecture. Of this book, so 
often referred to in Michael O'Clery's Prefaces, we have now, un- 
fortunately, but a fragment remaining — afragment which consists, 
however, of 138 folio pages, and is written on very old vellum. 

The name and period of writing the book of which it is a 
fragment, might, perhaps, be now lost for ever, if the curious 
history of the book itself had not led to, and in some degree in- 
deed necessitated, their preservation. All that we know about 
it is found in two entries, written at different periods, in a blank 
part of the second column of the first page of folio 35. Of the 
first of these curious entries, the following is a literal translation 
[See original in Appendix, No. LXXX.] : — 

" Pray for Maelnmir^, the son of Ceilechair, that is, the son of 
the son of Conn-na-m-Bocht, who wrote and collected this book 
from various books. Pray for Donnell, the son of Murtoch, son 
of Donnell, son of Tadhg [orTeig], son of Brian, son of An- 



OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 183 

dreas, son of Brian Luighneacli^ son of Turloch Mor [or the lect. ix 
Great] O'Conor. It was this Donnell that directed the renewal ^ 
of the name of the person who wrote this beautiful book, by bhIe na 
Sigraidh CyCuirnin; and is it not as well for us to leave cm- ^-uidhke. 
blessing with the o^Niier of this book, as to send it to him by the 
mouth of any other person ? And it is a week from this day to 
Easter Saturday, and a week from yesterday to the Friday of 
the Crucifixion; and [there will be] two Golden Fridays on 
that Friday, that is, the Friday of the festival of the Blessed 
Virgin Mary and the Friday of the Crucifixion, and this is 
greatly wondered at by some learned persons". 

The following is the translation of the second entry, — same 
page and column [see same App.] : — 

" A prayer here for Aedh Ruadh [Hugh the Red-haired], the 
son of Niall Garhh O'Donnell, who forcibly recovered this 
book from the people of Connacht, and the Leahhar Gearr [or 
Short Book] along with it, after they had been away from us 
from the time of Catlial 6g O'Conor to the time of Rory son of 
Brian [O'Conor] ; and ten lords ruled over Carbury [or Sligo] 
between them. And it was in the time of Conor, the son of 
Hugh O'Donnell, that they were taken to the west, and this is 
the way in which they were so taken: The Short Book, in 
ransom for O'Doherty, and Leabhar na h- Uidhre [that is, the 
present book] in ransom of the son of O'Donnell's chief family 
liistorian, who was captured by Cathal, and carried away as a 
pledge ; and thus they [the books] were away from the Cenel 
Conaill [or O'Dounells] from the time of Conor [O'Donnell] to 
the [present] time of Hugh"', 

There is some mistake in this last memorandum. Conor, the 
son of Hugh O'Donnell, in whose time the books are stated here 
to have been carried into Connaught, was slain by his brother 
Niall in the year 1342, according to the Annals of the Four 
Masters; and the capture of John O'Doherty by Cathal 6g 
O'Conor, at the battle of Ballyshannon, took place in the year 
1351). The proper reading would, therefore, seem to be, that 
Leahhar na h- Uidhre passed into Connacht first, before Conor 
O'Donnell's death in 1342, and that the Leabhar Gearr, or 
Short Book, was given in ransom for O'Doherty in 1359 ; Conor 
O'Donnell's reign covering both periods, as the writer does not 
seem to recognize the reign of the fratricide Niall. 

The following passage from the Annals of the Four Masters 
will make this last entry more intelligible, and show that it was 
made in Donegall in the year 1470 [see original in Appendix, 
No. LXXXL] :— 

" A.D. 1470. The Castle of Sligo was taken, after a long 



H-UlL>HKli. 



184 OK THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 

i>ECT. IX. siege, by O'Donnell, tliat is, Hngli tlie Red-haired, from Don- 
^, . nell, the son of Eoghan O'Conor. On tliis occasion he obtained 

Tilt! JjEA- ^ 

BUAu NA all that he demanded by way of reparation, besides receiving 
tokens of submission and tribute from Lower Connacht. It was 
on this occasion too that he recovered the book called Leabhar 
Gearr [or the Short Book], and another, Leahhar na h-Uidhre, 
as well as the chairs of Donnell og [O'Donnell], which had been 
carried thither in the time of John, the son of Conor, son of 
Hugh, son of Donnell 6g O'Donnell". 

In reference to the first entry, it must have been made while 
the book was in Connacht, and by Sigraidh O'Cuirmn, who 
was, according to the Annals of the Four Masters, a learned 
poet of Briefney, and died in the year 1347 ; and he must have 
made the entry in the year 1345, as that was the only year at 
this particular period in which Good Friday happened to fall 
on the festival of the Annunciation, or the 25th of March. This 
fact is further borne out by an entry in the Annals of the Four 
Masters, which records that Conor O'Donnell, chief of Tircon- 
nell, died in the year 1342, after a reign of nine years; and we 
have seen from the entry, that it was in his time that this book 
must have been carried into Connacht. According to the same 
Annals, Donnell, the son of Murtach O'Conor, died in the 
year 1437, by whose direction OCuirnin renewed the name of 
the original writer, — which, even at this early period, seems to 
have disappeared, several leaves of the book, and amongst others 
that which contained this entry, having even then been lost. 

Of the original compiler and writer of the Leabhar na 
li-UidhrS, I have been able to learn nothing more than the fol- 
lowing brief and melancholy notice of his death in the Annals 
of the Four Masters, at the year 1106 [see original in Appendix, 
No. LXXXII.] :— 

" Maelmuiri, son of the son of Conn na m-BocJd, was killed 
in the middle of the great stone church of Cluainmacnois, by a 
party of robbers". 

A memorandum, in the original hand, at the top of foHo 45, 
clearly identifies the writer of the book with the person whose 
death is recorded in the passage jvist quoted from the Annals ; 
it is partly in Latin and partly in GaedliHc, as follows : — 

" This is a trial of his pen here, by Afaelmuh'i, son of the 
son of Conn" [see original in Appendix, No. LXXXIIL] 

This Conn na m-Bocht, or " Conn of the Poor", as he was 
called from his devotion to their relief and care, was a lay reli- 
gious of Clonmacnois, and the father and founder of a distin- 
guished family of scholars, lay and ecclesiastical. He appears 
to liave been the founder and superior of a conununity of poor 



OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 185 

lay monks, of the Ceile De (or "Culdce") order, in connexion lect. ix. 
with that o-reat estabhshmcnt : and he died in the year 1059. _, . 

ri^l 1^ 1 -uro 1 1 r ■ ^ TheLE\- 

Ine contents oi the Mb., as they stand now, are ol a mixed bhakna 
character, liistorical and romantic, andrelate to the ante-Christian, "' 
as well as the Christian period. The book begins with a fragment 
of the Book of Genesis, part of which was always prefixed to 
the Book of Invasions (or ancient Colonizations) of Erinn, for 
genealogical purposes ; (and there is good reason to believe, 
that a full tract on this subject was contained in the book so 
late as the year 1631, as Father Michael O'Clery quotes it in 
his new compilation of the Book of Invasions made in that 
year for Brian MacGuire). 

This is followed by a fragment of the history of the Britons, 
by Nennius, translated into Gaedhlic by Gilla CaomhaiJi, the 
poet and chronologist, who died a.d. 1072. (This tract was 
published by the Irish Archeeological Society in 1848.) 

The next important piece is the very ancient elegy, written 
by the ^oai Dalian Forgaill, on the death of Saint Colum Cille, 
in the year 592. It is remarkable that even at the early period 
of the compilation of the Leabhar na h- Uidhre, this celebrated 
poem should have required a gloss to make it intelligible. The 
gloss, which is as visual interhned, is not very copious, but it is 
most important, both in a philological and historical point of 
view, because of the many more ancient compositions quoted in 
it for the explanation of words ; which comjoositions, therefore, 
must then have been still in existence. 

The elegy is followed by fragments of the ancient historic 
tale of the Mesca Uladk, [or Inebriety of the Ultonians,] who, 
in a fit of excitement, after a great feast at the royal palace of 
Emania, made a sudden and furiovis march into Munster, where 
they burned the palace of Teamhair Luachra, in Kerry, then 
the residence of Curoi Mac Daire, king of West Munster. 
This tract abounds in curious notices of topography, as well as 
in allusions to and descriptions of social habits and manners. 

Next come fragments of Tain Bo Dartadha, and the Tain 
BoFlidais ; both Cattle Spoils, arising out of the celebrated Cattle 
Spoil of Cuailgne. Next comes the story of the wanderings of 
Maelduin's ship in the Atlantic, for three years and seven 
months, in the eighth century. These are followed by imper- 
fect copies of: the Tain Bo Chiiailgne, or great cattle spoil of 
Cuailgne; the Briiighean Da Dearga, and death of the monarch 
Conaire Mur; a history of the great pagan cemeteries of 
Erinn, and of the various old books from which this and other 
pieces were compiled ; poems by Flann of Monasterboice and 
others; together with various other pieces of history and his- 



186 OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 

LEci". IX. toric romance, cliiefly referring to the ante-Cliristian period, and 
especially tliat of the Tuatlia De Danann. This most vahiable 
MS. belongs to the Royal Irish Academy. If printed at length, 
the text of it would make about 500 pages of the Annals of the 
Four Masters. 

The Book of The iioxt anciciit book which I shall treat of is that at 
LEiNSTiiR. pi-esent known under the name of the Book of Leinster. 
It can be shown, from various internal evidences, that this 
volume was either compiled or transcribed in the first half of 
the twelfth century, by Finn Mac Gorman, Bishop of Kildare, 
who died in the year 1160; and that it was compiled by order 
of Aodh Mac Crimhthamn, the tutor of the notorious Dermod 
Mac Murroch — that king of Leinster who first invited Earl 
Strongbow and the Anglo-Normans into Ireland, in the year 
1169. The book was evidently compiled for Dermod, under 
the superintendence of his tutor, by Mac Gorman, who had prob- 
ably been a fellow-pupil of the king. In support of this asser- 
tion, I need only transcribe the following entry, which occurs, 
in the original hand, at the end of folio 202, page b. of the book 
[see original in Appendix, No. LXXXIV.] : — 

" Benediction and health from Finn, the Bishop of Kildare, 
to Aedh [Hugh] Mac Crimhthainn, the tutor of the chief king of 
Leth Mogha Nuaclat [or of Leinster and Munster], successor of 
Colum, the son of CrimJuhann, and chief historian of Leinster 
in wisdom, intelligence, and the cultivation of books, know- 
ledge, and learning. And I write the conclusion of this little 
tale for thee, O acute A edh I [Hugh] thou possessor of the spark- 
ling intellect. May it be long before we are without thee. It is 
my desire that thou shouldst be always with us. Let Mac 
Lonan's book of poems be given to me, that I may understand 
the sense of the poems that are in it ; and farewell in Christ" ; 
etc. 

This note must be received as sufficient evidence to bring the 
date of this valuable manuscript within the period of a man's 
life, whose death, as a CathoHc bishop, happened in the year 
1160, and who was, I believe, consecrated to the ancient see of 
Kildare in the year 1148, long before which period, of coiu'se, 
he must have been employed to write out this book. Of the 
Aedh Mac Crvmhthainn for whom he wrote it, I have not been 
able to ascertain anything more than what appears above ; but 
he must have flourished early in the twelfth century to be the 
tutor of Dermod Mac Murroch, who, in concert with O'Brien, 
had led the men of Leinster against the Danes of Waterford, 
so far back as the year 1137. 



OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS- 187 

That this book belonged either to Derinod Mac Murroch lect. ix . 
himself, or to some person who had him warmlj at heart, will ^i r • . 
appear plainly from the following memorandum, which is Leinsteb. 
wntten in a strange bnt ancient hand, in the top margin of 
folio 200, page a. [see original in Appendix, No. LXXXV.] : — 

" O Virgin Mary ! it is a great deed that has been done in 
Eiinn this day, the kalends of August — viz., Dermod, the son 
of Donnoch Mac Murroch, king of Leinster, and of the Danes 
[of Dublin], to have been banished over the sea eastwards by 
the men of Erinn. Uch, uch, O Lord ! what shall I do?" 

The book consists, at present, of over four hundred pages of 
large folio vellum ; but there are many leaves of the old pagin- 
ation missing. 

To give anything like a satisfactory analysis of this book, 
would take at least one whole lecture. I cannot, therefore, 
within my present limited space do more than glance at its 
general character, and point, by name only, to a few of the 
many important pieces preserved in it. 

It begins as usual with a Book of Invasions of Erinn, but 
without the Book of Genesis ; after which the succession of the 
monarchs to the year 1169 ; and the su^ccession and obituary of 
the provincial and other minor kings, etc. Then follow speci- 
mens of ancient versification, — poem.s on Tara, and an ancient 
plan and explanation of the Teach Midhchuarta, or Banqueting 
Hall of that ancient royal city. (These poems and plan have 
been published by Dr. Petrie, in his paper on the history of 
Tara, printed in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy 
for 1839, vol. xviii.) After these come poems on the wars of the 
Leinstermen, the Ulstermen, and the Mimstermen, in great 
numbers, many of them of the highest historic interest and 
value ; and some prose pieces and small poems on Leinster, of 
great antiquity — some of them, as I believe, certainly written 
by Duhhthach, the great antiquarian and poet, who was Saint 
Patrick's first convert at Tara. After these a fine copy of the 
history of the celebrated Battle of Ross na Righ, on the Boyne, 
fought between the men of Leinster and Ulster at the begin- 
ning of the Christian era. A copy of the Mesca Uladh, or In- 
ebriety of the Ultonians, imperfect at the end, but which can be 
made perfect by the fragment of it already mentioned in Leab- 
Jiar na h-Uidhre. A fine copy of the Origin of the Boromean 
Tribute, and the battles that ensued down to its remission. A 
fragment of the " Battle of Cennahraf, in Munster, with the de- 
feat of Mac Con by Oilioll Oluirn, Mac Con's flight into Scotland, 
his return afterwards with a large force of Scottish and British 



188 OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 

LECT. IX. adventurers, his landing in the bay of Galway, and the ensuing 
rr.^ „ battle of Maqh MucruimhS, fought between him and his mater 

The Book of i/ \ ot^ ' • i-ii ill 

LEiNSTtK. nal uncle, Art, the monarch oi Jl.rinn, m which battle the latter 
was defeated and killed, as well as the seven sons of Oilioll 
Oluim. A variety of curious and important short tracts re- 
lating to Munster, are also to be found in the Book of Leinster, 
besides this last one, up to the middle of the eighth centviry. 
This volume likewise contains a small fragment of Cormac's 
Glossary, copied, perhaps with many more of these pieces, from 
the veritable Saltair of Cashel itself; also, a fragment, unfor- 
tunately a very small one, (the first folio only), of the Wars of 
the Danes and the Gaedhils (^'. e. the Irish) ; a copy of the 
Di7insenchns, a celebrated ancient topographical tract, which 
Avas compiled at Tara about the year 550; several ancient 
poems on universal geography, chronology, history, and soforth ; 
pedigrees and genealogies of the great Milesian tribes and fami- 
lies, particvdarly those of Leinster; and lastly, an ample hst 
of the early saints of Erinn, with their pedigrees and affinities, 
and with copious references to the situations of their churches. 
This is but an imperfect sketch of this invaluable MS., and 
I think I may say with sorrow, that there is not in all Europe 
any nation but this of ours that would not long since have made 
a national literary fortune out of such a volume, had any other 
country in Europe been fortunate enough to possess such an 
heir-loom of history. 

The volume forms, at present, part of the rich store of ancient 
Irish literatvire preserved in the library of Trinity College, Dub- 
lin ; and if printed at length, the Gaedhlic text of it would make 
2000 pages of the Annals of the Four Masters. 

The Book OP Tlic ucxt book in ordcT of antiquity, of which I shall treat, 
IS the well known Book of Ballymote. 

This noble volume, though defective in a few places, still con- 
sists of 251 leaves, or 502 pages of the largest folio vellum, 
equal to about 2500 pages of the printed Annals of the Four 
Masters. 

It was written by different persons, but chiefly by Solomon 
O'Droma and Manus O'Duigenann; and we find it stated at 
folio 62.b., that it was written at Ballymote (in the county of 
Sligo) in the house of Tomaltach og Mac Donogh, Lord of Co- 
rann in that county, at the time that Torlogh 6g, the son of 
Hugh O'Conor, was king of Connacht ; and Charles O'Conor 
of Belanagar has written in it the date 1391, as the precise 
year in which this part of the book was written. This book, 
like all our old books still existing, is but a compilation collected 



OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 189 

from various sources, and must, like tliem, be held to represent lect. ix. 
to a oToat extent several older compilations. ^^ „ 

It begms with an impertect copy oi the ancient L,eabnar hallymote. 
Gahhdla, or Book of Invasions of Erinn, differing in a few de- 
tails from other copies of the same tract. This is followed by 
a series of ancient chronological, historical, and genealogical 
pieces in prose and verse. Then follow the pedigrees of Irish 
saints ; the history and pedigrees of all the great families of the 
Milesian race, with the various minor tribes and families which 
have branched off from them in the succession of ages ; so that 
there scarcely exists an O' or a Mac at the present day who 
may not find in this book the name of the particular remote 
ancestor whose name he bears as a surname, as well as the time 
at which he lived, what he was, and from what more ancient line 
he again was descended. These genealogies may appear unim- 
portant to ordinary readers ; but those who have essayed to illus- 
trate any branch of the ancient history of this country, and who 
could have availed themselves of them, have found in them the 
most authentic, accurate, and important auxiliaries: in fact, a 
history which has remained so long unwritten as that of ancient 
Erinn, could never be satisfactorily compiled at all without them. 
Of these genealogies I shall have more to say in a subsequent 
lecture. [See post, Lect. X.] 

These family histories are followed, in the Book of Ballymote, 
by some accounts of Conor Mac Nessa, king of Ulster ; of 
Aithirne the Satirist; the tragical death of the beautiful lady 
Luaidet; the story of the adventures of the monarch Cormac 
Mac Art in fairy -land ; some ciuious and valuable sketches of the 
death of the monarch Crimlitliann Mor; a tract on the accession 
of Niall of the Nine Hostages to the monarchy, his wars, and the 
death of his brother Fiachra, at Forraidh (in the present county 
of Westmeath), on his return, mortally wounded, from the battle 
of Caenraighe (Kenry, in the present county of Limerick). 

Some of these pieces are, doubtless, mixed up with mytholo- 
gical fable ; but as the main facts, as well as all the actors, are 
real, and as to these mythological fables may be traced up many 
of the characteristic popular customs and superstitions still re- 
maining among us, these pieces maist be looked upon as materials 
of no ordinary value by the historical and antiquarian investi- 
gator. After these follow tracts, in prose and verse, on the 
names, parentage, and husbands of the most remarkable women 
in Irish history, down to the twefth century ; a tract on the 
mothers of the Irish saints ; a tract on the origin of the names 
and surnames of the most remarkable men in ancient Irish his- 
tory ; and an ancient law tract on the rights, privileges, rewards, 



190 OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 

LECT. IX. and soforth, of the learned classes, such as the ecclesiastical or- 
ders, the orders of poets, teachers, judges, etc. After this we have 
balltmote. the ancient translation into the Gaedhlic of the history of the 
Britons by Nennius, before alluded to as having been published 
a few years ago by the Irish Archreological Society ; an ancient 
Grammar and Prosody, richly illustrated with specimens of an- 
cient Irish versification ; a tract on the Ogham alphabets of the 
ancient Irish, with illustrations (about to be published shortly by 
the Archaaological Society, edited by my respected friend, the 
Rev. Dr. Graves, F.T.C.D.); the book of reciprocal rights and 
tributes of the monarch and provincial kings, and some minor 
chiefs of ancient Ireland (a most important document, published 
for the first time in 1847, by the Celtic Society) ; a tract on the 
ancient history, chiefs, and chieftaincies of Corca Laoi, or O'Dris- 
coll's country, in the county of Cork (published also by the 
Celtic Society, in their Miscellany for .1849) ; a copy of the 
Dinnsenchus, or great topographical tract ; and a translation or 
account in ancient Gaedlilic, with a critical collation of various 
texts, of the Argonautic expedition and the Trojan war. 

The book ends with the adventm'es of iEneas after the des- 
truction of Troy. 

The Gaedhlic text of this great book, which belongs to the 
Library of the Royal Irish Academy, would make about 2500 
pages of the Annals of the Four Masters. 

The MS. As I have, in a former lecture, given a free analysis of the 

theLKABHAR MS. commonly called the Leabhar Breac, or Speckled Book, 

^"'^^*^" an ancient vellum MS. preserved in the same library, I have 

only to add here that the Gaedhhc text of that most important 

volume would make above 2000 pages of the Annals of the 

Four Masters. 

The Yellow -pj-^Q j^ext great book whicli merits our attention is that which 
lecain. has been lately discovered to be, in great part, the Leabhar 
BuidhS Lecain, or Yellow Book of Lecain, one of the ponde- 
rous compilations of the truly learned and industrious family of 
the Mac Firbises of that ancient seat of learning. It is preserved 
in the library of Trinity College, Dubhn, where it is classed 
H. 2. 16. 

This volume, notwithstanding many losses, consists of about 
500 pages of large quarto vellum, equal to about 2000 pages of 
Gaedhlic text, printed like O'Donovan's Annals of the Fom- 
Masters ; and, with the exception of a few small tracts in other 
and somewhat later hands, it is all finely written by Donnoch 
and Gilla Isa Mac Firbis, in the year l390. 



OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 191 

The Yellow Book of Lecain, in its original form, would ap- lkct. ix. 
pear to have been a collection of ancient historical pieces, civil ^j^^ yellow 
and ecclesiastical, in prose and verse. In its present condition, book of 
it begins with a collection of family and political poems, relating ' ■ 

chiefly to the families of O'Kelly and O'Conor of Connacht, 
and the O'Donnells of Doncgall. This tract made no part of 
the original book. These pieces are followed by some mo- 
nastic rules in verse, and some poems on ancient Tara, with 
another fine copy of the plan and explanation of its Teach 
Midhchuarta, or Banqueting Hall; the same which has been 
published by Dr. Petrie in his Essay on the History and 
Antiquities of Tara. After this an account of the creation, 
with the formation and fall of man, translated evidently from 
the Book of Genesis. This biblical piece is followed by the 
Feast of Dun na n-Gedh and the battle of Magh Rath (two 
important tracts published from this copy by the Irish Archseo- 
logical Society) ; then a most curious and valuable account, 
though a little tinged with fable, of the reign and death of Muir- 
chertach Mac JErca, monarch of Ireland, at the palace of Cleitech, 
on the banks of the River Boyne, in the year of our Lord 527 ; 
an imperfect copy of the Tain Bo ChuailgnS, or great Cattle 
Spoil of Cuailgne, in Louth, with several of the minor cattle 
spoils that grew out of it; after which is a fine copy of the 
Bruighean Da Dearga., and death of the monarch Conaire Mor; 
the tale of the wanderings of Maelduins ship (for more than 
three years) in the Atlantic ; some most interesting tracts con- 
cerning the banishment of an ancient tribe from East Meath, 
and an account of the wanderings of some Irish ecclesiastics in 
the Northern Ocean, where they found the exiles ; an abstract 
of the battle of Dunbolg, in Wicklow, where the monarch, Aedh 
Mac Ainmire, was slain, in the year 594; the battle of Magh 
Hath (in the present county of Down), in which Congal Claen, 
prince of Ulidia, was slain, in the year 634 (published by the 
Irish Archaeological Society) ; and the battle of A hnliain (now 
Allen, in the present County of Kildare), where the monarch 
Ferghal was killed, in the year 718. A variety of curious pieces 
follow, relating to Conor Mac Nessa ; Curoi Mac Daire (pron. 
nearly " Cooree Mac Darry") ; Lahhraidh Loingseach (" Lovra 
Lingsha"), king of Leinster ; Niall of the Nine Hostages, and his 
poet Torna; together with many other valuable tracts and 
scraps, which I can do no more than allude to at present ; and 
the volume ends with a fine copy (imperfect at the beginning) 
of the law tract I have already mentioned, when speaking of 
the Book of Ballymote. This volume would make about 2000 
pages of the Annals of the Four Masters. 



192 OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 

LECT. IX. The next of these great books to which I would desire your at- 
tention, is the volume so well known as the Book of Lecain. This 
lkcain. book was compiled in the year 1416, by Gilla Isa Mor Mac 
Firbis oi Lecain Mic Fhirhisigh, in the county of Sligo,one of the 
great school of teachers of that celebrated locality, and the direct 
ancestor of the [earned Duhhaltach [or Duald] Mac Firbis, already 
mentioned. This book, which belongs to the hbrary of the 
Royal Irish Academy, contains over 600 pages, equal to 2400 
pages of the Gaedhlic text of the Annals of the Four Masters. 
It is beautifully and accurately "written on vellum of small folio 
size, cliiefly in the hand of Gilla Isa Mac Firbis, though there 
are some small parts of it written, respectively, in the hands of 
Adam 0''Cuirnin (the historian of BreifiiS, or Briefnoy) and 
Morogh JRiahhac O'CuindlisS^^^ 

The first nine folios of the Book of Lecain were lost, until 
discovered by me a few years ago bomid up in a volume of the 
Seabright Collection, in the library of Trinity College. 

The Book of Lecain differs but little, in its arrangement and 
general contents, from the Book of Bally mote. It contains two 
copies of the Book of Invasions, an uupeifect one at the begin- 
ning, but a perfect one, with the Sviccession of the Kings, 
and the tract on the Boromean Tribute, at the end. It contains 
fine copies of the ancient historical, sjmchronological, chronolo- 
gical, and genealogical poems already spoken of as comprised in 
the Book of Ballymote, as well as some that are not contained 
in that volume. These are followed by the family history and 
genealogies of the Milesians, with considerable and important 
additions to those found in the Book of Ballymote. Among 
the additions is a very valuable tract, in prose and verse, by 
Mac Firbis himself, on the famihes and subdi\'isions of the ter- 
ritory of Tir-Fiachrach, in the present county of Sligo ; a tract 
which has been published by the Irish Archaaological Society 
under the title of " The Tribes and Customs of Hy-Fiaclu-ach". 

ofthe chief Tlic otlicr aucicut vcllum books of importance, preserved in 
in T.c D. ' '■ the library of Trinity College, Dublin, may be described as 
follows : — • 

1. A folio volume of ancient laws, of 120 pages, on vellum, 
written about the year 1400 (classed E. 3, 5.) This forms part 
of the collection shortly to be published by the Brehon Law 
Commission, and would make about 400 pages of the Annals of 
the Four Masters. 

(*3)And here I may perhaps be permitted to observe, that I believe the 
families of Forbes and Candhsh in Scotland, are the same as, and indeed 
directly descended from, those of Mac Firbis and O'Cuindlis in Ireland. 



OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 193 

2. A small folio volume, of 430 pages, on vellum (classed H. lect. ix. 
2. 7), consisting cliielly of Irish pedigrees; together with some ^^^^^^ ^^^.^^ 
historical poems on the O'Kellys and O'Maddens, and some yciium mss, 
frasrments of ancient liistoric tracts of great value, the titles of" 
which, however, are missing. It contains also some translations 

from ancient Anglo-Saxon writers of romance, and a fragment 
of an ancient translation of Giraldus Cambrensis' History of 
the Conquest of Erinn. The handwriting appears to be of 
the sixteenth century, and the contents of the volume would 
make about 900 pages of the Annals of the Four Masters. 

3. A large folio volume, of 238 pages (classed H. 2. 15), 
part on vellum, part on paper, consisting of a fragment of Bre- 
lion laws, on vellum, transcribed about the year 1300; two 
copies of Cormac's Glossary, on paper (one of them by Duald 
Mac Firbis) ; another ancient Derivative Glossary, in the same 
hand ; and some fragments of the early history of Erinn, on vel- 
Imn. This volmne would make about 500 pages of the Annals 
of the Fom- Masters. 

4. A large folio volume, of 400 pages (classed H. 2. 17), 
part on paper, and part on vellum, consisting chiefly of frag- 
ments of various old books or tracts, and, among others, a 
fragment of a curious ancient medical treatise. This volmne 
likewise contains a fragment of the Tain B6 ChuailgnS; and, 
among merely literary tales, it includes that of the Reign of 
SatiuTi, an impeifect eastern story, as well as an account of the 
Argonautic expedition (imperfect), and of the Destruction of 
Troy (also imperfect). With this volume are bound up nine 
leaves belonging to the Book of Lecain, containing, amongst 
other things, the " Dialogue of the Two Sages" ; the Royal 
Precepts of King Cormac Mac Art ; a fragment of the Danish 
Wars ; short biographical sketches of some of the Irish Saints ; 
and many other interesting historic pieces. The Gaedhhc text 
of this volume would make altogether about 1400 pages of the 
Annals of the Foiu- Masters. 

5. A large vellum quarto (classed H. 3. 3), containing a fine, 
but much decayed, copy of the Dinnseanchus. It would make 
about 100 pages. 

6. A small quarto volume, of 870 pages, on vellum, written 
in the sixteenth century (classed H. 3. 17.). The contents, up 
to the 617th page, consist of ancient laws; and from that to 
the end the contents are of the most miscellaneous character. 
They consist cliiefly of short pieces, such as Bricrinn's Feast, 
an ancient tale of the Ultonians (imperfect) ; an account of 
the expulsion of the Deise, (Decies, or Deasys), from Bregia; a 
list of the wonders of Erinn ; the tract on the ancient pagan 

13 



194 OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 

LECT. IX. cemeteries of Erinn ; the account of the Division of Erinn 



Of the ciiief ^^^"long the Aitliecich Tuatlia (called by English writers the Atta- 
yeihim Mss. cots) ; tlic discoverj of Cash el, and story of the two Druids : 
together with the genealogies of the O'Briens, and the Suc- 
cession of the monarchs of Ireland of the line of Eher. In the 
same volume will be found, too, the curious account of the reve- 
lation of the Crucifixion to Conor Mac Nessa, king of Ulster, by 
his druid, on the day upon which it occurred, and of the death 
of Conor in consequence ; the story of the elopement of Ere, 
daughter of the king of Alhain (or Scotland), with the Irish 
prince Muiredhach, grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages ; a 
tract on Omens, from the croaking of ravens, etc. ; the trans- 
lation of the history of the Britons by Nennius ; the story of the 
courtship o£Finn Mac Cumhaill (pron. " Finn Mac Coole") and 
Ailbhe (pron. "Alveh"), the daughter of king Cormac Mac Art ; 
together with many other short but valuable pieces. This volume 
would make 1700 pages of Gaedhlic text like those of the 
Annals of the Four Masters. 

7. A small quarto voliune, of 665 pages of vellum, and 194 
pages paper, written in the sixteenth century (classed H. 3. 18). 
The first 500 pages contain various tracts and fragments of 
ancient laws. The remainder, to the end, consists of several 
independent glossaries, and glosses of ancient poems and prose 
tracts ; together with the ancient historical tales of Bruigliean 
Da Chogadh (pron. " Breean da Cugga"); a story of Cathal 
Mac FinghuinS, king of Munster in the middle of the eighth 
century; stories of Ronan Mac Aedlia (pron. "Mac Qi^a", or 
Mac Hugh), king of Leinster; and the story of the poetess 
JLiadain, of Kerry. This volume contains also the account of 
the revolution of the Aitheach Tuatha [or Attacots], and the 
murder by them of the kings and nobles of Erinn ; Tundal's 
vision; poems on the O'Neills, and on the Mac Donnells of 
Antrim ; John O'Mulchonroy's celebrated poem on Brian-na- 
Murtha CRoin-ke ; together with a great number of short arti- 
cles on a variety of historic subjects, bearing on all parts of 
Erinn ; and some pedigrees of the chief families of Ulster, 
Connacht, and Leinster. This volmne would make about 1800 
pages of the Annals of the Four Masters. 

8. A small quarto vokxme, of 230 pages (classed H. 4. 22^. 
seventy of which contain fragments of ancient laws. The 
remainder of the book contains a great variety of tracts and 
poems, and among others a large and important tract on the 
first settlement of the Milesians in Erinn ; a fragment of the 
tale called Bricrinn's Feast ; several ancient poems on the fami- 
lies of the O'Neills, the O'Driscolls, the Mac Renalds, etc.; 



OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 195 

togetlier witli various small poems and prose tracts of some lect. ix. 
value. This volume appears to be made up of fragments of two ^^^^^ ^^^.^^ 
books. The writing of the first seventy pages seems to be of veiium jiss. 
the sixteenth century, but the remaining part appears to be at "' • • ■ 
least a century older. The entire volume has suffered much 
from neglect, and from exposure to smoke and damp. The 
Gaedhlic text of it would make about 500 pages of the Annals 
of the Four Masters. 

To these books I may add (as being preserved in the same 
library) the Annals of Ulster, and those of Loch CS, already 
spoken of, both on vellum, and the text of wliich would make 
about 900 pages of the Annals of the Four Masters. 

Besides these vellum manuscripts of law and history, the Tri- 
nity College library contains a large collection of paper MSS. 
of great value, being transcripts of ancient velhun books made 
cliiefly in the first half of the last century. To enumerate, and 
even partially to analyse, these paper MSS., would carry me far 
beyond the limits to which the present lecture must necessarily 
be confined ; but among the most important of them I jnay men- 
tion a volume written about the year 1690, by Owen O'Don- 
nelly (an excellent Gaedhlic scholar) ; some large volumes by 
the O'Neachtans [John and Tadhg, or Teige] , between the years 
1716 and 1740; a copy of the Wars of Thomond, made by 
Andrew Mac Curtin in 1716 ; and several large volumes trans- 
cribed by Hugh O'Daly for Doctor Francis O' Sullivan of Tri- 
nity College, in and al^out the year 1750, the originals of which 
are not now known. 

In this catalogue of books I have not particularised, nor in 
some instances at all included, the large body of ecclesiastical 
writings preserved in the Trinity College library, consisting of 
ancient fives of Irish saints, and other refigious pieces, in prose 
and verse. Neither have I included, in my analyses of the col- 
lection, the fac-simile copies made by myself, for the fibrary, of 
the Book of Lecain (on vellum), of the so called Leabhar JBreac 
(on paper), of the Danish Wars, of Mac Firbis's glossaries, and 
of a volume of ancient Irish deeds (on paper). 

The fibrary of the Royal Irish Academy, besides its fine of the mss 
treasures of ancient veUum manuscripts, contains also a very Library of 
large number of important paper manuscripts ; but as they ^^^° ^'•^■^■ 
amount to some hundreds, it would be totally out of my power, 
and beyond the scope of this lecture, to enumerate them, or to 
give the most meagre analysis of their varied contents.^"^ 

(■**^ A list of all the Gaedhlic MSS. in the libraries of the E. Irish Academy 
and Trinity College, Dublin, will be found in the Appendix, No. LXXXVI, 

13 b 



196 OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 

ECT. IX. There are, liowever, a few among them to whicli 1 feel called 
~^ upon particularly to allude, altliougli in terms more brief than, 

\is°MwtE. with more time and space, I should have been disposed to de- 
vote to them. 

The first of these volumes that I wish to bring under your 
notice, is a fragment of the book well known as the Book of 
LiSMORE, Tliis is a manuscript on paper of the largest folio size 
and best quality. It is a fac-simile copy made by me from the 
original, in the year 1839, for the Royal Irish Academy. This 
transcript is an exact copy, page for page, line for Hne, word for 
word, and contraction for contraction, and was carefully and at- 
tentively read over and collated with the original, by Dr. John 
O'Donovan and myself And indeed I think I may safely say 
that I have recovered as much of the text of the original as it 
was possible to bring out, without the application of acids or 
other chemical preparations, which I was not at hberty to use. 
Of the history of the original MS., which is finely written on 
vellum of the largest size, we know nothing previous to the year 
1814. In that year the late Duke of Devonshire commenced 
the work of repairing the ancient castle of Lismore in the county 
of Waterford, his property ; and in the progress of the work, the 
men having occasion to re-open a door-way that had been closed 
up with masonry in the interior of the castle, they found a 
wooden box enclosed in the centre of it, which, on being taken 
out, was found to contain this MS., as well as a superb old cro- 
zier. The MS. had suffered much from damp, and the back, 
front, and top margin had been gnawed in several places by rats 
or mice ; but worse than that, it was said that the workmen by 
whom the precious box was fomid, carried off several loose leaves, 
and even whole staves of the book. Whether this be the case 
or not, it is, I regret to say, true that the greater number of the 
tracts contained in it are defective, and, as I believe, that whole 
tracts have disappeared from it altogether since the time of its 
discovery. The book was preserved for some time with great 
care by the late Colonel Curry, the Duke of Devonshire's agent, 
who, however, in 1815, lent it to Dennis O'Flinn, a professed, 
but a very indifferent, Irish scholar, living then in Mallow Lane, 
in the city of Cork. O'Flinn boimd it in wooden boards, and 
disfigured several parts of it, by writing on the MS. While in 
O'Fhnn's hands it was copied, in the whole or in part, by Mi- 
chael O'Longan, of Carrignavar, near Cork. It was O'Fhnn 
who gave it the name of " Book of Lismore", merely because it 
was found at that place. After having made such use of tlae book 
as he thought proper, O'Flinn retm-ned it, bound, as I have already 
stated, to Colonel Cmiy, some time between the years 1816 and 



OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 197 

1820; and so the venerable old relic remained unquestioned, lect. ix. 
and, I believe, unopened, until it was borrowed by the Royal ^^^^ ^^^^ 
Irish Academy, to be copied for them by me, in the year 1839. of lismobe. 

The facihties for close examination which the slow progress 
of a fac-simile transcript afforded me, enabled me to clearly dis- 
cover this at least, that not only was the abstraction of portions 
of the old book of recent date, bvit that the dishonest act had 
been deliberately perpetrated by a skilful hand, and for a double 
purpose. For it was not only that whole staves had been pil- 
fered, but particular subjects were mutilated, so as to leave the 
part that was returned to Lismore almost valueless without the 
abstracted parts, the offending parties having first, of com'se, 
copied all or the most part of the mutilated pieces. 

After my transcript had been finished, and the old fragments 
of the original returned to Lismore by the Academy, I insti- 
tuted, on my own account, a close inquiry in Cork, with the 
view of discovering, if possible, whether any part of the Book 
of Lismore still remained there. Some seven or eight years 
passed over, however, without my gaining any information on 
the subject, when I happened to meet by accident, in Dublin, a 
literary gentleman from the town of Middleton, ten miles from 
the city of Cork ; and as I never missed an opportunity of 
prosecuting my inquiries, I lost no time in communicating to 
him my suspicions, and the circumstances on which they were 
grounded, that part -of the Book of Lismore must be still re- 
maining in Cork. To my joy and surprise the gentleman told 
me that he had certain knowledge of the fact of a large portion of 
the original MS. being in the hands of some person in Cork ; that 
he had seen it in the hands of another party, but that he did not 
know the owner, nor how or when he became possessed of it. 

In a short time after this the late Sir William Betham's col- 
lection of MSS. passed, by purchase, into the Hbrary of the Royal 
Irish Academy ; and as I knew that the greater part of this col- 
lection had been obtained from Cork, I lost no time in examin- 
ing them closely for any copies of pieces from the Book of Lis- 
more. Nor was I disappointed ; for I found among the books 
copies of the lives of Saint Brendan, Saint Ciaran of Clonmac- 
nois. Saint Mochna of Balla in Mayo, and Saint Finnchu of 
Brigohliann in the county of Cork ; besides several legends and 
minor pieces ; all copied by Michael O'Longan from the Book 
of Lismore, in the house of Denis Ban O'Flinn, in Cork, in 
the year 1816. And not only does O'Longan state, at the end 
of one of these fives, that he copied these from the book which 
Denis O'Flinn had borrowed from Lismore, but he gives the 
weight of it, and the number of leaves or folios which the book 



198 OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 

tECT. IX. in its integrity contained. As a further piece of presumptive 
evidence of the Book of Lismore having been mutilated in Cork 
OF LisMOEE. about this time, allow me to read for you the following memo- 
randum in pencil, in an unknown hand, wliich has come into 
my possession : — 

" Mr. Denis O'Flyn of Mallow Lane, Cork, has brought a 
book from Lismore lately, written on vellum about 900 years 
ago, by Miles O'Kelly for Florence M'Carthy; it contains the 
lives of some principal Irish Saints, with other historical facts 
such as the wars of the Danes — 31st October, 1815". 

To this I may add here the following extract of a letter 
written by Mr. Joseph Long, of Cork, to the late William 
Elhott Hudson, of DubHn, Esq., dated Feb. the 10th, 1848 : _ 

" Honoured Sir, — I have taken the liberty of bringing tliis 
MS. to your honour. It contains various pieces copied from 
the Book of Lismore, and other old Irish MSS. They are pieces 
which I beheve you have not as yet in your collection. Its 
contents are '■Forhuis Droma Damhglioire\ a liistoric legend, 
describing the invasion of Munster by Cormac Mac Art, the 
wonderful actions of the druids, diaiidish incantations, and 
soforth ; ' A ir an da Fearmaiglie\ a topography of the two 
Fermoys, together with an account of its claieftains, tribes, or 
families, and soforth ; ' Seel Fiachiia mic Reataich\ a legend of 
Loch En in Connaught ; Riaghail do rightliihh^ a rule for kings, 
composed by Duhh Mae Turth ( ?) ; ' Seel air Chairbre Cinn-cait\ 
the murder of the royal chieftains of Erinn by their slaves, the 
descendants of the Firbolgs, and soforth. — Book of Lismore". 

With all these evidences before me of a part of the Book of 
Lismore having been detained in Cork, in the year 1853 I pre- 
vailed on a friend of mine in that city to endeavour to ascer- 
tain in whose hands it was, what might be the nature of its 
contents, whether it would be sold, and at what price. All this 
my friend kindly performed. He procured me what purported 
to be a catalogue of the contents of the Cork part of the Book 
of Lismore, and he ascertained that the fragment consisted of 66 
folios, or 132 pages, and that it would be sold for fifty pounds. 

I immediately offered, on the part of the Bev. Doctors Todd 
and Graves, then the secretaries to the Royal Irish Academy, 
the sum named for the book ; but some new conditions with 
which I had no power to comply, were afterwards added, and 
the negociation broke off at this point. 

The book shortly after passed, by purchase, into the posses- 
sion of Thomas Hewitt, Esq., of Summerhill House, near Cork ; 
and in January, 1855, a memoir of it was read before the Cu- 



OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 199 

vierian Society of Cork, by John Windele, Esq., of Blair's Castle, lect. ix. 
in wliicli lie makes tlie folio wing: statement : — „. „ 

. f» 1 1 1 • "'"^ Book 

" The work, it was at first supposed, may have been a portion of lismork 
of the Book of Lismore, so well known to our literary antiqua- 
rians, but it is now satisfactorily ascertained to have been tran- 
scribed, in the latter half of the fifteenth century, for Fineen 
McCarthy Reagh, Lord of Carbei-y, and his wife Catherine, the 
daughter of Thomas, eighth Earl of Desmond". " Unfortu- 
nately", he adds, " the volume has suffered some mutilation by 
the loss of several folios. The life of Finnchu and the Forbids 
are partly defective in consequence; but we possess amongst 
our local MS. collections entire copies of these pieces". 

To be sure, they have in Cork entire copies of these pieces ; 
but they are copies, by Michael O'Longan, from the Book of 
Lismore, before its mutilation among them, or else copies made 
from his copies by his sons. 

That Mr. Windele believed what he wrote about the Cork 
fragment, tliere can of course be no doubt ; still it is equally in- 
dubitable that this same fragment is part and parcel of the Book 
of Lismore, and that it became detached from it while in the 
hands of Denis O'FHnn, of Cork, some time about the year 1816. 
And it is, therefore, equally certain, that the book which Mr. 
Hewitt pm'chased, perhaps as an original bond fide volume with 
some slight losses, is nothing more than a fragment, consisting of 
about one-third part, of the Book of Lismore, and that this part 
was fraudulently abstracted in Cork at the time above indicated. 
The two pieces which Mr. Windele particularizes as being de- 
fective in the Cork part, aj'e also defective in the Lismore part ; 
the Life of Saint Fincliu wants but about one page in the latter, 
while in Cork they cannot have more of it than one page or 
folio ; and of the Forbuis, something about the first half is at 
Lismore, while no more than the second half can be in Cork. 
And although I have never seen any part of the Cork fragment, 
I feel bold enough to say, that, should both parts be brought to- 
gether in presence of competent judges, they will be pronounced 
to be parts of the same original volume, and that several of the 
defects in either will be exactly supplied by the other. 

My transcript of the Lismore fragment of this valuable book 
consists of 131 folios, or 262 pages. The chief items of the 
contents are : Ancient Lives of Saint Patrick, Saint Colum Cille, 
Saint Brigid of Kildare, Saint Senan (of Scattery Island, in 
the Lower Shannon), Saint Finnen of Clonard, and Saint 
Finnchu of Brigohhan, in the county of Cork, all written in 
Gaedhhc of great purity and antiquity ; the conquests of Char- 
lemagne, translated from the celebrated romance of the middle 



200 OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 

LECT. IX. ages, ascribed to Turpin, Arcliblsliop of Rlieims ; the conversion 
" of the Pantheon at Rome into a Christian Church ; the story 

OF LisMOKE. of Petronilla, the daughter of Saint Peter ; the discovery of the 
Sybilhne oracle in a stone coffin at Rome ; the History of the 
Lombards (imperfect) ; an account of Saint Gregory the Great ; 
the heresy of the Empress Justina ; of some modifications of cer- 
tain minor ceremonies of the Mass ; an account of the successors 
of Charlemagne ; of the correspondence between Archbishop 
Lanfranc and the clergy of Rome ; extracts from the Travels of 
Marco Polo ; an account of the battles of the celebrated Ceal- 
lachan, king of Cashel, "with the Danes of Erinn, in the tenth 
century ; of the battle of Crinna, between Cormac Mac Art, king 
of Ireland, and the Ulstermen ; and of the siege of Drom Damh- 
ghaire [now called Knocklong, in the County of Limerick], by 
king Cormac Mac Art, against the men of Munster. This last, 
though a strictly historic tale in its leading facts, is full of wild 
incident, in which Mogh Ruith, the great Mvmster druid, and 
Cithruadh, and Colptha, the druids of the monarch Cormac, bear 
a most conspicvious and curious part. 

The last piece in the book is one of very great interest ; it is 
in the form of a dialogue between Saint Patrick and the two 
surviving warriors of the band of heroes led by the celebrated 
Finn Mac Cumhaill, Caoilte, the son of Ronan, and Oisin [com- 
monly written in English "Ossian"], the warrior-poet, son of 
F'hm himself It describes the situation of several of the hills, 
mountains, rivers, caverns, rills, etc., in Ireland, with the deriva- 
tion of their names. It is much to be regretted that this very 
curious tract is imperfect. But for these defects, we should 
probably have found in it notices of almost every monument of 
note in ancient Ireland; and, even in its mutilated state, it 
cannot but be regarded as preserving many of the most ancient 
traditions to which we can now have access, traditions which 
were committed to writing at a period when the ancient customs 
of the people were unbroken and undisturbed. 

I regret that space does not allow me to analyse a few more 
of the important paper books in the Academy's Hbrary ; but I 
think I have abeady done enough to enable you to form some 
intelligible general estimate of the value and extent of the old 
Gaedhlic books in Dublin ; and I shall only add, that the paper 
books in Trinity College and the Academy are above 600 in 
number, and may be estimated to contain about 30,000 pages 
of Gaedlilic text, if printed at length in the form to which I 
have so often referred as a specimen, that of O'Donovan's Annals. 

There is, however, one collection (rather, I may say, one 
class of MS. monmnents of Irish history) which I cannot pass by 



OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 201 

without at least alluding to it, though it would be, perhaps, im- ^ect. ix. 
proper for mc at the present moment to enter upon any detailed ~^ 
account of it : I mean the great body of the laws of Ancient Law" mss.°" 
Erinn, commonly called by the English the "Brehon Laws". 
This collection is so immense in extent, and the subjects dealt 
with throughout the whole of it, in the utmost detail, are so 
numerous, and so fully illustrated by exact definitions and 
minute descriptions, that, to enable us to fill up the outline sup- 
phed by the annals and genealogies, these books of laws alone 
would almost be found sufficient in competent hands. Indeed if 
it were permitted me to enlarge upon their contents, even to the 
extent 'to which I have spoken upon the subject of the various 
annals 1 have desciibed to you, I should be forced to devote many 
lectm'es to this subject alone. But these ancient laws, as you are 
all aware, are now, and have been for the last three years, in 
progi'ess of transcription and preparation for publication, under 
the direction of a Commission of Irish noblemen and gentlemen, 
appointed by royal warrant ; and it would not be for me to an- 
ticipate their regular pubhcation. 

The quantity of transcript already made (and there is still a 
part to be made), amounts to over Jive thousand close quarto 
pages, which, on average, would be equal to near 8000 pages 
of the text of O'Donovan's Annals. This quantity, of course, 
contains many duplicate pieces ; and it will rest with the Com- 
missioners whether to publish the whole mass, or only a fair and 
full text, compiled from a collation of all the duplicate copies. 

Any one who has examined the body of Welsh Laws, now 
some years before the woild, will at once be able to form a fair 
opinion of the interest and value, in a historical and social point 
of view, of this far larger — this immense and hitherto unex- 
plored mass of legal institutes. And these were the laws and in- 
stitutes which regulated the pohtical and social system of a 
people the most remarkable in Europe, from a period almost 
lost in the dark mazes of antiquity, down to within about two 
hundred years, or seven generations, of our own time, and whose 
spirit and traditions, I may add, influence the feehngs and 
actions of the native Irish even to this day ! To these laws may 
we, indeed, justly apply the expressive remark of the poet 
Moore on the old MSS. in the Royal Irish Academy, that they 
"were not written by a fooHsh people, nor for any foohsh 
purpose". Into the particulars and arrangement of this mass 
of laws I shall not enter here, since they are, as I have 
already stated, in the hands of a Commission on whose preroga- 
tives I have no disposition to trench. I may, however, be per- 
mitted to observe that, copious though the records in which the 



202 OF THE CHIEF EXISTING ANCIENT BOOKS. 

LECT. IX. actions and everyday life of our remote ancestors liave come 
down to us, through the various documents of which I have 

Law"MSS. been speaking, still, without these laws, our history would 
be necessarily barren, deficient, and imcertain in one of its most 
interesting and important essentials. For what can be more 
essential for the historian's purpose than to have the means of 
seeing clearly what the laws and customs were precisely, wliicli 
governed and regulated the general and relative action of the 
monarch and the provincial kings; of the provincial kings 
and the hereditary princes and chiefs; of these in turn, and 
of what may be called the hereditary proprietors, the Flaitlis 
[pronounced "ilahs"], or landlords; and below these again, of 
their farmers, and tenants, of all grades and conditions, native 
and stranger ; — and what is even more interesting, if possible, 
the conditions on which these various parties held their lands, 
and the local customs which reo-ulated their agrarian and social 
policy; as well as in general the sumptuary and economical 
laws, and the several customs, which distinguished all these 
classes one from another, compliance with which was abso- 
lutely necessary to maintain them in their proper ranks and 
respective privileges ? There are thousands of allusions to the 
men and women of those days, as well as to various circum- 
stances, manners, customs, and habits, to be met with in our 
historic writings, otherwise inexplicable, wliich find a clear 
and natural solution in these venerable institutes. And there 
are besides, too, a vast number of facts, personal and historical, 
recorded in the course of the laws (often stated by the com- 
mentator or scribe as examples or precedents of the apphcation 
of the particular law imder discussion), which must be care- 
fully gleaned from them, before that History which is yet to 
be framed out of the materials I have described to you, can 
ever be satisfactorily completed. 

These things will become accessible to all when the laboiu'S of 
the Commission are concluded, when the immense and magni- 
ficent work which the Commission is charged to pubHsh shall 
be (a few years hence) arranged, indexed, and printed. And 
perhaps this may be but the second great step in these times — 
Mr. George Smith's publication of the Annals having been the 
first — towards the vindication of the ancient honoior of the noble 
race of Erinn. Much more, both in ecclesiastical and secular 
history, remains to be done. Is the next step, after these re- 
served to be taken under the auspices of a great National Insti- 
tution, such as one may surely hope this, the Catholic Univer- 
sity of Ireland, is destined to become ? 



LECTURE X. 

[Delivei-cd JIarch (i, 186fi.] 

The Books of Genealogies and Pedigrees. 

In tlie present Lecture I propose to finish this part of our Intro- 
ductory course on the existing MS. materials of ancient Irish 
History, by giving you some account of the great Records of 
the Genealogies and Pedigrees of the Gaedhlic race, found 
in the earhest and most reliable of the books I have described 
to you. 

In all civiHzed nations, where the possession of property or 
the governing power was, from whatever cause, vested m any one 
individual, with the right of transmission to posterity through 
his legitimate descendants, direct or collateral, it follows, as a 
mere matter of course, that all persons living subject to such a le- 
gal arrangement must have taken good care to preserve accui'ate 
evidences of their descent and identity, — accurate evidence such 
as might sustain their claims to the succession, whether of pro- 
perty or dignity, territory or emolmnents, whenever any dispute 
upon such subjects should arise. And the natural necessity of 
preserving genealogies and pedigrees being thus simply estab- 
lished, it must be clear that the important duty of their preser- 
vation could not be left to the care of irresponsible persons alone ; 
and that, therefore, while every branch of the family kept a 
proper record of its own descent (as well as of all the other 
branches in relation to its own), some qualified persons must at 
all times have been set apart for the express pvirpose of keeping 
a pubhc record of all the descending branches of the original 
tree. Such records must have been kept, in order that, when- 
ever a reference to records was found necessary, no individual 
representative should be able to advance his own claims upon 
any mere private proofs within his own private power, nor on 
any authority save such as might be found to accord with that 
of a responsible public officer. 

And such precautions, we find, were effectually taken under 
the ancient customs and laws of Erinn. 

To obviate all difficulties in respect of the right of succession 
to the supreme rule, therefore, we find that the monarch of 



204 



OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 



LECT. X. 

Official 

records of 
t}ie Gene- 
alogies. 



Erinn had always an officer of high distinction attached to his 
court, whose office it was to keep, from generation to genera- 
tion, a written record, or genealogical history, of all the descend- 
ing branches of the royal family. And the same officer was 
obliged to keep true record not only of these, but of the famihes 
of all the provincial kings, and of all the principal territorial chiefs 
in each province, m order that, in case of a dispute among them 
and a ffiial appeal to the court of the chief king, he might be in 
a position to decide such a dispute by the solemn authority of 
a sure and impartial pubhc record. 

This pubHc officer, according to law, could only be elected 
from the order of Ollamhs; and the OllamJi may be described 
as a doctor, or man who had arrived at the highest degree of his- 
torical learning and of general literary attainments under the an- 
cient Gaedlihc system of education. Every Ollamli should also 
(according to the laws of the country, now popularly called the 
" Brehon Laws") be an adept in regal synchronisms, should know 
the boundaries of all the provinces and chieftaincies, and should 
be able to trace the genealogies of all the tribes of Erinn up to 
Adam. An Ollamh should also, according to the same law, 
be civil of tongue, unstained by crime, and pure in morals. 

The officer 1 have thus spoken of should be, then, an Ollamh 
thus qualified ; and he was privileged and boimd to make perio- 
dical visits to the provincial courts, and to the mansions of all 
the chiefs throughout the land ; to inspect their books of family 
history and genealogies ; to enter the names and number of the 
leading or eldest branches of each family in his own book ; and, 
on his return to Tara (or wherever the monarch might happen 
to hold his residence), to write these matters into what was of old 
called the Monarch's Book, but which, in more modern times, 
seems to have been designated the Saltair of Tara. 

And not only had the Monarch his Ollamh for these important 
state pm-poses, but every provincial king, and even every smaller 
territorial Chief, had his own Ollamli, or Seanchaidld [pron. 
"shanachy"zz historian], for the provincial and other territorial 
records ; and in obedience to an ancient law (established long 
before the introduction of Christianity in the fifth century), all 
the provincial records, and those of the various clann chief- 
tains, were retm'nable every third year to a great convocation 
or feast at Tara, where they were solemnly compared with 
each other, and with the great Book or Saltair of the monarch, 
and pmified and corrected where or whenever they required it. 

As a very sufficient authority for the existence of this great 
Monarchical Book, in the third century of the Christian era, 
I may refer you, among many others, to the poem by Cinaeth 



OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 205 

[or Kennetli] O'Hartigan, on Tara, and on King Cormac Mac lect. x. 
Airt, of wliicli I have spoken in a former lectiu'e. 

It lias lonoj been the fashion amonsf English writers, and credibility 
those who ignorantly follow them in Ireland, to sneer at the tiquu/^of 
very idea of any nation, or any families of a nation, being able aio'^ies"^" 
to preserve their genealogies and pedigrees for one, two, or 
three thousand years ; and as for the suggestion, that an Irish- 
man, or a Welshman, of the year of om- Lord 1856, should be 
able, with any conceivable probability or even possibihty, to 
trace his generations up to Noah, it is set down as much worse 
than absurd; it is contemptuously termed an "Irish pedigree", 
or a " Welsh pedigree", and even the very name of it is deemed, 
as a matter of course, a subject fit only for ridicule. Let us, 
however, look a little into the question, and consider for a mo- 
ment the justice of this scepticism. 

You are all aware that the original genealogies and pedigrees 
of the human race (and, indeed, the very form in which oru' 
own ancient genealogies and pedigrees were recorded), are to 
be found in the Holy Bible ; as in Genesis, chapter x., verses 1 to 
5, beginning : " These are the generations of the sons of Noe (or 
Noah) : Sem, Cham, and Japhcth ; and unto them sons were 
born after the flood". Now this Scripture record goes on : — 

2. " The sons of Japheth [were] ; Gomer, and Magog, and 
Madai, and Javan, and Thubal, and Mosoch, and Thiras. 

3. " And the sons of Gomer [were] ; Ascenez, and Riphath, 
and Thogorma. 

4. " And the sons of Javan [were] ; Elisa, and Tharsis, 
Cetthim, and Dodanim. 

5. " By these were divided the islands of the Gentiles in 
their lands ; every one according to his tongue, and their fami- 
lies in their nations", etc. 

It is curious that the sons of Magog, the second son of 
Japheth, are not enumerated in this genealogy ; and yet it is 
to tliis remote ancestor that all the ancient colonists of Ireland 
carry up their pedigrees, as recorded here long before Christi- 
anity and Christian books found their way into the country. 
Nor are the Gaedhils the only people said to have descended 
from Magog ; for I may remark, in passing, that the Bactrians, 
the Parthians, and others, also claimed descent from him. 

I shall not, however, follow to-day the subject of the verifi- 
cation of the ancient descent of the royal races of Erinn ; and I 
have only thrown out so much by way of hinting to you, that, 
notwithstanding the sneers to which I have alluded, still a great 
deal of serious study may be required before any rational con- 



206 OF THE B00K8 OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 

LECT. X. elusion can be arrived at with certainty in relation to it. I have 
only to-day to do with the plan and method followed by our 
toricai ac- ancestors, in recording and preserving the Genealogies of the 
GMieaioJes. Irish nation, as these have actually been handed down to us 
from the days of our early kings. I desire to deal with them 
simply as one branch of those materials for our history, of 
which I have described to you so many, as having come down 
to us in an authentic form. And whatever may be the opinions 
of modern commentators (all of them very ill informed on the 
subject) as to the truth of the more remote genealogies before 
the arrival of the Gaedhhc colony in Erinn, I think I have given 
you the most solid reason to trust the records of the Gacdlilic 
genealogies from that or at least from a very remote time down- 
wards, made and preserved, as we know they were, with the care 
prescribed by the laws to which I have just called your attention. 

I have shown in a former lecture, on authority that cannot well 
be questioned, that the Pedigrees of the Gaedlilic nation were 
collected and written into a single book (which was called the 
Cm, or Book, of Dromsneacht) by the son ofDuach Galach, king 
of Connacht, — and an Ollamh in history, in genealogies, etc., 
— shortly before the arrival of Saint Patrick in Ireland, which 
happened in the year 432. It follows necessarily that those pe- 
digrees and genealogies must have been already in existence, — 
doubtless in the various tribe-books ; and it is more than pro- 
bable that their leading portions had before then been entered, 
in the manner and under the law I have already explained, in 
the great Book of Tara. 

Without going farther back, then, than this Book of Drom- 
sneacht^ which is so often qiioted in our ancient MSS., it will 
be plain that succeeding Ollamhs and genealogists had before 
them a plan and mode of proceeding with their work, either 
founded on still more remote precedents, or, at all events, 
adopted so long ago as the earlier portion of the fifth century, 
by the author of that celebrated book. 

Nothing could be more simple than the plan of keeping local 
Pedigrees, where, as was the case in Ireland, each kingdom, 
province, and principality appointed a fully qualified ofiicer for 
the purpose. 

Every free-born man of the tribe was, according to the law 
of the country, entitled by blood, should it come to his turn, to 
succeed to the chieftaincy ; and every principal family kept its 
own pedigree as a check on the officer of the tribe or province, 
and as an authority for its own claim, should the occasion arise. 

As the Milesians were the last of the ancient colonists, and 



OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 207 

had subdued the races previously existing in Ireland, it is their lect. x. 
genealogies only, with some very few exceptions, that have The Muesian 
been thus carried down to the later times. Genealogies. 

The genealogical tree then begins with the brothers Eber 
and Eremon, the two surviving leaders of the Milesian expedi- 
tion ; and, after tracing their ancestors so far back as to Magog, 
the son of Japheth, the earliest genealogies give us the manner 
of the death of each of these sons of Milesius, and the number 
and names of their sons again, respectively. 

From Eber, according to all the genealogies, descend all the The Lines of 
families of the south of Ireland, represented at present by the Eremon. 
race of Oilioll Oluim: as the Mac Carthys, the O'Briens, and 
their various branches. From Eremon, on the other hand, 
descend the great races of Connacht and Leinster, represented 
by the O'Conors, the Mac Murrochs, etc., as well as the great 
races of Ulster, also, from the fourth century down, represented 
by the O'Donnells, the O'Neills, etc. 

Besides these two chief races, the records relate the descent The iiian 
of two others of great liistorical importance. From Emer, the unes.* '^" 
son of Ir (who was the brother of Eber and Eremon), descend 
the races of Uladli, or Ulidia [an ancient district consisting 
nearly of the present counties of Down and Antrim], now re- 
presented by the family of Magenis of Down; and from Lu- 
gaidh, the son of Itli, their cousin, who settled in the west of 
the present county of Cork, descended the races of that district, 
represented in chief by the family of O'Driscoll. [This latter 
race of Gaedhils is minutely traced in the Miscellany of tlie 
Celtic Society, published in 1849.] 

To these fbin-, — or rather, indeed, with very few exceptions, 
to the two brothers, Eber and Eremon, — all the great lines of 
the Milesian family, all the great chieftain hnes of ancient Erinn, 
are traced up. It is not, however, to be expected that any re- 
cord of the genealogies of the people in general, in those remote 
ages, could possibly have come down to our times. It is only 
in the succession of the monarchs, of the provincial kings and 
chieftains, and in the hnes of saints and other remarkable persons, 
that we invariably find the new king or personage traced back 
through all the generations, either to his remote ancestor, 
Eber, Eremon, Ir, or Ith, or at all events, to some person whose 
pedigree has been in some previous part of the great genealogical 
records abeady traced up to these som'ces. 

The first great starting point in the Eremonian lines of pedi- 
grees, and from which the great families of Connacht and Lein- 
ster branch off, is to be found in UgainS Mor, who flourished, 



208 OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 

LECT. X. according to our annals, more than 500 years before the Incar- 
nation of onr Lord. From his elder son (7o57i^7iacA (pron. nearly 
monian " C6v-a", now " Coffcy"), dcscend all the families of Connacht, as 
%l%Tmr. well as the O'Donnells, the O'Neills, and others, of Ulster ; and 
from his second son, Laeghaire (pron. nearly " Lea-ry"), de- 
scend the chief families of Leinster. 

Again, in the second centmy of the Christian era a great di- 
vision of families took jDlace in Leinster, that, namely, of the 
sons of the monarch Catliair Mo?' (pron. " Ca-hir more"), who 
divided his hereditary kingdom of Leinster among his sons, to 
some one of whom all the later Leinster famihes trace up their 
pedigrees. 
The Daicas- In the noxt, the tliird century, again, a great division of ter- 
Eo"hanacts ritorics took placc in Munster between Fiacha Muilleathan, the 
of Munster. gon of ESghaii Mor the elder, and Cormac Cas, the younger son 
of Oilioll Oluim, the king of that province; Eoghan's son 
taking South Munster, and his uncle Cormac Cas, North Mun- 
ster, or Thomond ; and it is to one or the other of these two 
personages that all the great Munster families of the line of 
Eber trace up their pedigrees. 

Again, in the fourth century a great division of families 
and of territory took place in Connacht and Ulster, between 
the three sons of the monarch Eochaidh Muighmheadhoin, — 
Brian, Fiachf'a, and Niall, afterwards called Niall of the Nine 
Hostages. The two elder sons were settled in Connacht ; and 
from them descend the chief families of that province, north 
and south, excepting the O'Kellys, the Mac Rannalls, and some 
others. The younger son, Niall, succeeded to the monarchy : 
and this Niall had seven sons, among whom he divided the 
territories of Meath and Ulster, the district comprising the pre- 
sent counties of Antrim and Down excepted ; and it is to these 
sons that all the great families of these territories trace up 
their pedigrees. 

Having so far placed before you, with much more brevity 
than I could wish, the remote leading points at which the 
great families of Ireland are recorded to have separated, I shall 
now proceed to show you how the genealogies have been 
arranged, and, with their still continued separations, carried 
down in some instances even to our times ; and as a Muster- 
man and Dalcassian, not, I trust, unreasonably attached to my 
race, I shall take my example from the really great line of the 
O'Brien. As, however, it would be tedious, as well as unne- 
cessary, for the purpose of a mere example, to carry the hne 
down for you all the way from Eber, the son of Milesius him- 
self, I shall begin with Oilioll Oluim, King of Munster, who 



OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 209 

died, according to our annals, in tlie year of our Lord 234. I lect. x. 
shall adopt the very form and plan of the old genealoo-les ^ 

1 T ^ ' 1 1 ' -i 1 T 1 • Genealogy of 

tnemseives, m the abridged account i am about to give you ; the oBnens, 
because I wish thus practically to make you acquainted with Munster"^ 
the mode in which the family pedigrees were recorded by the ^Sf ' ^"^""^ 
Ollamlis of old, and because, also, you will thus best under- ohum. 
stand the importance of the class of MSS. which we are now 
considering, in the study of the true history of the country. 

Oilioll Oluim had several sons, seven of whom were killed in 
the celebrated battle of ATagh MucruimM, in the comity of 
Galway ; and among them Edghan, ot Eugene, the eldest, from 
whom (through liis son again, Fiacha Muilleatlmhi) descend 
what is called by old wiiters the "Eugenian" line, to which 
belong the Mac Caithys, the O^'Callachans, the O'Sullivans, the 
O'KeeiFes, and so forth. 

Cimi was another of the sons of Oilioll Oluim killed in this 
battle ; he left a son Tadhg [a name now known as Teige or 
Thaddeus], from whom descend the O'Carrolls of Ely O'Carroll, 
the O'Reardons, the O'Haras, the O'Garas, etc., as well as seve- 
ral families of East Meatli, 

Cormac Cas, the second son of Oilioll Oluim, was the only 
one of his children who survived the great battle of Magh 
Mticruimhe, and between him and Fiacha (the son of the eldest 
son, Eugene), the old king divided his territory into North 
and South Munster, giving to Fiaeha the south, and to Cormac 
the north part. (This north part, I should observe, did not then 
comjDrehend the present county of Clare, that territory being at 
the time in the occupation of a tribe of the old Fii'bolg race.) 

Cormac Cas (whose wife was the daughter of the celebrated 
poet Oisin, or Ossian, son of the great warrior Finn Mac Cum- 
Iiaill, or Mac Coole) had a son Mogh Corh, who had a son 
Fer Corh, who had a son Aengus, called Tirech, or the wan- 
derer, who had a son called Lughaidh Meann (pron: " Loo-y 
Menn"). It was this Lugtiaidh Meann that first wrested the 
present county of Clare from the Firbolgs, and attached it to 
his patrimony ; and the whole inheritance lias been ever since 
denominated TuadA Mhumhain, or North Munster, a name im 
modern times Anglicized into Thomond. 

Lughaidh Meann had a son Conall, called Conall Fachhtaith, 
or Conall of the Fleet Steeds ; who had a son Cas. This Cas 
(from whom the Dalcassians derive their distinctive name) had 
twelve sons, namely, Blod, Caisin, Lughaidh, Seadna, Aengus 
Cdnnathrach, Carthainn, Cainioch, Aengus CinnaiUn, Aedh^ 
Nae, Loisgenn, and Dealhaeth. 

Blod, the eldest son of Cas, is the great stem of the Dalcas- 

14 



210 OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 

LECT. X. sian race, directly represented by tlie O'Brians. From Caism, 

the second son of Cas, descend the aSzo/ ^4ofZ/«a, represented by 

the O'Briens, the Mac Namaras, the O'Gradys, the Mac Flannchadhas (now 

Munster'^ Called Clanchys), and the CCaisins, etc. From Ltighaidh, the 

oSr ^'°°^ tliird son of Cas, descend the Muintir Dohharclion (now re- 

ohiim. presented by the O'Liddys of Clare). From Seclna (pron: 

" Shedna") the fourth son of Cas, descend the Cinel Sedna (not, 

I believe, now represented). From Aengus Cinnathrach, the 

fifth son, descend the O'Deas. From Aengus Cinnaitin, the 

sixth son, descend the O'Quinns (a family who may now be 

considered to be represented by the Earl of Dunraven), and the 

O'Nechtanns. Fyovcl Aedh (or Hugh), the seventh son of Cas, 

descend the O'Heas. From Dealheatli, the eighth son of Cas, 

descend the Mac Cochlanns of Dealbhna, or Delvin (in the 

county of Westmeath), the O'Scullys, etc. The descendants 

of the other sons are not now to be distinguished. 

It is curious to observe, in this recital, at how early a period 
the ancestors of those various Dalcassian families separated from 
each other. — But to return to the progenitor of the O'Briens. 

Blod, the eldest son of Cas, had two sons: Cairthinn Finn, 
and Brenan Ban. From this Brenan Ban, the second son, de- 
scend the O'Hurlys and the O'Malonys. 

Cairthinn Fimi, the eldest son of Blod, had two sons, 
Fochaidh, called Bailldearg (or " of the Red Mole"), and 
Aengus. From Aengus, the younger son, descend, among 
others, the famihes of O Comhraidhe (now called Curry); the 
O'Cormacans (now called Mac Cormacks) ; O Seasnain, now 
Sexton ; ORiada, now Reidy, etc. 

Fochaidh Bailldearg, the eldest son of Cairthinn Fhin, was 
born during the time that St. Patrick was on his first mission in 
Mimster, and received baptism and benediction at the hands of 
the great apostle himself. This Fochaidh Bailldearg had a son 
Conall, who had a son Aedli Caenih, or Hugh the Comely. 

A edh Caemh, the son of Conall, had two sons, Cathal (pron : 
" Cahal") and Congal. From Congal, the younger son, descend 
the O'Neills of Clare, and the On-Foghans, or Owens. Cathal, 
the elder son of Aedh Caemh, had two sons, Torloch and 
Ailgenan. It is from this Ailgenan that the O'Mearas descend. 

Torloch, the elder son of Cathal, had a son, 3Iathghamhain, 
or Mahon ; who had a son. Core ; who had a son Lachtna (the 
ruins of whose ancient palace of Grianan Lachtna, situated 
about a mile north of Killaloe, I was, by means of the records 
of these ancient pedigrees, first enabled to identify, in the year 
1840, during the investigations of the Ordnance survey). 

Lachtna, the son of Core, had a valiant son, Lorcdn (a name 



OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 2 1 1 

now Anglicised "Lawrence"). Lorcdn had throe sons, Cinneidigli lect. x. 
or Kennedy; Cosgrach; and Bran. From Cosgrach, the second q^^^^-^ ^ 
son, descend the O'Lorcans, or Larkins ; the O'Sheehans ; the tiie O'Briens, 
CCnaimhins (now Bowens); the O'Hogans; the O'Flahei-tys ; s"unster 
the O'Gloiarns ; the O'Aingidys ; and the O'Maines. From ^^^™f' ^'•''™ 
Bran, the third son, descend the Sliocht Branfinn, in DuiFerm oudm. 
in Wexford, a clann who subsequently took, and still retain, the 
name of O'Brien. 

Cwmidigh, or Kennedy, the eldest son of Lorcdn, had twelve 
sons, four only of whom left issue — namely, Mahon, Brian, 
Donnchuan (or Doncan), and Echtighern. 

From INIahon, the eldest son of Kennedy, descend the 
O'Bolands, the O'Caseys, the OSiodhachans, the Mac Inirys, 
the O'Connallys, and the O'Tuomys, in the county of Limerick, 

From the great Brian Boroimhe, the second son of Kennedy, 
descend the O'Briens and the Mac JMahons of Clare. 

Donnchuan, tliird son of Kennedy, had five sons — namely, two 
of the name of Kennedy, Riagan, Longargan, and Ceileachair. 
From one of the two Kennedys descend the family of O' Con- 
ning (now Gunning), and from the other the family of O'Kennedy. 
From Riagan descend the O'Riagans, or O'Regans, of Clare 
and Limerick. From Longargan descend the O'Longergans, 
or Lonergans ; and from Ceileachair, the fifth son, descend the 
O Ceileachair s, or Kellehers. 

Brian Boroimhe, the second son of Kennedy, had six sons: 
MurchadJi, or Moroch, killed at the battle of Clontarf; Tadhg; 
Donnchadh, or Donoch; Domhnall, or Donnall; Conor; and 
Flami ; — but two of them only left issue, namely Tadhg, the 
eldest after Moroch, and Donoch. From Tadhg descend the 
great family of the O'Briens of Thomond ; and from Donoch, 
the O'Briens of Cuanach and Eatharlagh, in the present 
counties of Limerick and Tipperary. 

Tadhg, the eldest surviving son of Brian BoroimhS, after the 
battle of Clontarf, had a son, Torloch. Torloch had two sons, 
Muircheartach, or Mortogh, and Biarmaid, or Dermod. 

Mortoch, from whom descend the Mac Mahons of Clare, 
assiuned the monarchy of L'eland, and died in the year 1119 ; 
and the Book of Leinster brings down the genealogies of the race 
of Eber to these two brothers of the Dalcassian line, and to their 
co-descendants, the brothers Cormac and Tadhg Mac Carthy 
of the Eugenian line, both of whose names are inscribed on 
that beautiful bronze shrine of Saint Lachtin's arm, which was 
exhibited in the gi'eat Dublin Exhibition in 1853, and of wliich 
some account will be fomid in the Proceedings of the Royal 
Irish Academy (vol. v., page 461). This Cormac Mac Carthy 

14 B 



212 OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 

LECT. X. died in tlae year 1138. (And I may here observe, that by a 
' general rule, from ■which, so far as I have knowii, there is never 

tiiTo^irfeiis, any deviation, the termination of these Hnes of genealogies in 
Mmister'^ anciont Irish manuscript books marks the date of the compila- 
cianns, from tion of sucli books. But to return :) 

oiuim. Dermod, the second son of Torloch, and brother of Mortoch, 

and from whom descend the O'Brians, had a son, Torloch. 
This Torloch had a son, Donnall 3I6r O'Brian, who was king of 
Munster at the period of the Anglo-Norman invasion in 1172. 

DonnallJ/w' had a son, Donoch (Donnchadh) Cairhrech, who 
had a son Conor of Siubhdainech, who erected the great Abbey 
of Corcamroe, in which he was bvu'ied in the year 1260. 

Conor of Siubhdainech (that is, Conor of the wood of Siubh- 
dainech, in Burren, where he was killed in battle by the O'Loch- 
lainns, in the above year) had two sons, Tadhg Caeluisge, and 
Brian Ruadh, or Roe, the ancestor of the O'Brians of Ai-ra, in 
Tipperary. 

Tadhg, the eldest son of Conor, had a son Torloch, the great 
hero of the wars of Thomond ; who had a son, Murtoch ; who 
had a son, Mahon ; who had two sons, Brian and Conor ; from 
the latter of whom descend the O'Brians of Carraig Og- Conaill 
(now called " Corrig-a-gunnell"), near Limerick. 

Brian, the elder son of Mahon, and who was styled Brian of 
the battle of Nenagh, died in the year 1399. 

The Book of Ballymote, which was compiled in the year 
1391, and the Book of Lecan, wlrich was compiled in the year 
1416, bring down the O'Brian pedigree, as well as all other 
pedigrees, to this Brian of the battle of Nenagh, who died in 
1399, from where the Book of Leinster stops (that is, from the 
year 1119); and Dubhaltach Mac Firbisigh, of whose book we 
shall presently speak, continues the lines from 1399 down to 
his own time in 1664, as follows: — 

Brian of the battle of Nenagh had a son, Torloch ; who had a 
son, Tadhg, of Comhad; who had a son, Torloch ; who had two 
sons, Conor and Murchadh, or Moroch, of whom the last-named 
became the first Earl of Thomond and Baron of Inchiquin. 

Conor had a son, Donnchadh, or Donoch ; who had a son, 
Conor ; who had a son Donoch ; who had a son, Brian ; who had 
a son, Henry, seventh Earl of Thomond, hving in the year 1646, 
at wliich date Mac Firbis stops ; and from that period the line is, 
of coiu'se, preserved in many pubhc documents, as well as in local 
Irish records, to the late Marquis of Thomond, who died in 1855. 

You have heard (in a general way, indeed, for oiu- time 
allowed of no other) the evidences upon wliich such a pedigree 



OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 213 

as I have thus traced for you, may claim credence. You have lect . x. 
heard in what manner the records from which I have derived 
it were kept — legal records, whose authenticity, so far at least, I 
think, it will he in vain for the most sceptical critic to call in 
question, when he has properly examined and studied them. 
And if ancient pedigree in an unbroken Hne be indeed so 
honovu'able as modern fashion seems to insist it is, then here is a 
line of pedigree and genealogy that would do honour to the 
most dignified crowned head in the world. 

Of the Dalcassian line we find that Cormac Cas, the founder, Genealogy of 
was king of Munster about the year of our Lord 260; Aengus slansl^ar*' 
Tireach, about the year 290 ; Conall of the Swift Steeds, in 366 ; ^i^^'^^Pcorded 
Cairtliinn Finn, in 439 ; Aedh Caemh, from 571 to his death in caedhuc 
601; Lorcdn, in 910; Cinneidigh, or Kennedy, the father of ®'^^'^°^'^^' 
Brian BoroimhS, in 954; and Brian himself, from 975 to the 
year 1002, when he became monarch of all Erinn, and as 
such reigned till his death, at the battle of Clontarf, in 1014. 

The succession to the kingship of Munster was alternate be- 
tween the Eugenians and the Dalcassians ; but the former being 
the most powerful in nmnbers and in extent of territory, mo- 
nopolized the provincial rule as far as they were able. The 
line of the Dalcassians were, however, always kings or chiefs 
of Thomond in succession, and kings of the province as often 
as they had strength enough to assert their alternate right ; and 
it is a fact beyond dispute that the kindred of the late Marquis 
of Thomond hold lands at the present day which have de- 
scended to them, through an unbroken line of ancestry, for 
1600 years. Now the Dalcassians, whose genealogical line I 
have only presented to you as an example, were but one out of 
about forty different great tribes of the line of Eber, which ex- 
isted in Munster in the sixth and seventh centuries ; all and each 
of whom held separate and peculiar territories of their own, which 
were again subdivided; and in these territories every man of 
the tribe, who could prove his relationship, had a legal share. 
And as the law and the custom were the same throughout all 
Erinn, it follows almost as a matter of necessity that the gene- 
alogies and pedigrees — the only proofs of title to the tribe- 
lands — must have been kept with all the jealous care and accu- 
racy we have ascribed to the compilation of records practically 
so important. 

A most curious feature in our ancient national records, in 
connexion with these genealogies, is the information they con- 
tain concerning the manner and time at which several of the 
ancient independent tribes and families lost their inheritance and 



214 



OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 



LECT. X. independence, becoming sometimes mere rent-payers ^ some- 
times servitors in tlie free lands of their fathers, and at other 

o™the Gene- timcs Settling as strangers in other territories and provinces. 

thfPan^ienr The laws imdor which such changes coixld take place, will of 

Laws. course be explained when the work of the Brehon Law Com- 

mission is completed. Historic facts, illustrative of many of 
them, are recorded in the genealogical tracts, which in this re- 
spect also will be found to contain many important items of 
historical information not entered in any of the annals. 



Family 
names first 
introduced 
.about A.D. 
1000. 



Distinction 
between a 
Qenealogy 
aufl a 
Fedigi'&e. 



Previous to the time of the monarch Brian BoroimhS (about 
the year 1000), there was no general system of family names in 
Erinn ; but every man took the name either of his father or his 
grandfather for a surname. Brian, however, established a new 
and most convenient arrangement, namely, that families in fu- 
ture should take permanent names, either those of their imme- 
diate fathers, or of any person more remote in their line of 
pedigree. And thus Muireadhach, the son of Carthach, took 
the surname of Mac Carthaigh (now Mac Carthy); ^'■Mac^ 
being the GaedliHc for "son". Toirdhealhhagh, or Turloch, the 
grandson of Brian himself, took the surname of O'Brian, or the 
grandson of Brian, "0" being the Gaedhlic for "grandson"; 
Cathbharr, the grandson of Donnell, took the name of O'Donnell ; 
Donnell, the grandson of Niall Glundubh, took the siu-name 
of O'Neill ; Tadgh, or Teige, the grandson of Conor, took the 
name of O'Conor (of Connacht) ; Donoch, the son o£ 3IurcJiadh, 
or Miu-och, took the surname of Mac Muroch of Leinster; 
and so as to all the other families throughout the kingdom. 

The genealogists always made a distinction between a genea- 
logy and a pedigree. A Genealogy, according to them, em- 
braced the descent of a family and its relation to all the other 
families that descended from the same remote parent-stock, and 
who took a distinct tribe name, such as, for instance, the Dal- 
cassians. A Pedigree meant only the running up of the line of 
descent of any one of those families, through its various genera- 
tions, to the individual from whom the name was derived, such 
as the line of O'Brien, MacNamara, O'Quinn, etc., traced up 
again to a more remote ancestor, such as Oilioll Oluini, without 
any reference to relationship with the other families descended 
from the same remote progenitor. I have given you an ex- 
ample of a Genealogy, — that of the race of Oilioll Oluim. Now, 
the principal races are all traced in the same way in the great 
books of Genealogies. The Pedigrees of the different families 
are afterwards entered, beginning with the individual living at 



OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 215 

the time of the record, and tracing his descent backwards (from lect. x. 
son to father) iip to that ancestor, whoever he was, from whom ^ 
the name of the family was taken, and who had been ah'eady Geneiiiogies 
recorded in one of the genealogies as the ancestor of the family. booUs."^*^ 

All the Genealogies, as a general rule, are made to begin, as 
you have ah'eady heard, from the beginning of the world, or at 
least, from Noah ; and you are aware, from what I have told 
you in relation to O'Clery's " Succession of the Kings", how the 
line of Milidh, or Milesius, was traced. The great genealogical 
tracts then take i;p each province separately, and deal with all 
its tribes, one after another, just as the Dalcassians are dealt 
with in the example I have to-day given you. 

The Book of Leinster is, as you know, the second oldest of 
our existing historical MSS., the genealogical tracts in that 
book having been written into it, I may assert, about a.d. 1130. 
This tract comprises sixty closely-written pages of that cele- 
brated MS. The Book of Ballymote (a.d. 1391) contains the 
same tracts, enlaro-ed and continued. The same tracts asfain occur, 
with still further additions and continuations, in the Book of 
Lecain (a.d. 141G); and among the additions in the last named 
book, will be found a genealogy of the Ttiatha De Danann, 
the race anterior to the Milesians. I need hardly observe that, 
at the time those various books were compiled, these tracts were 
regarded as of the highest authority, as they have been ever 
since among Irish scholars and historical students; and it is 
more than probable that that in the Book of Leinster was copied 
from the Saltair of Cashel and other cotemporaneous books. 

But the fullest and most perfect of all is the immense Book Mac Firbis' 
of Genealogies, compiled m the years 1650 to 1666 (by being Genealogies, 
copied from a great number of now lost local records), by that 
Duhhaltach Mac Firhisigh^ or Duald Mac Firbis, whose cha- 
racter and works (including the present volume), as well as 
whose tragical death, I have already described to you in a 
former lecture. 

According to the plan I have observed in reference to the 
O'Clerys, I propose to make you acquainted with Mac Firbis 
himseh", as well as with his book, and the reason, as well as the 
plan, of its compilation, by reading for you, in translation, as 
much of his introduction as the remainder of our time may 
permit to day. And, I do so the more readily, because no part 
of it has yet been given to the world, and it contains an inmaense 
quantity of suggestion, of criticism, and of positive information, 
which I am particularly well pleased to be able to lay before 
you, upon the foundation of so venerable and learned an 
authoritv. [See the original of this Introduction in the Ap- 
pendix,"'No. LXXXYIL] 



216 OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 

LECT. VII. Mac Firbis begins with the title of his book, which is expla- 
, , natory of its contents, as the title pages of books in the seven- 
liook of teenth century generally were : — 

Geneaiogus. ^ 'Y\\Q kincbcd and genealogical branches of every colony 
that took possession of Erinn from the present time back up 
to Adam (the Fomorians, the Lochlanns, and the Sax-Normans 
excepted, only as far as they are connected with the history of 
our comitry), together wdth the genealogies of the saints, and the 
succession of the kings of Ireland. And, lastly, a table of con- 
tents, in which are arranged, in alphabetical order, the sur- 
names and the noted places which are mentioned in this book ; 
which was compiled by Dubhaltach Mac Firhisigh of Lecain, 
in the year 1650". 

The author then continues : — 

" Although the above is the more usual manner of giving 
titles (to books) in these times, yet we shall not depart from the 
paths of our ancestors, the old pleasant Irish custom, for it is the 
plainest, as follows : — 

" The place, time, author, and cause of writing this book, 
are : Its place is the College of Saint Nicholas, in Gal way ; its 
time is the tune of the religious war between the Cathohcs of 
Ireland and the heretics of Ireland, Scotland, and England, and, 
particularly, the year of the age of Christ, 1650. The author 
of it is Dubhaltach, the son of Gilla Isa Mor Mac Firhisigh, 
historian, etc., of Lecain Mic Firhisigh, in Tu-eragh of the 
jNloy ; and the cause of writmg the same book is to magnify 
the glory of God, and to give knowledge to all men in general. 

" It may happen that some one may be surprised at this 
work, because of the copiousness of the pedigrees that appear 
in it, and of the hundreds of famiHes that are coimted m it, up 
to Adam, in the order of their relation to one another. Because 
I myself hear people saying that the pedigrees of the Gaedhils 
cannot be brought thus to their origin. Whatever is their 
reason for saying this, we might give it an answer, if we thought 
it worth wliile, but that is not our present object, but to show 
the truth, on the authority of ancient writings, of learned elders, 
old saints, and the highest seanachies or historians of Erinn, 
from the beginning of time to this day. This is a thing of 
which there can be no doubt ; for it is a common and true say- 
ing, in the ancient and pure Gaedlilic Books of Erinn, showing 
the classes who preserved their history. Thus do they say : If 
there be any one who shall ask who preserved the history 
\Seanchus'\, let him know that they were very ancient and 
long lived old men, recording elders of great age, whom God 
permitted to preserve and hand down the history of Erinn, in 



OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 217 

books, in succession, one after another, from the Dehige to the lect. x. 
time of Saint Patrick (who came in the fourth year of Laegli- ^^^^ p.^^.^, 
aire Mac Neill), and Coluin Cille, and Comhgall o£ Bemi-chair Book of 
[Bangor], and Finnen of Clonard, and the other saints of Erinn ; ^^'^^ °^'^*" 
which [liistory] was written on their knees, in books, and which 
[liistory] is now on the altars of the saints, in their houses of 
writings [libraries], in the hands of sages and liistorians, from 
that time for ever. 

*' So far doth the foregoing say, but it is more at large in the 
Leahhar Gahhala; and that is a book that ought to be sufficient 
to confirm this fact. Besides that, here, in particular, are the 
names of the authors of the liistory and the other poetry [literary 
productions] of Erinn, who came with the different colonists, 
taken on the authority of very ancient writings, which set them 
down thus : — 

'■'• Bacorhladhi'a was the first teacher of Erinn, and Ollamh 
to Partholan. 

" Figma, the poet and historian of the Clanna-Nemheidh. 

^'■Fathach, the poet of the Firbolgs, who related history, 
poetry, and stories to them. 

" Cairbre, Aoi, and -5j]dan, were the poets of the Tuatlia DS 
Danann, for history, poems, and stories. And besides that, 
the greater pai"t of the nobles (or higher classes) of the Tuatlia 
De Danann were full of learning and of druidism. 

" The Gaedliils, too, were not a people that were without 
preservers of then- history in all parts through which they passed : 
because Fenias Farsaidh, their ancestor, was a prime author in 
all the languages ; and it is not to be wondered at that he sho\ild 
know his own history. So it was with Nel, the son of Fenias, 
in Egypt, [who was invited by Pharoah]. So Caicher, the druid, 
in Scythia and in Getulia, and between them (Egypt and Ge- 
tulia), where he foretold that they would come to Erinn. So Mi- 
lesius of Spain, who was named Golam, after going out of Spain 
into Scythia, and from that to Egypt, and parties of his people 
learned the chief arts in it (Egypt) : that is, Seudga, Suirge, and 
Sobairce, in the arts; Mantdn, Falman, Caicher, in druidism; 
tliree more of them were just judging judges, that is, Gostin, 
Amergin^dindi Donn; Amergin Glungealthe son o^JS^iid, Caeham, 
and Cir the son of Cis, were the three poets of the Milesians ; 
Amergin and Caeham, were poets, brehons, historians, and 
story-tellers ; Cir, the son of Cis, was a poet and a story-teller 
[but not a historian] ; Onna was the musician and harper of 
the Milesians, as given in the Book of Invasions, in the poem 
beginning, ' The tw^o sons of Mileadh [Milesius] , of honourable 
arts' 



Mac Firbls' 



218 OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 

" The sons of Ugaine M&r^ were, some of tKem, full of learn- 
ing, as is evident from RoighnS Mosgadach, tlie son of Ugaine, 

Book of"'* wlio was the author of many ancient law maxims. 

Genealogies. u QUamh FodJila, the king of Erinn, who was so called from 
the extent of his Ollamh learning ; for Eochaidli was his first 
name. It was he that made the first Feis of Tara, which was 
the great convocation of the men of Erinn, and which Avas con- 
tinued by the kings of Erinn from that down, every third year, 
to preserve the laws and rules, and to pmify the history of 
Erinn, and to write it in the Saltair [or psalter] of Tara, that 
is, the Book of the A^^d Righ [chief king or monarch] of Erinn. 
*' Would not this alone be sufiicient to preserve the history of 
any kingdom, no matter how extensive ? But it is not that they 
were trusting to this alone; for it is not recorded that there 
came any race into Ireland, who had not learned men to pre- 
serve their history. 

" At one time, in the time of Conor Mac Nessa, there were 
1200 poets in one company; another time 1000; another time 
700, as was the case in the time of Aedh Mac Aininire [Hugh, 
the son of Ainmire] and Colum Cille; and besides, in every 
time, between these periods, Erinn always thought that she had 
more of learned men in her than she wanted ; so that, from their 
numbers and their pressure [that is, the tax their support made 
necessary upon the people], it was attempted to banish them out 
of Erinn on three difl^erent occasions, mitil they were detained by 
the Ultonians for hospitality sake. This is evident in the Amhra 
Cholum Chille, who \_Colum CilU^ was the last that kept them 
in Ireland ; and Colum Cille distributed a poet to every territory, 
and a poet to every king, in order to lighten the burden on the 
people in general ; so that there were people in their following 
[that is, keeping ixp the succession of the ancient professors of 
poetry], contemporary with every generation, to preserve the his- 
tory and events of the country at this time. Not these alone, 
but the kings and saints, and churches of Erinn, as I have already 
stated, preserved the history in like manner. 

'■'■ FerceirtnS, the poet; Seancha, the son oiAilell; NeidS, the 
son of^4(^7ina; and J^f//ma himself, the son of Uither ; Morann, 
sonof Jiaon; yl ^AaiVne, the poet; Cormac Ua Cuinn [grandson 
of Conn] , Cliief King of Erinn ; Cormac Mac Cinlennain, King 
of Munster; Flann Mainistreach; Eochaidh OTlinn; Gilla 
na Naemh ODuinn, etc. Why should I be enumerating them, 
for they cannot be coimted without writing a large book of their 
names, and not to give but the titles of the tracts, alone, which 
they wrote, as we have done before now. However, these men 
preserved the history until latter times, say about 500 or 600 



OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 219 

years ago, that is, to the time of Brian BoroimM. About that lect. x. 
time was settled the greater number of the family names of ^^^^ ^ , 
Erinn ; and certain families chose or were ordered to be jjro- Book of 
fessors of history and other arts at that time, some of them be- ^^^"^ °^''^^' 
fore, and some after that time. So that they remain in the 
countries of Erinn, with the chiefs all round, for the purpose of 
writing their genealogies, and history, and annals ; and to com- 
pose noble poems on these histories, also ; and also to preserve 
and to teach every instruction that is difficult or obscure in 
Gaedhlic, that is, to teach the reading of the ancient writings. 

" Here follow the names of a number of these historians, 
and the territories, and the noble families for whom they 
speak in those latter times. The O'Mulchonries, with the 
Siol Murray (O'Connors) round Cruachain ; another portion of 
them in Thomond ; another portion in Leinster ; and another 
portion of them in Annally (Longford, O'Ferrall's country). 
The Clann Firbisigh, in Lower Connacht, and in Ihh Fiachrach 
Moy ; and in Ihh Amlialgliaidh ; and in Cearra (county Sligo), 
and Ibli Fiachrach Aidhne, and in Eachtga; and with the race 
of Colla Uais (the Mac Donnells of Antrim) ; the O'Duigenans, 
with the Clann Maolruanaidh (]\Iac Dennetts, Mac Donachs, 
etc.) ; and with the Conmaicne Maigh rein. The O'Curnins, 
with the O'Ruarcs, etc. ; the O'Diigans, with the O'Kellys of 
Ibh Mainh ; the O'Clerys and the O'Cananns, with the Cinel 
Conaill m Donegall ; the O'Luin'ms, in Fermanagh ; the O'Cler- 
cins, with the Cinel Eoghain (Tyi'one) ; the O'Duinfns, cliiefly 
in Munster, i. e., with the race of Eoghan Mor (the M'Carthys, 
etc.) ; the Mac an Ghobhcn (a name now Anglicised " Smith"), 
with the O'Kennedys of Ormond; the O'Riordans, with the 
O'Carrolls and others, of Ely ; the Mac Curtins and Mac Bro- 
dies, in Thomond; the Mac-Gilli-Kellys, in west Connacht, 
with the OTlaherties, etc. And so there were other families in 
Ireland of the same profession ; and it was obligatory on every 
one of them who followed it, to purify the profession [i.e., to 
drive out of it every improprietyj. 

" Along with these, the Judges of Banhha used to be in 
like manner preserving the history ; for a man could not be a 
Judge without being an liistorian ; and he is not an historian 
without being a Judge in the Brethibh Nhnhedh, that is the 
last Books of the works [study] of the Seanchaidhe [Seanchies] 
or historians, and of the Judges themselves 

" According to these truthful words, we believe that hence- 
forth no wise person will be found who will not acknowledge 
that it is feasible to bring the genealogies of the Gaedhils to 
their origin, to Noah and to Adam ; and if he does not believe 



220 OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 

that, may lie not believe tliat lie himself is the son of his own 
father. For there is no error in the genealogical history, but 
as it was left from father to son in succession, one after another. 

"Surely every one believes the Divine Scriptures, which give 
a similar genealogy to the men of the world, from Adam down 
to Noah ; and the genealogy of Christ and of the holy fathers, 
as may be seen in the Church [writings]. Let him believe 
this, or let him deny God. And if he does believe this, why 
should he not believe another history, of which there has been 
truthful preservation, Hke the history of Erinn ? I say tru.thful 
preservation, for it is not only that they [the preservers of it] 
were very numerous, as we said, preserving the same, but 
there was an order and a law with them and uj)on them, out of 
which they could not, without great injury, tell lies or false- 
hoods, as may be seen in the Books of Fenechas [Law] of 
Fodhla [Erinn], and in the degrees of the poets themselves, 
their order, and their laws. For there was not m Erinn (until 
the country was confounded) a laity [of a territory] , nor a clergy 
of a chvu'ch, on whom there was not some particular order [lay 
or ecclesiastical], which are called Gradha [or Degrees]. And 
it was obligatory on them to maintain the laws of these degrees, 
under the pain or penalty of fine, and the loss of their dignity 
[and privileges], as we have written in oiu" Fenechas [Law] 
Vocabulary, which speaks at length of these laws, and of the 
laws of the Gaedliils in general. 

" The historians of Erinn, in the ancient times, will scarcely 
be distinguished from the Feinigh, [or story-tellers,] and those 
who are called Aos ddna [or poets] at this day; for it was at 
one school often that they were educated, all the learned of Erinn. 
And the way that they were divided was into seven degrees : 
OUamh, Anrad, Cli, Cana, Dos, Macfidrmid, Foclog, were the 
names of the seven degrees, like the ecclesiastical degrees, such 
as priest, deacon, sub-deacon, etc. The Order of Poets, was, 
among its other laws, obHged to be pure and free from theft 
and killing, and of satirizing, and of adultery, and of every 
thing that would be a reproach to their learning, as it is found 
in this rann (or verse) : — 

" Purity of hand, bright without wounding, 
Purity of mouth, without poisonous satire, 
Pmity of learning, without reproach. 
Purity of ' husbandship' [or marriage] . 

" Any Seanchaidhe, then, whether an OUamh, an Anrad, or 
of any other degree of them, who did not preserve these puri- 
ties, lost half his income and his dignity, according to law, 



OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 221 

and was subject to heavy penalties beside ; therefore, It Is not to lect. x . 
be supposed that there is in the world a person who would not ^^^^ p.^.^.^, 
prefer to tell the truth, if he had no other reason than the fear Book of 
of God and the loss of his dignity and his income ; and it is not 
becoming to charge partiahty upon these selected historians of 
the nation. However, if unworthy people wrote falsehood, 
and charged it to an historian, it might become a reproach to 
the order of historians, if they were not gtiarded, and did not 
look for it, to see whether it was in their prime books of 
authority that those writers obtained their knowledge. And 
that is what is proper to be done by every one, both the lay 
scholar and the professional liistorian; every thing of which 
they have a suspicion, to look for it, and if they do not find it 
confirmed in good books, to note down its doubtfulness along 
with it, as I myself do to certain races hereafter in this book : 
and it is thus that the historians are freed from the errors of 
Other parties, should these be cast upon them, which God 
forbid. 

" The historians were so anxious and ardent to preserve the 
history of Erinn, that the descriptions of the nobleness and dig- 
nified manners of the people, which they have left us, however 
copious they may be, should not be wondered at ; for they did 
not refrain from writing even of the undignified artizans, and of 
the professors of the healing and building arts of the ancient 
times, — as shall be shown below, to show the fidelity of the his- 
torians and the error of those who make such assertions as [for 
instance] that there were no stone buildings in Erinn mitil the 
coming of the Danes and Anglo-Normans into it. 

" Thus saith an ancient authority : The first doctor, the first 
builder, and the first fisherman, that were ever in Erinn, were : — 

" ^Capa, for the healing of the sick, 
In his time was all-powerful ; 
And Luasad, the cunning builder, 
And LaighnS, the fisherman. 

" Eaba,the female physician who accompanied the lady Ceasair 
into Erinn, was the second doctor; Slanga, the son oi Partliolan, 
was the third doctor that came into Erinn (with Partholan) ; and 
Fergna, the grandson of Crithinhel, was the fourth doctor who 
came into Erinn (with Nemed). The doctors of the Firbolgs 
were, Dubhda DidJdosach, Codan Corinchisnech, and Fingin 
Fisiocdha, Maine, the son of Gressach, andAongus Antemmach. 
The doctors of the Tuatha De Danann were, Dianceaht, Air- 
medh, Miach, etc. 

" Of ancient builders, the following are the names of a few, who 



222 



OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 



Mac Firbis' 
Book of 
Genealogies. 



were styled the builders of tlie chief stone edifices (of the world) : 
" Ailian was Solomon's stone-builder; Cabur was the stone- 
builder of Tara ; Barnab was the stone-builder of Jerico ; Bacus 
was the rath-builder of Nimrod ; Cicloin, or Cidoim, was Curoi 
{Mac Dairy's) stone-builder ; Cir was the stone-builder of Rome ; 
Arond was the stone-builder of Jerusalem ; Oilen was the stone- 
builder of Constantinople ; Bole, the son of Blar, was the rath- 
builder of Cruachain; Goll, of Clochar, was stone-builder to 
Nadfraich [king of Munster at the close of the fourth century] ; 
Casruba was the stone-builder of Ailiac [A ilinn ?~\ ; Ringin, or 
Rigj'in, and Gabhlan, the son of Ua Gairbh, were the stone- 
builders oi Aileach; Troighleathan was the rath-builder of Tara; 
Bainche, or Bainchne, the son of Dobru, was the rath-builder of 
Emania ; Balur, the son of Buanlamh, was the builder of Rath 
BreisS; Oricil, the son of Dubhchruit, was the builder of the 
Rath o? Ailin7i. 

[This list of names is repeated here in verse by Donnell, the 
son of Flannacan, king of Fer-li (?), about the year 1000]. 

" We could find a countless number of the ancient edifices of 
Erinn to name besides these above, and the builders who 
erected them, and the kings and noble chiefs for whom they 
were built, but that they would be too tedious to mention here. 
Look at the Book of Conquests if you wish to discover them ; 
and we have evidence of their having been built like the edifices 
of other kingdoms of the times in which they were built ; — and 
why should they not ? for there came no colony into Erinn but 
from the eastern world, as from Spain, -etc. ; and it would be 
strange if such deficiency of intellect should mark the parties 
who came into Ireland, since they had the courage to seek and 
take the coimtry, as that they should not have the sense to form 
their residences and dwellings after the manner of the countries 
from which they originally went forth, or through which they 
travelled ; for it is not possible that they were not acquainted 
with the style of buildings of the greater part of Europe, after 
having passed through such travels as they did — from Scythia, 
from Egypt, from Greece and Athens, from Felesdine [sic; qu. 
for Palestine?] from Spain, etc., into Erinn. 

" And if those colonists of ancient Erinn erected buildings 
in the country similar to those of the countries through which 
they came, as it is likely they did, what is the reason that the 
fact is doubted? There is no reason, but because there are not 
lime-built walls standing in the places where they were erected, 
fifteen hundred, two thousand, or three thousand years ago; 
when it is no wonder that there are not, since, in much shorter 
spaces of time than these, the land grows over buildings, when 



OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 223 

once tliey are broken down, or fall of tlieir own accord, from lect. x. 

OI^H^''- r. P ,. Ti ir -Til • MacFirW 

" In prooi 01 tins, i have myseli seen, witnm the last sixteen Book of 
years, lofty lime-built castles, built of lime-stone ; and at this day, ^^^^ °^^^^' 
after they have fallen, there remains nothing of them but an 
earthen mound to mark their sites, nor could even the anti- 
quarians easily discover that any edifices had ever stood there 
at all. 

" Compare these to the buildings which were erected hun- 
dreds and thousands of years ago, one with another ; and it is 
no wonder, should this be done, except for the superiority of 
the ancient building over the modern, that not a stone, nor an 
elevation of the ground should mark their situation. Such, 
however, is not the case, for, such is the stabihty of the old build- 
ings, that there are immense royal raths [or palaces] and forts 
[^Lios] throughout Erinn, in which there are numerous hewn 
and polished stones, and cellars and apartments under ground, 
within their walls; such as there are in Rath Maoilcatha, in 
Castle Conor, and in Bally O'Dowda, in Tireragh, on the banks 
of the Moy. There are nine smooth stone cellars under the 
walls of this rath ; and I have been inside it, and I think it is 
one of the oldest raths in Erinn ; and its walls are of the height 
of a good cow-keep still. I leave this, however, and many 
other things of the kind, to the learned to discuss, and I shall 
return to my first intention, namely, the defence of the fidehty 
of our history, to which the ignorant do an additional injustice, 
by saying that it carries [the genealogies of all] the men of 
Erinn up to the sons of Mi'esius. 

" They will acknowledge their own falsehood in this matter, if 
they will but see the number of alien races which are given in 
this book alone, which are not carried up to the sons of Mile- 
sius, as may be seen in several places in the body of the book, 
and let them compare them with one another. 

" Here, too, is the distinction Avhich the profound historians 
draw between the tliree diiFerent races which are in Erinn — 
that is, between the descendants of the Firbolgs, Fir Domh- 
nanns and GaiUu7is, and the Tuatha De Danann^ and the 
IMilesians. 

" Every one who is white [of skin], brown [of hair], bold, 
honourable, daring, prosperous, bountiful in the bestowal of 
property, wealth, and rings, and who is not afraid of battle or 
combat ; they are the descendants of the sons of Milesius, in 
Erinn. 

"Every one wlio is fair-haired, vengeful, large; and every 
plunderer ; every musical person ; the professors of musical and 



224 OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 

LECT. X. entertaining performances ; who are adepts in all Dniidical and 
„ -,. ,. , magical arts ; they are the descendants of the Tuatlia DS 

M.ac tirbis _^ o , ' . -^ 

Book of JJanann, m iirmn. 

Genealogies, „ Every One who is black-haired, who is a tattler, guileful, 
tale-telhng, noisy, contemptible ; every wretched, mean, stroll- 
ing, unsteady, harsh, and inhospitable person; every slave, 
every mean thief, every churl, every one who loves not to listen 
to music and entertainment, the disturbers of every council and 
every assembly, and the promoters of discord among people, 
these are the descendants of the Firbolgs, of the Gailiuns, of 
Liogairne, and of the Fh' DomJmanns, in Erinn. But, however, 
the descendants of the Firbolgs are the most numerous of all these. 
[This is summed up in verse here, but we pass it for the 
present.] 

" This is taken from an old book. However, that it is possible 
to identify a race by their personal appearance and their dis- 
positions I do not take upon myself positively to say ; though it 
may have been true in the ancient times, until the races subse- 
quently became repeatedly intermixed. For we daily see, in our 
own time, and we often hear it from our old people, a simihtude 
of people, a similitude of form, character, and names, in some 
.families in Erinn, with others ; and not only is this so, but it is 
said that the people of every country have a resemblance to 
each other, and that they all have some one peculiar character- 
istic by which they are known, as may be understood from this 
poem : — 

" For building, the noble Jews are found, f 
And for truly fierce envy ; 
For size, the guileless Armenians, 
And for firmness, the Saracens ; 
For acLiteness and valour, the Greeks ; 
For excessive pride, the Romans ; 
For dullness, the creeping Saxons ; 
For haughtiness, the Spaniards ; 
For covetousness and revenge, the French ; 
And for anger, the true Britons. — 
Such is the true knowledge of the trees. — 
For gluttony, the Danes, and for commerce ; 
For high spirit the Picts are not unknown ; 
And for beauty and amourousness, the Gajdhils ; — 
As Giolla-na-naemh says in verse, 
A fair and pleasing composition. 

" We believe that it is more likely to find the resemblance in 
Erinn (than anywhere else), because there is a law in the 



OB THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 225 

Seanchas Mor, ordered by St. Patrick, wliich says, that if it lect. x. 
should happen that a woman knew two men, at the time of her ., „. .. , 
conception, — so that she could not know which ot tnem was the Book of 
father of the child begotten at that time, — the law says, if the "^"^^ °^'^*' 
child cannot be af&liated on the trvie father by any other mode, 
that he is to be borne with for three years, imtil he shall be- 
tray family likeness, family voice, and family disposition ; and 
the woman was thus assisted to identify him as the father to 
whom these characteristics bore the closest resemblance ; as it is 
supposed that it is to liim whom he the more resembles he 
belongs. And as this has been laid down in St. Patrick's law, 
it is no wonder that it should be a remarkable distinction of 
some families more than others. And though it may not be 
found true in all cases, there is nothing inconsistent with reason 
in it. And, further, it is an argument against the people who 
say that there is no family in this country which the genealo- 
gists do not trace up to the sons of Milesius. And notmthstand- 
ing this, even though it were so, it would be no wonder ; for, if 
a man will look at the sons of Milesius, and the great families 
that sprmig from them in Erinn and in Scotland, and how few 
of them exist at this day, he will not wonder that people inferior 
to them, who had been a long time mider them, should not ex- 
ist ; for it is the custom of the nobles, when their own children 
and famihes multiply, to suppress, blight, and exterminate their 
farmers and followers., 

" Examine Erinn and the whole world, and there is no end 
to the number of examples of this kind to be found ; so that it 
would be no wonder that the number of genealogies which are 
in Erinn at this day were earned up to Milesius. 

" It having been the custom of the genealogists to give dis- 
tinct names of books according to their variety, to the [tracts 
which relate to the] Gaedliils, who alone were the particular 
objects of their care ; such as the Book of Connacht, the Book 
of Ulster, the Book of Leinster, and the Book of Munster, I 
shall, in like manner, divide and classify this book. I will di- 
vide it into different books, according to the nmnber of the con- 
quests of Erinn before the Gaedhils, and according to the number 
of the three sons of Milesius of Spain, who took the sovereignty 
of Erinn ; a book for the saints, and a book for the Fomorians, 
Lochlanns or Danes, and the Normans, and Anglo-Normans, 
old and new, after them. 

" I shall devote the first book to Partholcm, who first took 
possession of Erinn after the Deluge, devoting the beginning 
of it to the comiiifj of the lady Ceasair, as they are not worth 

^ 15 



226 OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 

LECT. X. dividing ; tlie second, to Nemed ; tlie tliird, to tlie Firbolgs ; 

. , tlie fourth, to the Tuatha De Danann; the fifth, to the Gaedhils, 

Book of and all the sons of Milesius, though it is only of the race of 

Genealogies, j^^j-^^^qj^ \i treats, till they are finished ; and this book is larger 

than seven books of the old division, because it contains more 

than they did, and it is more copious than ever it [that is, than 

ever this branch of the Gaedhlic genealogies] was before. The 

sixth book, to the race of /;•, and the Dal Flatach; these are 

also of the race of Eremon, and occupants of the same country 

of Ulster for a long time. The seventh book, to the race of 

JEber, and the descendants of Lughaidh, the son of Ith; for 

Munster is the original country of both. The eighth book, to 

the saints of Erinn. The ninth and last book, to the Fomo- 

rians, the Lochlanns, and the Normans. 

" As to the arrangement of our book — O reader ! if you 
are not pleased with placing the younger before the elder, I do 
not deny that you will often find it so in it, from Fenias Far- 
saidh down. Behold the sons of Fenias himself : that JViul, the 
younger, has been from the beginning spoken of with pre- 
ference by the historians, wliile Naenbal, the elder, is little 
spoken of. 

" Eremon, too, the son of Milesius, is placed in it before the 
rest of the sons of Milesius, who were older than him; and 
there is no computing the number of such cases contained in it, 
down to the latter families which we have at this day. 

" See how the historians of Munster place the Mac Carthys 
before the O'Sulhvans, who are their seniors in descent, and 
the O'Briens before their seniors the Mac Malions. 

" Other books of the northern half of Erinn, as well as 
Doctor Keting, place Niall of the Nine Hostages, and his de- 
scendants, though junior, before the rest of his brothers, his 
seniors. 

" See how Duach Galacli, the youngest son of Brian, took 
precedence of the other three-and-twenty sons, his seniors. 

" The historians of the Siol Muiredhaigh, place the O'Conors 
(of Connacht) before their seniors. 

" The UHdians place 3Iac AongJmsa (or Magenis), of the 
race of Concdl Cearnach, before the descendants of Conor, the 
king, because Conall's descendants were the more distinguished ; 
and it was the same as regarded many other families, which it 
would be tedious to enumerate. And if these are allowed to 
be proper, why not 1 have a right to follow the same course ? 

" And further, should any one suppose that this is an ar- 
bitrary proceeding, I can assm'e him it is not ; and that very 
often it cannot be avoided, where the descent of many tribes 



OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 227 

and races has become complicated ; so that, in order to separate lect. x 
them, it is often found necessary to pass over the senior, and ,, „. . . , 
write oi the jmiior tirst, and then to return to tne senior again. Book of 

"Understand, moreover, O reader! that it was a law in ®'^*^'^ "t^'^*' 
Erinn to raise the jmiior sometimes to the chiefship, in prefer- 
ence to the senior, as the following Rule of Law, taken from 
the Seanchas Mar, and from the Fenechas in common, says: 
' The senior to the tribe, the powerful to the chiefship, the wise 
to the Church'. That is, the senior person of the tribe is to be 
put at the head of that tribe or family, alone ; the man who has 
most supporters and power, if he be equally noble with his 
senior, to be placed in the chiefship or lordship ; and the wisest 
man to be raised to the supreme rule of the Church. 

" However, if the senior be the more wealthy and powerful, 
or if there be no junior of more wealth and power than him, 
according to the law, then he takes the chiefship. This, how- 
ever, is the same as what has been already said. 

" There is a common verse, which is repeated, to prove that 
it is lawful that an eligible junior ought to be elevated to the 
sovereignty, in preference to any number of his seniors, who 
were deficient in the lawful requirements. 

' Though there be nine in the line. 
Between a good son and the sovereignty, 
It is the right and proper rule 
That he be forthwith inaugurated'. 

" And it is, therefore, sometimes proper that the junior be 
elevated to the sovereignty. Why, then, if one should choose it, 
that he should not be placed at the beginning of a book ? And, 
besides, it would be an unbecoming arrangement to place the 
most important of the guests at the foot of the table, while all 
the rest, even though they were his elder brothers, were placed 
at the head, when they are not kings. 

" See, too, how the ignoble of descent are now placed in high 
positions in Erinn, in preference to the nobles, because they 
possess worldly wealth, which is more to be wondered at than 
the above ; and it is a far greater insult to the native nobles of 
Erinn than any arrangement of their genealogies which we may 
happen to make, particularly as we receive no remuneration 
from any one of them. I pray them, therefore, to excuse their 
devoted servant Dubhaltach Mac Firhisigli\ 

I have stated, in a former lecture, that the autograph of Mac 
Firhisiglis Book, which is written on paper, is in the possession 
of the Earl of Roden, and that I made a fac-simile copy of it 

15 B 



228 OF THE BOOKS OF GENEALOGIES AND PEDIGREES. 

LECT. X. for the Royal Irish Academy, in the year 1836. I have only 

^ . to add, as before, with respect to the other books, a calcvxlation 

Book of of the extent of the Gsedlihc text of this book, estimated, as before, 

Genealogies. -^ reference to the size of the pages of O'Donovan's Annals of 

the Four Masters, supposing the Irish text alone were printed 

at full length, that it would make about 1300 pages. 



You will now, I think, be able to comprehend why it is that 
I have attached so much importance to the genealogical tracts ; 
and you, perhaps, already feel Avith me that by the future liisto- 
rian these great records will not be foimd less valuable than any 
of the annals themselves, to the accuracy of which they supply 
a check so invaluable in the comparison of historical materials. 
The last, the most perfect, and the greatest of these works is Mac 
Firbis's vast collection. 

Mac Firbis found the great lines and general ramifications of 
the Gaedhlic genealogies, already brought down, in the Books of 
Leinster, Ballymote, and Lecan, to the beginning of the fifteenth 
century. These he continued down to his own time, from a.d. 
1650 to 1666, with most important additions, collected evi- 
dently from various local records and private family documents, 
as well as from the State Papers in the pubhc offices in Dublin, 
to which he seems to have had access, probably through the in- 
fluence of Sir James Ware. 

His book is, perhaps, the greatest national genealogical com- 
pilation in the world ; and when we remember his great age at 
the time of its compilation, and that he neither received nor ex- 
pected reward from any one, — that he wrote his book (as he 
himself says), simply for the enlightenment of his countrymen, 
the honour of his country, and the glory of God, — we cannot 
but feel admiration for his enthusiasm and piety, and venera- 
tion for the man who determined to close liis life by bequeath- 
ing this precious legacy to his native land. 



LECTURE XL 

[Delivered June 19, 1856.] 

Of the existing pieces of detailed History in tlie Gaedhlic Language. The History 
of the Origin of tlie Boromean Tribute. The History of the Wars of tlie 
Danes andl;he Gaedhils. Tlie History of the Wars of Thomond. The "Book 
of Munster". Of the Historic Tales appointed to be recited by the Poets and 
Ollamhs. Of the legal education of the Ollamh. The Historic Tales, 
with Examples. 1. Of the Cff<A«, or Battles. The " Battle of Ma^A Tai- 
readh". The " Battle of Mdgh Tliireadh of the Fomorians". 

In the previous part of tliis course, we have already disposed of 
the series of the Annals, the foundation of our yet unwritten 
history. Yovi have also heard something of the general contents 
of the great books of Gaedhlic manuscripts still preserved, and 
I have endeavoured to give you some idea of the extent of these 
great remains of our ancient literature. Before I proceed to 
give an account of the compositions I have termed Historic 
Tales, in which so vast a body of information is to be found as 
to the details of isolated occurrences, and the life and exploits 
of particular historic personages, I have still to introduce to 
your notice a few works of a yet more important character. 
When I explained to you the nature of the meagre entries of 
which the earlier Annals fur the most part consist, I told you 
that the intention of their compilers was confined to a record of 
mere dates of the more remarkable historical events, and of the 
succession and deaths of the Chiefs, Kings, Bishops, and Saints. 
They omitted the details of the events thus recorded, and of the 
lives of the sages and rulers of Erinn in these general annals, 
because such details formed the subject of compositions of an- 
other kind. There were many extensive local histories regu- 
larly kept, and many enlarged accounts of important historical 
events, which filled up what was wanted in the general annals. 
Of those systematic historical compositions, embracing accounts 
of events extending over a considerable nvmiber of years or ge- 
nerations, many are known to have existed, but a few only have 
come down to us. These few are, however, tracts so much 
larger in extent, and so much more ambitious in their aim, than 
the pieces I have classed under the name of Historic Tales, that 
they demand our notice in somewhat greater detail. And as 
they rank in importance next to the Annals and the great Books 



LECT. XI. 



Of the 



230 OF THE EXISTING OLD MS. HISTORIES. 

of Genealogy tliemselves, it is to these pieces that I have now 
to direct your attention. These larger tracts, then, of which I 
existhig old am about to speak, are those which may be distinguished from 
torie?\t the the smaller pieces, recording only isolated events, exploits, and 
lan'^'ua'c battles, in so far as they form connected narratives of the history 
of the whole country, or of some large portion of it, throughout 
a series of years. They may, therefore, be considered as comj)lete 
pieces of history so far as they go, and were, no doubt, intended 
to form a portion of the full and complete history of the country, 
of which the Annals embrace but the meagre outhne. 

onhe or°-^^ '^^^^ ^^'^* °^ t^^^^ ^^^^^ °^ pieces to which I shall call your at- 
iGiN OF THE tention, is one covering a considerable space of time, and chiefly, 
tkibutk. if not entirely, within the acknowledged historic period. It is 
the remarkable history which gives an account of the Origin of 
the BoROMEAN Tribute, so long the source of such fierce in- 
ternal warfare among the princes of Eiinn ; and which details 
the chief contests, battles, and social broils to which that tribute 
gave rise, from the period of its imposition in the first century, 
to its final remission in the seventh. 

About the middle of the first century, the mere rent-payers 
and unprivileged classes of Erinn, the Aitheach TuatJia (a word 
incorrectly Anglicised " Attacots"), rose up against their lords, 
and by a sudden rebellion succeeded in overthrowing their power, 
and even in destroying the chief part of the nobility, together 
with the monarch Fiacha, in whose stead they placed their own 
leader, CairbrS Cinn-Cait [Carbry Cat-head], on the throne. 
Cairhre reigned five years, and was succeeded by Elim Mac 
Conrach, one of the Rudrician race. This EKm reigned over 
Erinn for twenty years, after which he was at last slain at the 
battle o£ Acaill (a place now known as the hill of Skreen, near 
Tara) by Tuathal Teachtmar, son of the former or legitimate 
monarch Fiaclia. Tuathal assumed the sovereignty with the 
hearty good will of the majority of the people, who were tired 
out by the inability of the usurping ruler to govern the nation 
in peace and order. He immediately set about consolidating his 
power, by reducing to obedience all such chiefs as remained still 
favourable to the revolutionary cause; and, having fully suc- 
ceeded in accomplishing this work, he formally received at last 
the solemn allegiance of his subjects, and sat down in full power 
and honour in the palace of the kings at Tara. 

Tuathal had, at this time, two beautiful marriageable daugh- 
ters, named Fithir and Dairine. Eochaidh Aincheann, the king 
of Leinster, sought and obtained the hand of the younger 
daughter i>amn(^, and, after their nuptials, carried her home to 



OF THE EXISTING OLD MS. HISTORIES 231 

his palace at Naas, in Leinster. Some time afterwards his peo- lect. xi. 
pie persuaded him that he had made a bad selection, and that ,^^_^^ History 
the elder was the better of the tvfo sisters, upon which Eocliaidh of the ok- 
resolved by a stratagem to obtain the other daughter too. For iim;oMEAs 
this pm-pose, he shut up his young queen in a secret chamber of '^'•"'"■'^• 
his palace, at the same time giving out that she was dead ; after 
which he repaired to Tara, told the monarch Tuathal that 
Dairine was dead, and expressed his great anxiety to continue 
the alHance by espousing the other daughter. To this Tuathal 
gave his consent, and Eocliaidh returned again to his own court 
with a new bride. 

After some time the injured lady, DairinS, contrived to 
make her escape from her confinement, and quite unexpectedly 
made her appearance in the presence of her faithless husband 
and his new wife. The deceived sister, on seeing her alive 
and well, for the first time knew how falsely both had been 
dealt with, and, struck with horror, disgust, and shame, fell 
dead on the spot. Dairine was no less aifected by the treachery 
of her husband and the death of her sister ; she returned to her 
solitary chamber, and in a short time died of a broken heart. 

The monarch Tuathal having heard of the insult put upon 
his two daughters, and their untimely death, forthwith raised a 
powerful force, marched into Leinster, burned and ravaged the 
whole province to its uttermost boundaries, and then compelled 
the king and his people to bind themselves and their descendants 
for ever to the payment of a triennial tribute to the monarch 
of Eiinn. This tribute he fixed to consist of five thousand 
ounces of silver, five thousand cloaks, five thousand fat cows, 
five thousand fat hogs, five thousand fat wethers, and five thou- 
sand large vessels of brass or bronze. 

This was what was called the " Boromean Tribute" ; as it 
was named from the great number of cows paid in it, — ho being 
the Gaedlilic for a cow. 

The levying of this degrading and oppressive tribute by the 
successive monarchs of Erinn, was the cause of periodical san- 
guinary conflicts, from Tuathal's time down to the reign of 
Finnachta the Festive, who, about the year 680, abolished it, 
at the persiiasion of St. Moling of Ti<jh Moling (now St. Mid- 
len's, in the county of Carlow), though against the will of St. 
Adamnan, who was then the friend and confessor of the mo- 
narch. The tribute was, however, revived and again levied by 
Brian, the son of Cinneidigh, at the beginning of the eleventh 
century, as a punishment for the adherence of Leinster to the 
Danish cause : and it was from this circumstance that he ob- 
tained the surname of Boroimhe. 



232 OF THE EXISTING OLD MS. HISTORIES. 

LECT. XI. Of the tract devoted to the history of this tribute we have a 
most vahiable copy in the Book of Lecain, in the hl)rary of the 
of the oe- Royal Irish Academy ; but we have a still more valuable copy, 
BoRfniEAN'^ because much older, in the Book of Leinster, a manuscript of 
Tribute. ^]-^q middle of the twelfth century, preserved in the Library of 
Trinity College, Dublin. 

The most important of the events recorded in the History of 
the Boromean Tribute, because by far the most detailed, is the 
battle of Dim Bolg, near Bealach Conglais [now Baltinglass], 

in the county of Wicklow. This battle was fought in the 
year 594, between the monarch of Erinn, Aedh [Hugh], the 
son of Ammire, and the celebrated Bi^an Biibh, King of 
Leinster, in wliich the monarch was slain, and his forces 
routed and slaughtered. 

The History '^^^^ ucxt great cpocli of OUT liistory has been described in 
of the Wars another similar piecc. I allude to that lon^ period, extending 

1>F THE ^ .^■*-, , ^ 

Danes ovct moTC than two hundred years, during which the Danish 

GAEDHal 8'i^tl^ other Scandinavian hordes continued to pour an almost in- 
cessant stream of death and destruction on the country. Of the 
history of this dreadful warfare we have a very ample account, 
preserved in various contemporary poems and minor pieces of 
prose ; but the most valuable, because the most complete and 
detailed, account of it remaining, is that contained in the tract 
specially compiled under the name of Cogadh Gcdl re Gaedhil, 
or the Wars of the Danes with the Gaedhils. 

Of tliis tract I had the good fortune some sixteen years ago 
to discover an ancient, but much soiled and imperfect copy, in 
the library of Trinity College ; and this manuscript, with the 
permission of the College Board, I cleaned and copied. On the 
discovery of the Brussels Collection of Irish MSS. in 1846, it 
was found to contain a perfect copy of this tract, in the hand- 
writing of the friar Michael O'Clery. This book was borrowed 
by Dr. Todd in 1852, and I made a fair transcript of it for the 
College library, thus securing to an Irish institution, where it 
might be easily consulted, a full and perfect copy. The ancient 
fragment must be nearly as old as the chief events towards the 
conclusion of the war, or the time of the decisive battle of Clon- 
tarf ; and, as the O'Clery manuscript was not made out from this, 
we have the advantage of two independent copies of authority so 
far; and this, I need not tell you, is no small advantage in the 
case of documents which must have passed through so many 
successive transcriptions in successive ages, as most of oiu" cele- 
. bratcd pieces have done. 

Of the antiquity of the original composition of the tract, and 



OF THE EXISTING OLD MS. HISTORIES. 233 

of its authenticity, we have most important evidence in the lect. xi. 
fact, that a fragment (unfortunately the first folio only) remains ^^^ jj._,^^^. 
in the Book of Leinster. The existence of this fragment is of of the 
double miportance. Firstly, because the Book of Leinster, the Danes 
ha\'ing been compiled between the years 1120 and 1150, at a ^^^"^1! 
time that men were living whose grandfathers remembered the 
battle of Clontarf, this tract must have been at that period re- 
cognized as an authentic and veritable narrative, and exten- 
sively known, else it could scarcely find a place in such a com- 
pilation. And secondly, the fact of this tract containing a great 
amount of detail, of what must have been at this period very 
distasteful to the Leinster men, it is but reasonable to believe 
that neither exaggerration nor falsehood would have been al- 
lowed to form part of so great a provincial compilation. 

This, to be sure, is arguing in the absence of the now lost 
copy ; but any one acquainted with our ancient books, will be 
struck with the remarkable agreement which characterizes the 
record of the same events in books of different and often hostile 
provinces, even when the writer is recording the defeat, and 
perhaps disgrace, of the people of his own territory or province. 

This book is now in course of publication, as one of the series 
of Chronicles on the History of Great Britain and Ireland, under 
the superintendance of the Master of the Rolls, in England. It 
is to be edited, with a Translation, Notes, and Introduction, by 
the Rev. Dr. Todd, S.F.T.C.D. 

The next great piece of history that I have to call your attention The History 
to, in continuation of the historical chain, is one which, though waksop 
but of local name and importance, still must have had (as indeed thomond. 
it is well known to have had) a considerable influence in stimu- 
lating the fierce opposition which the Anglo-Norman invaders 
met with, in the south and west of Ireland, for near two hundred 
years after their first disastrous descent upon this country. 

The tract I allude to is commonly called the Wars of Tho- 
mond; and up to the present time it is, I am sorry to say, 
better known by name than by examination. It was compiled 
in the year 1459, by John, the son of Rory 3fac Craith, a 
member of a learned family of that name, which gave many poets 
andhistorians to the Dalcassian families ofClare,and many learned 
ecclesiastics to the Catholic Church, — down to the time of the 
wretched Maelmuire [or Miler] Mac Grath, who, from being a 
pious friar of the Franciscan order, became (after some smaller 
preferments) the first Protestant Archbishop of Cashel, at the 
close of Queen Elizabeth's reign. It professes to have been com- 
piled from various documents belonging to the families of men 



Wars of 
Thomond. 



234 OF THE EXISTING OLD MS. HISTORIES. 

LECT. XI. wlio took an active and prominent part in the stirring scenes of 

which it is the record. 
of nie'^ °'^ The following is the explanatory title-page, prefixed to a 
fine paper copy of this valuable tract, now preserved in the 
library of the Dublin University : — 

" Here is a copy of that prime historical book, which the 
learned call Catlireim Thoirdhealhhaigh [the Wars ofTurlogh], 
in which is set forth every renowned deed that happened in 
Thomond, or North Munster, for more than two hundred years, 
or nearly from the Anglo-Norman invasion of Erinn to the 
death of De Clare ; first written by John, the son of Rory Mac 
Grath, the chief historian to the noble descendants of Cas [the 
Dalcassians], in the year 1459, as appears at the nineteenth 
foho of the same very old book, which may be seen at this day ; 
and now newly written by Andrew Mac Curtin for the use of 
Tadhg, son of John, son of Mahon, son of Donnoch, son of 
Tadlig Og^ son of Tadhg, son of Donnoch, son of Rory, son of 
Mahon, son of John, son of Dornhnall Ballach, son of Mahon the 
Blind, son of Maccon, son of Ctimeadha, son of Maccon, son of 
Loclilcdnn, son of Cumeadha Mdr Mac Namara of Ranna. 
A.D. 1721". 

The transcriber of this copy, Andrew Mac Curtin, of Ennis- 
timon, in the county of Clare, was one of the best, if not the 
very best, Irish scholar of his day ; and a transcript from his 
accurate hand may be received with confidence, and looked 
upon, for all historical purposes, as of equal value with the 
original. The Mac Namara, for whom the transcript was made, 
represented, in the direct line, the ancient chiefs of the Clann 
Cuilein, in Clare ; and well might he be anxious to preserve in 
his family a correct copy of this historical piece, because the Mac 
Namaras, his ancestors, were the most numerous, the most 
imjDortant, and, if possible, the most valiant of the proud and 
powerful Dalcassian Clanns who took part in the fearful internal 
warfare recorded in it. 

The tract opens with the death of the brave Domhnall Mor 
O'Brien, the last king of Munster, in the year 1194, and the 
elevation of his son, Donoch, (or Donnchadh) Cairbi^ech O'Brien 
to his place, — but as chief of the Balcais only (not as King of 
Munster), with the title of The O'Brien. The incidents of this 
prince's reign are passed over lightly, to his death, in the year 
1242. Donnoch was succeeded by his son Conor, who erected 
the monastery of Corcomroe, in which his tomb and effigy may 
be seen at this day. This Conor had two sons, Tadlig and Brian 
Ruadh O'Brien, of whom I shall presently speak. 

The Anglo-Norman power which came into the coimtry in 



OF THE EXISTING OLD MS. HISTORIES. 235 

the year 1172, had constantly gained ground, generation after lect. xi. 
generation, as you ai'e of course aware, in consequence chiefly 
of the mutual jealousies and isolated opposition of the individual of uie'^ °'^ 
chiefs and clanns among the Gaedhils. At last the two great jhojiond. 
sections of the country, the races of the north and the south, re- 
solved to take counsel, and select some brave man of either of the 
ancient royal houses to be elevated to the chief command of the 
whole nation, in order that its power and efficiency might be the 
more efiectually concentrated and brought into action against 
the common enemy. To this end, then, a convention was ar- 
ranged to take place between Brian O'Neill, the greatest leader 
of the north at this time, and Tadlig^ the son of Conor O'Brien, 
— at CaeluisgS [Narrow Water] , on Loch Erne (near the present 
Castle Calwell). O'Neill came attended by all the chiefs of the 
north and a munerous force of armed men. O'Brien, though in 
his father's lifetime, went thither, at the head of the Munster 
and Connacht chiefs, and a large body of men in arms. The 
great chiefs came face to face at either Bank of the NarroAv 
Water, but their old destiny accompanied them, and each came 
to the convention fully determined that himself alone should be 
the chosen leader and king of Erinn. The convention was, 
as might be expected, a failure; and the respective parties 
returned home more divided, more jealous, and less powerful 
than ever to advance the general interests of their country, and 
to crush, as united they might easily have done, that crafty, 
unscrupulous, and treacherous foe, which contrived then and for 
centuries after to rule over the clanns of Erinn, by taking ad- 
vantage of those dissensions among them which the stranger 
always found means but too readily to foment and to perpetuate. 

This convention or meeting of O'Brien and O'Neill took 
place in the year 1258, according to the Annals of the Four 
Masters; and in the year after, that is in 1259, Tadhg O'Brien 
died. In the year after that again, that is, in 1260, Brian 
O'Neill himself was killed in the battle of Down Patrick, by 
John de Courcy and his followers. 

The premature death of Tadhg O'Brien so preyed on his 
father, that for a considerable time he forgot altogether the 
duties of his position and the general interests of his people. 
This state of supineness encom^aged some of his subordinate 
chiefs to withhold from him his lawful tributes. 

Among these insubordinates was the OLocMainn of Burren, 
whose contumacy at length roused the old chief to action ; and 
in the year 1267 he marched into OLochlainns country, as far 
as the wood of Siuhhdaineach, in the north-west part of Burren. 
Here the chief was met by the CLochlainns and their adhe- 



236 



OF THE EXISTING OLD MS. HISTOEIES. 



LECT. XI. 

The History 
of the 
Wars of 
TnonoxD. 



rents, and a battle ensued, in wliicli O'Brien was killed and liis 
army routed : and hence he has been ever since known in his- 
tory as Conchuhhar na SiubhdainS, or Conor o( Siuhhdaineach. 

Tadhg O'Brien, the elder son of Conor, left two sons, Turloch 
and Donoch ; and according to the law of succession among the 
clanns, Toi'loch, though still in his minority, should succeed to 
the chieftaincy and to the title of O'Brien. In this, however, 
he was wrongfully anticipated by his father's brother Brian 
Ruadh, who had himself proclaimed chief, and without any 
opposition. This Brian Ruadh continued to rule for nine 
yeai's, until the young Torloch came to full age ; when, backed 
by his relatives the MacNamaras, and his fosterers the O'Deas, 
he marched with a great force agamst his uncle, who, sooner 
than risk a battle, fled with his immediate family and adherents, 
taking with him all his property, eastwards into North Tip- 
perary, and left young Torloch in full possession of his ancestral 
rule and dignity. 

Brian Ruadh, however, could not quietly submit to his loss 
and disgrace, and, taking counsel with his adherents, they 
decided on his seeking the aid of the national enemy, to rein- 
state him in his lost chieftainship. For tliis purpose Brian 
Ruadh and his son Donoch proceeded to Cork, to Thomas de 
Clare, son of the Earl of Gloucester, then at the head of all the 
Anglo-Norman forces of Munster, and sought his assistance, offer- 
ing him an ample remuneration for his services. They offered him 
all the land lying between the city of Limerick and the town 
of Ardsallas, in Clare. De Clare gladly accepted those terms, 
and both parties met by agreement at Limerick, from which 
they marched into Clare ; where, before any successful opposition 
could be offered them, the castle of Bunratty was built and 
fortified by the Norman leader. 

A short time afterwards, however (in the year 1277), De 
Clare put the unfortunate Brian Ruadh to death ; having had 
him drawn between horses and torn limb from limb, notwith- 
standing that the fidelity of their mutual alliance had been 
ratified by the most solemn oaths on all the ancient relics of 
Munster. And it was then indeed that the great wars of 
Thomond commenced in earnest; for, notwithstanding the 
treacherous death of their father, the infatuated sons of Brian 
Ruadh still adhered to De Clare, and the warfare was kept up 
with varying success till the year 1318, when Robert de Clare 
and his son were at last killed, in the battle of Disert O'Dea. 
After this the party of Brian Ruadh were compelled to fly once 
more over the Shannon into Ara, in Tipperary, where their 
descendants have ever since remained under the clann designa- 
tion of the O'Briens of Ara. 



OF THE EXISTING OLD MS. HISTORIES. 237 

The brave Dalcassiaus having thus rid themselves both of lect xi. 
domestic aiid foreim usurpation, preserved their comitry, their ^^ „. , 
mdepeudence, and their native laws and institutions, down to of the 
the year 1542, when Murroch, the son of Tiuioch, made sub- t/omond. 
mission to Henry the Eighth, abandoned the ancient and glorious 
title of the O'Brien, and disgraced his lineage by accepting a 
patent of his territory from an EngHsh king, with the English 
title of Eail of Thomond. 

As illustrative of local topograpliical and family history, this 
tract stands unrivalled. There is not an ancient chieftaincy in 
Clare that camiot be defined, and that has not been defined 
by its aid ; nor a family of any note in that part of Ireland, 
whose position and power at the time is not recorded in it. 
Among these families may be foimd — the O'Briens, the Mac- 
Namaras, the MacMahons, the O'Quinns, the O'Deas, the 
O'GrilFys (or Grifiins), the O'Hehirs, the O'Gradys, the Mac 
Gormans, the O'Conors of Corcomroe, the O'Lochlainns of 
Burren, the O'Seasnans (or Sextons), the 0' Comhraidhes (or 
CiuTys), the O'Kennedys, the O'Hogans, etc., etc. 

The style of the composition of this tract is extremely redun- 
dant, abounding in adjectives of indefinable difterence ; never- 
theless, it possesses a power and vigour of description and nar- 
ration wliich, independently of the exciting incidents, will 
amply compensate the reader's study. 

There are several copies of this tract extant in paper, the 
best of which known to me is Mac Curtin's, in Trinity College 
library ; but there is a large fragment of it in vellum in the li- 
brary of the Royal Irish Academy, wiitten in a most beautiful, 
but unknown hand, in the year 1509. 

The text of this tract would make about 300 pages of the 
text of O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters. 

The last piece of this class of historical composition which 1 5^'^^^^°^'^ "^ 
shall bring under your notice, before proceeding to give some 
account of the Historic Tales, is the " Book of Munster", — an 
important collection of provincial history, and to a considerable 
extent of the history of the whole nation. 

The Book of Munster is an independent compilation, but 
of uncertain date, as we happen to have no ancient copy of it ; 
but as its leading points are to be found in the Books of Lein- 
ster, Ballymote, and Lecain, we may believe that they must 
have taken their abstracts from this ancient book in its original 
form. There are two copies of it on paper in the Royal Irish 
Academy, both made at the beginning of the last century, but 
neither of them giving us any account of the originals from 
which they were transcribed. 



238 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

LECT. XI. The book (as is usual in all tlie very ancient independent 
compilations of this kind) begins with a record of the creation 
MuNSTEK. (taken, of course, from the Book of Genesis), and this merely 
for the purpose of carrying down the pedigrees of the sons of 
Noah, and particularly of Japhet, from whom the Milesians of 
Erinn descend. 

The history of the Ebereans, or southern branch of the Mile- 
sian line, is then carried do\vn from Eher to Brian Boroimhe 
and the time of the battle of Clontarf. 

The line of succession of the kings and great chiefs of Mim- 
ster may be easily collected from the great books which I have 
before mentioned; but in tliis particular "Book of Munster" 
there is a mass of details relative to the various disputes and 
contentions for this succession (between rival local aspirants, 
as well as between north and south Munster, or the Dal- 
cassian and Eugenian lines), not to be found in any other work 
that I am acquainted with. 

Space will not, however, here allow me to enter into a 
minute analysis of this important tract ; but I may particularly 
call your attention to the detailed accoimt it contains of the 
contests and circumstances attending the succession to the 
throne of Munster of Catlial Mac Finguine, about the year 
720 ; of Feilim Mac Crimthainn, about 824 ; of Cormac Mac 
Cullinan, about 885 ; of Ceallacliain of Cashel, about 934 ; and 
o? Brian BoroimhS, about 976; all of which are full of historic 
interest, and the more so, as they are fomided upon indisputable 
facts not elsewhere mmutely or satisfactorily recorded. 

The Book of Munster, including the pedigrees of the leading 
Munster families, consists of 260 pages foHo, on paper, equal to 
400 pages of the Four Masters. I believe there is a vellum 
copy of it in the College of St. Isidore at Rome. 

Of the In the very short account I have thus given you of the larger 

Tales. historical tracts, which supply, for those portions of our history 

which they describe, the chief details passed over in the mere 
Annals, I have only endeavoured to make you aware of the 
scope of this class of works, without enlarging on their special 
importance to the futiu'e historian of the country, who will find 
in them so much of continuous narrative nearly made to his 
hand. A little consideration will indeed suggest to you how 
much I could have offered on this subject. I pass, therefore, 
without more delay to the consideration of a department of our 
literature, which is, perhaps, the largest in extent, and hardly 
the least in importance, among the materials for the elucidation 
of our ancient history, but which I find I must, for the proper 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 239 

imderstanding of it, introduce to your notice here by some ob- lect. xi. 
servations of an introductory character. I aUude to those 
shorter pieces, which we may call the Historic Tales, and historic 
wliich consist of detailed accounts of isolated exploits and inci- ^'^^' 
dents, strictly historical in the main, but recited often with no 
inconsiderable amount of poetical or imaginative accompani- 
ment of style. 

Of these compositions, a very large number have come down 
to us, and when, by careful collation, and by the judicious ap- 
pHcation to them of an enhghtened criticism, the true facts of 
history with which they abound shall be collected, the futiu-e 
historian will find liimself at no loss for materials of the most 
valuable kind. 

I do not purpose in this place to enter into any detailed ex- 
amination of the authority of these tracts. Many of them con- 
sist entii'ely of pure history; many others contain recitals of 
indubitable liistoric facts in great detail, but mixed with minor 
incidents of an imaginative character. That they are all true 
in the main, I have myself no doubt whatever ; but the investi- 
gation of their claims to respect in this regard would lead me at 
present too far from the prescribed track of an introductory 
com'se. I shall, therefore, only open to you shortly the circum- 
stances under wliich tales of this kind were composed, and the 
general character and profession of their authors; and I shall 
refer you to a few examples of the recognition of their authority 
by some of our earliest, most careful, and authentic writers. I 
shall then at once proceed to describe to you the contents and 
plan of a few of these compositions, which may be taken as 
specimens of the remainder of them in each department. 



luca 



I have already shown you in a former Lecture, that under the Jl^ ^^^^^ 
ancient laws of Eiinn an obhgation was imposed upon certain fifties of an 
high officers to make and preserve regular records of the his- 
tory of the country. 

The duty of the Ollamlis was, however, a good deal more 
extensive than this, for they were bomid by the same laws to 
make themselves perfect masters of that history in all its de- 
tails, and to teach it to the people by public recitals ; as well as 
to be the legal referees upon all subjects in dispute concerning 
history and the genealogies (and you will bear in mind that the 
preservation of the rights of property of individuals intimately 
depended on the accuracy of that history and of those genea- 
logies). The laws pro^dded strictly for the education of the 
OllairJi (and no one could act as a Brehon or Judge that had 
not attained the degree of an OUamh), and they conferred upon 



240 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 



LECT. 



The educa- 
tion and 
duties of an 
Ollainh. 



XI. him valuable endowments and most important privileges, all 
wliicli he forfeited for Hfe, as I had occasion befoi'c to observe 
to you, if he became guilty of falsifying the history of any fact 
or the genealogy of any family. 

The education of the Ollamh was long and minute. It ex- 
tended over a space of twelve years " of hard work", as the 
early books say, and in the course of these twelve years certain 
regular courses were completed, each of wliich gave the stu- 
dent an additional degree, as a File, or Poet, with corres- 
ponding title, rank, and privileges. 

In the Book of Lecain (fol. 168) there is an ancient tract, 
describing the laws upon this subject, and referring, ^vith quo- 
tations, to the body of the Brethibh Nimhedh, or " Brehon Laws". 
According to this authority, the perfect Poet or Ollamh should 
know and practise the Teiyiim Laegha, the Lyias Forosnadh, 
and the Dichedal do cliennaihli. The first appears to have been 
a peculiar druidical verse, or incantation, believed to confer upon 
the di'uid or poet the power of understanding everything that it 
was proper for him to say or speak of. The second is explained 
or translated, " the illumination of much knowledge, as from 
the teacher to the pupil", that is, that he should be able to ex- 
plain and teach the foiu: divisions of poetry or jDhilosophy, "and 
each division of them", continues the authority quoted, " is the 
chief teaching of three years of hard work". The third quahfi- 
cation, or Dichedal, is explained, " that he begins at once the 
head of his poem", in short, to improvise extempore in correct 
verse. " To the Ollamh", says the ancient authority quoted in 
this passage in the Book of Lecain, " belong synchronisms, to- 
gether with the laegha laidhibh, or illuminating poems [incan- 
tations] , and to liim belong the pedigrees and the etymologies 
of names, that is, he has the pedigrees of the men of Erinn 
with certainty, and the branching off of their various relation- 
ships". Lastly, " Here are the four divisions of the knowledge of 
poetry (or philosophy)", says the tract I have referred to ; " ge- 
nealogies, synchronisms, and the reciting of (historic) tales form 
the first division ; knowledge of the seven kinds of verse, and 
how to measm-e them by letters and syllables, form another of 
them ; judgment of the seven kinds of poetry, another of them ; 
lastly, Dichedal [or improvisation], that is, to contemplate and 
recite the verses without ever thinking of them before". 

It thus appears that the Ollamh was bound (and even from 
the very first course of his professional studies), among other 
duties, to have the Historic Stories ; and these are classed with 
the genealogies and synchronisms of history, in which he was 
to preserve the truth of history pure and unbroken to sue- 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 241 

ceeding generations. According to several of tlie most ancient lect. xr. 
authorities, the Ollamh. or perfect Doctor, was bound to have „ 

• ■*■ TliG Gtiuca,- 

(for recital at the pubhc feasts and assemblies) at least Seven tion ana 
Fifties of these Historic narratives ; and there appear to have o"tem/° "" 
been various degrees in the ranks of the poets, as they pro- 
gressed in education towards the final degree, each of which 
was bound to be supphed with at least a certain numbei'. Thus 
the Anroth, next in rank to an Ollamh, shovdd have half the 
number of an Ollamh; the Cll, one-third the nmnber, according 
to some authorities, and eighty according to others ; and so on 
down to the Fochlog, who shoidd have thirty, and the Driseg 
(the lowest of all), who shoidd have twenty of these tales. 

To each of these classes, as I have observed, proportionate 
emoluments and privileges were seciu'ed by law. 

It is thus perfectly clear that the compositions I have already The autiio- 
called the Historic Tales, were composed for a much graver "iL'toric'^ 
purpose than that of mere amvisement; and when the nature oi'^^llf^l^ 
the profession of the Ollamh, the Poet, the Historical Teacher, History. 
is considered, as well as the laws by which it was regulated, it 
will not seem surprising that the poems and tales in which 
these officers preserved the special facts and details of history, 
shoidd have been regarded at all times as of the greatest autho- 
rity. Accordingly, we find them quoted and followed by the 
most distingTiished of the early critics and teachers of oiu' his- 
tory, such as the celebrated Flann of Monasterboice, and others. 

As instances of such references, I shall take a few examples 
at i-andom from the Book of Lecain ; but they occur in innu- 
merable places in that and other ancient MSS. 

The Book of Lecain, at foHo 15, b. a., after a poem on the 
death of Aengus Ollmiicadh, quotes as authority for it a poem 
by Eochaidli O'FHnn; and at 16, b. b., it quotes from another 
poem by the same writer. 

At folio 25, b.b-, a poem by Finntan (sixth century) is quoted 
as an authority on the subject of the colonies of Parthalon, . 
and Nemhed, and of the Firbolgs. 

At foho 277, b., a poem by Mac Liag, on the Firbolg co- 
lonies, is quoted as having been taken from their own accounts 
of themselves ; and at 278, a., another on the same subject. 

At foHo 280, is quoted a poem by Eochaidh O'Flinn, on the 
Tuatha De Danann and the first battle of Magh Tuireadh — a 
poem, in which the account of that battle corresponds with 
that of the ancient prose tale I have presently to describe 
to you. And so on. 

One reason, perhaps, why even the poems of the learned 
men of ancient times have thus been regarded as of such im- 

1(3 



242 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 



I-ECT XI. 

The autho- 
rity of the 
" Historic 
Tales", as 
pieces of 
History. 



portance, is that the Ollamhs were in the habit of teaching the 
facts of history to their pupils in verse, probably that they might 
thus be the more easily remembered. Thus we find in the Book 
o£ Lecain (fol. 27, a. b.) a poem by Colum Cille, in praise of 
Eochaidh Mac Eire, addressed to a pupil who questioned him ; 
and this poem contains a minute account of the battle of Magh 
Tuireadh, and also of the Milesian expedition to Erinn. 

And Flann of Monasterboice (perhaps the greatest of our 
early critics), the celebrated compiler of the synchronisms 
which pass under his name, frequently quotes from and refers 
to poems earher than his time as authorities for historic facts, 
and he also often communicates in verse to his pupils his own 
profound historic learning. Of Flann's critical and historical 
poems there are several in the Book of Lecain : as at folio 24, 
b. b., one on the kings, from Eochaidh Feidhleach to LaeghairS^ 
in which he gives an account of the Cathreim Dathi, and the 
Bruighean Da Derga, exactly corresponding with the recitals of 
those events in the Historic Tales so named. So also, Lecain, 
folio 25, a.; 28, a. a.; 280, etc., etc., etc., 

It seems strange enough that the authors of the Historic Tales 
should have been permitted at all to introduce fairy agency in 
describing the exploits of real heroes, and to describe pui'ely 
imaginative characters occasionally among the subordinate per- 
sonages in these stories. This seems strange, because they could 
not alter the historic occurrences themselves, nor tamper with the 
truth of the genealogies and successions of the kings and chief- 
tains, — which it w^as their professional duty to teach in purity 
to the people, — without hazarding the loss of all their dignities 
and privileges. It is, however, certain that the rules of these 
compositions permitted the introduction of a certain amount of 
poetical machinery. These rules, and the circmustances imder 
which, and the extent to which, the Ollamhs used such licence, 
must remain matter for critical investigation. It only belongs 
to my present design to assure yo\i of the historical authority of 
all the substantial statements respecting the battles, the expedi- 
tions, and the alliances of our early kings, contained in these 
Scela, or Tales : and of this authority there cannot be any doubt, 
if we are to believe the testimony of the most accurate of our 
early critics and the most venerable MSS. which have been 
handed down to us. 

One other observation remains to be made. That the His- 
toric Tales which I am about to describe to you are indeed 
those which the Ollamhs were bound, under the laws I have 
quoted, to have for recital to the people, we are fortunately in 
a condition to prove out of one of the earliest, and on the whole, 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 243 

I believe I may say, tlie most valuable, of all the early liistoi-ic i,ect. xt. 
books now in existence. I mean no other than the Book of 
Leinster itself (T.C.D. ; H. 2. 18). ^^""6 

At folio 151, a., of this venerable MS., we find recorded the xaies-'alf 
rule I have already referred to as to the niunber of Historic come^uwi 
Tales which each class of poet, or teacher, was bound to have, — - to m, 
[See original in Appendix, No. LXXXVIII.] 

" Of the qualifications of a poet in stories and in deeds to be 
related to kings and chiefs, as follows, viz. : Seven times fifty 
stories, i.e., five times fifty prime stories, and twice fifty secon- 
dary stories ; and these secondary stories are not permitted [that 
is, can only be permitted] but to four grades only, viz. : an 
Ollamh, an Amrath, a Cli, and a Ccmo. And these ' Prime 
Stories' are: Destructions and Prcyings, Courtships, Battles, 
Caves, Navigations, Tragedies (orDeatlis), Expeditions,, Elope- 
ments, and Conflagrations". And afterwards, " These following 
reckon also as prime stories : stories of Irruptions, of Visions, of 
Loves, of Hostings, and of Migrations". 

A vast number of examples of these difierent prime stories 
follow, by which we are supplied with tlie names of so many 
as 187 in all, classified under their different heads; and this 
invaluable list has been the means of identifying very many of 
these ancient tales among the MSS. which have been preserved 
to our times. — [See this List in the Appendix, No. LXXXIX.] 

The number of the ancient Historic Tales yet in existence 
is considerable, and several of them have been identified. Many 
of these, of course, are not known to us in so pure a state as we 
could wish, but each year's investigation throws some addi- 
tional light on even the least of them, and brings out their his- 
toric value. I need only add, that the strictly Historic Tales 
known to me may be calculated as embracing matter extensive 
enough to occupy about 4000 pages of O'Donovan's Annals. 

Of the Historic Tales a few have been printed within the last 
few years, which may be taken, to some extent at least, as spe- 
cimens of the remainder. The Catli Muighe Rath (Battle of 
Magh Rath, or Moyra), published by the Archaeological Society 
in 1842, is one of the tales in the list in the Book of Leinster, 
The Celtic Society also printed two of the Historic Tales in 
1855, the Cath Aluighe Leana, and the Tochnarc Momera, 
both of which are of remarkable interest and great historic value. 

Of those which I have selected shortly to introduce to your 
notice here, the first is also one of the Catha, or Battles, It is 
that of Magh Tuireadh, one of the earliest battles recorded in 
our history, and almost the earliest event upon the record of 
which we may place sure reliance. It was in this battle that 

IG B 



244 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 



]°. Of the 
Catha, or 

" Battles". 



Tl.e "Battle 
of Maijh 
I'uireadh". 



the Firbolgs were defeated by the Tuatlia De Danann race, 
who subsequently ruled in Erinn till the coming of the Mile- 
sians from Spain ; so that it forms a great epoch and starting 
point in our liistory. The tract which goes by the name is 
somewhat long, opening indeed with the same account of the 
first colonies or expeditions that landed in Erinn which we 
find in the Books of Invasions. It is impossible that I should 
give you the whole account here, or indeed any considerable 
part of it, but I shall endeavour to make the contents of the 
tract as intelligible as our time may permit. 

The Firbolgs, according to the Annals, arrived in Ireland 
about the year of the world 3266. Very soon after landing, 
the chiefs, though wide apart the spots upon which in different 
parties they first touched the shore, contrived to discover the 
fate of each other; and having looked out for a central and 
suitable place to reunite their forces, they happened to fix on 
the green hill now called Tara, but which they named Druim 
Cain, or the Beautiful Eminence. Here they planted their seat 
of government ; they divided the island into five parts, between 
the five brothers, and distributed their people among them. 
The Firbolgs continued thus to hold and rule the country for 
the space of thirty-six years, that is, till the year of the world 
3303, when Eochaidh the son of Ere was their king. 

In this year the Firbolgs were sui-prised to find that the island 
contained some other inhabitants whom they had never before 
seen or heard of. These were no other than the Tuatlia DS Da- 
nann, the descendants oilohath, son ofBeathach. lohath was one 
of the Nemedian chiefs who survived the destruction of Conaings 
Tower (on Tory Island), and passed into the north of Europe; 
wliilst another of them, Simeon Breac, passed into Thrace, from 
whom the Firbolgs descended. Both tribes thus met in the old 
land once more, after a separation of about 237 years. 

The Tuatlia De Danann, after landing on the north-east 
coast of Erinn, had destroyed their ships and boats, and steal- 
thily made their way into the fastnesses of Magli Rein (in the 
County Leitrim). Here they had raised such temporary works 
of defence as might save them from any sudden surprise of an 
enemy, and then gradually showing themselves to the Firbolg 
inhabitants, they pretended that they had, by their skill in ne- 
cromancy, come into Erinn on the wings of the wind. 

The king of the Firbolgs, having heard of the arrival of 
these strange tribes, took counsel with liis wise men, and they 
resolved to send a large, powerful, and fierce warrior of their 
people forward to the camp of the strangers, to make observa- 
tions, and ascertain as much of their history and condition as he 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 245 

could. The chosen warrior, whose name was Sreng, went forward lkct. xr. 



on his mission to Magli Rein; but before he reached the camp ^^ 
the Tuatha De Danann sentinels had perceived him, and they catha, or 
immediately sent forward one of their own champions, named (The "Battle 
Breas, to meet and talk to him. Both warriors approached '^^l/llan;-). 
with great caution, imtil they came within speaking distance 
of each other, when each of them planted his shield in front 
of him to cover his body, and viewed the other over its border 
with inquiring eyes. Breas was the first to break silence, and 
Sreng was delighted to hear himself addressed in his own lan- 
guage, for the old Gaedhlic was the mother-tongue of each. 
They drew nearer each other, and, after some conversation, dis- 
covered each other's lineage and remote consanguinity. 
" They next examined each other's spears, swords, and shields ; 
and in tliis examination they discovered a very marked difference 
in the shape and excellence of the spears ; Sreng being armed 
with two heavy, thick, pointless, but sharply rounded, spears ; 
while Breas carried two beautifully shaped, thin, slender, long, 
sharp-pointed spears. Breas then proposed on the part of the 
Tuatlia I)e Danann, to divide the island into two parts, be- 
tween the two great parties, and that they should mutually 
enjoy and defend it against all futm'e invaders. They then ex- 
changed spears for the mutual examination of both hosts ; and 
after ha^dng entered into vows of future friendship, each re- 
turned to his people. 

Sreng retmiicd to Tara, as we shall in future call that place ; 
and having recounted to the king and his people the result of 
his mission, they took counsel, and decided on not granting to 
the Tuatlia De Danann a division of the country, but, on 
the contrary, prepared to give them battle. In the meantime, 
Breas returned to his camp, and gave his people a very discou- 
raging account of the appearance, tone, and arms of the fierce 
man he had been sent to parley with. The Tuatha DS 
Danann having drawn no favoiu^able augury of peace or friend- 
ship from this specimen of the Firbolg warriors and his formid- 
able arms, abandoned their holdings, and, retiring farther to the 
south and west, took up a strong position on Mount Belgadan, 
at the west end oi Magh Nia (the plain of Nia), which is now 
called Magli Tuireadh (or Moytura), and is situated near the 
village of Cong, in the present county of Mayo. The Firbolgs 
marched from Tara, with all their forces, to this plain of Moy- 
tura, and encamped at the east end of it. Nuada, who was the 
king of the Tuatha DS Danann, however, wisliing to avoid hosti- 
lities if possible, opened new negotiations with King Eochaidh 
through the medium of his bards. The Firbolg king declined 



246 OF THE HISTORIC TALE«. 

iEci". XI. to grant any accommodation, and the poets having returned to 

their hosts, both the great parties prepared for battle. 

catha. or The battle took place on Midsunimer-day. The Firbolgs 

(7116*" Battle wcrc defeated with gTeat slaughter, and their king (who left the 

Tuireadm battlc-field with a body guard of a hundred brave men, in 

search of water to allay his burning thirst) was followed by a 

party of a hundred and fifty men, led by the three sons of 

Nemedh, who pursued him all the way to the strand called 

Traigh EothaiU [near Ballysadare, in the county of Sligo]. 

Here a fierce combat ensued between the parties, in which 

King Eochaidh fell, — as well as the leaders on the other side, 

the three sons of Nemedh. 

The sons of Nemedh were buried at the west end of the 
strand, at a place since called heca Meic Nemedli, or the Grave 
Stones of the sons of Nemedh; and King Eochaidh was buried 
where he fell in the strand, and the great heap of stones known 
to this day as the Carn of Traigh EothaiU (and which was 
"^^ formerly accounted one of the wonders of Erinn) was raised 

over him by the victors. 

In the course of the battle, the Firbolg warrior Sreng dealt 
the king of the Tuatha De Danann, Nuada, a blow of his 
heavy sword, wliich clove the rim of his shield, and cut off his 
arm at the shoulder. Nuada had a silver arm made for him by 
certain ingenious artificers attached to his court, and he has been 
ever since known in our histoiy and romances as Nn/xda 
Airgead-lamh, or the Silver-handed. 

The battle of Magh Ttiireadli continued for four successive 
days, until at length the Firbolgs were diminished to 300 
fighting men, headed by their still surviving warrior-chief, 
Sreng ; and, being thus reduced to a great inequahty of numbers 
compared with their enemies, they held a counsel and resolved 
to demand single combat, of man to man, in accordance with 
the universally acknowledged laws of ancient chivalry. The 
Tuatha De Danann thought better, and offered Sreng terms of 
peace, and his choice of the five great divisions of Erinn, 
Sreng accepted these terms, and took as his choice the present 
province of Connacht, which, down to the time of Conn of the 
Hundred Battles, was called by no other name than Cuigead 
Sreing — that is Sreng's province, — in which indeed his descend- 
ants were still recognized down so late as the year 1650, 
according to Duald Mac Firbis. 

The antiquity of this tract, in its present form, can scarcely 
be imder fourteen hundred years. The story is told with 
singular truthfulness of description. There is no attempt at 
making a hero, or ascribing to any individual or party the per- 








OF THE mSTOBIC TAfiES,''^,! C, - » ^ '247 



ibrmance of any incredible deeds of valoiir. Tbere is, noweve?;"" 

a good deal of di-uidisni introduced ; — but tlie position and con- 

dvict of the poets or bards during the battle, and in the midst of catha, or 

it, — the origin of the name of Moytura, or the plain of pillars or (nie^Muuie 

columns, — the origin, names, and use of so many of the pillar yj^"^'^,,.., 

stones, of the mounds, and of the huge graves, vulgarly called 

Cromlechs, with which the plain is still covered, — are all matters 

of such interest and importance in the reading of our ancient 

history and the investigation of om* antiquarian monumental 

remains, that I am bold to assert that I believe there is not in 

all Europe a tract of equal historical value yet lying in MS., / 

considering its undoubted antiquity and authenticity. 

There is but one ancient copy of this tract known to me ''''^''7=^- ^-'^ 
to be in existence, and of this I possess an accurate transcript^, 4 '4 \^ , 

The mere facts of the coming in of the TzcatJut De Dancmji^^""^'''^ ^ 
of the battle that ensued, and of the death of King Eochaidh , — ^-pr- ^ ^ 
only, are told in O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters, at /^ f L^ /j 
the year of the world 3303. That accomplished Irish topogra- ' * - ■ 
pher lays down the position of Moytiua, and other places men- 
tioned in oui" tract, with his usual accuracy ; but he has mis- 
taken the account of the second battle (which is in the British 
Museum) for this ; and of that battle I shall now proceed to 
give you a short sketch, in abstracting for you a second of these 
Historic Tales, which we may call the Second Battle of Magh 
Tuireadh, or the Battle of Magh Tuireadh "of the Fomorians". 

After the brief record of the fii-st battle by the Four Masters, The "Battle 
at the year of the world 3303, they tell us (at the year 3304) 'ruireadh 
that Bveas, the chief of the Tuath D6 Danann, who was a Fo- j^momns". 
morian by liis father (the same who, as we have seen, held the 
parley with the Firbolg warrior Sreng), received the regency 
from his people during the illness of their king, Nuada, who had 
lost liis arm in the battle. Breas held the regency for seven years, 
when he resigned it again to the king ; and Nuada (who in the 
mean time was supplied with a silver arm by his surgeon, Dian- 
cecht, sindCreidne, the great worker in metals, — and thence called 
Nuada Airgid-lamli, or " of the Silver Hand") reassumed the 
sovereignty. The Annals pass on then to the twentieth year of 
Nuada's reign, (that is, a.m. 3330), where they merely state 
that, he fell in the battle of Moytura of the Fomorians, by the 
hand of Balor " of the stiiF blows", one of the Fomorians. 

Now nothing could be more dry or less attractive than this 
simple record, in four Hues, of the death in battle of the king of 
a country and people, without a single word of detail, or any 
reference whatever to the cause of the war, or to the other actors 
in the battle ; so that any person might take it upon himself to 



248 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

LECT. XI. question tlie veracity of so meagre a record, if there had been 

Of th ^° collateral evidence to support it. This, however, like the 

Catha, or former battle, had its ancient history, as well as its dry chronicle ; 

(The "Battle and from the former I shall lay before you in the following ab- 

Tufrtadh stract as much of it as will, at least, I hope arouse the curiosity 

of the and attention of my hearers, — begging of them at the same time 

to remember, that notwithstanding all that has been written 

and spoken for and against the remote history of Ireland, even 

ixp to this day, the test of pure, unbiassed criticism, historical 

and chronological, has not yet been applied to it. 

The tract opens with an account of the lineage of Breas, and 
how it was that he became king. 

We have seen that the warrior regent resigned the sovereignty 
at the end of seven years to Nuada the king ; but it was more 
by compulsion than good will that he did so, for his rule was so 
marked by inhospitality, and by entire neglect of the wants and 
wishes of his people, that loud murmurs of discontent assailed 
him from all quarters long before his regency was terminated. 
In short, as the chronicler says, the knives of his people were 
not greased at his table, nor did their breath smell of ale at the 
banquet. Neither their poets, nor their bards, nor their satirists, 
nor their harpers, nor their pipers, nor their trumpeters, nor their 
jugglers, nor their bujftbons, were ever seen engaged in amusing 
them at the assemblies of his court. It is in line added that he 
had even succeeded in reducing many of the best and bravest of 
tlie Tuatlia De Danann warriors to a state of absolute servitude 
and vassalage to himself; and his design seems to have been to 
substitute an absolute ride for the circumscribed power of a chief 
kinff under the national law of the clanns. 

At the time that the discontent was at its height, a certain 
poet and satirist named CairhrS, the son of the poetess Etan, vi- 
sited the king's court ; but, in place of being received with the 
accustomed respect, the poet was sent, it appears, to a small dark 
chamber, without fire, furniture, or bed, where he was served 
with three small cakes of dry bread only, on a very small and 
mean table. This treatment was in gross violation of public 
law, and could not fail to excite the strongest feeling. The poet 
accordingly arose on the next morning, full of discontent and 
bitterness, and left the court not only without the usual profes- 
sional compUments, but even pronouncing a bitter and wither- 
ing satire on his host. This was the first satire ever, it is said, 
written in Erinn ; and although such an insult to a poet, and 
the public expression of his indignation in consequence, would 
fall very far short of penetrating the quick feelings of the nobi- 
lity or royalty of these times (so different are the customs of an- 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 249 

cient and modern lionour), still it was sufficient in those early lect. xi. 
days to excite the sympathy of the whole body of the Tuatlia iJe jo ofthe 
Danann, chiefs and people ; and occurring as it did after so many catha, or 
just causes of popular complaint, they detennined without more (The "Battle 
to call upon Breas to resign his power forthwith. To this call ^„/f.";'rfA 
the regent reluctantly acceded ; and ha^ang held coimcil with his of "!^^J'",- 
mother, they both determined to retire to the court of his father, 
Elatlia, at this time the great cliief of the Fomorian pirates, or 
sea kings, who then swarmed through all the German Ocean, 
and ruled over the Shetland Islands and the Hebrides. 

Though Elatha received his son coldly, and seemed to tliink 
that his disgrace was deserved, still he acceded to his request to 
furnish liim with a fleet and army with which to return and 
conquer Erinn for himself, if he could, from his maternal rela- 
tions the Tuatha De Danann. Breas was therefore recom- 
mended by his father to the favour of the great Fomorian 
chiefs, Balor " of the Evil Eye", king of the Islands, and In- 
dech, son of De-JJomnand ; and these two leaders collected all 
the men and ships lying from Scandinavia westwards, for the 
intended invasion, so that they are said to have formed an un- 
broken bridge of ships and boats from the Hebrides to the north- 
west coast of Erinn. Having landed there, they marched to a 
plain iu the present barony of Tirerrill, in the comity of Sligo, — 
a spot surrounded by high hills, rocks, and narrow defiles ; — 
and, ha'ving thus pitched their camp in the enemy's country, 
they awaited the cleteiinination of the Tuatha De Danan?i, to 
surrender or give them battle. The latter were not slow in pre- 
paring to resist the invaders, and the recorded account of their 
preparations is in full accordance with their traditional character 
as skilful artizans and profound necromancers. 

Besides the king, Nuada " of the Silver Hand", the cliief men 
of the Tuatha De Dojiann at tliis time were : the great Daghda; 
Lug, the son of Cian, son of Diancecht, their great Esculapius ; 
Ogma Grian-Aineach ("of the sun-like face"), and others; but 
the Daghda and Lug were the prime counsellors and arrangers 
of the battle. The tract proceeds to state how these two called 
to their presence : — their smiths ; their cerds, or silver and brass 
w^orkers ; their carpenters ; their surgeons ; their sorcerers ; their 
cup-bearers ; their druids ; their poets ; their witches ; and their 
cliief leaders. And there is not, perhaps, in the whole range of 
oiu" ancient literature a more curious chapter than that which 
describes the questions which Lug put to these several classes 
as to the nature of the service which each was prepared to 
render in the battle, and the characteristic professional answer 
which he recei\'ed from each of them. 



250 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

LECT. XI. The battle (which took place on the last day of October) is 

1° Of the eloquently described, — with all the brave achievements, and all 

Catha, or the deeds of art and necromancy by which it was distinguished. 

(The "Battle The Fomorians were defeated, and their chief men killed. King 

fkih^e^dh Nuada of the Silver Hand was indeed killed by Balor of the Evil 

of the Fo- Eye, but Balor himself fell, soon after, by a stone flung at him 

by Lug (his grandson by his daughter Eitldenn), which struck 

him (we are told) in the "evil eye", and with so much force, that 

it carried it ont through the back of his head. 

The magical skill, as it was called, — ^in i-eality of course, 
the scientific superiority — of the Tuatha De Danann, stood 
them well in this battle ; for JJiancecht, their chief physician, 
with his daughter Oclitriuil, and liis two sons, Airmedh and 
Mioch, are stated to have previously prepared a heahng bath or 
fountain with the essences of the principal heahng herbs and 
plants of Eiinn, gathered chiefly in Lus-MhagJi, or the Plain of 
Herbs (a district comprised in the present King's Coimty) ; and 
on this bath they continued to pronounce incantations during 
the battle. Such of their men as happened to be wounded in 
the fight were immediately brought to the bath and plunged in, 
-and they are said to have been instantly refreshed and made 
whole, so that they were able to retiu^n and fight against the 
enemy again and again. 

The situation of the plain on which this battle was fought, is 
minutely laid down in the story, and has been ever since called 
Meagli Tuireadh na hh-Fomorac1i, or "The Plain of the Towers 
(or j)illars) of the Fomorians", to distinguish it from the south- 
ern Moytura, from which it is distant about fifty miles. 

The story does not enter into any account of the setting up 
of any tombs, towers, or pillars, though many ancient Cyclopian 
graves and monuments remain to this day on the plain ; but as 
it appears to be imperfect at the end, it is possible that the tract 
in its complete form contained some details of this nature. 

Cormac Mac Cullinan in his celebrated Glossary quotes this 
tract in illustration of the word Nes; so that so early as the 
ninth century it was looked upon by him as a very ancient 
historic composition of authority. 

I have only to add, that the only ancient copy of this tract 
that I am acquainted with, or that, perhaps, now exists, is one 
in the British Museum, finely written on vellum by Gilla-Riah- 
hach O'Clery, about the year 1460. Of this I had a perfect 
transcript made by my son Eugene, under my own inspection 
and correction, in London, in the summer of last year [1855] ; 
so that the safety of the tract does not any longer depend on the 
existence of a single copy. 



LECTURE XII. 



[DoUvered March 6, 1856.] 



The Historic Tales (continued). 2. Of the Longasa, or Voyages, The 
Historj' of the " Voyage of Labhraidh Loingseach, or Macn\ The " Voyage 
of Sreacan". 3. Of the Tfjt/A/a, or Destructions. The " Destruction of the 
Bruighean (or Court of) Da Derga". The " Bniigliean Du Clwga". 4. Of 
the Airgne, or Shiughters. Tlie " Slaughters (battles) of Conghal Cldring- 
neach'\ Of the Revolt of the Aitheacli Tuatha, called the Attacotti, or Atta- 
cots. The " Slaughter of the Noble Clanns of Erinn, by Cairbre Cinti-cait" 
(Carbry-Cat-head). 5. Of the Forbasa, or Sieges. The " Siege of JEdar", 
(the Fortress of Howth Hill), The " Siege of JDrom Damhghaire" (Knock- 
long). 

In the last lecture I opened tlie account I proposed to gi\e you 
of the Historic Tales, with the remarkable tracts which describe 
the first and second battles of Magh Tiiireadh. 

These tracts afforded us examples of the most important class 
of those Prim-scela, or Prime Stories, mentioned in the Book 
of Leinster: I mean the Catha^ or Battles. The remainder of 
the tales of wliicli 1 intend to speak, as examples of the other 
classes, may be most conveniently introduced in the chrono- 
logical order of the events narrated in them ; but it is proper to 
remind you, that no such system of selection is adopted in the 
list in the Book of Leinster, or elsewhere, and that each class of 
the ancient Historic Tales^ embraces histories of events occiu- 
ring at every jDcriod of our liistory, from the most remote to the 
tenth century. The division of the tales into classes was purely 
arbitrary, and apparently for the mere convenience of reference 
All these tales are but the recitals in detail of isolated events of 
history, either in explanation of important historical occur- 
rences, or ilkistrating the wisdom or gallantry of the heroes of 
the Gaedhlic race, or recording some interesting circumstance 
in their well-known career. And of each of the classes into 
which this department of our historical literatiu'e was divided 
we possess still several examples. 

The next of these tales which I have selected to describe to 
you is that in which the curious history of Labhraidh Loing- 
seach is recorded, a Leinster prince, who became monarch of 
Erinn about the year 541 before Christ. This tale might, per- 
haps, be classed among the Tochmarca, or Courtships, in so far 
as it contains a relation of the romantic story of the marriage of 
Labhraidh with the ladv 3Joriadh, the daughter of the king of 



252 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

lECT. XII. West Munster; or it might take its place among the Ah'gne, or 

2° Of the Slaughters, in so much as it details the Destruction of the fort 

LoNGASA,or of I) Inn High (near Carlow), which was taken by Lahhxiidh 

(The^" voy- from liis treacherous grand-uncle, Cohhthach Cael, the usurping 

IfidhLoing- ^i^^g of Erinn, who was killed in it. It may, however, as probably 

seach"). be the tale recorded in the Book of Leinster among the Longasa, 

or Voyages, as the Longeas Labhrada, and as the prince's second 

name of Loingseach ["the Voyager"] was due to this Longeas, 

we may perhaps take tliis tract as an appropriate specimen of 

that class of pieces. 

The Longeas was in one sense simply a voyage ; from Long, 
a ship. But it is observable that this designation is usually con- 
fined in ancient stories to a voyage involuntarily undertaken, as 
for instance in the case of a banishment, or a flight. A volun- 
tary expedition by sea is described under a different name, that 
of Lnram, and we shall find an example of that class also 
amongst the tales which I have yet to introduce to your notice. 
In a former lecture I beHeve I told you sometliing of the 
great king Ugaine Mor, from whom almost all the chief Gaedh- 
lic families in the provinces of Leinster, Ulster, and Connacht 
trace their descent. Ugaine Mor was king of all Erinn about 
the year 633 before Christ, according to the Annals of the Four 
Masters. He reigned forty years ; and he was at last succeeded, 
in 593 B.C., by his eldest son, Laeghaire Lore, who was how- 
ever treacherously killed two years afterwards by Ms brother, 
Cobhthach Cael Breagli; and this Cobhthach then assumed the 
kingship of Erinn, which he enjoyed for full half a century, till 
he also was slain at the taking of Linn Righ, just alluded to. It 
is with the accession of Cobhthach Cael to the supreme throne 
that the story of Labhraidh commences. This story is particu- 
larly interesting as recording one of the earliest instances of the 
very early cultivation of music among the ancient Irish, — in the 
power exercised over the feehngs of liis audience by CraftinS, 
the fu'st harper of whom we find any special mention in our books. 
Laeghaire Lore, the story tells us, had one son, Ailill AinS, 
who succeeded him as king of Leinster; however, his uncle 
Cobhthach soon procured his death by means of a poisoned 
drink. Ailill Aim left an infant son named Maen Ollamh; but 
because he was dumb, and therefore, according to law, for ever 
ineligible to be made a king, the usurping monarch spared his 
life. The orphan prince was therefore allowed to reside in his 
father's palace of Linn Righ, and placed under the tuition and 
guardianship of two officers of the court of Tara, namely, Fer- 
ceirtne, the poet and philosopher, and CraftinS, the harper. 
This instance of the endeavour to communicate mental in- 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 



253 



struction to a dumb person at so remote a period, is particularly lect. xn. 
interesting. The boy Avas not, however, as Ave shall see, dumb ^o of t,,e 
from his birth, and the choice of a harper as one of his instruct- longasa, or 
ors would suggest that he was never deficient in hearing. (xue "\oy- 

Maen^ vmder the care and tuition of his two able guardians, ^^^aidhufng- 
in the course of years, sprung up into manhood, singularly dis- «eachn. 
tinguished by beauty of feature, symmetry of person, and cul- 
tivation of mind. One day, hoAvever, it happened that while 
enjoying his usual sports in the play-ground of his father's man- 
sion he receiA' ed some offence from one of his companions. The 
insult was promptly resented by a bloAV ; and, in an attempt to 
suit words to the action, the spell of his dumbness was broken, 
and the young man spoke. The quarrel was lost in an ex- 
clamation of joy raised by his companions, when they all cried 
owt Lahhraidh 31 aen! Lahhxddh Maen ! [" Maen speaks I Macn 
speaks !"] ; and his tutor Craftine coming up at the same time, 
and hearing what had happened, said that henceforth the prince 
should bear the name of Labhraidh Maen, in commemoration of 
the wonderful cA^ent. 

News of tliis important occurrence having reached the 
monarch CohJithach, at Tara, he commanded Labhraidh Maen to 
appear at his court, with his tutors and retainers, to assist at 
the Great Feast of Tara, which was then being held. 

While seated at the feast, and in the presence of all the com- 
pany, the monarch (so the tale relates) happened to ask aloud, 
Avho Avas, in the opinion of the company, the most munificent 
man in Erinn? Craftine and Ferceirtine both ansAvered that 
Lahhraidh Maen was the most mimificent man in Erinn. He 
is better than me, then, said the monarch, and you both may 
go with him. The loss Avill be greater to you than to us, said 
the harper. Depart out of Erinn, said the monarch. If we can 
can find no refuge in Erinn, Ave will, said they. 

Lahhraidh Maen, accordingly, took counsel at once with his 
tutors and a fcAV other friends, as to what he should do ; when, 
after a careful consideration of all the circumstances of their 
case, they decided on leaA'ing Leinster, and seeking refuge and 
friendship from Scoriath, king of Fermorca (or the Great Men) 
of West Munster. Thither they repaired, and, after having 
received the customary hospitality of several days, without 
questions asked, at Scoriatlis palace, the king at last inquired 
the cause and natiu-e of their visit. We have been expelled by 
the monarch of Erinn, said they. You are welcome to my care 
and protection, then, said Scoriath. 

The tale proceeds to tell us that king Scoriath had a daughter, 
whose name was Moriath, and whose beauty had so bewildered 



254 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

LECT. XII. the young princes and chiefs of Minister, that several schemes 
^ had been devised by some of them to obtain imlawful possession 

LoNGASA, or of her person, after their proposals of marriage had been rejected. 
(The^" voy- Ou. the discovcry of those designs by the lady's parents, they de- 
age of Labh- termined on being her sole guardians themselves, and, in order 

raulh Loing- _ iii t • f ^ • • •^ • 

seac/i"). that there should be no relaxation oi their vigilance, it was ar- 
ranged between them that the father should have constant charge 
of her by day, and the mother by night, so that she should never 
be out of the safe keeping of either the one or the other. 

This vigilance on the part of the royal parents did not escape 
the notice of their noble guest, who was, indeed, permitted to 
enjoy free conversation with the beautiful 3foriath, but subject to 
one trifling drawback, that, namely, of the presence of her father 
or m.other on all such occasions. But, notwitlistanding the res- 
traint which parental vigilance had placed upon any expression 
of tender sentiment, the youthful pair soon discovered that the 
society of each was highly prized and desired by the other ; but 
beyond tliis they had no power to proceed, — their love story had 
come prematurely to a full stop. The cautious parents of the 
young princess were, indeed, as often happens, the only persons 
in their court ignorant of the true state of the case ; but their 
watchfulness was not the less successful in baffling the designs 
of the lover. Distracted and dejected, the young Lahhraidh 
Maen had recourse to the counsels of his faitliful friend and 
mentor, Craftine, and that illustrious harper appears to have 
been no stranger to the delicate management of small court 
difficulties of the kind. On this occasion, he advised his ward 
to wait for some favourable opportunity to carry out his inten- 
tions, and he assured hiul that when such an opportunity should 
offer, he, Craftine, would contrive to obtain for him an interval 
of uninterrupted conversation with 3foriath. 

King Scoriath, after some little time, happened to invite all 
the chiefs and nobles of his territory to a sumptuous feast. The 
delight of the guests was much heightened by Craftines per- 
formance on his harp ; and, when the king, queen, and all the 
festive company were plunged in enjojancnt, exhilarated by 
wine, and charmed by the unequalled melody of the most dis- 
tinguished performer of his time, Lahhraidli Maen and Moriath 
snatched the opportunity to slip away unobserved from the 
company. No sooner did the gifted harper believe them to 
have gone beyond the hearing of his music, than he struck the 
almost magical tones of the Suantraighe, which was of so richly 
soft and enchanting a character as to throw the whole company, 
including the king and queen, into the most delicious and pro- 
found slumber ; and in the trance of this slmnber they were all 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 255 

kept bj the magic of Craftiness harp, until the young lovers lect. xh 
had time to return again and take their proper seats in the as- 
sembly, after having, for the first time, plighted to each other 
mutual vows of constancy and alFection. 

The Ollamhs of music, or those raised to the highest order of ^|^^^j° 
musicians in ancient Erinn, I may here tell you, were obliged, cjansofan- 
by the rules of the order, to be perfectly accomplished in the "^"^ 
performaJice of three peculiar classes or pieces of music, namely, 
the Suantraighe, which no one could hear without falling into 
a delightful slumber; the Goltraighe, which no one could hear 
without bursting into tears and lamentation; and the Gean- 
traigld, which no one could hear without bursting out into loud 
and irrepressible laughter, 

Craftine availed himself, as we have seen, of the possession 
of these, the highest gifts of his profession, to assist the designs 
of his yoimg ward, and played into a profound sleep all those who 
would have stood in the way of his happiness. 

Now, however, that the pardonable objects of the young 
couple were attained, he changed his hand, and struck the 
Geantraighe^ which roused the whole company, and quickly 
tuxned their quiet sleep into a tiunult of uproarious laughter. 
And then, the musician having displayed these wonderful spe- 
cimens of his art, returned again to the performance of the less 
excitmg, but always beautiful melodies, so many of which still 
remain to remind us of the ancient glories of our country, and 
continued to delight his hearers until the time of their retire- 
ment had arrived. 

In the meantime, the ever-suspicious queen imagined she de- 
tected some equivocal radiations in the glowing coimtenance of 
her daugliter, and, approaching her nearer, she thought she 
caught the faintest imaginable whisper of a sigh. With an in- 
stinctive perception of deception and treason, she immediately 
called the king to her side : Your daughter, said she, has ceased 
to be herself; her sighs denote that she lias given part of her 
heart to another. The king was outrageous, ordered the 
strictest investigation, and vowed that if the conspirators were 
discovered, their heads should be struck off. CraftinS remon- 
strated against the violence of such a proceeding, but the king, 
not being without some suspicions, and disregarding the invio- 
lable character of a poet and musician, threatened even him 
with punishment, shovdd he interfere farther. 

After the first bm'st of anger and indignation had subsided, 
however, and confidence had been once more restored between 
the mother and daughter, the latter gradually permitted the former 
to discover the truth of her secret. It is but a poor compliment 



256 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

LECT. XII. to the march of intellect and the progress of civilization, that, 
2° Of the ^^ those remote ages, they solved the mtricate complications of 
LoNGASA,or precipitate love very much in the same way that we do in the 
(Th7" voyl present enlightened times. But so it was, and King Scoriath 
rllmLoinrj- ^^^^ ^^^^ prudent queen, by the silent sighs of their daughter 
seacfr). and the soothing notes of Craftiness harp, were soon induced 
to accept Lahhraidh Maen as their son-in-law ; and so terminated 
this comedy, precisely as such comedies are brought to a con- 
clusion even in the nineteenth century. 

The alliance with the king of West Munster was an event of 
deep political, as well as social, importance to Lahhraidh Maen; 
for, immediately after the event took place, his father-in-law 
placed at his command a large force of the bravest men in liis 
territory, to assist him in recovering his hereditary kingdom of 
Leinster from his grand-uncle. With these troops he marched 
quietly into Leinster, where, bemg joined by a large number of 
adherents to his house's fortune, he at once laid siege to the 
royal palace of Dinn Righ, and succeeded in taking it from the 
garrison placed in it by the monarch. His triumph, however, 
was but of short duration; for King Cohhthach, who had re- 
covered his first surprise, raised a large army, and marched from 
Tara at once into Leinster. 

Labhraidh Maen found himself totally unable to meet such a 
force, and felt compelled to withdraw, for the time at least, from 
the iinequal contest. He accordingly changed his plans on the 
instant, disbanded his followers, sent his wife, Moriath, under 
the immediate guardianship of Craftine, and attended by her 
countrymen, into Munster to her father; and, selecting from 
among his adherents a small band of brave men, he bid adieu to 
his native land, and took sail for the opposite coast of Britain. 
He made no delay in Britain, but, passing over alone to France, 
he entered the military service of the king of that country, in 
which he so distinguished himself that he soon became one of 
the chief commanders of the army there. 

After he had in course of time estabhshed himself in the full 
confidence and estimation of the king of France, Lahhraidh 
Maen, who still kept up a correspondence with his friends in 
Erinn, determined, if he could, to make one more effort to 
regain his rightful inheritance. 

Witli this view, he made himself known, and disclosed his 
whole history to the king of France, and concluded by asking 
of him such a body of troops as he should select, to accompany 
him to Erinn, and assist him, in conjunction with his friends 
there, to reestablish himself in his kingdom. The French 
king consented without difficulty, and the exjDedition arrived 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 257 

safely in the moutli of tlie river Slaney, now the liarbour of lect. xn. 

Wexford. _ , ^ • ^ i - 2°ofthe 

After resting awhile here to recover from the fatigues of their longasa, or 
voyage, and being joined by great numbers from Lcinster and (The"Vo.v- 
Munster, the expedition marched by night to Dinn Eigh, where cmO-^'''"'' 
the monarch Cobhthach, entirely ignorant of their approach, 
happened to be at the time holding an assembly, accompanied 
by thirty of the native princes and a body gviard of seven hun- 
dred men. The palace was surprised and set on fire, and the 
monarch, the princes, the guards, and the entire household, 
were burned to death. This was the Argain Dinn Rigli, or 
Slaughter of Dinn Righ. 

Lahhraidh then assumed the monarchy, and reigned over 
Eiinn eighteen years. 

Another of these Loingeas, but which seems to have been a 
voluntary one, is of much later date, — that, namely, of Breaccm, 
of which we have but the following short accoimt : — 

Breacan was the son of Maine, son of Niall of the Nine Hos- 
tages, monarch of Erinn, whose reign closed A.D. 405. This 
Breacan was a gi'eat merchant, and the owner of fifty Curachs, 
trading betv/een Ireland and Scotland. On one of his voyages he 
was, we are told, with his fifty Curachs, swallowed up in the 
great whirlpool formed by the confluence of the nortli-western 
and north-eastern seas with the channel between Ireland and 
Scotland. His fate, however, was not exactly known until 
Lughaidh, the blind poet, in many years after, paid a visit to 
Bennchuir [Bangor, — on the coast of the county of Down]. 
The poet's people having strayed from the town down to the 
beach, foimd the bleached skull of a small dog on the shore. 
This they took up, carried to the poet, and asked him what 
skull it was. " Lay the end of the poet's wand on the skull", said 
Lughaidh; and then, pronouncing some mystical sentences in the 
ancient Teinim Laegh style, he told them that the skull was 
that 0? Breacan s Httle dog, and that Bi'eacan himself, with all his 
curachs and people, had been drowned in the Coire Breacain 
(or Breacan's Cauldron), — an appro^jriate name, from the constant 
boiling up and surging of the whirlpool, and the name by which 
it continued ever after to be known in ancient Gaedhlic \viitinga. 

This story is preserved in Cormac's Glossary, compiled in the 
ninth centm-y, and in the BinnsencJuis, a much older comjjila- 
tion generally. 

The next class of tales, of which an example offers itself to 
our notice, is that of the Toghla, or Destructions. A Toghail, 
or Destruction of a Fort, is the title given to those histories 

17 



Da Derga"). 



258 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

LECT. XII. which detail the taking of a fort or fortified palace or habita- 
,Q tion, by force, when the place is not merely taken, but also 

TocHLA, or burnt or destroyed on the taking of it. A Togliail may be a 
tiras"!^TTiie taking by surprise, or it may be a taking after a siege, but the 
tion of the term always implies the destruction of the buildings taken. 
Bruighean Of the Toglilci but a fcw are named in the list I have referred 
to in the Book of Leinster, though many others, of course, 
there were. Of those in the Hst, the most remarkable, perhaps, 
is that of the Bimigliean Da Deirja, or court of Da Derga; 
because it was in the storming and surprise of that residence 
that the great Conaire Mor was killed, one of the most cele- 
brated kings of ancient Erinn. This tract possesses, too, a pe- 
culiar interest for those wdao reside in or near Dublin, because 
the scene of the surprise lies near the city, at a place which still 
preserves a portion of the ancient name in its present designa- 
tion. And it is partly on this account that I have selected the 
account of the Toghail Bruighne Da Derga to describe to you. 
In the year of the world 5091, ConairS Mor, the son of 
Eidersgel, a former monarch of Erinn, ascended the throne, and 
ruled with justice and vigour, until the year of the world 5160, 
that is, till thirty-three years before the Incarnation of our 
Lord, according to the chronology of the Four Masters. 

The impartiality and strictness of Conah^es rule banished 
from the country large numbers of idle and insubordinote per- 
sons, and among the rest his own foster-brothers, the four sons 
of Donndesa, a great Leinster chief. These young men, adven- 
turous and highly gifted, impatiently put out, with a large party 
of followers, upon the sea between Erinn and Britain, for the 
purpose of leading a piratical life, until the death of the 
monarch or some other circumstance should occiu* that might 
permit their return to their comitry. 

While thus beating about, and committing depredations at 
both sides of the channel whenever they could, they met, 
engaged in similar enterprises, the yomig prince Ingel, a son of 
the king of Britain, who with his six brothers and a numerous 
band of desperate men like themselves had been for their mis- 
deeds banished from his territory by their father. Both parties 
entered into a compact of mutual risk and assistance ; and 
having, according to agreement, first made a night descent on 
the coast of Britain, where they committed great ravages and 
carried off much booty, they turned towards Erinn, for the pm'- 
pose of adding to their stock of plunder, and carrying on the war 
of depredation evenly between both countries. They landed 
in the bay of Tuirhhe [Turvey] (near Malahide, on the coast of 
the present coimty of Dublin), and immediately commenced 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 259 

their devastation of the country, by lire and sword, in the lect. xit. 
direction of Tara. go of tiie 

At this time, the monarch Conaire, attended by a slender toghla, or 
retinue, was on his return from north Munster, where he had tions" (The 
been to eifect a reconciliation between two hostile chiefs of that tjou of the 
countr3^ On his entering Meath, and approaching his palace Bi-mihrnn 
of Tara, he saw the whole country, to his great surprise, wrapt 
in fire, and tliinking that a general rebellion against the law 
had taken place in liis absence, he ordered his charioteer to 
turn to tlie right from Tara, and drive towards Dublin. The 
charioteer obeyed, and drove by the hill of Cearna, Lusk, and 
the Great Road of Cualann to Dublin ; which, however, the 
monarch did not enter, but crossing the LifFey above the town, 
he continued his route to the court, or mansion, of the great 
Brughaidh (or Hospitaller), Da Derga. 

This court was built on the river Dodder, at a place which 
to this day bears the name of Bothar-na-Bruighie (or the Road 
of the Court), near Tallaght, in the county of Dublin. This 
was one of the six great houses of imiversal hospitality which 
existed in Erinn at the time, and the owner. Da Derga, hav- 
ing previously partaken largely of the monarch's bounty, he 
was now but too glad to receive him witli the hospitality and 
distinction wliich became his rank and munificence. 

In the mean time, continues the tale, the outlaws having 
missed the monarch, -ravaged all Brcgia [the eastern part of 
Meath], before they returned to their vessels, and then steered 
to the headland of Beann Bdair (now called the Hill of Howth), 
where they held a council of war. There it was decided that 
two of the sons of Donndesa (two of the monarch's foster- 
brothers), should come on shore, and find out the monarch's re- 
treat, they having abeady discovered the course he had taken 
from Tara. Tliis was done, and the scouts having returned to 
the fleet with the information sought, the piratical force landed 
somewhere south of the mouth of the LifFey, and marching over 
the rugged Dublin mountains, they surrounded Da Derga's 
court, which, in spite of a stout resistance, they destroyed and 
plundered, murdering the monarch himself and the chief part 
of his slender train of attendants. 

The composition of tlris tract must be referred to a period of 
very remote antiquity, the style of the construction and language 
being more ancient even than the Tain Bo Chuailgne, and, like 
that difficult piece, of a character totally beyond the power of 
ordinary Irish scholars to reduce to anything like a correct 
translation. 

This tract is one of considerable length, and not a little im- 

17 B 



260 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 



LECT. XII. 

3° Of the 

ToGHLA, or 

" Destruc- 
tions". (The 
" Destruc- 
tion of tlie 
Brtiif/lieaii 
Da Derga"). 



The "Des- 
truction of 
the Brii- 
ighean Da 
Choga". 



4° Of the 
AiEGNE, or 
"Slaughters' 



bued ■with tlie marvellous ; but, apart from its value as in essen- 
tials a truthful link in our national history, it contains, perhaps 
^vithout exception, the best and most copious illustrations in any 
tract now extant (I mean, of course, illustrations by description) 
of the various ranks and classes of the officers that composed the 
king's household in ancient times, and of the arrangements of a 
regal feast — both social subjects of great historical interest. 

There is a fine copy of this tract (with a slight imperfection 
at the beginning) preserved in the ancient Leahhar na h- Uidhre, 
in the Royal Irish Academy; and another copy less copious, 
but perfect at the beginning and the end, in the Leahhar Buidhe 
Lecan, in the Library of T.C.D. ; so that from both these 
sources a perfect copy could be procured. 

Another of these Tof/hla, and one of great interest, is the 
Toghail Bruighne Da Choga, of which a good copy is to be 
found in MS. H. 3. 18. Trinity College, Dubhn. 

The Bruigliean Dei Choga was in the present county of West- 
meath ; and it was on the occasion of a sudden surprise of this 
Court that Cormac Conloingeas was killed, about a.d. 33. He 
was the son of the celebrated Conor Mac Nessa, king of Ulster, 
from whose court he had several years before gone into volun- 
tary banishment into Connacht, in consequence of his father's 
having put to death the three sons of Uisneach, for whose safety 
Cormac had pledged his word, when they consented to return 
to Conor's court at the king's invitation. On the death of 
Conor, his son prepared to return, to assume the throne of his 
province, and it was on his way back that he lost his Hfe, in 
the surprise of Da Cogas court, where he had stopped to rest 
on his road. Cormac Conloingeas was one of the most celebrated 
champions of his time, and figures in many of the detailed his- 
tories of events recorded at this period of our annals. 

The chronological order of the specimens of tales that I have 
selected leads us next to the class called Airgne, or Slaughters. 
The Argain, though separated by the writer in the Book of 
Leinster from the Toghail, is not, in fact, well to be distin- 
guished from it. The word signifies the Slaughter of a garrison 
of a fort, where the place is taken and destroyed. So the 
taking of Dinn High by Lahhraidh Loingseach, described in the 
tract I spoke of just now, is called, in the Book of Leinster, 
Argain Dinn High, and that tract may perhaps actually be the 
tale there so named. 

There are a great number of the Airgne named in the 
ancient list so often referred to, and of these several have 
1 cached us in one shape or another. One of them, the Argain 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 261 

Cathracli B6ircM is included in tlie lono^ tract the Cathreim lect. xn. 



CJionghail Chldiringnigh, or Battles of Conghal Claringneach. ^oofthe 

The Destruction of Cathair Boirche forms but a single inci- airgne, or 
dent in the career of the warrior Congal, and I may in a few words (xhT^^ ^'^ 
introduce to you the causes that led to so fatal a catastrophe, e^of Co«?a' 

Lughaidh LuaigJme, of the Eberean line, assumed the mo- ^^^™f- 
narchy of Erinn in the year of the world 4024 ; and, in dis- 
posing of the petty kingships of the provinces, he imposed two 
kings on the province of Ulster, to one of whom, Conghal Clar- 
ingneach, the son of a former monarch, he gave the southern, 
and to Fergus Mac Leide, the northern half of the province. 

The Ulstermen soon began to feel the weight of two royal 
establishments, and a secret meeting of their chiefs took place at 
Emania, at wliich it was resolved to invite both their kings to a 
great feast, for the purpose of having them assassinated, and 
then to elect one king from among themselves, whom they 
would support by force of arms against the Monarch, should he 
feel dissatisfied with their deed. 

The feast was soon prepared, the two kings seated at it, and 
the assassins, who were selected from the menials of the chiefs, 
took up a convenient position outside the banqueting house. 

By this time, however, the knowledge of the conspiracy had 
reached the ears of Fachtna Finn, the chief poet of Ulster; 
whereupon he, with the other chief poets of the province, who 
attended the feast, arose from their particular places, and seated 
themselves between the two kings. The assassins entered the 
house shortly after, but seeing the position of the poets, they 
held back, rmwilling to desecrate their sacred presence, or 
violate their too obvious protection. 

Wlien the prince Congal saw the assassins, he suspected their 
design, and asked the poet if his suspicions were not well- 
founded. Fachtna answered in the affirmative, and stated the 
cause of the conspiracy ; whereupon Congal stood up, and ad- 
di'cssing the assembled chiefs, off^ered, on the part of himself and 
his colleague, to surrender their power and dignity into the 
hands of the monarch again, with a request that he would set 
up in their place the person most agreeable to the Ultonians. 

The chiefs agreed, and the poets taking the two kings under 
their inviolable protection, they all repaired to Tara, where 
they soon anived, and announced the object of their visit. 

On their arrival at Tara, the monarch's daughter fell in love 
with Fergus Mac Leide, and at her request, backed by the re- 
commendation of the provincial kings who then happened to be 
at court, the monarch appointed him sole king of Ulster, though 
such a decision was against an ancient law, wliich ordained that. 



262 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

LECT.xii. a junior sliould not be preferred to a senior, — and Congal was 
~777Z older than Fer^rus. 

4 Of the ^ - . • . 

AiKGNE, or Congal, on hearing this decision, departed immediately from 
(ThT^^'^'^ Tara, collected all the disaffected of the country about him, to- 
erso^ coiigai gather with some Scottish exiles, and having met the monarch's 
cia,in(j- son, cut off his head and bid defiance to the father. He was, 
however, soon forced to leave Erinn with his adherents; and 
Ms adventures in the island of RacJdainn^ and in Denmark and 
other northern countries, form a considerable and most interest- 
ing part of liis career. After some years, however, he returned 
to his native country, and landed in the present bay of Dun- 
drum (county Down). Immediately upon his coming ashore, he 
discovered that his rival, Fergus Afac Leide, was at that time 
enjoying the hospitalities of Cathair Boirche (that is, Boirches 
Stone Castle or Fortress), the princely residence of Eochaidh 
Salbhuidhe, chief of the southern part of the present county of 
Down, at a short distance from Congal's landing place. 

On receiving this welcome piece of information, Congal 
marched directly to Cathair BoircM, and surprised and de- 
stroyed it with all that were in it. From thence he went straight 
to Tara, and challenged the king with all his forces to a pitched 
battle. The battle was fought in the immediate neighbourhood 
of Tara ; the monarch was defeated and beheaded by Congal, 
who was proclaimed in his place, and reigned fifteen years. 

The only copy of this fine historic tale that I am acquainted 
with, is preserved in the library of the Royal Irish Academy. 
[No. 205, Hodges and Smith Collection.] 
Ttid AUheach But the tale which I should prefer to take for you as a spe- 
"Attacots". cimen of the AirgnS, is one which recites the origin of one of 
the most momentous troubles which interrupt the course of our 
history; I mean the Revolt of the Ait/ieach Tuatlia (or "Atta- 
cots"), in the early part of the first century, an incident of which 
I have ah'eady shortly spoken. This tract is that which is en- 
tered in the list in the Book of Leinster as the Argain Chairpri 
Cinn-Cait for Saerclannaihh h-Ei'enn; that is, the Murder by 
Carbry Cat-head of the Noble clanns of Erinn. 

The revolution and reign of the Aitheach Tuatha {^^Attacotti", 
or "Attacots", as they have been called in English writings), 
mark an era in Irish history, more interesting, perhaps, than 
important in relation to the consequences of their rule ; and the 
name given to these people has supplied food for much learned 
discussion and speculation, to writers of more modem times. 

Father John Lynch (better known as Gratianus Lucius), 
General Vallancey, the Rev. Charles O'Conor, and many others 
,of their times, have been more or less puzzled by the name "At- 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 263 

tacots", and have soiiglit everywhere for an explanation of it lect. xn. 
but where only it could be found, namely, in the lanofuaofc of „ „„ 
the country m which it originated, and in which those people afrgne, or 
grew, hved, and died. _ ^ S'Keloif 

The name which those modern writers have made into "At- oftueAme- 

" r 1 T • • -t n A Ml • • • m ""* Tun/ha, 

tacots , irom the Latinized form "Attacotti , is written m all or '• Atta- 
Irish manuscripts, ancient and modern, Aitheach Tuatha, and 
this means nothing more than simply the Rent-payers, or Rent- 
paying Tribes or People. 

It is also stated, by even our very latest historic writers, that 
the Aitheach Tuatha were the descendants of the earlier colo- 
nists, depressed and enslaved by their conquerors, the Milesians. 
But this is a mistake, for, according to the Books of Ballymote 
and Lecain, the revolutionists were not composed, even for the 
major part, of the former colonists, but of the Milesians them- 
selves. For, as may be expected, in the lapse of ages countless 
numbers of noble and free Milesian families fell away from their 
caste, lost their civil independence, and became mixed up and 
reduced to the same level with the remnants of the conquered 
races, who still continued, in a state nearly alHed to slaveiy, 
tillers of the soil. 

At the time of this revolution, which took place about the 
middle of the first century of the Christian era, the magnates of 
the land seem to have combined to lay even heavier burdens 
than ever before on the occupiers and tillers of the soil ; and the 
debased Milesians were the first to evince a disposition to re- 
sistance. Combinations were afterwards formed between them 
and the other malcontents, but so profoundly secret, that during 
the three years which they took to consider and matm'e their 
plans, not one of theu' intended victims had received the faintest 
hint of the plot that ripened for their destruction. 

The result of their councils was, to prepare a great feast, to 
which, as a pretended mark of respect and gratitude, they were 
to invite the monarch, the provincial kings, and the great chiefs 
of the nation, really for the purpose of destroying them during 
the convivial excitement and unsuspicious confidence of a regal 
banquet of the old times. 

The feast was prepared at a place since called Magh Cru (or 
the Bloody Plain), in Connacht. Thither came the monarch, 
kings, and chiefs, in the full flow of unreserved security, — a se- 
curity, as it befell, of the falsest kind ; for, when the nobles were 
deep in their cups, and plunged in the enjoyment of the deli- 
cious strains of the harp, treacherous hosts svirrounded the ban- 
quet hall with men in armom*, and slew without pity or remorse 
the monarch, Fiacha Finnolaidh, the provincial kings, and 
all the assembled chiefs, as well as all their train. 



264 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

I.ECT.XII. Tlie revolutionary party having thus, at one blow, g-ot rid of 
.TTTT all tlieir old taskmasters, but still wisliin^ to live under a more 

4 Of tuG • ^ 

AiRGSE, or _ lenient monarcliical goveraraent, proceeded to select a king. 
(The'leTOit Their choice fell on Cairhre Cinn-Cait, an exiled son of the 
llh^Ti^chT ki^g ^f Lochlainn (or Scandinavia), who had taken a leading 
or"Atta- ' part in the plan and completion of the revolution. 

cots' '1 y^ • • 

Cairhre, however, died in the fifth year of an unprosperous 
reign, and Fiacha Finnolaidli, of the royal Eremonian race, suc- 
ceeded to the sovereignty. Against Fiacha, however, another 
revolt of the provinces took place, and he was surprised and 
murdered at Magh Bolg in Ulster, in the year of our Lord 56 ; 
and Elim Mac Conrach, king of Ulster (of the Rudrician race 
of Ulster), was elected by the revolutionists in his place. The 
reign of Elim also proved unfortimate, for, not only did discord 
and discontent prevail throughout the land, but the gifts of 
Heaven itself were denied it, and the soil seemed to have been 
struck with sterility, and the air of Heaven charged with pesti- 
lence and death during those years. 

The old loyalists and friends of the former dynasties took 
advantaOT at once of the confusion and freneral consternation 
which seized on the minds of the people, and proposed to them 
to recal or rather to in\'ite liome Tuathal, the son of the mur- 
dered monarch, whose mother had fled from the slaughter to the 
house of her father, the king of Scotland, wliile Tuathal as 
some writers say was yet unborn. 

This proposal was very generally listened to, and a great 
number of the Aitheach Tiiatha agreed in council to bring over 
the young prince, who was now in his twenty-fifth year. 

Tuathal answered the call, and soon after landed in Bregia 
[jVIeath], where he imfurled his standard, and was immediately 
joined by several native chiefs, with all their followers. From 
this he marched upon Tara, but was met by the reigning mo- 
narch, Elim, at Acaill (noAv the hill of Screen), near Tara, in 
the county of Meath, where a fierce battle was fought, in 
which at length the reigning monarch, Elim, was slain, and a 
great slaughter made of his adherents. 

And thus the ancient dynasty was once more established, and 
continued, substantially unbroken, down to the final overthrow 
of our monarchy, in the twelfth century. 

There is a detailed, but not very copious account of the 
massacre of Magh Cru, preserved in a MS. (H. 3. 18.) in 
Trinity College, Dublin. 

The next class of the Historic Tales consists of the Forbasa, 
or Sieges. The Forhais may be called a Siege, because it im- 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 2G5 

plies a regular investment of a position, or of a city, or forti- lect. xii. 
tied place of residence. The name is generally, thougli not ^^ ^^ ^^^ 
always, applied to those sieges which were followed by the cap- foebasa, or 
ture, or, at least, the plunder of the place invested. That (fhe"\siege 
capture, as I have abeady explained to you, would be called ^^^l^-'^] "'' 
Toghail, if the place were destroyed If only besieged, the 
event would be a Forhais; but a Toghail, or storming, might, 
of course, take place, without being preceded by a Forhais. 
These distinctions the student will do well to observe, in apply- 
ing himself to the branch of historical literature now under our 
notice. 

Of the Forhasa, or Sieges, the example I shall take shall be 
the Forbais Eclair, or Siege of Howth, — again selecting a story 
the scene of wliich Ues near this city. 

In the more ancient times in which the events recorded in 
the tracts I notice to-day took place, and, indeed, down to a 
comparatively late period, it was customary, — I may premise 
by telHng you, — for distinguished poets and bards (who were 
also the philosophers, lawyers, and most educated men of their 
day) to pass from one province into another, at pleastu'e, on -a 
circuit, as it may be called, of visits among the kings, chiefs, and 
nobles of the country ; and, on these occasions, they used to re- 
ceive rich gifts, in return for the learning they communicated, 
and the poems in which they sounded the praises of their patrons 
or the condemnation of their enemies. Sometimes the poet's \dsit 
bore also a political character ; and ho was often, with diplomatic 
astuteness, sent, by direction of his own provincial king, into 
another province, with wliich some cause of quarrel was sought 
at the moment. On such occasions he was instructed not to be 
satisfied with any gifts or presents that might be offered to hiui, 
and even to couch liis refusals in language so insolent and sar- 
castic as to provoke expulsion if not personal chastisement. 
And, whenever matters proceeded so far, then he retiu-ned to 
his master, and to him transferred the indignities and injuries 
received by himself, and pubHcly called on him, as a matter of 
personal honour, to resent them. And thus, on occasions where 
no real cause of dispute or complaint had previously existed, an 
ambitious or contentious king or chief found means, in those 
days just as in our own, to pick what public opinion regarded 
as an honourable quan-el with his neighbour. 

A curious instance of the antiquity of this practice in Erinn, 
will be found in the very ancient but little known tract of 
wliich I shall now proceed to offer you a short sketch. It con- 
tains besides, I should however tell you, a great deal of other 
valuable matter illustrative of the manners and customs of a 



266 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 



LECT. XII. very early jseriod : and it may be taken as a fair specimen of tlie 
5° Of the important class of those Historic Tales wliicli I have referred to 
FoRBASA, or under the title of Forhasa. 

(The^-siege Tlicrc Hvcd in Ulster in the time of King Conor Mac Nessa, 
Howth")! °^" ^'^^^ iS' about a.d. 33, a learned poet, but withal a virulent 
satirist, named Aithirne, better known in our ancient writings 
as Aithirne Ailghesacli, or ^Aithirne the Importunate"; and he 
received this surname from the fact that, he never asked for a 
gift or preferred a request, but such as it was especially difficult 
to give, or dishonourable to grant. 

At this time the Ultonians were in great strength, and the 
valour of the champions of the Royal Branch had filled Erinn 
with their fame, and themselves and their province with arro- 
gance and insolence. They had already enriched themselves 
with the preys and spoils of Connacht, and they had beaten the 
men of Leinster in the battle of Ros na High, and extended 
the boundary of the northern province from the river Boyne 
southwards to the High (or river Rye, the boundary between 
the present counties of jNIeath and Dublin). They had also 
made a sudden and successful incursion into Munster, des- 
troyed the ancient palace of Teamhair Luachra, from which 
they returned home with great spoils. So that, having in this 
manner shown their power and superiority over the other pro- 
vinces, they were restless to undertake some yet more ambi- 
tious enterprise ; and, losing all self-restraint, they seem to have 
proposed to themselves no object but the one, to find an enemy 
to fight with, no matter where, and for any cause, no matter 
what it might be. 

In this embarrassment of the Ultonians, Aithirne, the poet, 
determined to relieve their languor by raising a still more se- 
rious quarrel, if possible, than ever, between them and some one 
of the other provinces. Accordingly, though not without the 
consent and approval of king Conor Mac Nessa, the poet set out 
upon a round of visits to the other provincial kings, resolved 
that his conduct and demands should be so insulting and ex- 
travagant that they should be forced to visit Mm with some 
gross indignity or personal punishment, such as might give 
him cause for pouring out upon tliem the most satirical strains 
of his venomous tongue, as well as make it incumbent on his 
province to demand and take satisfaction for the insult offered 
them in his person. 

He went first into Connacht, but the kings and chiefs of 
that province granted freely even his most imreasonable de- 
mands, sooner than be drawn into a war with Ulster by a refusal. 
From Connacht AithirnS passed to the kingdom of Mid- 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 267 

Erinn (compreliending the south of Connacht and the north lect. xn. 
of Munster or Thomond, and extending, it is said, within nar- .-onfth 
row limits, from the bay of Galway to DnbUn). The king of fotjbasa, or 
this territory at the time was Eochaidh Mac Luchta, whose re- (xile^^siege 
sidence lay on the brink of the present Loch Derg, in tlie Upper Hof urj. °' 
Shannon (somewhere, I believe, between Scariff, in the county 
of Clare, and the present Mountshannon Daly, on the south- 
eastern border of the county of Galway). This king, whose hos- 
pitality and munificence were proverbial, had the misfortune to 
be blind of an eve, and the malignant satirist knowino- that no 
demand on his riches, however exorbitant it might be, would be 
refused, determined to demand from him that which he was most 
certain could not be granted. He, therefore, demanded the king's 
only eye. To his great surprise and disappointment, Eochaidh 
Mac Lnchta (so goes the story) suddenly thrust his finger into the 
socket of his eye, tore it out by the roots, and handed it to the 
poet ! The king then commanded his servant to lead him down 
to the lake to wash his face and staunch the blood ; but fear- 
ing that perhaps he had not been able to extract the eye, he 
asked his servant if he had really given it to the poet. Alas ! 
said t\\e servant, the lake is red with the blood of your red eye. 
That shall be its name for ever, said the king. Loch Derg- 
dheirc^ or the Lake of the Red Eye, — (the present Loch Derg, 
above Killaloe, on the^Shannon). 

[Let me here obserA^e, in a parenthesis, that I should not, per- 
haps, have gone into this minor, though curious detail, but that 
more modern writers of family Irish history have endeavoured 
to make Eochaidh, the ancestor of the O'SidUvan family, to be 
the person who granted his only eye to the demand of a ]na- 
licious Scotch poet, and that it is from that circmnstance that 
the name OSuilahhain — that is, the one-eyed, — is derived. But 
there are two objections to the truthfulness of this version of the 
story ; the first is, that the tale I have just noticed is certainly 
older than the time of this latter Eochaidh; the second objec- 
tion is, that if this were the derivation of the name, it should 
be written with the letter m, instead of the 5, which is always 
found in it: that is, the word should be Sidlamhain (or " one 
eye"), and not Suilabhain, as it is generally (but not always) 
written in the ancient MSS. The fact, however, is, that both 
these spellings are incorrect, and that the family name, in the 
best authorities, is written 0' Suildhuhhain, or the Black-eyed.] 

But to return to the tract under notice. 

Our poet next crossed the Shannon into south Munster, to 
the palace of Tighernach Tethannach, the king of that province 
[from whom Cam Tighernaigh (on a mountain near Rathcor- 



268 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

LECT. XII. mac, in tlie county of Cork) in wliicli he Kes buried, lias its 
go Of the name.] The kings of all these territories submitted to the 
^"«B^sA. or deejDcst insults sooner than incur the poet's virulent abuse and 
(The''" Siege the enmity of his province. 

Hotvth")! "^ Aithirn^^ therefore, proceeded on his circuit from Munster 
into Leinster, and came to a place called Aixl Brestine, in the 
present county of Carlow. Here the people of South Lein- 
ster, with their king, Fergus Fairrge^ met him in assembly 
with large and valuable presents, in order to induce him not to 
enter their territory. The poet refused to accept any of the 
rich gifts that were offered him, until he should be given the 
richest present or article in the assembly. This was a sore 
puzzle to them, because they could not well discover which 
was the best of their valuables. Now while they were in this 
dilemma, there happened to be a young man, mounted on a 
fleet steed, careering for his amusement, in presence of the 
assembly ; — and so close sometimes to where the king sat, that, 
on one occasion, while wheeling round at full speed, a large 
clod of earth flew from one of the hind-legs of his steed, and 
fell in the king's lap. The king immediately perceived a large 
and beautiful gold brooch imbedded in the clod ; and, turning 
joyfully to the poet, who sat next him, he said: " Wliat have 
I got in my lap?" "You have got a brooch", said Aith- 
irne, " and that brooch is the present that will satisfy me, be- 
cause it was it that fastened the cloak o^ Maine Mac DurthacJit, 
my mother's brother, who buried it in the ground here at the 
time that he and the Ultonians were defeated by you in the 
battle of Ard Brestine". The brooch was then given to AitJi- 
irne, after which he took his departiu'e from South Leinster, 
and came to Naas, where Mesgedhra, the supreme king of all 
the province of Leinster, then resided. 

The poet was hospitably received by this king, at whose 
coiu't he remained twelve months, and he was loaded with rich 
gifts by the king himself, and the cliiefs of North Lemster. 
The more he got, however, the more insolent and importunate 
he became, until at last he insisted on getting seven hundi-ed 
white cows with red ears, a countless number of sheep, and 
one hundred and fifty of the wives and daughters of the Lein- 
ster nobles, to be carried in bondage into Ulster. 

To all these t3a'annical demands the Leinster men submitted 
in appearance, but with a grace and condescension that fore- 
boded anything but good to the penetrating eyes of the poet. 
Satisfied that the men of Leinster, who felt themselves restrained 
by the public law of hospitality witliin their own territory, would, 
when he had passed out of it, follow and deprive him of all his 



OP THE HISTORIC TALES. 269 

ill-gotten property, perhaps even of his life, he therefore sent a lect. x h. 
messenger into Ulster, demanding of king Conor to send a strong ^^ ^^ ^^^ 
body of men to the confines of Leinster, to receive and escort forbasa, or 
him and his property, as soon as he should pass across the (The^"siege 
border of that province. "I^^^^i;;; °'- 

When the poet's time for departure came at last, he set out 
from Naas with all his rich presents, his cattle, and his captives, 
attended by a multitude of the men of Leinster, apparently but 
to see him safely out of their country. When they came to 
Dublin, however, they found that the poet's sheep could not cross 
the river -L(fe [or Liffey] at the ordinary ford ; upon which, a 
number of the people went into the neighbom-ing woods, and set 
to work to cut down the trees and branches ; so that, in a very 
short time, they were able to throw a bridge, or causeway, of 
trees and hurdles across the river, by means of which the poet, 
his cattle, and train, passed over into the province of Meath, 
the LifFey being at this time the boundary line of Leinster and 
Meath at this point. 

(The point of the river over which this bridge of hurdles was 
thrown was, at this time, called Duhhlinn, literally the " Black 
Pool" (but in fact so called from a lady named Ditbh, who had 
been formerly drowned there) ; but from this time down it took 
the name of Duhhlinn Atha Cliath, or the Black Pool of the 
Ford of Hm-dles; and this ford, I have no doubt, extended 
from a point at the, Dublin side of the river, where the Dothor 
[or Dodder] falls into the Lifiey at Rings-End, to the opposite 
side, where the Poll-beg Lighthouse now stands. The Danish 
and EngHsh name Dublin is a mere modification of Dubhlimi, or 
Black's Pool, but the native Irish have always called, and still do 
call, the city of Dublin Ath Cliath, or Baile Atha Cliath — that 
is, the Ford of HmxUes, or the Town of the Ford of Hm-dles.) 

No sooner had Aithirne crossed the Ford of Hurdles than 
the Leinster men rapidly rescued their women ; but before they 
had time to turn their cattle, the Ultonian escort, which had 
previously arrived and encamped at the mouth of the river Tul- 
chlainn [or Tolca], a short distance from the ford, rushed down 
upon them. A battle ensued, in which the Ultonians were 
routed, and forced to retreat to Beann Eclair (now called the 
Hill of Howth), to which place, however, they succeeded in 
carrying with them the seven hundred cows. Here they threw 
up, on a sudden, a strong earthen fortification, which was ever 
afterwards called Dun AitJdrne, or Aithirne s fort, and within 
which they took shelter with their prey ; and they sent forthwith 
for further reinforcements to the north, and continued, in the 
meanwhile, to act on the defensive until their arrival 



of Edair 
Ilowth"). 



270 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

LECT. XII. The Leinstermen encamped in front of them, cut off their 
'°ofti communication with the country, and brought them to great 
Foi!BAs-\, or distress. After some time, however, the liower of the cham- 
(The^" Siege pious of the Rojal Branch arrived suddenly at Howth, attacked 
the Leinstermen, and routed them with considerable slaughter ; 
so that, with their king Mesgedhra, they fled towards their own 
country. Then Conall Cearnach, the most distingviished of the 
heroes of the Royal Branch, followed tlie Leinstermen with his 
chariot and charioteer, alone ; in order to take vengeance on 
certain of them for the death of his two brothers, Mesdeadad 
and Laeghaire, who had been slain at this siege of Howth. He 
passed over the ford of hurdles, through Drummainech (now 
Drimnagh), and on to Naas; but the army had already dis- 
persed, and the king had not yet reached his court. 

Conall pressed on from Naas to Claen, where he found Mes- 
gedhra, at last, at the ford of the LifFey. A combat imme- 
diately ensued between them, in which Mesgedhra was slain 
and beheaded. Conall placed the king's head in his own chariot, 
and ordering the cliarioteer to mount the royal chariot, they set 
out northwards. They had not gone far, however, when they 
met 3Iesgedhras queen, attended by fifty ladies of honour, return- 
ing from a visit in Mcath. "Who art thou, O woman?" said 
Conall. "I am J/es^etZ/tra's wife", said she. " Thou art com- 
manded to come with me", said Conall. " Who has commanded 
me ?" said the queen. ^''Mesgedhra has", said Conall. " Hast thou 
brought me any token ?" said the queen. " I have brought his 
chariot and his horses", said Conall. " He makes many presents", 
said the queen. " His head is here, too", said Conall, " Then I 
am disengaged", said she. " Come into my chariot", said Conall. 
" Grant me liberty to lament for my husband", said the queen. 
And then she shrieked aloud her grief and sorrow with such 
intensity, that her heart burst, and she fell dead from her 
chariot. 

The fierce Conall and his servant made there a grave and 
movmd on the spot ; in which they buried her, together with 
her husband's head, from which, however, according to a sin- 
gular custom hardly less barbarous than singular of which I shall 
say more presently, he had first extracted the brain. 

This queen's name was J3uan, or the Good [woman] ; and, 
after some time, according to a very poetical tradition, a beau- 
tiful hazel tree sprung up from her grave, which was for ages 
after called Coll Buana, or Buan's Hazel. The grave was situ- 
ated a short distance to the north of the Ford of Claen, on the 
ancient road which led from Naas to Tara, and may, perhaps, 
be known even at this day. 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 271 

Copies of this tract are preserved in the Book of Leinster, lect. xii. 
and in a vellum MS. in tlic British Museum, Harl. 5280. go of the 

FoRB\sA, or 

Of the Forhasa listed in the Book of Leinster there is one (The^'siege 
more so remarkable, that I would make room for some account '^amk^ 
of it, if it were possible — namely, the Forhais Droma Damh- ^'^''"'^"^■ 
ghaire, by kinor Cormac Mac Airt, against Fiacha Muilleathan, 
king of Minister, about the year of our Lord 220. Drom 
Damhghaire was the name of a ridge or hill in the county ol 
Limerick, since Cormac's time (and still) called Cnoc Luinge, 
or Knocklong, from the tents set up there by Cormac, who 
encamped upon the spot. The following is shortly the history 
of this Forhais: — 

Cormac's munificence was so boundless that, at one time, his 
steward complained to him, that, although there were many 
claimants and objects of the royal beneficence, there was 
nothing for them, as all the revenues appropriated to such pur- 
poses were exliausted. Cormac, in this extremity, asked the 
steward's advice as to the best means of replenishing his stores. 
The steward, without hesitation, said that the only chance of 
so doing was in demanding from Minister the cattle revenue of 
a second province ; that it contained two distinct provinces, but 
that it had always escaped paying tribute but for one, and that 
he ought to call on them for the tribute of the other. 

Cormac apjieared to be well pleased Avith this suggestion, and 
immediately despatched couriers to Fiaclia Muilleathain, the 
king of Munster, demanding tribute for the second division of 
that province. The king of Munster received the monarch's 
message in a fair spirit, and sent the courier back with an offer 
of ample relief of Cormac's present difficulties, but denying his 
right of demand, and refusing to send a single beef in acknow- 
ledgment of it. Cormac having received this stubborn message, 
mustered a large army and all his most learned Druids, marched 
into the heart of Minister, and encamped on the hill then called 
Drom Damhghaire, or the " Hill of the Oxen". 

Having estabhshed his encampment, he consulted his Druids 
on the best and most expeditious means of bringing the men 
of Munster to terms. The Druids, after debate among them- 
selves, assured the monarch that the surest and most expedi- 
tious mode of reducing his enemies would be to deprive them 
and their cattle of water, and that tliis they were prepared to do 
on receiving his permission. Cormac immediately assented, and 
forthwith the Druids by their spells and incantations dried up, 
or concealed, all the rivers, lakes, and springs of the district, so 
that both men and cattle were dying of tliirst all round them. 



6° Of the 



272 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

Thckingof Munster in tliis extremity took counsel witli his peo- 

j)le, and the decision they came to was, not to submit to Cormac, but 

FoKBASA, or to send to the island of Dairhre [now called Oilean Daraire, or 

(The^" Siege Valencia], on the western coast of Kerry, to Mogh Huith, the most 

^Damh"^ famous Druid of the time (who is said to have studied Druidisni 

(/haire"). {^ the East, in the great school of Simon Magus), to request that 

he would come and relieve them from the terrible distress, which 

they well knew had been brought on them by Druidic agency. 

The ancient Druid consented to come and relieve them, on 
condition that he should receive a territory of his own selection 
in that part of the province, with secmity for its descent in his 
family for ever. His demands were granted, and he selected 
the present barony of Fermoy in the county of Cork (where 
some of his descendants survive to this day, under the names of 
O'Duggan, O'Cronin, etc.). The Druid then shot an arrow into 
the air, telling the men of Mmister that water in abmidance would 
spring np wherever the arrow should fall. Tiiis promise was 
verified ; a rushing torrent of water burst vip where the arrow 
fell ; and the men of Munster and their flocks were relieved. 

The Munster men then fell upon Cormac and his hosts, routed 
them from C?ioc Luinge^ and followed them into Leinster, scat- 
tering and killmg them as they went. 

The place in which the arrow fell is still pointed out in the 
parish of hnleach Grianan, in the county of Limerick ; and the 
well remains still under the ancient name of Tobar (or Tiprd) 
Ceann rnoir, that is. Well of Great Head, or Spring; and 
a river that issues from it is called Sriith Cheanna mhoir, or 
the Stream of Great Head. 

This is a wild but most important story, full of information 
on topography, manners, customs, and Druidism. It is spoken 
of in several of our ancient books, but the only copy of it that I 
know to exist was preserved in the Book of Lismore, until that 
great book was mutilated in Cork many years ago ; and now there 
is a portion of the original staves at Lismore and a portion at 
Cork ; but I have a full copy of both parts in my own possession. 

Short as I have made the outlines I have given you of these 
few specimens of the Historic Tales, I have been unable to 
compress within the present Lectvue any intelligible account 
of those classes of them which it is my business to bring vmder 
your notice. At our next meeting I shall, however, endeavour 
to complete this branch of the inquiry I have opened. 



LECTURE XIII. 

[Delivere<l June 19, 1856.] 

The Historic Tales (contiaued). 6. Of the 0««e', " Tragedies", or Deaths. 
The Story of the " Death of Conor Mac Nessa". The " Death of Maelfa- 
thartaiyh, the son of Ronan". 7. Of the Tana, or Cow Spoils. The " Tuin 
bo Chuailync'\ 8. Of the J!)c/u?ia/-ca, or Courtships. The "Courtship of 
Euner'\ by the Champion Cachullain. 9. Of tlie Uutha, or Caves. 10. Of the 
£r/i</-a2, or Adventures. 11. Of the Sluaii/headha, or military expeditions. 
The " Expedition of King Dathi to the foot of Sliahh n-Ealpa (the Alps)". 
12. Of the Imramha, or E.Kpeditions by Sea. The " Voyage of the Sons of 
Ua Corra". Of the remaining classes of the Historic Tales. 

I ALMOST begin to fear you will set me down as a story-teller 
myself, and not a lecturer upon the grave subject of the Mate- 
rials of our Ancient History, before I shall have completed my 
intended notices of the pieces called Historic Tales. You must, 
however, always bear in mind that, so far as I have thought it 
right to enter into the details of these stories, I have done so 
only for the purpose of making the Gaedhlic student as accu- 
rately acquainted with their plan and style as the nature of 
this general course may admit. I have, however, in no instance 
detailed to you even any considerable part of any of these com- 
positions ; though they will, in fact, upon examination, be found 
to contain far more of valuable historical matter than I could 
make you familiar with, if I were even to devote the whole of 
these lectures to this subject alone. All that I have attempted 
to do is, to give you a sort of general idea by way of syn- 
opsis of the contents of a few of these tales; and I have 
selected, as specimens of them, those which appear to me most 
proper to serve as examples of the classes to which they re- 
spectively belong. 

The next class of the Historic Tales to which I have to ask 
your attention, is that of the Oitte or Aideadha, — "Tragedies", 
or Deaths. These stories are the narratives of violent Deaths, or 
of any melancholy or tragical occurrences in which the Death of 
some remarkable individual forms a principal feature in the tale. 
From one of these Oitte, or Aideadha, the '■'' Aideadh Conrur, 
Keating has introduced into his history the story of the death 
of Curoi Mac Daire, who was killed by the celebrated champion 

18 



274 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

LECT. XIII. Cuchulainn, about the first year of the Christian era. But the 

~ example I prefer to select is a more important one, because the 

oiTTE, or personage whose death is recorded in the tale was one of the 

cnie DeaUi ' most remarkable men in all our history, — that Conor Mac Nessa, 

of Conor Biac q£ "whom I have already more than once spoken. This tale is 

also particularly interesting to Christians, as you will find, in 

respect of the immediate cause of the death of the pagan king ; 

for, though there are several ancient versions of the story, the 

connexion of the disaster with the crucifixion of our Lord is 

uniformly recorded. This tale is mentioned in the list, in the 

Book of Leinster, as the Aideadh ChoncJwbhair, and to some 

version of this story also Keating had recourse in the compilation 

of his history. The copy of the tale, the principal contents of 

which I am about shortly to narrate to you, is preserved in the 

Book of Leinster. 

Conor Mac Nessa was king of Ulster at the period of the Incar- 
nation of our Lord. He was the son oi Faclitna, king of the same 
province, but who was slain while Conor was yet an infant. 

Conor's accession to the provincial throne was more a matter 
of chance than of hereditary claim, because Fergus Mac Rossa 
was actually king at the time. Conor's mother, Nessa, (from 
whom he derived the distinctive appellation of Mac Nessa,) 
was still a woman of youth and beauty, at the time that her 
son came to be fifteen years of age, and Fergus, then the king 
of the province, proposed marriage to her. Nessa refused to 
accept Iris offer, excepting on one condition — namely, that he 
should hand over the sovereignty of Ulster, for one year, to her 
son Conor, in order that his childi'en after him might be called 
the childi'en of a king. To this singular condition Fergus was 
but too glad to accede, and Conor accorchngly took upon him 
the sovereignty of Ulster, which, young as he was, he adminis- 
tered with such wisdom, justice, and munificence, that, v/hen 
the year was expired, and the time for resigning the kingly 
office to its original holder had arrived, the Ulstermen raised a 
formidable opposition to the act; and, after much contention 
and diplomacy, the difficulty was disposed of by each one retain- 
ing what he had, — Fergus his wife, and Conor the kingdom; 
and so, as we are informed by history, Conor continued long to 
rule the people of Ulster with wisdom and justice, to defend their 
rights with vigilance, and to avenge their wrongs Avith bravery, 
wherever and whenever the encroachments of the neighbour- 
ing provincial powers required it. 

It was under the fosterage and example of this prince that 
the renowned order of knighthood, so well known in song and 
story as the Knights of the Royal Branch, sprang up in Ulster ; 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 275 

and among the most distinguished of the order I may name to lect. xiii. 
you the celebrated Conall Cearnach, Ciichnlainn, the sons of ^^ ^^^^^^ 
Uisneach (^Naoisi, Ainle, and Ardan\ Eoglian Mac Durthacht^ oitte, or 
Duhhthach Dael Uladh, oiid Laeghaire Buadhach, as well as Cor- (The'oeath ' 
7nac Conloingeas (Conor's own son). Nessa)?^ '*''**^ 

One of those barbarous military customs which, in one form 
or another, prevailed in former times perhaps all over the world, 
and which have been preserved in some countries nearly down 
to our own days, existed in Erinn at this period. Whenever 
one champion slew another in single combat, it is stated that he 
cut off his head, if possible ; clove it open ; took out the brain ; 
and, mixing tliis with lime, rolled it up into a ball, which he then 
dried, and placed in the armoury of his territory or province, 
among the trophies of his nation. 

As an instance of this strange custom, we have already seen, 
in the sketch of Aithirne, the poet (in speaking of the Siege of 
Beann Edair, or Howth), that, on that occasion, when the great 
Ulster champion, Conall Cearnach^ pursued Mesgedhra^ the 
king of Leinster, from Howtli to Claena (in the present county 
of Kildare), where he overtook and fought him in single com- 
bat, he cut off the king's head after he had killed him, and 
extracted the brain. And, according to that story, it appears 
that after having put it through the usual process for hardening 
and preservation, he placed the ball formed of the royal brain 
among the precious trophies of Ulster, in the great house of the 
Royal Branch at Emaiiia, where it continued to be esteemed as 
an object of great provincial interest and pride. 

Now, Conor Mac Nessa, in accordance with the custom of 
the times, had two favourite fools at his court; and these silly, 
though often cunning, persons, having observed the great 
respect in which Mesgedhrcis brain was held by their betters, 
and wishing to enjoy its temporary possession, stole it out of 
the armoury and took it out to the lawn of the court, where 
they began to play with it as a common ball. 

While thus one day thoughtlessly engaged, Get Mac Magach, 
a famoiis Connacht champion, whose nation was at war with 
Conor Mac Nessa, happened to come up to them in disguise ; 
and perceiving, and soon recognizing, the precious ball which 
they were carelessly throwing from hand to hand, he had little 
difficulty in obtaining it from them. Having thus unexpectedly 
secured a prize of honour so valuable. Get returned immediately 
into Connacht; and as there was a prophecy that Mesgedhra 
would avenge liimself upon the Ulstermen, he never went forth 
upon any border excursion or adventiu'e withou^t carrying the 
king's brain with him in his girdle, hoping by it to fulfil the 

18 B 



27(3 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

LECT. XIII. propliecy by the destruction of some important cliief or cham- 
/.o ^<.., pion anions the Ulster warriors. 

C°. Of the ^ 01 1 p 1 • • ^ 1 1 1 p 

oiTTE, or Dliortly alter tins time, Let, at the head 01 a strong party 01 

(Tii?Death ' the men of Connacht, carried oiF a large prey and plunder from 
NeSa)"' ^^^'^ Southern Ulster ; but they were pursued and overtaken (at 
Baile-atli-an-Urchair, now Ardnurchar, in the present county 
of Westmeath) by the Ulstermen, under the command of the 
king himself [See Appendix, No. XC.]. Both sides halted 
on the banks of a stream, which they selected as an appropriate 
battle-field, and prepared for combat. Get soon discovered that 
the pursuit was led by king Conor ; at once bethought him of 
the prophecy ; and immediately laid his plan for its fulfilment. 
Accordingly, perceiving that a large number of the ladies of 
Connacht, who had come out to greet the return of their hus- 
bands, had placed themselves on a hill near the scene of the 
intended battle, he concealed himself among them. 

Now, at this time, when two warriors or two armies were 
about to enafasre in battle, it was the custom for the women, if 
any were present, of either party to call upon any distinguished 
chief or champion from the opposite side to approach them and 
exhibit himself to their view, that they might see if his beauty, 
dignity, and martial bearing were equal to what fame had 
reported them to be. 

To carry out his plan, then, Cet instructed the Connacht women 
to invite Conor himself to come forward, that they might view 
him. To this request Conor willingly assented in the spirit of 
the chivalry of the time ; but when he had come Avithin a short 
distance of the presence of the ladies, on the corresponding emi- 
nence at his own side of the stream, Cet raised himself in their 
midst, and fixed Mesgedhras brain in his Cranntahhaill, or 
sling. Conor perceived the movement, and recognizing at once 
a mortal enemy, retreated as fast as he could to his own people ; 
however, just as he was entering the little grove of Doire da 
Bhaeth^ Cet, who followed him closely, cast from the sling the 
ball made from the fatal brain, and succeeded in striking Conor 
with it on the head, lodging the ball in his skull. 

Conor's chief physicians were immediately in attendance, 
and after a long examination and consultation, they reported 
that it was not expedient to remove the ball ; and the royal 
patient was carried home, where he was so well attended by 
them, that after some time he recovered his usual health and 
activity. He was, however, charged to be careful to avoid, 
among other things, all violent exercise, riding on horseback, 
and all excitement or anger. 

He continued thus for years to enjoy good health, until the 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES 277 

very day of the Crucifixion, when, observing the eclipse of the lect. xnr. 
snn, and the atmospheric terrors of that terrible day, he asked ^.^ ^^^^ 
Bacrach, his druid, what the cause of it was. (mtte, or 

The di'iiid consulted his oracles, and answered by informing (Tii'J'ileat'ii " 
the kiag that Jesus Clirist, the Son of the living God, was at Ness'!!)"' *^'^ 
that moment suffering at the hands of the Jews. " What crime 
has he committed ?" said Conoi-. " None", said the druid. " Then 
are the slaying him innocently?" said Conor. "They are", said 
the druid. Then Conor burst into sudden fury at the words, 
drew his sword, and rushed out to the wood of Lamhraidhe, 
wdiich was opposite his palace door, where he began to hew 
down the young trees there, exclaiming in a rage: " Oh ! if I 
were present, it is thus I w^ould cut down the enemies of the in- 
nocent man !" His rage continued to increase, until at last the 
fatal ball, which was lodged in liis skull, started from its place, 
followed by the king's brain, and Conor Mac Nessa fell dead on 
the spot. This occuiTcnce happened in the fortieth year of his 
reign ; and he has been counted ever since as the first man who 
died for the sake of Christ in Ireland. 

This curious tale seems to have always been believed by the 
Irish historians, and from a very early date. In one version of 
it, however (that in the Book of Leinster), it is stated that pro- 
bably it was not from his druid that Conor received the infor- 
mation concerning the crucifixion of our Lord, but from Altus, 
a Roman consul. 

Of these Oitte, Aideadha, or Tragedies, I may just mention TJj^p'^^^sedy 
one other very curious one (also recorded in the Book oi Maeifaawr- 
Leinster). I mean the AiJeadh Maeilfathartaigh Mic JRonain, slnain?" 
or death of the Prince Maelfotharty, the son of Ronan, king of 
Leinster, about the year a.d. 610. 

This king had, as it is stated, married in his old age a very 
young northern lady, whom he brought home to his Leinster 
palace, there to see, for the first time, his son, with whom she 
luihappily fell in love. The prince refused and shunned her : 
and the lady in revenge, alter several endeavours to procure his 
death, spoke to the king in such a manner as to excite his jea- 
lousy against his son, and enraged him so much that Afuelfathar- 
taigh was soon afterwards killed with spears, himself and his 
grayhounds, in his father's house and by his father's orders. 

The characters in this tale are all historical, and the tragedy 
is narrated, as well as the whole story of the causes that led to it, 
at full length. 

The next division of liistorical tales that I would have had to 7°.^of the 
notice, would have been the Tana, or Cow Spoils; but as you "cVw- 

" spoils". 



278 OF THE HISTORIC TALES- 

LECT. XIII. liave already had a specimen in one of wliich I gave you a 
o rather copious description in a former lecture (I mean the Tain 

Tana, or 5(5 ChucdlgnS, which is indeed the chief of them), I shall pass 
Spoils". them over for the present, and proceed to take up an example 
of another class of these tracts ; that, namely, which consists of 
8°. Of the stories of the more celebrated Tochmarca, or Courtships and 
or **' cour't'-' Espousals, in ancient Irish histoiy. Of this class of tales, one of 
Courtsiin of ^^ most remarkable, and the best preserved, is the Tochmarc 
Eimer, by Eimhire, — the tale of the Courtship of the great Ulster champion 
Cuchulainn and the lady Eimer, the beautiful daughter oi For- 
gall Monacli, a nobleman who in his day held a court of gene- 
ral hospitality (similar to that of Da Derga before mentioned) 
at the place now called Lusk, in the county of Dubhn. 

Of the champion Cuchulainn, the hero of this tale, we have 
spoken at some length in a former lecture, when treating of the 
Tain b6 Chuailgne. I need only add here that, according to all 
the accounts, the beauty and symmetry of his person are de- 
scribed to have been in full accordance with his noble carriage 
and bearing, and worthy of his precocious valour and renown. 
The men of Ulster, it appears, paid Cuchulainn a very pecu- 
liar compliment ; for, presided over by their famous king Conor 
Mac Nessa, they held a special assembly to devise the best means 
of providing for their yoimg champion a partner for life, worthy 
of his rank in life, his manly perfections, and his personal and 
military accomplislunents. The decision to which they came 
was, to send envoys all over Erinn to visit the courts of the 
princes and nobles, in order to discover the most beautiful and 
accomplished lady among their daughters, so that Cuchulainn, 
in accordance with the custom of those times, should go and 
court her. 

In accordance with this decision, persons properly qualified 
for so delicate a mission were sent forth from Emania (the palace 
of Ulster) ; but alter an extensive and close search among the 
higher classes of the day, they returned home without being for- 
tunate enough to succeed in the object of their embassy, — in fact, 
Feramorz himself was not one of them. 

Cuchulainn, however, nothing dispirited by the failure of the 
sohcitude of his friends in his behalf, resolved to go and try his 
own success in a matter that concerned him so much, and which, 
after all, should depend for its final accomjslishment on his own 
personal examination and approval ; and having heard, it would 
appear, of the beauty and accomplishments of the lady Eime7\ 
he ordered his chariot, and, accompanied only by his faithful 
charioteer, Laegh, he set out from Emania, and, passing by the 
many princely and noble mansions that lay in his jo^irney. 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 279 

Stopped not until he ch-ew up on the lawn of the court of her lect. xin. 
father, Fore/all, at Lusk. ^ _ soTofthT" 

Here he had the good fortime to meet the beautiful object of tochmakca, 
his visit, in the pleasiu'e-ground of the mansion, enjoymg her siiips".°^"The 
customary sports, surromided by the fair daughters of the neigh- ^^^l^f^^y°^ 
homing chiefs and men of jNIeath, whom she was accustomed to Omhuiainn). 
instruct in the lady accomplishments of the times (for the lady 
Elmer is stated to have been preeminently endowed with " six 
natural and acquired gifts, namely, the gift of beauty of person, 
the gift of voice, the gift of music, the gift of embroidery and 
all needlework, the gift of "wisdom, and the gift of virtuous 
chastity"). Cuchulainn immediately (but in an obscure style 
of speech) revealed his name and the reason of his unceremo- 
nious visit to Elmer; but the yomig lady declined to accept his 
addresses, alleging as her only reason that she was a younger 
daughter; and then, laimching forth in a strain of charming 
eloquence on the beauty, accomplishments, and virtues of her 
elder sister, she recommended her suitor to seek her father's 
consent for liberty to pay his court to that lady. Cuchulainn, 
however, declined this recommendation, and not wisliing to be 
seen by Elmers father or brothers in private conversation with 
her, he soon after took a hurried leave, and departed for his home. 

Forgall soon came to hear of the visit of this remarkable and 
unknown stranger to his daughter, and discovered at once from 
his description who he was. Not desiring, however, to form an 
alHance with a professional champion, and knowing well that 
his designs on Elmer would be renewed, he immediately deter- 
mined on obstructing them. 

For this purpose, he clad himself and two chosen attendants 
in the attire of Scandinavian messengers, and supplying himself 
with various articles of value, they went northwards to Emania, 
and presented themselves at the court of King Conor, as mes- 
sengers sent to liim with presents and gifts from the king of 
Scandinavia. The strangers were well received and highly feasted 
and honoured for three days, after which they were introduced 
to the chief heroes of the Royal Branch, such as Conall Cear- 
nach, Cuchulainn himself, and others, who showed them various 
specimens of their mihtary education. Forgall bestowed great 
praise on the accomplishments of these celebrated warriors, but 
remarked that there were some feats of arms in which they ap- 
peared to be deficient, and recommended the king to send them 
into Scotland to finish their education at the great mihtary 
academy of Domhnall, the champion, and the Amazonian lady 
Scathach. 

So warmly, and apparently so disinterestedly, did he press 



280 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

LECT. XIII ■ tills recommendation, that Ciichidainn made a vow (in a form 

go Qf y^g of promise, from which, according to the laws of chivalry of the 

TocHMARCA, time, he could not recede), that he would forthwith set out for 

ships"!"^(The Scotland, and not return as long as he could find any feat of 

mmer'^^"^ arms to leam, in which he happened to be then deficient. 

cvchniainn.) Forgall then took his leave of king Conor and his court, and 

returned home highly pleased with the success of his plan, as he 

had calculated that, should CucJmlainn fulfil his vow, he should 

never return, because he could never escape all the dangers that 

were sure to beset him in his travels. However, Cuchulainn 

paid a hasty but secret visit to his lady love, who, by this time, 

had become deeply enamoured of him, and, having told her of 

the vow he had made, and of his determination to fulfil it, they 

plighted miitual troth and constancy, and he went forth on his 

travels. 

As Forgall anticipated, Cuchulainn s journey was beset with 
dangers and difficulties of all kinds ; but those described in the 
tale are chiefly of the romantic and supernatural character. 
Although, nevertheless, the story at this point is especially en- 
riched with poetic embellishment, still the natural incidents 
with which it abounds, and the ciuious sketches of, or perhaps 
I should say, allusions to, the manners and customs of the date 
of society at a period so very remote (but with which the writer 
appears to have been familiar), both in Erinn and in Scotland, 
will make ample amends in information of the most sohd cha- 
racter, for the exuberant display of the author's fancy, whoso- 
ever he may have been. 

But to continue: Cuchulainn, having finished his military 
education at the school of the lady Scathach, in Scotland, and 
having gained great renown by his superiority over his fellow- 
students, returned home by way of Ceann Tire, or the Land's 
Head [now Cantire, in Scotland], paying a visit to the island of 
Rechrainn [now Rathlin], on the north-east coast of Erinn. 
Here he met with an incident, which, though not quite new in 
character to classical scholars, has, from the circmnstances that 
produced it, a peculiar interest for the Irish historian. 

On putting into a small bay in the island of Rechrainn, he, 
and the few Irish fellow-students who accompanied him, left 
their vessels, and, reaching the beach, were surprised to find a 
beautiful girl sitting there alone. Ciichulainn immediately 
questioned her as to the cause and reason of her strange position, 
and the young lady told him that she was the daughter of the 
king o^ Rechrainn; that her father was every year compelled to 
pay a large and rich tribute to the Fomorians, or pirates, who 
infested the Scottish islands ; that, failing this year to procure 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 281 

the stipiilatcd amount, lie was ordered to place her, his only lect. xiii . 
daughter, in the position in which he now saw her, and that, ^^ ^^^^^ 
before the night, she should be carried off by the Fomorians; tochmauca, 
and whilst this conversation was actually going on, three fierce ships", "aiie 
warriors of the Fomorians in fact landed in the bay from their ^""/^^'^^y °* 
boat, and made straight for the spot in which they knew the cuc/miainn). 
maiden awaited them. Before, however, they had time to lay 
rude hands upon her, Ciichulainn sprang forward to encounter 
them, and succeeded in slaving them all, receivins^ but a slio-ht 
scar on the arm in the combat, which the maiden tied up with 
a part of her costly robe. The maiden, so unexpectedly re- 
leased from her terrible condition, now ran joyously to her 
father, and related to him all that had happened ; but she could 
give no particidar account of her deliverer. The father imme- 
diately communicated the happy tidings to his people, who, 
with the strangers and visitors at his court, thronged around 
him with their congratulations, and Cuchulainn among the rest. 
The king led the way to the customary ablutions before their 
feast, in which he was followed by his household and visitors, 
several of whom were boasting of having been the actual 
rescuers of the princess; but when it came to Cuchulainn s turn 
to bare his arms, she immediately identified him as her deli- 
verer, from his having the strij) of her dress wrapped rovmd his 
arm. An explanation followed, and the king, with the young 
lady's full consent, made an offer of her and her fortune to her 
deliverer. This Cuchulainn, however, declined to accept at the 
time ; and, bidding farewell soon afterwards to his friends on the 
Island o£ Rechrainn, he returned to Emaiiia, where he was joy- 
fully received by king Conor and the knights of the Royal Branch. 
Cuchulainn took but little rest after his arrival in Ulster, be- 
fore he set out for the residence of his faithful lady love at Lusk ; 
but Eimers father and brothers having heard of his return, and 
expecting a visit from him, fortified themselves and Eimer so 
strongly and closely, that for a whole year Cuchulainn failed to 
obtain even a sight of her, much less an entrance to her dwel- 
ling. Being driven to desperation at last, he scaled the three 
circumvallations of the court, entered it, slew Eimers three bro- 
thers, killed or disabled their adherents, and took away the 
lady herself by force, together with her waitingmaid, and as much 
gold, silver, and other treasures as he could carry. Cuchulainn 
forthAvith transferred his treasures to his chariot, andturnedhisface 
northwards once more ; but an alarm being raised in the country 
all round, he was followed by numbers of armed men, so that he 
was compelled repeatedly to wheel round and give them combat. 
These combats took place generally at the fords of the rivers ; 



282 OF THE HISTORIC TALES, 

LECT. XIII. and it is remarkable that every ford from tlie Glonn-A th (or the 
o ^ Ford of Great Deeds), on the river Ailhhine (now the Delvin), 
TocHMXRCA, to Ath-an-Imoit (or the Ford of the Sods), on the River Boyne, 
ships*^°"(The took its name from that of some person slain in the course of these 
£'j/ner''b' °^ combats, or from some characteristic incident connected with 
cuchuiainn). them. Biit bcsides these names (many, or all of which may be 
easily identified) there is scarcely a hill, valley, river, rock, 
monnd, or cave, in the line of country from Emania (in the pre- 
sent county of Armagh) to Lusk (in the county of Dublin), of 
which the ancient and often varying names and history are not 
to be found in this singularly curious tract. So that, if we look 
upon it even but as a highly coloured historic romance, it will 
be found one of the most valuable of our large collection of an- 
cient compositions, on account of the light wdiich it throws not 
merely on ancient social manners and on the miUtary feats and 
terms of those days, but on the meaning of so vast a number of 
topographical names. And it records too, I may add, very many 
curious customs and superstitions, many of which, to this day, 
characterise the native Irish people. 

The only old copies of this tract with which I am acquainted 
are three. One of them, an imperfect one, is in the ancient 
Lealhar na h- Uidhre, in the library of the Royal Irish Academy ; 
another written partly on parchment and partly on paper, in the 
same library, belongs to the time of about the middle of the six- 
teenth century ; the third, a fine and perfect one on vellum, in 
the British Museum, is in the handwriting of Gillariabhach 
O'Clery, the son of Tuathal O'Clery, who died in the year 1512. 
Of this copy I have made a careful transcript for my own use, free 
from the contractions with which the origmal abounds, and more 
accessible for all useful purposes than either of the old, or I may 
perhaps say, than any other copies now extant. 

Of several Amougst the otlicr remarkable Tochmarca., or Comtships, 

brateirrM/i- Still prcscrvcd among our MSS., I may mention the very ancient 

" Court- '^ Tochmarc Momera, ^-printed last year [1855] by the Celtic So- 

ships". ciety, with the battle of Magh Lena. It contains a singularly 

interesting account of the voyage of the celebrated Eoghan Mor to 

Spain in the second century, and his marriage there with J/b^w^Va, 

the daughter of the king of that country. The name of this 

story does not occur in the list of specimens of Scela in the 

Book of Leinster. 

The Tochmarc 3Iheidhbhe, which does appear in that fist, is 
the story of the marriage of the celebrated Meadhhh, [or Meav], 
queen of Connacht, with Ailill, prince of Leinster, at Naas ; told 
in the Tain h6 Chuailgne. 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 283 

The Toclimarc Ailbhe, also in tliat list, is the courtship o^Flnn lect. xm. 
Mao Cumhaill, ot" the princess Ailbhe, the daughter of Connac 
Mac Airt. This lady Ailbhe is said to have been the wisest other ciie- 
woman of her time ; and Finn's courtship is described in the ^naTai, T^'' 
relation of conversations, in which there is a sort of contest of ", 9°^;'" 
ability and knowledge between them. 

Of the many Tochmarca still preserved to us, I shall only 
mention one more — the Tochnarc Begfolad, or "Courtship of 
tlie Woman of little dowry", who was sought in marriage by 
Diarmaid Jfac Cearbhaill, monarch of Erinn, in the sixth cen- 
tury. This piece is very ancient, though this also does not 
occiu' in the incomplete list in the Book of Leinster ; and it is 
of remarkable value for the minute descriptions which it con- 
tains of the lady's dress, and of the various gold ornaments worn 
at the period. 

Another class of tales is known by the name of Uatha, or 90. of tiie 
Caves. These are tales respecting various occurrences in caves : J^cavcs'"*^ 
sometimes the taking of a cave, when the place has been used as a 
place of refuge or habitation, — and such a taking would be, in 
fact, a sort o£ Toghail; sometimes the narrative of some adven- 
ture in a cave ; sometimes of a plunder of a cave ; and so on. 
Thus the Uath Beinne Edalr (mentioned in the Book of Lein- 
ster), is the tale of the hiding of X^za/'/nawZ and Grdinne, — the lat- 
ter the intended wife of Finn Mac Ctimhaill, with whom Diar- 
maid eloped, — in a cave on JBeinu Etair or Edair (i.e., the hill 
of Howth). Again the Uath Chruachan, or " Cave of Cruach- 
ain\ is a very curious story of the plunder of the cave of 
Cruachain, part of the Story of the Tain Be, or Bo, Aingen, 
(Cow-Spoil of Aingen), in Connacht, in the time of Queen 
Meadlibh and King Ailill, about the time of the Incarnation. 
So the Uatli Belaigh Conglais is the story of Cuglas, a prince of 
Leinster in the first century. This prince was a distinguished 
huntsman, but one day in hunting, he disappeared in the cave 
called since after him, Belacli Conglais (now Baltinglass), and 
was never heard of afterwards. 

Another class consists of the Echtrai, or Adventures. An 10°. uitiic 
Echtra was generally a foreign expedition : it was always a per- 01^" a'ii '' 
sonal adventure of some kind. That called in the Book of Leins- "^e^t^'es"- 
terthe Echtixi Macha inghine Aedha Ruaidh (or the Adventure 
of Macha, the daughter of Aedh [Hugh] the red), is the story of 
Queen IVIacha's expedition into Connacht, and her bringing back 
as prisoners the three sons of Bithorba, the events of which I have 
already related to you in reference to the founding of the palace 
of Emania by this Macha (near the present city of Armagh). 



284 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

LECT. xni. The tales of these two classes are, however, so like in their 
Of the P^^^-^ ^^^^ subjects to others, of which I give you examples, that 
Ei'HTKAi, or it is imiiecessarj to detain you here by any detailed specimen 

of them. I shall pass on then to another and more important 

division 



" Adven 
tures". 



11°. Of the 'pj-^Q example of the Sluaigheabha, or Military Expeditions, 

EADHA, or wJiich 1 Wish to introduce to you, is that m which the last or the 

ExpVdi'-'^ pagan kings of Erinn lost his life, about the year of onr Lord 428. 

ExpetfitiOTf "^ This expedition was also (like many of the Irish wars of the 

of Baihi to period), a continental one, and the king's army appears to liaA^e 

passed quite across the south of France. The story is called, in 

the Book of Leinster, the Sluaghid Dathi co Sliabh n-Ealpa, or 

the Expedition of Dathi to the Alpine Mountains. 

Niall of the Nine Hostages was succeeded in the monarchy 
(a.d. 405) by Dathi, tlie son of his brother Fiachra, king of 
Connacht; and was, like his uncle, a valiant and ambitious 
man. It happened that, in the seventeenth year of his reign, 
king Dathi was induced to go from Tara to Eas Ruaidh, the 
great cataract of the River Erne (at the present Ballyshannon), 
to adjust some territorial dispute which had sprung up among 
his relatives. The time at which this journey was undertaken 
was the close of the summer, so that the king arrived at his 
destination close upon November Eve, a season of great so- 
lemnity of old among the pagan Gaedhils. 

Dathi, having concluded an amicable adjustment among his 
friends, and finding himself on the eve of the great festival of 
Samhain, w^as desirous that his Druids should ascertain for him, 
by their art, the incidents that were to happen him from that 
time till the festival of Samhain of the next year. With this 
view he commanded the presence of his Druids ; and Doghra, 
the chief of them, immediately stood before him. " I wish", 
said the king, " to know my destiny, and that of my country, 
from this night till this night twelvemonths". " Then", said 
Doghra, " if you will send nine of your noblest chiefs with me 
from this to Rath Archaill, on the bank of the river Miiaidh [tlie 
Moy], I will reveal something to them". " It shall be so", said 
the king, " and I shall be one of the number myself". 

They departed secretly trom the camp, and arrived in due 
time at the plain of Rath Archaill, where the Druid's altars 
and idols were. Dathis queen, Ruadh, had a palace at 3Iul- 
lach Ruaidhe, in this neighhourhood, [a place still known under 
that name, in the parish of Screene, in the barony, of Tireragh, 
and covmty of Sligo]. Here the king took up his quarters for 
the night, whilst the Druid repaired to Dumha na n-Druadh (or 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 285 

tlie Druid's jNIound), near Rath Archnill, on the south, to con- lect. xiii. 
suit his art accordinir to the request of the kinof. ,,„„„, 

At the rising of the sun in the morning, the Druid repaired sluaigh- 
to the king's bed- room, and said: " Art thou asleep, O king of "jiu^^ary 
Erinn and of Albain?"' "I am not asleep", answered the ^-'''"^,^'" ™, 
monarch, " but why have you made an addition to my titles : Kxpeditkm 
for, although I have taken the sovereignty of Erinn, I have the Alps). 
not yet obtained that of Albain [Scotland]". " Thou shaft 
not be long so", said the Druid, " for I have consulted the 
clouds of the men of Erinn, and found that thou wilt soon 
return to Tara, where thou wilt invite all the provincial kings, 
and the chiefs of Erinn, to the great feast of Tara, and there 
thou shalt decide with them upon making an expedition into 
Albain, Britain, and France, following the conquering footsteps 
of thy great uncle, Niall, and thy grandunclc, Crimlitliann 
M6r\ The king, delighted with this favourable prediction, 
returned to his camp, where he related what had happened, ' 
and disclosed his desire for foreign conquests to such of the 
great men of the nation as happened to be of his train at the 
time. His designs were approved of, and the nobles were dis- 
missed to their respective homes, after having cordially pro- 
mised to attend on the king at Tara, with all their forces, 
whenever he should summon them, to discuss farther the great 
project which now wholly seized on his attention. 

Dathi returned home, stopping for a short period at the 
ancient palace of Cruachain, in Roscommon. From this place 
he proceeded across the Shannon, and then delayed for some 
time at the ancient palace c£ Freamhainn, [a name still preserved 
in that of the hill of Frewin, in the present parish of Port- 
Loman, in the county of Westmeath]. 

The tale goes on to tell, at this place, an anecdote, having 
reference to the raith or building where the party then were, 
which is so interesting in itself, and as an example of the kind 
of information with wliich these tracts aboimd, that I may so 
far digress as to state it to you. 

In the course of the evening, when the fatigues of the journey 
were forgotten in the enjoyment of the cup and the cheerful- 
ness of conversation, the king asked his Druid, Finnchaemh, 
who it was that bmlt the noble and royal court in which they 
were then enjoying themselves. The Druid answered, that it 
had been built by Eocliaidh Aireamh [Monarch of Erinn, 
about a century before the Christian era]. He then narrated 
to Dathi how that monarch called on the men of Erinn to biuld 
him a suitable residence, Avhich should descend to his own 
family independently of the palace of Tara, which always 



286 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

LECT. xiTi. descended by law to the reigning monarch. The men of 
^ Erinn cheerfully consented, and, dividing themselves into seven 

SLUAinH- divisions, they soon built the great rath and the palace within 
"liimluT it- The ground upon which the palace was built was the pro- 
?i-'^P'^,'?'- ,^^ perty of the Feara Cut of Teahhtha (or Teffia) ; and although 

tions". (The V J .V /' & 

Expedition they lormeci one ot the seven parties who contributed to its 
theAips)° erection, the monarch had not asked their consent for the site. 
This intrusion was so keenly felt by the Feara Cnl, and their 
king, Mormael, that, at the follo-sving feast of Samhain, or No- 
vember Eve, when invited by the monarch to the solemnity of 
the great festival, Maelmo?' attended with forty men in chariots, 
who, in the confusion of the night, murdered king FocJiaidh, 
unperceivcd by his people, and escaped themselves. The 
king's death was not discovered till the following morning, and 
the Feara Cul were the first to charge the murder on the secret 
agency of the Tuatlia De Danann, by the hand of Siogmall, of 
Sidh Neaiinta (in the present county of Roscommon). 

So far the Druid's history of the building o^ Freamhainn, and 
the death of the Monarch Eocliaidh Airimh. The Feara Cul, 
however, did not escape detection ; their crime was quickly dis- 
covered, and, in fact, in order to escape the punishment which 
awaited them, they fled over the Shannon into Connacht, and 
settled on the borders of Galway and Roscommon. Here the 
tribe remained for nearly three hundred years, until the return of 
Cormac Mac Art from his exile in Connacht, in the year of our 
Lord 225, to assume the monarchy, when he inxitedthe Feara Cul 
to accompany him as his body-guard. This ser^ace they accord- 
ingly performed, and on Cormac's ascending his father's throne 
lie gave them a territory north of Tara, nearly coextensive with 
the present barony of Kells. And I may observe that since this 
settlement of the claim by Cormac, they have been always 
known in Irish history as the Feara Cul Breagh, or the Feai^a 
Cul of ' Bregia', a territory comprised in the modern county of 
East Meath. (This designation seems to have been intended to 
distinguish their territory from the original one, called that of 
the Feara Cul of Teahhtha or Teffia, which is in West Meath — a 
distinction not hitherto accomited for by modern writers. — H. 
2. 16. Col. 888. T.C.D.) 

Let us, however, return to the story of king Dathi himself On 
leaving Freamhainn, IJatlii came to lios-na-Righ, the residence of 
his mother, which was situated north-east of Tara, on the bank of 
the Boyne. Here he remained for some time, and at last returned 
to Tara, at which place he had, meanwhile, invited the states of 
the nation to meet him at the approaching feast ol Belltaine (one 
of the great pagan festivals of ancient Erinn) on May Day. 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 287 

The feast of Tara this yeai was solemnized on a scale of splen- lect. xm . 
dour never before equalled. The fires of Taillten [now called ^^^ ^^^^^ 
Telltown, to the north of Tara] were lighted, and the sports, Sluaigh- 
games, and ceremonies, for which that ancient place is cele- "Military 
brated, were conducted with unusual magnificence and solemnity. ^^^^^]' (me 

These games and ceremonies are said to have been instituted ^f^^^^i^}^^ 
more than a thousand years previously, by Lug, the king of the the Alps). 
Tuatha De Danann, in honour of Taillte, the daughter of 
the king of Spain, and wife of Eochaidh Mac Eire, the last king 
of the Firbolg colony, who was slain in the first great battle of 
Magh Tuireadh. It was at her court that Lug had been fos- 
tered, and on her death he had her buried at this place, where 
he raised an immense mound over her grave, and instituted 
those annual games in her honour. These games were solem- 
nized about the first day in August, and they continued to be ob- 
served so long as down to the ninth century. 

After the religious solemnities were concluded, Datlii, having 
now discharged his diities to his gods and to his subjects, turned 
his thoughts to his contemplated expedition ; and at a conference 
with all the great chiefs and leaders of the nation, found them all 
readv to suppoi-t him. Accordingly, without further delay, he 
concluded his preparations, and leaving Tara in the charge of one 
of his cousins, he marched to Dundecdgan (the present Dundalk), 
where his fleet was ready for sea, at the head of the most power- 
ful army that had ever, up to that time, been known to leave 
Erinn. He did not, however, embark at Dundalk, but order- 
ing his fleet to meet him at Cuan Snamha Aighnech (now Car- 
lingford), he marched to luhhar Chinntrachta (now Newry), 
and from that to Oirear Caoin. On his way to the latter place 
it appears he passed by Magh Bile (now Moville), and only at 
a short distance, (so that Oirear- Caoin may probably have been 
the ancient name of the place now called Donaghadee.) Here 
his fleet awaited him, and having embarked all his troops, he set 
sail for Scotland, which he reached safely at Port Patrick. 

Immediately upon his landing, Datld sent his Druid to Fere- 
dach Finn, king of Scotland, who was then at his palace of Tuir- 
rin hrighe na JRigJi, calling on him for submission and tribute, 
or an immediate reason to the contrary on the field of battle. 
The Scottish king refused either submission or tribute, and ac- 
cepted the challenge of battle, but required a few days to pro- 
pare for so luiexpected an event. 

The time for battle at last arrived ; both armies marched 
to Magh an Chairthi (the plain of the Pillar Stone), in 
Glenn Feadha (the woody glen) ; Dathi at the head of his 
Gaedliils, and Feredaah leading a large force composed of 



288 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

LECT. XI ri. native Scots, Picts, Britons, French, Scandinavians, and Hebri- 
11° Of the ^can Islanders. 

Sluaigh- a fierce and destructive fight ensued between the two parties, 

"Military iu which the Scottish forces were at length overthrown and 
ions".'" (The I'oi^^tcd witli great slaughter. When the Scottish king saw the 
^ro^wi*'"" death of his son and the discomfiture of his army, he threw him- 
the Alps), self headlong on the ranks of his enemies, dealing death and de- 
struction all round him : but in the height of his fury he was 
laid hold of by Conall Gulhcm [the great ancestor of Saint 
Colum Cille and of the O'Donnells of Donnegall] , who, taking 
him iip in his arms, hurled him against the pillar stone and 
dashed out his brains. The scene of this battle has continued 
ever since to be called Govt an Chairtlie, the Pillarstone Field ; 
and the glenn, Glenn an Chatha, or Battle Glen. 

Dathl having now realized tlie object of his ambition, set 
up a surviving son of the late king on the throne of Scotland, 
and receiving hostages and formal public submission from him, 
he passed onwards into Britain and France, in both of which 
countries he still received hostages and submission, wherever he 
proceeded on his march. He continued his progress, but with 
what object does not appear, even to the foot of the Alps, where 
he was at last killed, in the midst of his glory, by a flash of 
lightning. 

The body of this great king was afterwards carried home 
by his people, and he was buried with his fathers in the ancient 
pagan cemetery at Raith Cruachain, in Connacht, as related in 
a very old poem by Torna Eigeas. At this place his grave was 
still distinguished by the Coirthe Dearg, the Red Pillar Stone, 
down to the year 1650, when Duhhaltach Mac Firhisigh wrote 
his first great Book of Genealogies. 

There are two copies of the present tract in Dublin, one in 
the Royal Irish Academy, and the other in my own collection, 
both on paper, and neither of them older than the year 1760; 
and although the tract has so far suiFered at the hands of 
ignorant transcribers, as to be much corrupted in style and lan- 
guage, still I have found in it many genuine illustrations of 
ancient manners, customs, and ceremonies, to which other very 
ancient and better preserved pieces contain but allusions more 
or less obscure. 

12°. Of the The next and last class of the Historic Tales, of which I 
"^xp^efii- '^^ shall give you an example at any length, is that of the Imramha, 
se°a". ''^Tiie ^'^ Expeditions by Sea, which, as I have abeady explained to 
E.xpedition you, are to be distinguished from the Longeas, in so far as the 
oiua Corra). ImramJi was a navigation undertaken voluntarily, and generally 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 289 

in search of something, while the Lougeas was a voyage entered lect. xm. 
upon invohmtarily, as in the case of" banishment or escape from j.,^ ^^^^^^^ 
pursuit. You have had a specimen of the Lougeas in the story imramha, or 
o{ Labhraidli Lomgseach. The example of an Itnramh which I tions by'' 
have selected is a story of a mvich later period, in the Christian Ix^peaitSn" 
times — namely, about the sixth century; so that it is the last in °^!'^^,?°°*. 
the chronological order of my examples. It is the Imramh Ua 
Corra^ or the Navigation (or Expedition) of the sons of Ua 
Corra into the Atlantic Ocean. 

Of tliis class of our ancient tales, the number that have come 
down to us is but small, but they are very ancient ; and though 
indefinite in their results, and burdened with much matter of a 
poetic or other romantic character, still there can be no rational 
doubt that they are founded on facts, the recital of which, in the 
original form, would have been probably found singularly valu- 
able, though, in the lapse of ages, and after passing through 
the hands of story-tellers, whose minds were full of imagination, 
these tales lost, in a great measure, their original simplicity and 
truthful cliaracter, and became more and more fanciful and ex- 
travagant. 

That such tales as these were numerous in the ancient history 
of Eiinn may be very clearly seen from the Litany of Aengus 
CeiU De^ where several of them are mentioned. At present, I 
know of but four sucli pieces remaining in our ancient manu- 
scripts, of all of which, however, we have copies of considerable 
antiquity and detail. ' These are the Navigation of Saint Bren- 
dan; the Navigation of the sons of Ua Corra; the Navigation 
€>{ Stwdgiis and Mac Riaghla; and the Navigation o£ Maelduin. 
(One of these pieces, the Navigation of Saint Brendan, has 
been introduced to the world in full detail, and in beautiful 
verse, by my distinguished friend, our Professor of Poetry, 
Denis Florence INIacCarthy, in the Dubhn University Maga- . 
zine for January, 1848). \ 

Saint Brendan's voyages, for he made two, were performed 
about the year 560; the voyage of the sons of Ua Corra, 
about the year 540 ; the voyage of Snedgus and Mac Riaghla 
{two priests of the island of lona), about the middle of the 
seventh ; and that of Maelduin, in the eighth century. As the ' 

early history of the sons of Ua Corra, and the cause of their 
wanderings at sea, are more circtunstantial and curious (though 
their story, too, is tinged with a little of the fabulous) than 
any of the rest, excepting Saint Brendan's, I have selected 
this tale as an example of which to give you a short sketch. 

Conall Dearg Ua Corra was an opulent landholder and 
farmer of the province of Connacht. He had to wife the 

19 



290 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

LECT. XIII. datigliter of the AircMnnecli, or lay impropriator of tlie church 

ofti lands, of Clothar; with whom he Hved happily for some years, 

iMRAMHA, or keeping a house of hospitable entertainment for all visitors 

tiraYby' and strangers. Not being blessed with children, however, 

Ixpedition'^ though praying ardently to the Lord for them, they became, 

of the Sons jjut particularly the husband, impatient and discontented; 

' and, so far did his despair carry him, that at last he renoimced 

God, and persuaded his wife to join him in prayer and a three 

days' fast to the Devil, to favour them with an heir to their 

large inheritance. 

It would seem that the evil spirit heard their petition, for, in 
due time after, the wife brought forth three sons at one birth. 
These sons gi'ew up to be brave and able men, and, having heard 
that they had been consecrated to the Devil at their birth, they re- 
solved to dedicate their lives to his service. As if for that special 
end, they appear to have collected a few desperate villains about 
them, and to have commenced an indiscriminate war of plunder 
and destruction against the Christian churches of Connacht and 
' their priests, beginning with the church of Tuaim da Ghualann 
^A [Tuam], and not ceasing till they had pillaged or destroyed more 
than half the churches of the province. 

At last they determined to visit also the church of ClotJiar, 
to destroy it, and to kill their grandfather, the AircMnnecli of 
the place. When they came to the church, they found the old 
man on the green in front of it, distributing with a bountiful 
hand meat and drink to his tenants and to the benefactors of 
the church. Seeing this, liis persecutors altered their plans, 
and put off the execution of their murderous pm'pose till the 
more favourable time of night. 

The grandfather, though suspecting their evil design, received 
them with kindness, and assigned them a comfortable resting- 
place ; and, after having fared heartily, they retired to bed, in 
order to lidl siispicion, at the usual time. Loclian, the eldest 
of the three brothers, had, however, during his sleep, a strange 
vision, which ended by seriously affecting their design. He 
was shown in a dream, in vivid colours, the glories and joys of 
Heaven, and the torments and horrors of Hell ; and he awoke 
deeply affected by what was thus disclosed to him. 

When the three brothers, then, arose at the hour of the 
night appointed to execute their piu'pose, Loclian addressed 
himself to the other two, related to them his vision, told them 
of his newly-born fears, and, in fine, persuaded them that they 
had been hitherto serving an evil power, and making war on a 
good master. The brothers were powerfully struck with what 
they heard ; and so complete was the transformation of mind 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 291 

suddenly wrouglit in them by it, that at last they all agreed lect. xm. 
to repair in the morning, in a spirit of sorrow and penitence, 
to their grandfather, to seek his prayers and pardon, and to imramha, or 
ask his advice as to what they should do to amend their lives, tiMTs^by'' 
and make reparation for the past. ^^ '^J^''® 

TTn 1 • Til 11 Expedition 

VVnen the mornuig came, accordingly, they presented them- of the sons 
selves before the Aircldnnech, acknowledged their wicked inten- 
tions, and took counsel with him as to their futiu"e conduct. 
The course he ad\'iscd them to take, and on which they deter- 
mined, was, that they should repair at once to Saint Finnen of 
Clonard, who was then the great teacher, and, as it were, the 
head of all the schools of divinity in Erinn, and submit them- 
selves to his spiritual direction. 

For this purpose they took leave of their friends, put off their 
habiliments of warfare and offence, turned their spears into pil- 
grims' staffs, and repaired to Clonard. 

Wlien the people of Clonard perceived them coming, being 
well acquainted with their wickedness, they lied for their lives 
in all directions, with the exception of Saint Finnen himself, 
who went out calmly to meet them. Seeing this, they hastened 
to meet the holy priest, and throwing themselves on their knees 
before liira, they besought his pardon and spiritual friendship. 

" What do you want?" said the priest. " We want", said they, 
*' to take upon us the habit of religion and penitence, and hence- 
forth to serve God". " Your determination is a good one", said 
the priest; " let us come into the town where my people are". 

They entered the town with him, and the saint having taken 
counsel of the people respecting the penitents, what they decided 
on was, to place them for a year under the sole care and instruc- 
tion of a certain divinity student, with whom exclusively they 
were to hold any conversation during that period. 

Having finished their year in this manner, in the solitary prac- 
tice of religious exercises, and the study of the Christian doc- 
trines, to the satisfaction and edification of their instructor and 
the entire congregation, the three brothers again presented them- 
selves before Saint Finnen, and besought his benediction and 
his penitential sentence for their former crimes. 

The saint gave them his benediction, and then said: " You 
cannot restore to life those innocent ecclesiastics whom you have 
slain, but you can go and repair and restore, as far as it is in your 
power, the many chiu'ches and other buildings which you have 
desecrated and mined". 

The sons of Ua Corra at once rose up and took an affectionate 
leave of Saint Finnen and his pious and learned flock ; and as 
the church of Tuaim da Ghualann [Tuam] was the first that 

19 b 



292 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

LECT. XIII. suffered from tlieir wicked depredations, tliey determined tliat it 
should be the first to receive the benefit of their altered disposi- 

12°. Of the . J- 

Imramha, or tions. 

timis'^y:" Thither accordingly they went, and they repaired the ruined 

IxVeditiorf church, and restored it to its original perfection. Aaid thus they 

of the Sons proceeded on, from place to place, until at last they had repaired 

" and restored all the ruined chiu'ches but one, after which they 

returned to Saint Fiimen. 

The saint asked them if they had finished their work. They 
answered that they had repaired all the churches but one. 
" Which is that?" said Finnen. " The church o^ Ceann Mara\ 
[Kin vara, at the head of the bay of Gal way], said they. "Alas !" 
said the saint, " that was the first church which you ought to 
have repaired, — the church of the holy old man, Coman of 
Kinvara ; and return now", said he, " and repair every damage 
that you have done in that place". 

The brothers obeyed, they went back and repaired the church, 
and after this, taking counsel with Saint Coman, they built 
themselves a great ciiracli or canoe, covered with hides, three 
deep, and capable of carrying nine persons, in which they deter- 
mined to go out upon a pilgrimage upon the great Atlantic 
Ocean. 

When their vessel was ready to be launched, several person.^ 
besought permission to accompany them ; and among others, a 
bishop, a priest, and a deacon, as well as the man who built the 
canoe, and also (the story tells us) a certain musician. These 
five they received of the party. 

With this company then the three sons of Ua Corra went 
out upon the waters in the Bay of Galway ; and after having 
cleared the islands and headlands of the bay, deeming it useless 
to attempt to steer their course in any particular direction, they 
drew their oars on board, and committed themselves passively 
to the mercy of the waves and the direction of God. 

The adventurers were di'iven by the wind from the land into 
b the solitudes of the great Atlantic Ocean ; and the story goes on 

to describe how, after forty days and forty nights, they came to 
an island which was full of people, all of whom were moaning and 
lamenting. One of the wanderers went on shore for the pur- 
pose of learning the name of the island and the character of its 
inhabitants, but no sooner had he joined these strange people, 
than he too began to moan and lament like the rest ; and this 
induced his companions to depart without him. 

After this the tale becomes altogether wild and fabulous, al- 
ways, however, tending to a certain moral conclusion. The 
wanderers pass occasionally into the region of spirits, and are 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 293 

brouglit into contact with tlie living and the dead ; and the in- lect. xiii. 
cidents of their voyao-e are made to tell, ne2:atively, on some of ~ 

JO ^ ^ '^p ' r* j-\ •12*' Of the 

the immoralities and irregularities of Christian life. On one is- imramha, or 
land, for instance, they found a solitary ecclesiastic, who told ti^ifj'^y'" 
them that he had been expelled from the community to which sea'. (The 

111 IP ^ • T ' • 11 1 Expedition 

he belonged tor neglecting his matins ; that he set out on the of the sons 
sea in a boat, and so was cast ashore on this island alone. On ° " '"^'^" ' 
another island they found a man digging with a spade, the 
handle of which was on fire: and on asking him the cause of so 
strange a circumstance, he told them that when on earth he was 
accustomed to dig on Sundays; and this was the punishment 
awarded to liim. On another island they found a burly miller 
feeding his mill with all the perishable things of which people 
are so choice and niggardly in this world. On another they 
found a man riding a horse of fire, who told them that he 
had taken his brother's horse, and ridden it on a Sunday. An- 
other island they found peopled with smiths, and artificers in 
the precious metals, and men of every trade, all shrieking and 
moaning under the incessant attacks of huge black birds, which 
tore the flesh from their bones with their bills and talons ; and 
they learned that these people were thus made to suffer for all 
the falsehoods and frauds which they had been guilty of in this 
world. 

At length the voyagers approached a land which they learned 
from some fishermen on its coast was Spain. Here they landed, 
and the bishop built a church, which, however, he soon after- 
wards resigned to the priest, and went on himself to Rome, ac- 
companied by a certain youth, who was one of the wandering 
party. This bishop subsequently returned to Erinn from Rome, 
accompanied by the same youth, who is said to have related 
the whole adventure, under the bishop's correction, to Bishop 
Saerbhreathach [a name Latinized Justinus, and now called 
Justin] ; Bishop Justin related it to Saint Colman, of Arann <^ 
Island ; and upon this relation Saint Mocholmog wrote the poem 
[see original in Appendix, No. XCI.], which begins: — 

The Ua Corras of Connacht, 

Undismayed by mountain waves. 
Over the profound howhng ocean, 
Sought the lands of the marvellous. 

From the conclusion of this tale we may fairly infer that ita 
composition belonged originally to the great island of Arann, 
on the coast of the county of Clare, and in the bay of Galway ; 
and, although the narrative, in the latter part of it, is wild and 
fabulous, there is Httle doubt that this and many similar voy- 



294 OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 

LECT. XIII. ages were actually undertaken by several parties of Ciiristiaii 
i'" Of the pi%ri^iis, in the early ages of the Church in Ireland. And this 
iHRAMHA, or fi.ict, as I have abeady stated, is fully borne out by the Litany 
tioiiYby'' of Aengus Ceile De, written about the year 780 (of wliich more 
ExpecViti^m^ on a future occasion), in which he invokes the intercession of 
ofthesona the SOUS of Uci Corrci and of their company, as well as of 

oiUaCorra). ^ r\ • o •^ • • , 

several other companies oi pilgnm navigators. 

At the time of the dehvery of tliis lecture I was acquainted 
but with two copies of this curious tract, both on paper, one in 
the Royal Irish Academy, and the other in my own possession. 
Since then, however, a copy of it, somewhat damaged indeed, 
but full and valuable, has come imder my observation ; one, 
namely, which is preserved in the old vellum ^' Book of Fer- 
moy", before refen-ed to as having been purchased by the Rev. 
Dr. Todd, at the sale of the books of the late William Monk 
Mason, in London, in 1858. The copy in my possession ap- 
pears to have been transcribed from the same original. 

Of the re- xiic Other divisions of the Tales mentioned by the early 

maining . j J 

classes of the wiitcrs, 1 iiecd uot Stay to enlarge on. 

tales!'**^ Of the Fessa (Feasts or Banquets), we have a great number, 

some of which I shall have presently to allude to in connexion 
with the Fenian and purely imaginative tales. 

The AitkidhS were Elopements. Of these an excellent ex- 
amjale is within the reach of all of you, in the celebrated story 
of Deirdre and the Sons of Uisneach, an edition of which 
(with a translation) was published here in 1808, by the Gailic 
Society of DubHn, of which copies may still bo easily pro- 
cured. This was the tract named in the Book of Leinster as 
the Aithid Dheirdri re Macaibh Uisnigh (the Elopement of 
Deirdre with the sons of Uisneacli). 

The Serea, or Loves, were love-stories, such as that eventful 
story of Queen Gormlaith, the principal part of which I had 
occasion to describe to you in a former lecture. 

The Tomhadhma were the stories of the bursting out of 
Lakes, and the irruptions of the Sea, and the consequences of 
the inundations caused by them. Thus the Tomhaidhm LocJia 
n-Echach, or Bursting out of Loch Neagh, is the account of 
the iiTuption which first formed that great loch, about the 
second century; in which irruj)tion JEochaidh Mac Maireda, 
the son of the king of Fermoy, in Minister, was drowned with 
his people. It is from him that Loch Neagh takes its name : 
Loch n-JUchach, the Lake of Eochaidh. 

The Tochomladh was an Immigration or arrival of a Colony ; 
and under this name the coniino- of the several colonies of Far- 



OF THE HISTORIC TALES. 295 

thalon, of Nemedh, of the Firbolgs, the Tuatha De Danann, the lect. xm. 
Milesians, etc., into Erinn, are all described in separate tales. It of there- 
is probably from the original records of these ancient stories that maining 
the early part of the various Books of Invasions has been com- historic 
piled. _ ^'^'=''- 

Lastly, the Fis, or Visions, were stories of prophecies declared 
in the form of visions seen by various personages. Of the more 
remarkable prophecies, as they are called, I shall soon have oc- 
casion to speak to you at greater length. 

I beheve I have now laid before you a somewhat intelligible 
though very short sketch of what the student of history may ex- 
pect to find in the various classes of the Historic Tales of the 
Ollamhs and Poets of Erinn. Their value and bearing upon 
oiu' history I have already attempted to indicate, and I hope 
even the slight descriptions my space allowed me to give of 
these compositions, have been sufficient to prove to you their 
importance. 



LECTURE XIV 



[Delivered July 7, 1856,] 



Of the ancient Imaginative Tales and Poems ; and of the use to be made 
of them in serious historical investigation. Of the Fenian Poems and 
Tales. Of the compositions of Oisin (Ossian). Of Fergus. Of Caeilte. 
The " Dialogue of the Ancient Men". Description of the dwelling of Crede, 
the beautiful daughter of Cairbrc, Kuig of Kerry. The Story of the " Pursuit 
of Diarmaid and Grainne". The Story of the " Battle of Ventry Harbour". 

The present course of Lectures lias been confined, as you are 
aware, to tlie subject of the materials of positive history to be 
found among existing ancient Lish MSS. Other remains of 
our ancient literature have also come down to us, and in very 
considerable quantity — literature, namely, of a pm-ely imagina- 
tive character ; and with the compositions of this class we have 
at present but little to do, though at a future period I hope to 
have an opportiuiity of making you acquainted with their con- 
tents. Even in ancient writings of pure fiction, however, 
little as at first sight you may suspect their importance to the 
student of mere history, much will be found of very great 
value in any inquiries into the life and institutions of our an- 
cestors in those remote ages. And as the true history of 
ancient Erinn can never be written or understood, without an 
accurate acquaintance with that life, as well as with those insti- 
tutions, it has appeared to me, that the sketch I have been en- 
deavoiuing to lay before you of the materials of our history 
would be incomplete, were I to omit to call your attention to 
the uses which may be made even of the most fanciful tales of 
piu'e imagination which are to be fornid in the ancient GaedhUc 
books. It is of this subject, then, that I propose to treat, 
though very shortly indeed, in the present Lecture. 

In the composition even of the wildest tales, you will almost 
always find that the imagery and incidents made use of by the 
author are drawn from the life and scenes actually passing 
around him, or else from those which he has learned from 
minute and vivid descriptions, handed down to him from earHer 
times in his own language. This is indeed almost a necessary 
condition of every novelist's success ; equally so whether he be 
the story-teller of the Arabian desert, the SeancliaidM of ancient 



OF THK IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 297 

Erinn, or a raoclern Gaedliel, writing in tlie nineteenth century lect. xiv. 
in tlie Eno'lisli lano-ua<xe, such as Gerald Griffin or Sir Walter _ . ,, ... 

o T-> 1^1111 T 'in lusto- 

fecott. Uut the farther back the author we examine has liou- ncai use to 
rished, the more hkely will it be that his short and simple the°iMA6iNA- 
poem or tale should have been framed out of materials actually "^^Jo^o^m. 
present to his eye, or existing within his knowledge in the so- 
ciety in which he lived. Wliatever be the names, the deeds, 
the suiFerings, of his heroes and heroines, — and even though the 
romantic visions of fairyland may be called in to add wonders 
to the adventures narrated, — still the mere details of life, the 
customs and action of society (without which no story can be 
made to move along), must be cbawn by the author from the 
manners and institutions existing around him, or, at farthest, 
from those with which he has been familiarized by his fathers 
immediately preceding him, and which still live in the popular 
memories of his time. If this were not so, the poet's hearers 
would not understand him, the story-teller's tale would cre^+e 
no interest among his audience. And so it is that, ev^n in 
these purely imaginative fictions, we may expect to find (and 
examination proves that we do find) abundance of minute and 
copious information upon those little details of ordinary Hfe, — 
upon the buildings, upon the interiors of the homes, upon the 
dresses, the food, the etiquette and courteous forms, and the 
mode of speech, of our remote ancestors, — which no historical 
records can give, but without wliich no historical records can 
be made to supply us with the true life and meaning of history. 
So far, therefore, as these necessary details are concerned, we 
must count gTeat part of even the pui'ely imaginative literature 
of ancient Erinn as containing much that claims a place among 
the materials of history. 

Of the serious use which may in this manner be made of 
genuine national compositions, though of the class of mere 
fiction, a remarkable example occm-s to me, wliich may explain 
the -^aew that I take of this subject, better, perhaps, than any 
lengthened argument. You are all probably familiar with the 
celebrated Eastern tales, commonly called those of the "Arabian 
Nights". It is scarcely possible to conceive any stories more 
entirely based on and even made up of fiction, and that fiction 
so purely imaginative, so ahnost exclusively conversant with 
the impossible, as to present very little indeed soberly capable 
of belief at all. And yet these stories, necessarily embracing 
as they do a vast amount of description and allusions con- 
nected with Arab life and manners, — these stories have been 
made the occasion and foimdation of, perhaps, the most soHd 
and valuable work on Eastern life in the English language. 



298 OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 

LECT. XIV. I allude of course to the large (noted) edition of the "Arabian 
^, .V a.- . Niffhts" published by Mr. Lane, the well-known Eastern tra- 

Of the histo- ,Y \^ ..•'.-,. ■/ . 

Ileal use to velier. JN ow it IS precisely m the same way that similar tales 
the"iMAGiNA- of ancient Erinn would be foimd most valuable as illustrating 
Aiof Poems ancient Gaedhlic life, if we were fortimate enough to possess so 
great a body of the earlier works of this class in proper pre- 
servation, or even of rehable copies of such works. 

Of those which we do possess, many contain somewhat more 
of truth than the Arabian Nights, because the personages intro- 
duced are often historical. Many, however, being meagre in 
extent, and little conversant with details of life, will be found 
to suggest little of importance to the student of mere history ; 
and these I shall therefore entirely pass over here. The re- 
mainder, however, appear to me to be of so much importance, 
in the manner and for the reasons I have shortly attempted to 
explain, that I feel boimd to assert that, without a careful exa- 
mination of their contents, no one, in the present state of know- 
ledge, can attain an adequate acquaintance with early Irish life, 
much less presume to address himself to the task of contributing 
to what may become a satisfactory history of Erinn. 

But, besides so much valuable information upon life and man- 
ners, as almost all the class of writings contain of which I am 
now speaking, there are some other points also upon which the 
imaginative tales in the ancient Gaedhlic embrace matter of 
sohd importance and authority. They frequently embody or 
allude to historic traditions, believed or partly believed in the 
time of the authors, and sometimes in the very statement of 
them supplying links wanting in the chain of history, in the 
allusions and references made in them to more serious works 
now lost. Every such tradition must, of course, have had some 
foundation ; and every such tradition, when found in any writ- 
ing of great age, deserves, and ought to command, diligent atten- 
tion at least, and careful inquiry. Very many of the Imagina- 
tive Tales, again, contain the most valuable records as to places ; 
often describing to us minutely the situation of cities, forts, 
graves, etc., well known in history, but whose topography could 
not otherwise be made out. And many a blank has been filled 
up, and many a mistake has been corrected, by the informa- 
tion respecting localities and the derivation of their names, 
found in tliis class of our literature. 

Without enlarging further, then, upon this subject, I think I 
have now said enough to explain to you why it is that in treating 
of the manuscript materials of ancient Irish liistory, I could not 
altogether pass over the Imaginative Tales found among our 
ancient Gaedlilic MSS., at least that class of them in which are 



OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 299 

to be found those descriptions of information to which I have lect xiv. 
referred. 

The purely imaginative literature of the ancient Gaedliils, of the earlier 
still existing in the MSS. which have been handed down to us ginative 
in safety, may be di\dded into distinct classes, some of which fenian^^^ 
are compositions yet more ancient than the others. The earliest ^°^^^- 
of all — if we regard merely the authors to whom they are attri- 
buted — are the poems or metrical tales called the Fenian Poems, I 
many of which are attributed to Oisiii and Fergus, the sons of / 
the celebrated F'lnn Mac Cumhaill^ some of them to Finn Imn- 
self, and some to his cousin Caeilte. After these may be placed 
the prose recitals, probably founded on similar poems now lost, 
but probably also themselves compositions of as early a date : I 
mean those stories commonly called Fenian Tales, Finally, 
after the Fenian Poems and Tales, in point of date, we find a 
great number of romantic legends and tales, both in prose and 
verse, many of wliich were certainly composed at a very remote 
period, but of which the various dates of composition extend 
down almost to our own tunes. And it is within my own me- 
mory that in Clare, and throughout JNIunster, the invention and 
recital of such romantic tales continue to afford a favourite 
dehght to the still Gaedhhc-speaking people. 

It is obvious that, so far as concerns the historical value of 
such illustrative details as I have stated to exist in this class of 
literature, we may pass by at once almost all the tales which are 
known or may be believed to have been composed after the 
intimate contact of the pure Gaedhil with the Norman and 
Enghsh settlers, in whatever parts of the island such intimate 
contact took place. For as soon as any portion of the people 
became for a while intimate with foreign races and foreign 
modes of Hfe on their owm soil, their literature, it may be sup- 
posed, would probably become tinged with foreign ideas, and 
would therefore become of little value in illustration of the Hfe 
and history of the Gaedhils. In selecting for study, then, those 
of our Imaginative Tales which appear to contain valuable mat- 
ter for the historian, I would pass over altogether all those of 
the last three centuries in every part of the country, and all 
those of date before that period, composed in any part of the 
island in immediate contact with foreign society and manners. 
Of com'se, m the particular case of any separate piece, care must 
also be taken to investigate those circumstances upon which 
ought to depend its authenticity for the purposes of our inquiry. 

With these preHminary remarks, then, I proceed to offer some 
observations to-day upon those portions of the imaginative lite- 



LECT. XIV. 



Of the 
Poems, etc. 



300 OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AKD POEMS. 

rature of ancient Eiinn -wliicli we yet possess, and from wlaicK 
solid and reliable information is to be obtained. And, in the 
examples wliicli I sliall bring under yom* notice, I shall select 
ascribed to' fcom the carlicst and most characteristic of these interesting com- 
positions. 

Several writers on Irish history have been rather puzzled 
about the antiquity of the poems and legends ascribed to Oisin; 
and the Rev. Charles O'Conor, in the Bihliotheca Stowensis 
(vol. i. p. 165), says that, 

" All the most ancient poems on the subject of Tain Bo 
Clmailgne^ and the wars of Cuchnlainn, and on the wars of 
Conn of the Himdxed Battles, and of Fingal, and of Oscar, and 
of Oisin, or Ossian, are in this style of poetry, [He refers to a 
specimen.] They are romances of the thirteenth and fourteenth 
centuries; the few historical facts in them are gleaned from 
Tighernach and from the Saltair of Cashel". 

Now part of this opinion belongs to the reverend doctor him- 
self, and part to his [in these matters] more learned grandfather, 
Charles O'Conor of Belanagar, who, in his observations on Mr. 
Mac Pherson's dissertations and notes on the poems of " Fingal" 
and " Temora", speaks as follows: 

" That the poems of Fingal and Temora have no foundation in 
the history of the ancient Scots, is an idea that we are very far 
from establishing. They are evidently fomided on the ro- 
mances and vulgar stories of the Fiana Eireann. The poet, 
whoever he was, picked up many of the names of men and 
places to be found in those tales, and invention made up the 
rest. In digesting these poems into their present forms, chrono- 
logy was overlooked, and the actions of different ages are all 
made coeval. Ossian, an ancient bard of the tliird century, is 
pitched upon as a proper author to gain admiration for such 
compositions, and the more (it should seem) as he was an illi- 
terate bard". 

Mr. O'Conor does not fix upon any probable date for these 
Fenian poems, for two reasons : first, because he could not find 
satisfactory data for doing so; and, secondly, because, as he 
could not find such data, he loould not do so. His learned 
and reverend grandson, however, was not so fastichous ; for it 
appears to have been a rule with him to dispose of everything 
for which he could not find a positive date, by placing it arbi- 
trarily witliin the period — " from the thirteenth to the sixteenth 
century". 

It is now too late to discuss whether Oisin was an ilhter- 
ate bard or not; but the Rev. Dr. Keting, in his History of 
Erinn, at the reign of Cormac Mac Art, quotes an ancient 



OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 301 

authority, which I have not yet had the good fortune to meet, lectxiv. 
for the quaUfications which it was indispensable for a man to q^ ^j^^ 
possess before he could be received into the select militia, of ^"'^.'."5' '^t^-- 
which Finn Mac Cumhaill was the last commander ; and one otsin. 
of those qiuiHfications was, that the candidate should be a poet 
(that is, educated to compose regular verses), and should have 
learned the twelve Books of Poetry. C_ 

It is impossible to fix any precise, or even probable, date for 
these Fenian poems now ; and all that can be done, in answer 
to the arbitrary statements of Dr. O'Conor and others, relative 
to the date of their compositions, is to trace them back as far as 
knowm manuscripts of ascertained dates will carry us. Of these 
ancient authorities, the Book of Leinster, so often referred to in 
the course of these lectures, is the oldest and most authentic. 
It was compiled, as you will remember, in the early part of the 
twelfth century, and, certainly, from more ancient books. Its 
authority, so far, must be received as unexceptionable ; and to it 
I shall, in the first instance, refer, for the refutation of Dr. 
O'Conors arbitrary opinions on these poems. I may, however, 
I think, safely assert that the style, language, and matter of 
these poems will, in the opinion of any competent Irish scholar, 
carry their composition several centuries farther back. 

If the people of Scotland could show such poems as those to 
be found in the Book of Leinster and the other books which I 
shall follow, relating to Finn Mac Cumhaill and Oisin, and 
connecting them as much with Scotland as they do with this 
country, then, indeed, might they stand up boldly for Mac 
Pherson's forgeries and baseless assertions; and there is little 
doubt but that they would have long since presented them to 
the world in print. 

The ancient Hterary remains which have for a long time of the 
passed under the names of Fenian Poems and Tales are of poems\nd 
four classes. tales. 

The first class consists of poems ascribed directly, in ancient 
transcripts, to Finn 3fac Cumhaill; to his sons, Oisin and 
Fergus Finnhheoill (the Eloquent) ; and to his kinsman Caeilte. 

The second class consists of tracts made up of articles in prose 
and verse, ascribed to some one of the same personages, but 
related by a second person. 

The third class consists of miscellaneous poems, descriptive 
of passages in the fife of Finn and his warriors, but without 
any ascription of authorship. 

The fourth class consists of certain prose tales told in a ro- 
mantic style relating to the exploits of the same reno^vned 
captain, and those of his more distinguished companions. 



302 



OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 



tECT. XIV, 

The Poems 
ascribed to 
Finn Mac 

Cuinhaill. 



The poems ascribed, upon anytliing like respectable autliority, 
" to Finn Mac Cumhaill are few indeed, amounting only to five, 
as far as I have been able to discover ; but these few are found 
in manuscripts of considerable antiquity — namely, the Book of 
Leinster, which, as 1 have already observed, was compiled, 
chiefly from older books, in the early part of the twelfth cen- 
tury ; and the Book of Lecain, compiled in the same way in 
the year 1416. 

The first of these five poems is devoted to an account of the 
exploits and death of GoU Mac Morna, the great chief of the 
Connacht Fenians. 

This GoU had slain Finn's father, Cumhall, in the battle of 
Cnucha, near Dubhn, and was in Finn's early life his mortal 
enemy ; but he subsequently made peace with him and submit- 
ted to his superior command. In the poem Finn gives a vivid 
and rapid account of all the men of note who fell by the hands 
of Goll and the Connacht warriors in all parts of Erinn, with the 
names of the slain and of the places in which they fell. The 
poem consists of 86 quatrains, and begins thus [see original in 
Appendix, No. XCII.] : — 

" The grave of Goll in Magh Raighne'\ 

(This Magh Raighne was an ancient plain in Ossory in Leins- 
ter ; cm Finclie, or Saint Finche's church was situated in it, accor- 
ding to the Festology oiAengus Ceile De, or Aengus the " Cul- 
dee". The poem contains a great number of topographical re- 
ferences, for which it is particularly valuable. 

The second is a short poem, of only five quatrains, on the ori- 
gin of the name of Magh-da-Gheisi, or the Plain of the Two 
Swans, also in Leinster, beginning [see original in same Appen- 
dix] : — 

" The stone which I was wont to throw". 

The third is a shorter poem of only three quatrains, on tlie 
origin of the name of Roirend, a place in Ui Failghe, or OfFaly, 
beginning [sec original in same Appendix] : — 

"Beloved is he who came from a brave land". 

These three (which belong to the ancient lost tract called the 
Dinnsenchus) are found in the Book of Leinster only : the fol- 
lowing are likewise to be found there, but are also preserved in 
the Book o{ Lecain. 

A poem of seventeen quatrains, descriptive of Ros-Broc 
[Badger- Wood] , the place which is now Teach Moling [Saint 
Mullen's], on the brink of the River Bearhha [or Barrow], in 



OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 303 

the present county of Carlow. It begins [see original in same lect. xiy. 
Appendix]:— xhePoen^ 

ascribed to 

^^ Ross-Broc tlais day is tlie resort of warriors". Finn Mac 

•' Cum/iaill. 

In this poem (tlie authenticity of which as Finn's, there is 
abundant reason to question), Finn is made to prophesy the 
coming of Saint Patrick into Ireland to propagate the tiaiths of 
Christianity, and the futiu'e sanctity o£ Ros-Broc when it should 
become the peaceful abode of Saint Moling and his monks. 

Another poem is on the tragical death of Fithh' and DarinS, 
the two daughters of the monarch Tuathal Teclitmar, whose 
untimely end was produced by the treachery of Eocliaidli An- 
chean, King of Leinster. This poem begins [see original in 
same Appendix] : — 

"Fearfid the deed which has been done here". 

So far the Book of Leinster: but the Book oiLecain contains, 
in addition, two other poems ascribed to Finn. One of these 
is taken from the tract in the BinnsencJms, on the origin of the 
name of a place called Druim Dean, in Leinster. This was a 
hill upon which Finn had a mansion. Finn went on an expe- 
dition into Connacht, during which he defeated the chieftain 
Uinehe in battle at Ceann Mara [now called Kinvara], on the 
Bay of Gal way . Uinehe, with twenty-one of liis party, escaped 
from the battle, and came directly to Finn's mansion at Druim 
Drean, wliich he succeeded in totally destroying. Finn soon 
returned home, but finding liis residence destroyed and several 
of his people killed, he went with his son Oisin and his cousin 
Caeilte in pursuit of the enemy, whom he overtook and slew at 
a ford called ever since Ath Uinehe, or Uinehe' s Ford. On 
Finn's return from this last achievement, he addi'essed this poem 
to the hill on which stood his desolate home [see original in 
same Appendix] : — 

"Desolate is your mansion, O Druim Dean^\ 

Of some poems, prophecies, and sayings ascribed in other 
manuscripts to Finn Mae Cumhaill, the space I have allotted 
me will not allow me to speak in detail ; but I may, however, 
take occasion to assure you that it is quite a mistake to suppose 
Finn Mae Cumhaill to have been a merely imaginary or mythi- 
cal character. Much that has been narrated of liis exploits is, 
no doubt, apocryphal enough; but Finn himself is an un- 
doubtedly historical personage* and that he existed about the 
tune at which his appearance is recorded in the annals, is as 
certain as that Julius Caesar hved and ruled at the time stated 



304 



OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 



LECT. xrv, 

The Poems 
ascribed to 
Fi7in Mao 
Cumhaill. 



Of Oisin, or 
" Ossiau". 



The Poems 
ascribed to 
Oisiii. 



on tlie autliority of the Roman historians. I may add here, 
that the pedigree of Finn is fully recorded on the unquestion- 
able authority of the Book of Leinster, in which he is set 
down as the son of Cumhall, who was the son of Trenmdr, son 
of Snaelt, son of Eltan, son of JBaiscni, son of Nuada Neclit, 
who was of the Heremonian race, and monarch of Erinn 
about A.M. 5090, according to the chronology of the Four 
Masters, that is, 110 years before Christ. Finn himself was 
slain, according to the Annals of the Four jNIasters, in Anno 
Domini 283, in the reign of Cairhre Lifeachair. 

Oisin (a word which signifies literally the "little fawn"), the 
son of Finn Mac Cumhaill, has within the last hundred years 
attracted much attention among the most learned men of 
Europe. Mr. James Mac Pherson, a Scottish gentleman, gave 
to the world, as you are all doubtless aware, about the year 
1760, a highly poetic translation of what he pretended to be 
some ancient genuine compositions of Oisin. It is no part of 
the purpose of this Lecture to review the long and learned 
controversy which followed the publication of these very clever 
imitations of what was then, and for a long time afterwards, 
believed to be the genuine style of Oisin s poetry ; but I can- 
not omit to observe, that of all Mac Phersou's translations, in 
no single instance has a genuine Scottish original been found, 
and that none will ever be found I am very certain. 

The only poems of Oisin with which I am acquainted, that 
can be positively traced back so far as the twelfth centmy, are 
two, which are found in the Book of Leinster. One of these 
(consisting, indeed, but of seven quatrains) is valuable as a 
record of the great battle of Gahhra, which was fought in a.d. 
284, and in wliich Oscar, the brave son of Oisin, and CairhrS 
Lijeachair, the monarch of Erinn, fell by each others hands. 
There are two specially important facts -preserved in this poem, 
which, whether it be the composition of Oisin or not, is, at all 
events, one of very ancient date; namely, the fact, that the 
monarch Cairhre fought on horseback, and that the ]30ct, who- 
ever he may be, refers to an Ogham inscription on Oscar's 
tombstone. 

A perfect and very accurate copy of this poem was published 
in the year 1854, by a society which, adopting the Scottish in- 
stead of the proper Irish form, calls itself the "Ossianic Society". 

The second poem of Oisin, preserved in the Book of Lein- 
ster, is of much greater extent than the first, as it consists of 
fifty-four quatrains, and it is equally, if not more, valuable in 
its contents. 

Oisin, at the time of writing this poem, appears to have 



OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 305 

been blind, and to have been popularly known by the name of lect. xiv. 
Guaire Dall, that is, Guaire "the blind". _ Tiie Poems 

The occasion of the poem appears to have been the holding ascribed to 
of the great fair and festival games of the Life, or Liffey, 
which probably were held on the Cuirrech Life (now known 
as the Curragh of Kildare). These games and fairs were of 
frequent occurrence in ancient Erinn, down even to the tenth 
century ; and among the sports on such occasions, horse racing 
appears always to have held a prominent place. 

The poet begins by stating that the king has inaugurated the 
fair; speaks of the happiness of those who can attend it, and 
contrasts their condition with his own, as being incapable, from 
old age and blindness, to participate as he had been accustomed 
to do in these exciting sports. He then gives a vivid account 
of a visit which, iii liis more youthful days, he had made, along 
with his father, Finn, and a small band of the Fenian warriors, 
to the court oi FiacJia Muilleathan^ King of jMunster, at Bada- 
mar (near the present town of Cahix in Tipperary) ; and of the 
races of Oenach Clochair [now Manister, near Croom, in the 
county of Limerick], which the king had celebrated on the 
occasion of Finn's -visit. The winning horse at the coiu'se was 
a black steed, belonging to Dill, the son of Dachreca, Avho was 
the king's tutor. The king p\irchased the steed from his old 
tutor on the spot, and made a present of it to Finn. Finn and 
his party then took their leave, and passed into the district 
comprised by the present coimty of Kerry, on to the sandy 
strand of Beramain [near Tralee]. Here Finn challenged his 
son, Oisin, and his cousin, Caeilte, to try the speed of their 
choice horses with his black steed on the sandy strand. The 
race is won by Finn ; but, in place of taking rest after it, he 
strikes into the country southward, followed by his two com- 
panions, and they proceed without resting until night comes 
on, when they find themselves at the foot of the hill of Bai?'- 
nech [near Killamey]. Here night overtook them, and although 
they were well acquamted with the locality, and had never 
known or seen a house there before, they saw one now, which 
they entered without ceremony. This, however, was, it seems, 
no other than an enchanted hov;se, prepared by some of Finn's 
necromantic enemies, in order to frighten and pimish him for 
the death of some friends of theirs by his hands. The wild 
horrors of the night in such a place need not here be related ; 
nor shall I delay over details ol" more solid interest in the story, 
such as the various incidents of Finn's visit to Munster on this 
occasion, and the very ciurious topographical notices of liis pro- 
gress. For all these things I must refer you to the poem itself 

20 



306 



OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 



The Poems 
ascribed to 
Oisin. 



The Poems 
ascribed to 
Fergus 
Finnbheoil, 



LECT. XIV. This, howevei:, is not very difficult of study; and you will 
gain some assistance from a free metrical translation of it, made 
by our distinguished covuitryman. Dr. Anstcr, wliich was pub- 
lished in the Dublin University Magazine for March and 
April, 1852. 

The next of the Fenian poets is Fergus Finnbheoil (Fergus 
"the Eloquent"), son oi Finn Mac Cumhaill. 

Of this early bard's compositions, I have met but one ge- 
nuinely ancient poem. It occurs in the lost Book of Dinnsen- 
chus, copied into the Books of Lecain and Ballymote, and pro- 
fesses to account for the name of an ancient well or spring 
named Tipra Seangarmiia, situated in the south-eastern part of 
the present county of Kerry, and in which, I believe, the river 
Feile [Feale] has its source. It would appear from this poem that 
the spring oi' Semigarmnin issued from a cleft in a rock, or rather 
from a mountain cavern. Oism, the brother of Fergus, with 
a few followers, were, it would appear, while out hunting, in- 
veigled into this cleft or cavern by some of its fairy inhabitants, 
and detained there for a whole year. Durmg all this time Oisin 
was accustomed to cut a small chip from the handle of his spear, 
and cast it upon the issuing stream. Finn, his father, who had 
been in search of him all the time, happening at last to come to 
this stream, saw a chip floating down, took it up, and knew 
immediately that it was part of Oisin's spear, and intended for a 
sign. He therefore followed the stream to its source, entered 
the cavern, and rescued his son and his companions. And this 
is the legend which Fergus relates in the poem, (Book of Bally- 
mote, fol. 202, a. a.) which consists of thirty-three quatrains, 
and begins [see original in Appendix, No. XCIIL] : 

" The well of Seanc/armain, with all its beauty". 

The Poems The next and last of the ancient Fenian bards is CaeiltS 

caeiM Mac Mac Roucdn, the cousin of Finn, and one of his officers, the most 

onam. distinguished both as warrior and poet, but chiefly distinguished 

above all the rest in legendary record by Iris singular agility and 

swiftness of foot. 

Of CaeilWs poems I find but one among our more ancient 
tracts, and this was in the Dinnsenchus, in which it is quoted as 
supplying an account of the origin of the name Tonn Chliodhna 
[or Wave of ChliocUma], which was the ancient name of a strand 
and the waves that broke over it, situated in or near the bay of 
Cloch-na-Coillte [Clonakilty] , on the coast of the county of Cork. 
Tlois poem, like the last, is found in the Books of Ballymote 
and Lecain, and is said to have been sung by the author for 
Saint Patrick. It is not a legend of Finn or his people, but a 



ibed to 
Hi Mac 



OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 307 

love story, the heroine in which (Cliodhna, a foreign lady) was lkct. xiv 
imfortimatcly drowned on this shore, and from whose name was ^.^^^ j,^^^^ 
derived the appellation of the Wave o^Cliodhna. The poem is afcii 
very ancient, and begins [see original m same AppendixJ : — Ronain 

" Cliodhna the fair-haired, long to be remembered". 

Having so far described to you such of these very ancient agi*,ative'' 
poems as I have found ascribed direct!}'' to Finn Mac Cumhaill, Tales 
his sons Oisin and Fergus Finnbheoil, and his cousin Caeilte, I of pieces 
shall now bring under your notice the second class of our audVrorr^" 
ancient imaginative compositions — namely, those tracts which 
were made up of articles in prose and verse, ascribed to some 
one or more of the personages already mentioned, but related 
by a second person. 

The most important, perhaps the only genuine, tract of this 
class now existing, is that which is well known as the A gallamh 
na Seanorach, or Dialogue of the Ancient Men. 

Tliese " ancient men" were OisiJi, the son o^Finn Mac Cmnh- ^ogt,e ,?nhe 
aill, and Caeilte, the son of CroncJm, son of Ronan, popularly ^^ncient 
called Caeilte Mac Honain, a near relative of Oisin. 

These two chiefs long survived their brethren in arms, and 
are even reported to have lived until the coming of Saint 
Patrick into Erinn to preach Christianity, by whom it is said 
they were converted and baptized. So in the " Dialogue" just 
referred to, then, they are made to give an account to the 
Saint of the situation, the history, and origin of the names of 
various hills, moimtains, rivers, caverns, rocks, wells, mounds, 
shores, etc., throughout Erinn, but more particularly such 
places as derived their names or any celebrity from actions or 
events in which Finn Mac Cumhaill, or his warriors, had been 
personally engaged or in any way concerned. Of this class of 
compositions we have at present existing, as I have just ob- 
served, but tliis one tract ; and even this, as far as can be yet 
ascertained, is imperfect. There is a large fragment of it pre- 
served in the Book of Lismore, a vellum manuscnpt wiitten 
about the year 1400 ; another large fragment, on paper, in the 
Royal Irish Academy [H. and S. Collection, No. 149] ; a more 
perfect, but still damaged copy in the Bodleian Library at 
Oxford [Rawlinson, 487] ; and, as far as I am able to judge 
without having seen the book, an older and more perfect copy 
than any of these, if not quite perfect, in the College of St. Isi- 
dore, in Rome, 

This tract, which might almost be called a Topographical 
and Historical Catechism, commences by stating that after the 
disastrous battles of Comar, Gabhra, and Ollarbha, the Fianns 

20 b 



308 OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 

tECT. XIV. or Fenian forces were so shattered and diminislied in nimibers, 

, that the surviving few of them dispersed themselves over the 

logue of the country, so that their number was at last reduced to eleven — 

Men".'^ namely the two good old chiefs, Oisin and Caeilte, and nine 

common soldiers. After having wandered a long time among 

the new and strange generation that had sprung up around 

them in their native country, the two chiefs agreed to separate 

for a time ; and Oisin went to his mother to the (enchanted) 

mansion of Cleitech, near Slane, while Caeilte passed over Magh 

Breagh (or Bregia) to the south, and to Saint Patrick, who was 

then sojourning at Raith-Droma-deii'g , to whom Caeilte related 

his unfortunate story. Saint Patrick was very glad to add so 

remarkable a personage to his congregation, and readily gave 

CaeiltS and his few com]j)anions a comfortable maintenance in his 

establishment. 

Oisin soon after joined his old friends, and the two chiefs 
thenceforth were Patrick's constant companions in his missionary 
journeys through the country, always giving him the history of 
every j)lace that they visited, and of numberless other places, 
the names of which incidentally occur in the course of the narra- 
tive, as well as the origin of their names, all of which was 
written into a book, for the benefit of futvu'e generations, l)y 
Brogan, Saint Patrick's scribe. 

The space allotted to these lectures will not allow me to dwell 
further on this tract than to lay before you one or two exam- 
ples of the nature and style of the countless articles of which it 
is composed. 

Saint Patrick, with his travelhng missionary retinue, including 
Caeilte^ we are told, was one day sitting on the hill which is now 
well known as Ard-Patrick, in the county of Limerick. The 
hill before tliis time was called Finn Tulach, the Fair (or 
Wliite) Hill, and Patrick asked Caeilte why or when it had 
received that name. Caeilte answered that its first name was 
Tulach-na-Feine ; but that Finn had afterwards given it the 
name of Finntulach. " And (continued Caeilte) it was from 
this hill that we marched to the great battle of Finntraigh (now 
' Ventry' Harbour)". [See original in Appendix, No. XCIV.] 
" One day that we were on this hill, Finn observed a favourite 
warrior of his company, named Cael ONeamliain^ coming to- 
wards him, and when he had come to Finn's presence, he asked 
him where he had come from. Cael answered that he had come 
from Brugli in the north (that is the fairy mansion of Brugh, 
on the Boyne). Wliat was your business there? said Finn. 
To speak to my nurse, Muirn, the daughter of Derg, said Cael. 
About what? said Finn. Concerning Crede, the daughter of 



OF THE IxMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 309 

Cairhre, King of Kerry \_Ciaraighe Luaclirci], said Cael. Do lect./xiv. 
you know, said Finn, that she is the greatest deceiver [flirt, ^^^^ „ j^.^_ 
coquette] among all the women of Erinn ; that there is scarcely logue of the 
a precious gem in all Ermn that she has not obtained as a token Men-, 
of love ; and that she has not yet accepted the hand of any 
of her admirers? I know it, said Cael; but do you know the 
conditions on wliich she would accept a husband ? I do, said 
Finn : whoever is so gifted in the art of poetry as to write a 
poem descriptive of her mansion and its rich furnitvire, will re- 
ceive her hand. Good, said Cael; I have with the aid of my 
nurse composed such a poem; and if you will accompany me, I 
will now repair to her court and present it to her. 

" Finn agreed to this proposal, and having set out on their 
journey they soon anived at the lady's court, which was situated 
at the foot of the well known moimtains called the Paps of 
Anann, in Kerry. When arrived, the lady asked their business. 
Finn answered that Cael came to seek her hand in marriage. 
Has he a poem for me ? said she. I have, said Cael; — and he 
then recited the very ciuious poem, of wliich the following is a 
literal translation : 

"A journey I make on Friday: 
And should I go I shall be a true guest. 
To Credes mansion, — not small the fatigue, — 
At the breast of the mountain on the north-east. 

" It is destined for me to go there. 
To Crede, at the Paps of Anann, 
That I be there, awaiting sentence. 
Four days and half a week. 

" Happy the house in which she is, 
Between men and children and women. 
Between Druids and musical performers, 
Between cup-bearers and door-keepers. 

"Between equerries without fear. 
And distributors who divide [the fare] ; 
And over all these the command belongs 
To fair Crede of the yellow hair. 

" It would be happy for me to be in her dan, 
Among her soft and downy couches. 
Should Crede deign to hear [my suit], 
Happy for me would be my journey. 

" A bowl she has whence berry-juice flows, 
By wliich she colours her eye-brows black ; 
[She has] clear vessels of fermenting ale ; 
Cups she has, and beautiful goblets. 



310 



OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 



lECT. XIV. 

The "Dia- 
logue of the 
Ancient 
Men". 



" The colour [of her dtin] is like the colour of lime ; 
Within it are coviches and green rushes ; 
Within it are silks and blue mantles ; 
Within it are red gold and crystal cups. 

"Of its Grianan [sunny chamber] the corner stones 
Are all of silver and of yellow gold, — 
Its thatch in stripes of faultless order, 
Of wings of brown and crimson red. 

"Two door-posts of green I see; 
Nor is its door devoid of beauty ; 
Of carved silver, long has it been renowned, 
Is the lintel that is over its door. 

" CredS's chair is on your right hand ; 
The pleasantest of the pleasant it is ; 
All over a blaze of Alpine gold, 
At the foot of her beautiful couch- 

" A gorgeous couch, in full array. 
Stands directly above the chair ; 
It was made by [at ?] TiUle, in the east, 
Of yellow gold and precious stones. 

" There is another bed on your right hand, 
Of gold and silver without defect, — ■ 
With curtains, with soft [pillows], 
And with graceful rods of golden-bronze. 

" The household which are in her house. 
To the happiest of conditions have been destined ; 
Gray and glossy are their garments ; 
Twisted and fair is their flowing hair, 

" Wounded men would sink in sleep, 
Thovxgh ever so heavily teeming with blood, 
With the warblings of the fairy birds 
From the eaves of her sunny chamber \_GTiandn']. 

" If I am [i.e., have cause to be] thankful to the woman. 
To Crede, for whom the cuckoo sings, 
In songs of praise she shall ever live, 
If she but repay me for my gift. 

" If it please the daughter of Ccdi'h^S, — ' 
She will not put me off to another time, — 
She will herself say to me here : 
' To me your journey is greatly welcome'. 

" An hundred feet spans CredS^s house 
From one angle to the other; 
And twenty feet are fully measured 
In the breadth of its noble door. 



L,ECT. XIV. 



The "Dia- 



OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS 311 

" Its portico is thatched 
With wings of birds both bhie and yellow ; 

Its lawn in front, and its well, iogueofthe 

Of crystal and of carmogal. Men". 

" Four posts to every bed [there are], 
Of gold and silver finely carved, — 
A crystal gem between each post, — 
They are not of unpleasant heads. [See Appendix.] 

" There is m it a vat of royal bronze. 
Whence flows the pleasant juice of malt ; 
An apple-tree stands overhead the vat 
With the abimdance of its weighty frmt. 

" Wien Crede's goblet is filled 
With the ale of the noble vat, 
There di'op down into the cup directly 
Foiu' apples at the same time, 

" The fom- attendants [distributors] that have been named, 
Arise and go to the distiibution ; 
They present to fom- of the guests around, 
A drink to each man, and an apple. 

" She, who has all these things, — 
Within the strand and the flood, [see Appendix] 
Crede of the three-pointed-hill, — 
Has taken [z'.e., wonby] a spear's cast before the women of Erinn. 

" Here is a poem for her, no mean present. 
It is not a hasty rash composition : 
To Crede now it is here presented — 
May my journey be brightness to her". 

The yoimg lady was, it seems, delighted vnih. this poem, 
and readily consented to become the wife of the gifted Gael; 
and their marriage, we are told, took place soon after. Their 
happiness was, however, of short duration ; for Gael was almost 
immediately called away to the great battle of Ventry Harbour, 
where he was killed in the midst of victory, fighting against 
the host of foreign invaders. Grede had followed him to the 
battle-field, and received his last sighs of affection for herself, 
and of exultation for having died in his country's cause. He 
was biiried by his comrades on the south side of the harbour 
in a place which was (after him, it is said) called Traigli Caeil, 
or the strand of Gael. Crede composed an elegy for him, 
wliich is valuable to us, among other things, as containing 
some curious allusions to ancient customs, as well as a descrip- 
tion of the grave of her lover and the manner of his interment. 

I think I need offer no apology for detaining you so long 



312 



OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 



LECT. XIV. 

The "Dia- 
logue of the 
Ancient 
Men". 



Of others 
of the 
Ken I AN 

TOEMS. 



with tlie details of tliis singularly interesting little poem. I 
sliall only give you, in a few words, one other example of the 
varied sort of information wliich Avill be found in the tract at 
present imder consideration, and then pass from the " Dialogue 
of the Ancient Men" for the present. 

Saint Patrick, we are told in it, receives an invitation from 
the king of Connacht to visit his coimtry. He sets out from 
Ard Patrick, passes through Limerick, Cratloe, Sliabh Echtghe., 
and many other places, into Ui Maine, and to the court of the 
king of Connacht at Loch Croine (in the present county of Ros- 
common), where he was joyfully and reverently received. 

One day that they were seated on a green mound in the 
vicinity of the palace, a young Munster warrior, who was at- 
tached to the king's court, put the following questions to Caeilte 
with Patrick's consent. Where did Oilioll Ohdm, [the cele- 
brated king of Munster,] and his wife Sadkbh, die, and where 
were they biuied ? Where did their seven sons die in one day ? 
Who were the parties that fought the battle of Cnoc Stwihna, 
in Tipperary? Where and how did Comiac Cas [another 
son of Oilioll Oluini] die ? etc. Caeilte answers all these ques- 
tions, and tells how the battle of Cnoc Samlina was fought 
between Eochaidh Ahradruadh [the Red Browed], King of 
Leinster, and Cormac Cas; how the latter received a fearful 
wound in the head ; and how after hngering for thirteen years 
in great agony, he died at Dun Tri-Liag, that is, the ^Dun (or 
fort) of the three pillar stones [now Duntrileague, in the county 
of Limerick], which was specially built for his particular accom- 
modation ; together with many other similar details. 

From the nature of these questions, and the copious answers 
which Caeilte is always made to give, it Avill be seen that tliis, 
as well as the other articles in this valuable tract, must be full 
of curious and really valuable historical information. 

Besides the pieces of which I have abeady spoken, a large 
collection of Fenian poems, chiefly ascribed to Oism, bvit some 
of them also to his brother poets, is to be foimd in our paper 
MSS. of the last 200 years; most of these manuscripts being 
transcripts, as I have abeady observed, from books of much 
older date. These poems are generally given as dialogues be- 
tween Oiain and Saint Patrick ; but they seldom contain much 
matter illustrative either of topograjahy or social manners. 

The most popular, as well as the largest, of this class of 
poems is that which is known as Cath Clmuic an Air, the battle 
of the Hill of Slaughter ; but as no details of topography are 
given in it — not even the situation of the Hill of Battle — and 



OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 313 

as tlie foes were little more than three or four foreign champions, le ct. xiy. 
the piece is of little historic value. 

The next and last class are the Prose Tales, of which the of the 
following are the chief, if not all, that are at present known : ^H^^ 
the Toruigheacht DJiiarmada is Ghrdine, or Pursuit ofDiartnaid i" ^^'°^^- 
and Grainne; the Cath Finntrdgha, or Battle of Ventry Har- 
bour (in Kerry) ; the Bruigliean Chaei'thainn, or Mountain-ash 
Court; the Imtheacht cm Ghilla Deacair, or Flight of the 
Slothful Fellow; Bruigliean Cheise att Chorccinn, or the Court of 
Ceis Corann; the Bruigliean Eochaidh Big JDeirg, or Court of 
Little Red Eochaidh; the Bruigliean hheag na h-AhnhainS, 
or Little Court of Almhain (or Allen) ; and the Feis Tiglie 
Chondin Chinn t-Sleibhe, or Feast of Conan's House of Ceann 
SleibheS''^ 

Of these, the only tale founded on fact, or, at least, on 
ancient authority (though romantically told), is one in which 
Finn himself was deeply interested. It is the pursuit of Diar- 
9naid and Grainne. The facts on which it is founded are 
shortly these. 

Finn, in his old age, solicited the monarch Cormac Mac The Taic of 
Art for the hand of his celebrated daughter Grainne in mar- of^'-^^!^'^^"'* 
riage. Cormac agreed to the hero's proposal, and invited Finn '""'<? ""^ 
to go to Tara, to obtain from the princess herself her consent 
(which was necessary in such matters in those days in Erinn) 
to their union. Finn, on this invitation, proceeded to Tara, 
attended by a chosen body of his warriors, and among these were 
his son Oisin, his grandson Oscar, and Diarmaid O'DuihlmS^ 
one of his chief officers, a man of fine person and most fasci- 
nating manners. A magnificent feast was of covirse provided, 
at which the monarch presided, surrounded by all the great 
men of his court, among whom the Fenians were accorded a 
distinguished place. 

It appears to have been a custom at great feasts in ancient 
Erima for the mistress of the mansion, or some other distin- 
guished lady, to fill her own rich and favourite diinking-cup 
or glass from a select vessel of choicest liquor, and to send it 
round by her own favourite maid in waiting to the chief 
gentlemen of the company, to be sent roiuid again by them to 
a certain nmnber (which was, I believe, four), in their im- 
mediate vicinity, so that every one of those invited should 
in turn enjoy the distinction of participating in this gracious 
favour. On the present occasion the lady GrainnS did the 

«*) The first and last named of the above-mentioned tales have been pub- 
lished since this Lecture was delivered by the Ossianic Society. 



I.ECT. XIV. 



314 OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 

lionours of her royal fatlier's court, and sent round her favourite 
cup accordhigly, vmtil all had drank from it, Oisin and Diar- 
fenian maid O'DuihhnS alone excepted. Scarcely had the company 
Pros'e! '" uttered their praises of the liquor and their profound acknow- 
the*^' T>ur-°^ ledgments to the princess, than they all, almost simultaneously, 
suit of Diar- fell into a heavy sleep. 

GraiwU'.) The liquor was of course dragged for this pui'pose, and no 
sooner had Grainne perceived the full success of her scheme, 
than she went and sat by the side of Oisin and Diarmaid, and, 
addressing the former, complained to him of the folly of his 
father Finn, in expecting that a maiden of her youth, beauty, 
and celebrity, could ever consent to become the wife of so old 
and war-worn a man ; that if Oisin himself were to seek her 
hand she shorxld gladly accept him ; but since that could not 
now be, that she had no chance of escaping the evil which her 
father's temerity had brought upon her but by flight ; and as 
Oisin could not dishonour his father by being her partner in 
such a proceeding, she conjured Diar maid by liis manliness, 
and by his vows of chivalry, to take her away, to make her his 
wife, and thus to save her from a fate to which she preferred 
even death itself. 

After much persuasion (for the consequences of so grievous 
an offence to liis leader must necessarily be serioi;s) Diarmaid 
consented to the elopement; the parties took a hasty leave of 
Oisin ; and as the royal palace was not very strictly guarded on 
such an occasion, Grainne found little difficulty in escaping the 
vigilance of the attendants, and gaining the open country 
with her companion. 

Wlien the monarch and Finn awoke from their trance, their 
rage was boundless; both of them vowed vengeance against 
the unhappy delinquents ; and Finn immediately set out from 
Tara in pursuit of them. He sent parties of his swiftest and 
best men to all parts of the country ; but Diarmaid Avas such a 
favourite with his brethren in arms, and the pecuHar circmn- 
stances of the elopement invested it with so much sympathy 
on the part of those yovmg heroes, that they never could dis- 
cover the retreat of the offenders, excepting when Finn liim- 
self happened to be of the party that immediately pursued 
them, and then they were sure to make their escape by some 
Avonderful stratagem or feat of agility on the part of Diat'maid. 
This, then, was the celebrated Pursuit of Dia7'maid and 
Grainne. It extended all over Erinn ; and in the description 
of the progress of it, a great amount of cmious information on 
topography, the natiu:al productions of various localities, social 
manners, and more ancient tales and superstitions, is introduced. 



OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 315 

The flight oi Diarmaid aud Grainne is mentioned in several lect. xiv. 
of ovii' ancient manuscripts, and the popular traditions through- ~ 

out the country point to those ancient monuments, \T.ilgarly feman 
called Cromlechs, as their resting and hiding places, many of p^olfe.'" 
whicli are still commonly, though of course without any reason, [i^*^':.™^°^ 
called Leahthacha Dhiai-mada is Ghrainne, or the Beds o^ Di- suit of z>/ar- 
armaid and Grainne. [See Appendix, No. XCV.] ^oraimu-.^ 

The next Fenian tale that claims attention is that which is THe Tale of 
so populai-ly known as Cath Finntragha, the Battle of the of Finn- ' 
White Strand (a name now AngHcized Ventry Harbour, — in ve*,"uy"°'' 
west of Kerry), 

That tills is an ancient tale may be inferred from the mention 
of it made in the story of the mifortunate lovers Gael and Credo 
just mentioned, as well as from a damaged copy of it on vellum, 
which is preserved in an old manuscript in the Bodleian Library 
at Oxford [Rawhnson, 487] ; but the paper copies of it, wliich 
are numerous in Ireland, are very much coiTupted in language, 
and interpolated with trivial and incongruous incidents. The 
tale is a 2:)ure fiction, but related with considerable force and in 
a hig]ily popular style. 

The tale commences with the statement that Daire Dornmhar, 
according to the author the emperor of the whole world ex- 
cept Erinn, calls together all the tributary kings of his empire 
to join him in an expedition to Erinn, to subjugate it and to 
enforce tribute. He arrives with a great fleet at Glas Cliari^aig 
[now the " Skellig Rocks", on the coast of Kerry], piloted by 
Glas Mac Dremain, a soldier of Kerry, who had been pre- 
viously banished by Finn Mac Cumhaill. Tliis Glas Mac 
Dremain, who was well acquainted with his native coast, brought 
the fleet safely into the noble harbom- oi' Finntrdigh (or Ventry), 
from which place the emperor determined to subdue the coimtry. 

Finn had at all times some of his tiaisty warriors, vigilant 
and swift of foot, posted at all the harbours of the comitry, for 
the purpose of giving liim timely information of the approach 
or landing of any foreign foe on the island ; and not the least 
important, as well as interesting, part of tliis tale is the list of 
tlrese harbours, with their ancient as well as their more modem 
names. 

At the actual time of this invasion, Finn, -^ath the main 
body of his warriors, was enjoying the pleasures of swiroming 
and fishing in the waters of the liver Shannon, where a mes- 
senger from his warden at Ventry reached him with the impor- 
tant news. In the meantime, the news also reached several 
cliiefs and warriors of the Tuatha De Danann race, who were 



316 



OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS, 



LECT. XIV. 

Of the 
Fenian 
Tales in 
Prose. (The 
Tale of the 
" Battle 
of Fuin- 
trdigha, or 
Ventry.") 



The Tale of 
the " Flight 
of the Sloth- 
ful Fellow". 



located in Ui Chonaill Gahhra [in tlie pi'esent county of Lime- 
rick], and several of" these, simultaneously with Finn, set out 
for Ventiy, wliere they all arrived in due time, and imme- 
diately entered upon a series of combats with the foreign enemy. 

Tidings of the invasion were soon carried into Ulster also ; 
and Gall, the son of Fiacha FoltleoAhan, king of that province, 
a youth of fifteen, obtained leave from his father to come to 
Finn's assistance, at the head of a fine band of young volun- 
teers from Ulster. Young Galf's ardour, however, cost him 
rather dear ; for having entered the battle with extreme eager- 
ness, his excitement soon increased to absolute frenzy, and after 
having performed astounding deeds of valour, he fled in a state 
of derangement from the scene of slaughter, and never stopped 
until he phmged into the wild seclusion of a deep glen far up 
the country. This glen has ever since been called Glenn-na- 
n-Gealt, or the Glen of the Lunatics, and it is even to this day 
believed in the south, that all the limatics of Erinn would re- 
sort to this spot if they were allowed to be at large. 

The siege, as it may be called, of Ventry Harboru', held for 
twelve months and a day; but at length the foreign foe was 
beaten off with the loss of all his best men, and indeed of nearly 
the whole of Iris airny ; and thus Finn and his brave wai'riors, 
as was their long custom (woidd that we had had worthy suc- 
cessors to them in after times !), preserved the liberty and inte- 
tegrity of their native land. 

This tale of the Battle of Ventry is of no absolute value as 
historic authority for the incidents related in it ; but the many 
names of places, and the various manners and customs tradi- 
tionally handed down and preserved in it, render it of consi- 
derable interest to the student in Irish history. 

The next Fenian tale which requires notice is one which 
is well known under the name of the Itntheacht an Ghiolla 
Deacair, or "Fhght of the Slothful Fellow". 

On one occasion that Finn Mac Cumhaill gave a great feast 
to his officers and men, at his own court at Almhain [the 
Hill of Allen, in the present county of Kildare], it was deter- 
mined to go into Munster on a hunting excursion. The feast 
being over, they set out with their dogs and hoimds, and after 
having passed through several places of historical celebrity, 
which are named in the tract, they arrived at last at Cnoc Aim 
[now called Knockany], in the present county of Limerick. 
Here Finn took his stand, and setting up his tent on the top of 
the liill, he despatched liis warriors and their hounds in various 
groups to the long range of mountains which divide the present 



OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 317 

comities of LiiBcrick, Cork, and Kerry. The chase was com- lect. xiv. 
menced with ardoiu* and prosecuted with increasing excitement ^^ 
tlu'ough the momitains ah*eady mentioned, and then into the fenian 
game-abounding wilds of Kerry. Pro"a "(The 

When Finn had estabhshed his temporary residence on Knock- ™fig°^t*of 
any, he placed a scout on the brow of the liill to keep watch, ti^e siotufiu 
while he himself, with his few attendants, sought amusement in 
a game of chess. While thus engaged, the scout returned with 
news that he saw a man of great and miwieldy bulk slowly ap- 
proaching them from the east, leading a horse, which he seemed 
to be di'agging after Mm by main force- Finn and his party 
immediately started to their feet; and although the stranger 
was but a short distance from them, so slow was his movement, 
that some considerable time elapsed before he reached their 
presence. Ha\dng arrived before them at last, Finn questioned 
him as to his name, race, country, profession, and the object of 
his visit. The stranger answered that his pedigree and coimtry 
were imdistinguished and imcertain ; that his name was Giolla 
Deacair, or the " Slothful Fellow" ; and that he was seeking ser- 
vice imder some distinguished master ; and that being slow and 
very lazy, he kept a horse for the purpose of riding whenever 
he was sent upon a message or errand. The latter part of the 
answer afforded Finn and his friends matter for merriment, 
as the horse, from his gaunt and dying appearance, seemed 
to be less desirous of carrying any burden than of being carried 
liimself. 

However, Finn took the " Slothful Fellow" into his service ; 
upon which the latter requested and obtained pennission to 
turn his old horse out among the horses of the Fenian party. 

No sooner, however, had the old horse found himself among 
his better conditioned neighbours, than he began to kick, bite, 
and tear them at a fearful rate. Finn immediately ordered the 
new servant to go and bring his wicked beast away. This the 
servant set about doing, but so slow was liis movement that all 
the horses in the field would have been torn to pieces before he 
could have reached them, though the distance was but short. 

Conan Mac Morna, who may be described as the Fenian 
Thersites, seeing his own steed attacked by the mahgnant ani- 
mal, went boldly up to Mm, caught hold of him, and endea- 
voured to lead him off from the field. But no sooner was the 
old beast laid hold of, than he seemed to have lost all power of 
life and limb, and stir he would not. His owner, however, 
ha^dng come up by this time, told Conan that the horse was 
not accustomed to move with strangers except when ridden; 
whereupon Conan moimted Mm, but neither would he move 



318 OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 

LECT. XIV. then any more than before. The new servant then said that 
,,.,, Conan was too liwht for the horse, which was accnstomed to 

Of the - .,"., ,_ ' 

Fenian move onlj With a Weighty load, and pressed the other men of 
Pros'e! '"(The Finn's party to mount along with Conan, which they did to the 
"FHeh/of number of twelve. The owner now dealt the old horse a smart 
the Slothful blow of ail irou rod which he always carried for that purpose. 
No sooner had the horse received this blow than he started off 
at a rapid speed "with his burden in a western direction towards 
the sea, followed by Finn and the few of his party who had re- 
mained with him. Having reached the sea, the horse plunged 
in, and the waves immediately opened a dry passage far in front, 
but closed up after him, the " Slothful Fellow" holding fast by 
his tail. 

It is sufficient to say that the riders were carried by enchant- 
ment to a foreign luiknown country; that Finn and a select 
party followed them in a ship; and that after much of wild 
and extravagant adventure, they were discovered and brought 
home again. 

These two last tales that I have been just describing, and 
another called the Bruigliean Chaerthainn, still existing, are 
mentioned by Dr. Keting, in liis History of Erinn, at the reign 
of Cormac Mac Art, as among the many romantic tales written 
of Finn Mac Cumhaill and his warriors, existinar in his own 
time, say about the year 1630. 



to 



In describing to you these early Fenian Tales, I have, m 
fact, made you acquainted with the general scope of the nu- 
merous tales of a purely imaginative character which come after 
them in the chronological order of the pieces of ancient litera- 
ture which have been presented to us. For my present purpose 
it is, therefore, unnecessary to give you any examples oi' the 
latter in dcitail. The value of all of them to the student of 
mere history, consists only, as I have abeady said, in the records 
of ancient topography, and in the glimpses of life, manners, and 
customs, which they contain ; and important as they are in so 
many other ways to the student of the Gaedhlic language and 
literatiu'e, a more minute examination of them must be reserved 
till such time as, in another com'se of lectures, it may become 
my duty to treat of those special subjects. 

Of these Imaginative Tales of ancient date, some older than 
those called Fenian, of wliich I have been speaking, some not so 
old, I shall, then, at present, only give you the titles of some of 
the more important ; and I may particularly name : — The Adven- 
tm'es of Brian, the son of Feabhall; of Coiila Ruadh; of Cor- 
mac Mac Art, in the land of promise; of Tadlig (or Tcige) 



OF THE IMAGINATIVE TALES AND POEMS. 319 

Mac Cein; the exile of the sons of Duil Dearmart; the court- lect. x. 
ship of Etain; of Beag Fola; and the death of Aithirne. Q^^^j^g^ 
Copies of these are preserved in veUum ; and of the following ancient 
there are copies on paper. The Adventures of Conall Gulban ; tales iu 
the great battle of 3Iuirtheimne and death of Cucliulainn; the y^ge.'*"'^ 
RedRonte of Conall Cearnach (to avenge that death) ; and the 
tales called the Three SoiTOAvful Stories of Erinn — namely, the 
Story of the tragical fate of the children of Lear; the Story 
of the childi-en of Uisnech; and the Story of the sons of Tui- 
reann, etc. 

These various tales were composed at various dates, but all, 
I believe, anterior to the year 1000. 

In conclusion, I have only to indicate to you the extent of 
our existing manuscript treasures in this department of litera- 
ture, by stating roughly, as before, the quantity of letterpress 
which they would fill, if printed at length in the same form as 
the text of O'Donovan's Four Masters. 

The Gaedhhc text of the Fenian poems and tales, then, may 
be calculated as extensive enough to occupy about 3000 pages 
of such volumes ; and I believe the text of the mass of the other 
tales of which I have spoken, would extend to at least 5000 
pages more. 

You may thus form to yourselves some idea of the amount of 
that literature, — small a portion of it as has, in any form, come 
down to us, — which awaits yom' study whenever you qualify 
yourselves to open its pages by making yourselves acquainted 
with that ancient tongue, so long neglected by the present des- 
cendants of the Gaedliils of your country. And in estimating 
the literary value of the compositions of this class (of which so 
very great a niunber remain to us), remember you are not to be 
guided by the remarks I have made respecting their merely 
historical importance. Perhaps their chief claim, after all, to 
your attention would be found to he in their literary merits, and 
in the richly imaginative language in which they are written. 
Let me, then, always remind you, that in these Lectiu-es I still 
confine myself strictly to my subject, — the materials of the An- 
cient History of Erinn; and that the subject of our Literature 
must be reserved for another course. 



LECTURE XV. 



[Delivered March 28, 1855.]' 



Of the remains of the early Christian period. Of the Domhnach Airgid. Of 
the Cathach. Of the Legend of the CMi/e/ac/A. Of the Reliquaries, Shrines, 
Croziers, Bells, and other rehcs, still preserved, of the first centuries of 
Christianity in Erinn. 

We have now brought to a close the too madeqiiate sketch 
which the necessary Hmits of a general course Hke the present 
permitted, of the nature and extent of the existing MS. mate- 
rials for the elucidation of the general History of Erinn ; mate- 
rials which, I hope, I have shown to be most abtmdant for the 
purpose, if only used with proper judgment, and after the mi- 
nute investigation and careful comparison among themselves 
which the various classes of these interesting historical and lite- 
rary remains of ancient 'times require at the hands of the histo- 
rian. There is, however, a special branch of our history con- 
cerning which from this place it must be expected that I should 
say something more than I have yet done ; and the rather that 
the authentic materials out of which it may be easily constructed 
in the fullest detail are singularly rich and varied, considering 
their great antiquity. I allude to the History of the early ages_ 
of the Church, from the introduction of Christianity into this 
island in the beginning of the Fifth Centmy. The investiga- 
tion of our early Christian remains in connection with the His- 
tory of the country, appears to me indeed to be a duty which 
of necessity devolves on me, when I consider the character of 
the Institution in which I have the honour to fill a chair ; and 
not the less so, perhaps, in consideration of the distinguished 
part in the history of the Church itself taken by our ancestors, 
not only at home, but throughout a great part of Europe, in the 
early centuries of Clmstianity. 

"Hibernia Sacra" and "Island of the Saints" are time-ho- 
noured names, of which our country may well be proud ; but few 
of us, at present, know on what her claims to such distinctions 

* Of the Twenty-one Lectures of the present course, Sis only were delivered in 1855, Six in the spring of 1856, 
and the remaining Nine in the summer of the latter year. After the Fourth Lecture had been delivered, however 
(in March, 18551, it was thought ad\nsable that, on the occasion of the opening of the Chair of Irish History and 
Archajology in the Catholic University, the subject of Christian Archaeology in Ireland should be prominently 
introduced; and the Fifth and Sixth Lectures actually delivered were accordingly those which now appear in 
their proper place as Nos. XV. and XVI. of the whole series. The dates assigned to Lectures V. to XII. (ante) 
have unfortunately been incorrectly printed, in consequence of a mistake in the list furnished by the University 
Secretary to the printer (see List of Errata). 



OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 321 

rest : thoiigli, as I hope to show, abundant evidences of them lect. xv. 
yet remain in our all but unexplored manuscript records, as well j^T^turenf 
as in the numerous rehcs of ancient art which have been handed the existing 
down to us, and in the ruins of the towers, the churches, and the th"ear?y' 
sculptured crosses which cover the land, all forming an impe- pe'riod'i"n 
rishable and irrefragable monument of the Christian faith of an- Eiinn. 
cient Erinn. 

In i-emains illustrative of her early Christian times, it may, 
without the least exaggeration, be said that Ireland is singularly 
rich. The faith and devotion of her people, preserved with 
heroic constancy through ages of the most crushing oppression, 
have been the theme of many an eloquent pen. But, perhaps, 
in no way have these national virtues ever been more strikingly 
exhibited than in the transmission to our own days of the nume- 
rous sacred relics which we still possess, and of which some can 
be traced to a period coeval with the very introduction of 
Christianity into the island. 

The chief objects of interest to the Christian archaeologist in 
Ireland are of two classes. One of these comprises various very 
ancient copies of the Gospels, and of some other parts of the 
Sacred Scriptures. The other includes a great variety of 
examples of ancient ecclesiastical art, especially works in the 
metals, the most beautiful of wliich are to be found in ovtr great 
national collection, the INIusemn of the Royal Irish Academy ; 
such as Shrines, Bells, Croziers, Crosses, etc., etc. 

Adequately to illustrate these various relics would require in 
itself an extensive course of lectures ; it is not my intention, 
therefore, to do more than present you with some short notices 
of the most remarkable of them, in the hope that a taste may be 
thus awakened amongst the students of this University for the 
cultivation of this branch of Irish archeology. It is one whic;h 
wins from foreign visitors to our museums the most enthusiastic 
expressions of admiration, but which is not yet as extensively 
appreciated amongst ourselves as it deserves to be. 

Of the ancient Irish copies of the sacred writings, two are of 
such extraordinary antiquity, and present such a very remark- 
able history, that it will be necessary to give a somewhat de- 
tailed accovmt of them. These are, 1°. that known as the Domli- 
naeh Airgid; a copy of the four Gospels, once, we have just 
reason to beheve, the companion in his hours of devotion of 
our Patron Saint, the Apostle Saint Patrick ; 2°. the MS. called 
the Cathach, or " Book of Battles"; a MS. containing a copy of 
the Psalms, which there is scarcely less ground for supposing to 
have been actually traced by the pen of St. Colum Cille. 



AlROID. 



322 OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 

I.ECT. XV. The DoMHNACH AiRGiD lias been well described by my dear 
ofthe ^^^ honoured friend, Dr. Petrie, the most accomplished anti- 

DoMHNACH quarian whom Ireland has yet produced, and to whom, in so 
eminent a manner, is due the revival of the cultivation of Irish 
literature and antiquities. 

Tins relic, like many others of its kind which we possess, but 
which are of more modern date, presents two separate subjects 
for our consideration, — the ancient manuscript itself, and the 
shrine, casket, or box in wliich it is enclosed. These latter 
are in such cases usually the works of various hands, and of 
different centuries, bearmg evidence of the veneration in which 
the precious relics contained in them continued to be held by 
successive generations, and often containing inscriptions in still 
legible characters, recording the pious care of the prince, the 
noble, or the ecclesiastic, who restored or repaired the orna- 
mental cases in which their predecessors had enshrined the MSS. 

The following description of the Domlinacli Airgid is taken 
from Dr. Petrie's communication to the Royal Irish Academy 
(Transactions, Vol. xviii.) in which collection the Domhnach is 
now placed. 

" In its present state", says Dr. Petrie, " this ancient remain 
appears to have been equally designed as a shrine for the pre- 
servation of relics and of a book ; but the latter was probably 
its sole original use. 

" Its form is that of an oblong box, nine inches by seven, and 
five inches in height. 

" This box is composed of three distinct covers, of which the 
first, or inner one, is of wood, — apparently yew ; the second, or 
middle one, of copper, plated with silver ; and the third, or 
outer one, of silver, plated with gold. 

" In the comparative ages of these several covers, there is 
obviously a great diiFerence. The first may probably be co- 
eval with the manuscript which it was intended to preserve; 
the second, in the style of its scroll, or interlaced ornament, in- 
dicates a period between the sixth and twelfth centmies ; while 
the figures in relief, the ornaments, and the letters on the third, 
or outer cover, leave no doubt of its being the work of the 
fourteenth century. 

" This last, or external cover, is of great interest, as a spe- 
cimen of the skill and taste in art of its time in Ireland, and 
also for the highly finished representations of ancient costume 
which it preserves. The ornaments on the top consist chiefly of 
a large figure of the Saviour in alto relievo in the centre, and 
eleven figures of saints in hasso relievo, on each side, in four 
oblong compartments. 



OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 323 

" At tlie liead of tlie Saviour there is a representation of the lect. xy. 
dove, or Holj Ghost, enamelled in gold; and over this a small ^^^^^^ 
square rehquary, covered with a crystal, an.d which probably domhn-ach 
contains a supposed piece of the true cross. Immediately over " 
this again is a shield, on which the implements of the passion 
are emblazoned in blue and red paste ; and above this there is 
another square rehquary, similarly covered with crystal, but of 
smaller size. The smaller figures in relief are, in the first com- 
partment, the Irish saints Columb, Brigid, and Patrick ; in 
the second, the apostles James, Peter, and Paul ; in the third, 
the Archangel Michael, and the Virgin and Child ; and in the 
fourth, a bishop presenting a cumdach, or cover, to an eccle- 
siastic — a device which has evidently a historical relation to 
the rehquary itself, and which shall be noticed hereafter. There 
is a tliird figure in this compartment which I am unable to 
explain". 

" The rim", continues Dr. Petrie, " is ornamented on its two 
external faces with various grotesque devices, executed with very 
considerable skill, and the angles were enriched with pearls, 
probably native, or other precious jewels. A tablet on the rim, 
and at the upper side, presents the following inscription in the 
monkish character used in the thirteenth and foiu'teenth cen- 
turies : 

"'JOHS: O KAEBEI: COMORBANUS: S: TIGNACII PMISIT' ; 
or, thus, with the contractions lengthened : 

'"JOHANNES O KARBRI COMORBANUS [successor] SANCTI 
TIGHERNACn PERMISIT'. 

"Another inscription, in the same character, preserves the 
name of the artist by whom those embellishments on the outer 
case were executed, and is valuable as proving that this in- 
teresting specimen of ancient art was not of foreign manufacture. 
It Avill be found on a small moulding over one of the tablets : 
'"JOHANES: O BARRDAN: FABRICAVIT'. 

" The front side of the case presents three convex paterae, 
ornamented in a very elegant style of art with figures of gro- 
tesque animals and traceries : they are enamelled with a blue 
paste; and have, in the centre of each cup, an imcut crystal, 
covering relics like those on the top. An interesting feature on 
this side is the figure of a cliief or nobleman on horseback, with 
sword in hand. It exhibits with minute accm'acy the costume 
of the nobihty in Ireland during the fourteenth century. 

" The ornaments contained within the rim, on the back, or 
opposite side, are lost, and their place has been suppHed by the 
recent repairer with figures which originally belonged to the 
right and left sides". 

21 B 



324 OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 



Of the 

DOMHNACH 
AlRGID. 



" On the right hand side, the upper compartment presents a 
figure of St. Catherine with those of a monk in the attitude of 
prayer on the left, and a boy incensing on the right : these 
latter figures are not in rehef, but are engraved on the field of 
the tablet. The second, or lower compartment of tliis side is 
lost. 

" On the left hand side, the upper compartment presents the 
figure of an ecclesiastic seated on a chair or throne, his left 
hand holding a small cross, and his right hand raised in the act 
of giving the benediction ; figures incensing are engraved on the 
field. This principal figure probably represents St. Mac Car- 
thainn, or St. Tighernach. The under compartment exliibits a 
figure of St. John the Baptist holding in his left hand a round 
medallion or picture of the Lamb, and in liis right hand a 
scroll, on which are inscribed the words, ' Ecce Agnus Dei'. A 
figure of the daughter of Herodias, with the head of St. John 
on a salver, appears engraved on the field. 

" The bottom, or back of the case is ornamented with a large 
cross, on which there is an inscription in the Gothic or black 
letter. This inscription is of a later age than those abeady 
noticed, but I am unable, from its injured state, to decipher it 
wholly. It concludes with the word ' Cloachar, the name of 
the see to which, as I shall presently show, the reliquary ori- 
ginally appertained. 

" I now come to the most important portion of this re- 
markable monument of antiquity, — the treasure for whose 
honour and preservation so much cost and labour were ex- 
pended. It is a Latin manuscript of the Gospels ; but of what 
text or version I am unable, in its present state, to ofier an 
opinion, as the membranes are so tenaciously incorporated by 
time that I dare not venture, through fear of injuring, to se- 
parate them. These Gospels are separate from each other, and 
three of them appear to be perfect ; but the fom'th, which is the 
Gospel of St. Matthew, is considerably injured in the begimiing, 
and from this two leaves have been detached, which have en- 
abled us to ascertain the subject of, as well as the form of letter 
used in, the manuscript, — namely, the Uncial or corrupt Roman 
character, popularly called Irish, and similar in appearance to 
the very ancient manuscripts of the Gospels preserved in the 
library of Trinity College. That it is of equal antiquity with 
those manuscripts, — which are of the sixth century, — I have 
little doubt ; and from evidences which I shall presently adduce, 
I think it not unlikely to be of an even earlier age, — perhaps 
the oldest copy of the Sacred Word now existing. 

" The inscriptions on the external case leave no doubt that 



OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 325 

tlie Domhnach belonged to the monastiy of Clones, or see of lect. xv. 
Cloglier. The John O Karbri, the Comharba, or successsor of ^^ ^^^^ 
St. Tighcrnach, recorded in one of those inscriptions as the domunacu 
person at whose cost, or by whose permission, the outer orna- 
mental case was made, was, according to the Annals of the Four 
Masters, Abbot of Clones, and died in the year 1353. He is 
properly called in that inscription Comorbanus, or successor of 
Tighernach, who was the first Abbot and Bishop of the Church 
of Clones, to which place, after the death of St. 31ac Carthainn 
in the year 506, he removed the see of Clogher, having erected 
a ncAv chm-ch which he dedicated to the Apostles Peter and 
Paul. St. Tighernach, according to all our ancient authorities, 
died in the year 548. 

" It appears from a fragment of an ancient life of St. Mac 
Carthainn, preserved by Colgan, that a remarkable reliquary was 
given by St. Patrick to that saint when he placed him over the 
see of Clogher". Thus far Dr. Petrie. 

I have myself referred to an authentic copy of the Tripartite 
Life of the Saint, in Gaedldic, in my possession, and as every 
particular relating to tliis remarkable rehc must be interesting, 
I extract the passage in which its presentation to St. Mac 
Carthainn is related, of which the following is a literal transla- 
tion. [See original in Appendix, No. XCVL] 

" St. Patrick", says this ancient author, " having gone into 
the territory of Ui Cremhthainn, fovmded many churches there. 
As he was on his way from the north, and coming to the place 
now called Clochar, [in the modern county of Tyrone,] he was 
carried over a stream by his strong man Bishop 3Iac Carthainn, 
who, while bearing the saint, groaned aloud, exclaiming Uch ! 
Uch! 

" ' Upon my good word', said the saint, ' it was not usual with 
you to speak that word'. 

" ' I am now old and infirm', said Bishop Mac Carthainn, * and 
all my early companions on the mission you have set down in 
their respective churches, while I am still on my travels'. 

" ' Found you a chm-ch then', said the saint, ' that shall not 
be too near us, [that is, to his own church of Armagh,] for 
famiHarity, nor too far from us for intercoru'se'. 

" And the saint then left Bishop Mac Carthainn there, at 
Clochar, and bestowed on him the Domhnach Airgicl, which had 
been given to him, [St. Patrick,] from Heaven, when he was on 
the sea coming to Erimi". 

And now to return to Dr. Petrie's observations: " On these 
evidences", he continues, " we may, I think, with tolerable cer- 
tainty, rest the following conclusions : 



326 OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 



LECT. XV, 

Of the 

DOMHNACIl 

Air.GiD. 



"1. That the Domlinach is the identical reliquary given by 
St. Patrick to St, Mac Carthainn. 

"2, As the form of the cumdach indicates that it was in- 
tended to receive a book, and as the relics are all attached to 
the outer and least ancient cover, it is manifest that the use of 
the box as a reliquary was not its original intention. The na- 
tural inference therefore is, that it contained a manuscript which 
had belonged to St, Patrick ; and as a manuscript copy of the 
Gospels, apparently of that early age, is found witliin it, there 
is every reason to believe it to be that identical one for which 
the box was originally made, and which the Irish apostle pro- 
bably brought with him on his mission into this country. It is 
indeed not merely possible, but even probable, that the ex- 
istence of tliis manuscript was unknown to the monkish bio- 
graphers of St. Patrick and St, Mac Carthainn, who speak of 
the box as a scrinium or reUquary only. The outer cover was 
evidently not made to open ; and some, at least, of the relics 
attached to it, were not introduced into Ireland before the 
twelfth century. It will be remembered also that no supersti- 
tion was and is more common in connection with the ancient 
cumdachs, than the dread of their being opened. 

" These conclusions will, I think, be strengthened con- 
siderably by the facts, that the word Domhnach, as applied 
either to a church, as usual, or to a reliquary, as in this instance, 
is only to be found in our histories in connection with Saint 
Patrick's time ; and that in the latter sense, — its application to 
a reliquary, — it only once occurs in all our ancient authorities, 
namely, in the single reference to the gift to St. Mac Carthainn; 
no other rchquary in Ireland, as far as can be ascertained, 
having ever been known by that appellation. And it should 
also be observed, that all the ancient rehcs preserved in Ire- 
land, whether bells, books, croziers, or other remains, have in- 
variably, and without any single exception, been preserved and 
venerated only as appertaining to the original fovmders of the 
churches to which they belonged. 

" I also avail myself of this opportunity to add, that, having 
been favoured recently by Mr. Westenra with a loan of the 
Domhnach for further examination, I requested my friend, the 
Rev. Mr. Todd, to examine the detached membranes of the 
manuscript, and to give me his opinion respecting the antiquity 
of the version, and the age of the writing, as far as the frag- 
ments would permit such opinion to be formed. 

" I now add his transcript of what was legible, together with 
his remarks ; and I am authorized by him to state, that although 
he at first thought the contractions used in the fragment, — and 



OF THE EEMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 327 

especially the ( ;) in the contraction iisq ; — to argue a later date lect. xy. 
than the historical evidences indicated, he has since seen reason 
to change liis opinion. While this sheet was passing through domhnach 
the press, he took the opportunity of reconsidering the subject '■^'^'*'"* 
by a careful examination of the valuable manuscripts of the 
Gospels preserved in the Library of Trinity College ; and he 
now thinks that the contractions of the Domhnach manuscript 
might have been in use in the fourth or fifth centuries". 

In tliese views of Dr. Petrie I entirely concur*, and I believe 
that no reasonable doubt can exist that the Domhnach Airgid 
was actually sanctified by the hand of oiu- great Apostle. 

This national rehc is now in the rich collection of the Royal 
Irish Academy ; and it deserves to be stated that its preservation 
in Ireland is clue to the hberahty of the present Lord Rossmore, 
who pm-chased it from Mr. George Smith at a cost of £300, Mr. 
Smith having procured it in the county Monaghan. At a sub- 
sequent period Lord Rossmore resigned his purchase to the 
Royal Irish Academy. 

The next ancient relic I propose to notice is the Cathach, ^^Jg^^n. 
the heir-loom of the great Clann Conaill, handed down from 
Saint Cohan CilU through the line of the O^Domhnaill, or 
O'Donnells, for a period of 1300 years. 

The Cathach consists of a highly ornamented shrine or box, 
enclosing a fragment of a copy of the Psalms on vellum, con- 
sisting of fifty-eight leaves, written on both sides. All the 
leaves before that which contains the 31st Psalm are gone ; but 
the leaves from this to the 106th Psalm still remain. The 
^vriting is of a very ancient character. 

Like that of the Domhnach Airgid, the shrine of the Cathach 
is evidently the work of several successive periods. A partial 
casing of sohd silver was added so recently as the year 1723 by 
Colonel Domhnall O'Domhnaill (or Dormell O'Donnell). 

The history of this relic is in all respects very remarkable. 
The name given to it has been a matter of perplexity to several ; 
and Sir William Betham, who pubhshed an account of it in hia 
Irish Antiquarian Researches, says : 

" I have not been able to find out why it got the name of 
Caah, which is not an Irish word, nor have those learned Irish 
scholars I have consulted, discovered a word from wliich this 
name has been formed, imless it is a corruption of the word 
Cas, a box". 

How far this conjecture is from the truth we shall pre- 
sently see. 

In tracing the history of thia interesting rehc it will be nc- 



328 OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD- 



Of the 
Oatkach. 



cessary to state, that Saint Colurti Cille was of tlie same race as 
tlae Clann Domhnaill, being great-grandson of Conall Gulban, 
son o{ Niall Naoi-ghiallach [Niall of tlie Nine Hostages], who 
was monarch of Eiinn in a.d. 428. 

The manner of the transcription of this copy of the Psahns, 
and tlie origin and signification of the name by which the rehc 
is still known, are so well given in the hfe of the saint by 
Maghnus C Domhnaill, that I may best describe them by giving 
you here a pretty full abstract, in translation, of the passage. It 
is interesting in another point of view also, as illustrative of some 
portions of the life of the saint but little known to the readers 
of printed works. 

On one occasion St Colum Cillc paid a visit to St. Finneii 
of Drom Finn [in Ulster], and while on the visit he borrowed 
St. Finuen's copy of the Psalms, Feeling anxious to have a 
copy of the book, and fearing that if he asked liberty to take 
one he might be refused, he continued to remain in the church 
after all the people left it every day, and then sat down and 
made a hurried copy of the book, but not before he was ob- 
served by one of St. Finnen's people, who reported it to the 
saint, who took no notice of the matter until he found the 
copy had been finished, and he then sent to St. Coliim for it, 
alleging, that as the original was his, and he had given no per- 
mission to copy it, the smi'eptitious copy also was his by right. 
St. Colum Cille refused to comply with the demand, but 
offered to refer the cause of dispute to the monarch of Erinn, 
Diarmaid Mac Ferghusa Gerrhheoil. St. Finncn agreed to this, 
and both parties repaired to Tara, obtained an audience of the 
king, and laid their case before him. The monarch Diarmaid 
then gave the remarkable judgment which to this day remains 
a proverb in Erinn, when he said, le gach hoin a hoinin, that is, 
' to every cow belongeth her little cow (or calf), — and in the 
same way, to every book belongeth its copy, and accordingly', 
said the king, 'the book that you wrote, O Colum Cille, belongs 
by right to Finnen'. ' That is an unjust decision, O Diarmaid\ 
said Colum, CilU, ' and I will avenge it on you'. 

Now, at this very time a dispute occurred between a son of 
the king of Connacht, who had been a hostage to the monarch, 
and the son of the king's chief steward, on the green of the 
king's palace, while at a game of hurling, during which dispute 
the young prince struck his antagonist with his hurley, and killed 
him. Seeing what he had done, the yoimg prince fied imme- 
diately for sanctuary to St. Colum Cille, who was still in the king's 
presence. The king was quickly apprised of what had happened, 
and gave instant orders to have the youth arrested and forth- 



OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 329 

witli put to deatli, for lia\ang desecrated tlie precincts of the royal lect. xy. 
palace, against the ancient law and usage. The prince was at q^ (j^^ 
this time clasped in the arms of St. Colum Cille, but he was Cvthach. 
torn from his grasp, carried beyond the prescribed boundary of 
the court, and put to death. The king knowing well that this 
imusvxal insult to Colum CilU would greatly add to his anger, 
ordered a guard to be placed on him, and not to allow him to 
depart from Tara imtil his excitement had become moderated. 
Nevertheless Colum CilU passed out of the com-t without the 
king's leave and unperceived by any one, " the justice of God 
ha\T.ng thrown a veil of vmrecognition around him". He was 
soon missed, however, and a strong guard sent after him to 
bring liim back. 

Colum CilU, we are then told, dispatched his attendants by 
the usual route to the north, but took himself a path over the 
mountains north of Tara; and wliilst thus traversing the wild 
mountains alone, he composed and sung that remarkable poem 
of confidence in the protection of the Holy Trinity, the Father, 
and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, of which a fine copy with 
an English translation has been published in the Miscellany of 
the Irish Archceological Society. This poem contains seventeen 
quatrains, and begins thus [see original in Appendix, XCVII.] : 

Alone am I upon the mountain. 

O King of Heaven, prosper my way. 

And then nothing need I fear, 

More than if guarded by six thousand men. 
The authority from which I quote then proceeds to say, that 
God carried Saint Colum CilU in safety over the mountains, 
and into his native country of Tirconnel [now Donnegall] . 

Here, we are informed, he complained to his powerful 
friends and relatives — for he was of the race of Tir Chonaill 
[Tirconnell] directly, and the men of Tir Eoglicmi [Tyrone] 
were his cousins. These warlike tribes immediately took up his 
cause, and marched with him into a place called Cuil-Dreimne 
[between Shgo and Dromcliff], where they were joined by 
Eochaidh Tirmcharna, the king of Connacht, whose son had 
been so unmercifully put to death by the monarch Diarmaid. 
The monarch having been duly apprised of the revolt of his 
northern and western provinces, mustered a large force, marched 
at their head into Connacht, and pitched his camp in the vicinity 
of that of his enemies. A battle ensued on the next day, in 
which the royal army was routed with a great loss, and the 
monarch returned discomfited to Tara. 

The king, however, soon after made his peace with St. 
Colum CilU and his friends : but the saint himself did not feel 



330 OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 

LECT. XY. easy in Ms conscience for liaving been tlie cause of the blood- 
shed at the battle of Cull Drehnne, and, to relieve his conscience, 
Cathach. he went to confession to St. Molaisi of Damli-lnis [now ' De- 
venish', in Loch Erne]. St, Molaisi then passed upon him the 
penitential sentence to leave Ermn forthwith, and never again 
to see its land. This penance St. Colum soon performed, by 
sailing to the coast of Scotland with a large company of eccle- 
siastics, ecclesiastical students, and others. They landed on the 
island of /, or Hy, where they estabhshed themselves ; and that 
hitherto obscure island soon became the glory of the west of 
Europe, rmder the still venerable name of lona. 

Lastly, we are told (in the same Life abeady referred to) 
that this book was the Cathach (or Book of the Battle) on 
account of which the battle "svas fought, and that it was the 
chief relic of St. Colum Cille in TiV Chonaill; that it was covered 
with silver, and that it was not lawful to open it (the covering) ; 
that if carried three times to the right around the army of the 
Cinel Conaill, at going to battle, it was cei'tain they would retm-n 
victorious ; and that it was upon the breast of an hereditary lay 
successor, or of a priest without mortal sin (as far as he could 
help), it was proper the Cathach should be carried aroimd that 
army. [See same Appendix.] 

This sacred relic appears at all times to have received the 
greatest veneration from the noble family of the O'Donnells of 
Donnegall, who for the last seven hundred years have been the 
most important branch of the line of the descendants of Conall 
Gulban, the remote ancestor of this and the other great families 
of Tirconnell. This Conall, who was the son of the monarch 
Niall the Great, was converted by St. Patrick. It has been 
stated, on the authority of a tradition in the O'Donncll family, 
that at the time of his conversion Conall had received the saint's 
benediction, together with a special mark of favour ; for that 
the saint inscribed a cross with the spike or heel of his pastoral 
staff (the celebrated Bachall losa, or staff of Jesus) on hia 
shield, and recommended him to adopt the motto of " Li hoc 
signo vinces", which the O'Donnells accordingly retained down 
to the time of the dispersion of the clann in the seventeenth 
century. This was in fact the belief of the O'Donnells and old 
families of Tir Chonaill, from the close of the sixteenth century 
down, at least. The behef was first put forth in a poem by 
Eoghan Ruadh Mac-an-Bhaird, who took it from the 138th 
chapter of Jocelyn's Life of St. Patrick. Jocelyn, however, 
does not apply the passage to Conall Gulban. The Tripartite 
Life of the Saint applies it to Conall the son of Amhalgaidh, 
king of Connacht, who at the same time received from the 



OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 331 

saint the name of Conall Sciath BhachaU, or Conall of tlie lkct. xv. 
Crozlei -Shield. This Conall's race is not now known. ^^^j^^ 

This hook of St. Coluin Cille must have been encased in Cviuach. 
an ornamented shrine at some early period ; hut we find that it 
was fiu'ther cared for at the close of the eleventh century, by 
Cathhharr O'Donnell, chief of Tirconnell, and Donnell O'Raf- 
ferty, abbot of Kells (in Meath), who was one of the O'RafFertys 
of Tirconnell, and thus eligible to succeed his family patron- 
saint, Colum Cille, in any of the many churches fomidcd by liim 
throughout Erinn, one of wliich was the important church of 
Kells. This O'Hafierty died in the year 1098 ; and Cathhharr 
O'Domiell died in the year 1106 ; so that the magnificent silver- 
gilt and stone-set case, which now surmounts the older cases of 
tliis most ancient and interesting relic, must have been made 
some time before the year 1098, in which this abbot of Kells 
died. The authority for these dates is found on the shrine itself, 
in the following words [see original in Appendix, No. XCVIIL] : 

" A prayer for Cathhharr O'Donnell, by whom [that is, by 
whose desire and at whose expense] this shrine was made ; and 
for Sitric, the son of Mac Aedha [Mac Hugh], who made it; 
and for Domhnall Ua Rohhai'tuigh [Donnell O'Rafferty], the 
Comliarha [or Successor] of Cenannus [Kells], by whom it was 
made [that is, at whose joint expense with that of O'Donnell 
it was made]". 

The last mark of devotion conferred on this relic was a solid 
silver rim or frame, into which the original slirine fits. This rim 
contains an inscription, from which it appears that it was made 
in the year 1723, by order of Daniel O'Donnell, who, there is 
reason to beheve, foiight at the battle of the Boyne, after which 
he retired to the continent. At his death, or some time pre- 
viously, it appears, he deposited this important heirloom of his 
ancient family in a monastery in Belgium, with a written in- 
jimction that it should be kept until claimed by the true repre- 
sentative of the house of O'Donnell ; and here it was discovered 
accidentally in or about the year 1816, by a Mrs. Molyneux, an 
Irish lady who had been travelling on the continent, and who, 
upon her retm-n home, reported the circumstance to Sir Neal 
O'Donnell of Westport. This gentleman had asserted liis claim 
to the chieftainship of his name and race, under the authority 
of the late Sir William Betham, Ulster King-at-arms ; and thus 
prepared, he appHed for the Cathach, through his brother, the 
late Conall O'Donnell, then in Belgium, who succeeded in ob- 
taining it accordingly. 

From Sir Neal O'Donnell, the Cathach descended to his son, 
the present Sir Richard O'Donnell of Newport, county Mayo ; 



332 OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD 

LECT. XV. who with characteristic hberahty has left it for exhibition among 
Qj^j^g the many congenial objects of Christian, liistorical, and anti- 

cathach. quarian reverence, preserved in the Musemn of the Royal Irish 
Academy. 

The fragment of the original " Book of Battles", contained in 
this shrine, is of small quarto form, consisting of fifty-eight 
leaves of fine vellum, written in a small, miiform, but rather 
hurried hand, with some sHght attempts at illumination: and 
when we recollect that this fragment was written about thirteen 
hundred years ago, by one whose name, next to that of our 
great apostle. Saint Patrick, has held the highest place in the 
memory of the people of his own as well as of foreign countries, 
we have reason indeed to admire and reason to be proud of the 
intense and tenacious de^^otion which could, imder most un- 
favourable circumstances, preserve even so much of so ancient 
and fragile a monument. 

While speaking of relics so remarkable as those of the 
Domhnach Airgid and the Cathach, rendered sacred incur eyes 
by the touch of our national apostle and Saint Colum Cille, I 
cannot omit altogether to mention that I have met with two 
notices of certain objects, likewise said to have been in the 
churches of these saints, and bearing their names, though at 
periods subsequent to their own time. 

The precise nature of these objects I am yet vmable to deter- 
mine. But it may not be without use to call attention to the 
matter, as it is possible that those more intimately acquainted 
with ancient ecclesiastical remains in other countries, may be 
able to form some opinion of the probable nature of those to 
which I refer. They are mentioned under the name of Cuile- 
badh, Cuilebaidh, or Cuilefadh. 
Of the relic The very beautiful (but wild and fanciful) legend in which 
the Cuilefadh of Saint Colum Cille is described is of great an- 
tiquity. Its language is very ancient and difiicvilt, but the whole 
presents an excellent example of that combination of highly 
poetic imagery, and deep, though simple piety, so common in 
om' early Gaedhlic compositions. Wild as this legend may seem, 
I cannot myself dovibt that it is but the development of some 
record of one of the many voyages of our early missionaries. 

It cannot be doubted that at a very early period the Christian 
faith was carried by missionaries from our shores far into the 
regions of the north. And it is admitted by several "writers that 
books and other remains of the early Gaedhlic propagators of the 
Gospel were found in Iceland in the eleventh century. Taken 
by itself, the legend of the Cuilefadh would be interesting ; but 



called tlie 
Cuilefadh. 



OF THE KEMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 333 

as illustrative of tliese observations, and regarding it therefore as lect. xv. 
based on fact, it must be considered of real importance ; and, for ^^ ^^^^ ^^j. 
both reasons, I think it will be worth while to introduce an caiied the 
abstract oi it here. 

On the death of the monarch Domhnall, son of Aedh, son of 
Ainmire (a.d. 639), liis eldest son, Donnchadh (or Donach), 
became king of the Cinel Conaill; and his younger son, Fiacha, 
became king of the Fer Rois. Fiacha much oppressed his sub- 
jects; and his oppression was at length the cause of his death 
at their hands. It is stated that in the second year of his 
reign, he held a meeting of his people at the mouth of the 
river Boyne, and that dming the holding of that meeting a wild 
deer, started by them, was followed by the king's guards ; where- 
upon the men of Ross, enraged at such an assertion of " prero- 
gative", killed the king himself with liis own weapons. Fiacha s 
brother, Donnchadh, came upon them in revenge ; but he stayed 
his vengeance until he should consult liis Anmchara (literally, 
" soul's friend"), the Comharba (Successor) of Saint Colum Cille, 
to whom he sent a message to lona, to ask his advice on the case. 

The Comharba of St. Colum Cille sent over two of his con- 
fidential clerics, Snedhgus and 3Iac Riaghla, with his advice; 
which was, that Donnchadh should send sixty couples of the 
men and women of Ross, in boats, out upon the sea, and 
then leave them to the judgment of God. The exiles were ac- 
cordingly put into small boats, launched upon the water, and 
watched, so that they should not land again. 

The priests, Snedhgus and 3Iac Riaghla, having discharged 
their own duties, set out upon their return to lona. As they 
were passing along over the sea, they determined to go of their 
own will on a wandering pilgrimage, and leave to Providence 
the direction of their course ; praying, at the same time, to be 
carried to wherever the sixty banished couples had found a 
resting place. They then ceased to work or dii-ect their boat ; 
and the wind carried them north-westwards, into the ocean. 

The legend then proceeds with a fanciful account of how 
they were driven to several wonderful islands, some inhabited, 
and some iminhabited. In some they were received with 
friendship, in others with hostility. After being carried to 
several of these islands, however, the wind at last blew them 
to one, in which there was an immense tree, on which vv^ere 
perched a flock of beautiful white birds, with a chief bird, hav- 
ing a golden head and silver wings. This great bird related 
to them the history of the world, from its beginning ; the Birth 
of Christ, of Mary the Virgin: His Baptism, Passion, and Re- 
surrection; as well as His coming to the judgment. And, 



Cuila/adh. 



334 OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 

LECT. XY. wlien tlie great bird had concluded, all tlie rest laslied tlieir 
Of the relic ^idcs -witli tlicir wings, nntil the blood gushed from them, out 
called the of tcrror of the day of judgment. And the great bird gave 
one of the leaves of the foHage of this great tree to the priests ; 
and tliis leaf was as large as the hide of a great ox ; and he 
ordered them to carry it away, and lay it on Saint Colum 
Cilles altar. " And it is St. Colum Cilles Cuilefaidh at this day 
in Cennanas [or Kells]". 

" Sweet was the music of these birds", continues the story, 
" singing psalms and canticles in praise of the Lord, for they 
were the birds of the plains of Heaven ; and the leaves or body 
of the tree upon which they were, never decay. And the 
clerics left the island, and were driven by the wind to another 
island ; and, as they were approaching the land, they heard the 
sweet voices of women singing; and immediately they re- 
cognized this music, and said, ' That is the Sianan [or sweet 
plaintive song] of the Women of Erinn' : and, having come to 
land, they were joyfully received by the women, who spoke to 
them in tlieir own language, and conducted them to the house 
of their chief, who told them he was the chief of the banished 
men of Erinn. The clerics then retmiied safely home". 

It is to be remarked that after every little prose article, in 
this curious piece on the adventures of the clerics, the incidents 
are summed up in verse ; from which it may be inferred that 
the whole story was originally written in verse. The tale from 
which I have abstracted the account is preserved in the MS. 
H. 2. 16, Library of T. CD. 

It is fm'ther to be remarked that in the short metrical sum- 
mary of this legend, there is no mention that the great leaf, or 
Ouilefadh, was placed on the altar of St. Colum Cille at Kells ; and 
from this circumstance we may fairly assume that the verse is 
older than the prose, and that what was originally a short nar- 
rative poem was at a subsequent period broken up and interpo- 
lated with a prose commentary. That this was done some time 
after the year 1090, before which the Cuilefadh was not at 
Kells, will appear quite clear from the following curious entry 
in the continuation of the Annals of Tighernach at that year. 
[See original in Appendix, No. XCIX.] 

" 1090. The sacred relics of St. Colum CilU, namely, the 
Clog na High [or Bell of the Kings], and the CuilebaigJi, and the 
two gospels, were brought from Tirconnell, and seven score 
ounces of silver ; and it was Aengus C Domlmallain that brought 
them from the north". 

It may be asked, to what place they were brought. This, 



OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 335 

I tliink, is sufficiently sliowii to have been Kells by the follow- lect. xr. 
ing entry, which I take from the Annals of the Four Masters, ^^ ^^^ ^.^j.^ 
at the year 1109: — called tue 

" Oengus O'DomhnaiUain, chief spiritual director and chief 
elder of St. Colum Cilles people, died at Kells". 

His name, likewise, appears as a witness to a charter of land, 
in an entry in the great Book of Kells, in Trinity College. 

The Cidlefadli of St. Patrick, or of Armagh, is alluded to in 
the Annals of the Four Masters, at the year 1128, where men- 
tion is made of a young priest who had been carrying it being 
killed by an assault of the O'Rourkes of Briefne, on the Comh- 
arba or Primate of Armagh, when returning from Connacht 
with Iris offerings. 

A third Cuilefadli is spoken of in connection with another 
Samt, — Saint Eimlun, from whom the modem town of Monas- 
ter-evan takes its name. It is referred to in a vellum MS. of 
the year 1463, in the Royal Irish Academy (43. 6; p. 17). 
[See Appendix, No. C] 

Such are the only notices of this unknown object that I am 
acquainted witli. 

Tbe Domhiacli Airgid and the CatJiach may be assigned, re- Of varions 
spectively, to the fifth and the sixth centmies ; and in every point and ms. 
of view they must be regarded as objects of extraordinary inte- "^'"' 
rest and great arcliffiological value. Several similar relics, but 
of a less considerable antiquity, still exist in various parts of the 
country and in the hands of different owners. There are also 
some in England and on tlie Continent. 

Several forms of shrine are to be met with ; one of the most usual 
is in the shape of a square, usually flat, box ; another resembles 
in figtu'e the outlines of a church, as in the instance of the beautiful 
little shiine in the possession of Mr. W. Monsell, M.P., now de- 
posited in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy ; and it is 
to this latter more especially, I believe, that the name of Domh- 
nach appHes, though the present case of the DomJmach Airgid, 
as we have seen from Dr. Petrie's description, is a square box. 

Of the other enshrined manuscript relics with which I am 
acquainted, I shall only mention a few of the most remarkable. 

" Dioma's Book", an illuminated manuscript of the gospels, 
made by a scribe of that name (and made it is said for St. Cro- 
nan of Roscrea, who died in the beginning of the seventh cen- 
tmy), was preserved in that neighbourhood till the early part 
of the present centmy. This rehc is now in the library of 
Trinity College, which also possesses another shrine and book, 



336 OF THE REMAINS OF THE EAELY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 

1.V.CT. XV. those namely of St. Moling of Tigh Moling [now St. Muilins], 

in tlie county Carlow. 
other shrines Bosicles thosG, WO navG the shrine of St. Molaise, in the 
relics. ' possession of Mr. Charles Haliday; another shrine in the pos- 
session of the Earl of Dunraven ; and that known as the Mio- 
sach, noAv in the College of St. Columba, near Dublin. 

The Miosach was one of the three insignia of battle which 
Saint Cairnech of TuiUn [now Dulane, near Kells, in Meath], 
appointed to the Clanna Neill, ''''i.e. to the clanns oi Conall 
and of Eoghan [the O'Donnells and O'Neills] ; the other two 
being the Cathach of which I have already spoken, and the 
Cloc Phatraic or Bell of St. Patrick. [See Appendix, No. CI., 
for the whole passage from H. 2. 16. T.C.D.] The word Mio- 
sach means literally " Monthly", or, " of Months"; and the rehc 
was probably a Calendar. 

Dr. O'Connor, in the Stowe Catalogue, describes, and giA'es a 
plate of, a shrine, then in the possession of the Duke of Bucking- 
ham, but now amongst the inaccessible treasures of Lord Ash* 
burnham. 

A shrine and manuscript are said, by the same authority, 
to have been discovered in Germany by Mr. Grace. Dr. 
O'Connor supposes this shrine to have been carried to the Irish 
monastery of Ratisbon by some of those Irish ecclesiastics who 
carried donations thither in 1130 from Torloch O'Brien, king 
of Mmister, as stated in the " Chronicon Ratisbonense", or 
Chronicle of Ratisbon. 

Of the an- Next to this class of venerable rehcs, we cannot pass without 
quaries, ' a noticc, howcver brief, the other numerous objects of ecclesi- 
Croziers, astical art which have come down to us, svich as Reliquaries, 
stiiTr*' ®**=-' Bells, Croziers, Crosses, etc., etc. Many of these articles exhibit 
served to us. a high degree of skill in the workmanship, great beauty of 
design, and most delicate finish of all the parts. 

No descriptions would be adequate to convey to you any idea 
of these singularly beautiful remains of our ancient Irish art. 
But, fortunately, description is the less necessary, as in the rich 
collection of the Royal Irish Academy, which is always open 
to the public, some of the choicest specimens of these relics 
may be examined at leisure by all interested in antiquarian 
studies. And as these remains are of value, not only for their 
own intrinsic excellence, but as throwing light on the condition 
of the arts in Ireland at remote and but little known periods ; 
and as they likewise often furnish valuable testimony of the 
genuineness of our manuscript records, which, in their turn, 
may be so effectually employed to illustrate the history and 



OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 337 

uses of several of tliese objects; I trust that many of my lect. xv. 
hearers, especially those who are students of this University, Qftj^gj^j,. 
will be constant visitors to that great Musemn, which, indeed, cient Reu- 
must henceforward be the chief school for the genuine study of Bensr^' 
Irish ecclesiastical archaeology, as well as of Celtic antiquities crossS%tc., 
in general. ^tiii pre- 

Vr 1 • r> 1 1 • T 1 'M • • served to us. 

Many beautiiul and ancient relics, however, stiil remain m 
private hands ; and perhaps the most remarkable of all these is 
the Bell of St. Patrick with its magnificent shrine, now in the 
possession of the Rev. Dr. Todd, and which, we have every 
reason to believe, is actually the Finn Faidheach, or "sweet- 
sounding", that was once used by the Saint himself, and which 
was made for him by Mac Cecht, one of liis three smiths. 

Another Bell, which is also believed, and not without reason, 
to have belonged to St. Patrick, is in the choice and beauti- 
ful collection of Dr. Petrie. It is in bronze, and not enshrined. 
Mr. Cooke of Birr, also, was the fortunate possessor of a beauti- 
fully enshrined bell, known as the Bearnan Culann, (or the 
gapped bell of St. Culann,) since sold by him to the British 
Museum. And in the collection of the same gentleman there is a 
bronze bell, which he states to have been found in the holy well 
o£ Lothra, in Ormond, and which, there is grovmd for believing, 
is the bell which Saint Ruadhan of Lothra rang as he made the 
circuit of Tara, when he cursed that ancient residence of the 
Irish monarchs in the sixth century, after which it was deserted. 

INIany other bells of great interest and antiquity still exist, 
i\\Q history of which is scarcely less deserving of notice ; but 
time will not allow me to dwell on them here. 

Several shrines and reliquaries also remain. The chief of them 
are : that of St. Manclian of Liath Manchain in Westmeath ; 
that of St. Maodhog, which belonged to the ORuaircs of 
Breifne, but was lately in the possession of his Grace the Most 
Rev. Dr. Slattery, late Archbishop of Cashel ; and the beautiful 
shrine of St. Caillin, now, or lately, in the hands of Dr. Petrie. 

Another class of ancient reliquaries is that amongst the most 
beautiful of which is the Lamh Lachtain, or Shrine of the Arm 
of St. Lachtain, in bronze, inlaid with silver, and presenting 
four exquisite patterns of tracery inlaid. This beautiful reUquary, 
which dates from tiie early part of the twelfth century, has, it is 
to be regretted, become lost to Ireland, and passed into English 
hands. A somewhat similar reliquary, but not of the same ela- 
borate workmanship, is in the possession of the Lord Bishop of 
Down, the Right Rev. Dr. Denvir. 

Oiu- collections of antiquities contain several beautiful cro- 
ziers, many of which are of a very early period. Amongst 

22 



338 OF THE REMAINS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN PERIOD. 

LKCT. XV. these may be particularly noticed a fragment of tlie crozier of 
Of the an Di-UTow, wliicli, pcrliaps, is the oldest we have, and which, 
cientReii- there is reason to believe, belonged to St. Colum Cille himself, 
?5eii™^' the foimder of the church of Durrow ; it was presented by him 
Crosses'%tc. **^ Comiac, liis dear friend and successor. 

etiiipre- One Still older, and asserted to have been brought into Ire- 

land by St. Patrick, existed in Christ Chm-ch in this city, 
till the year 1522, when it was destroyed by an infuriated mob. 
This crozier was known as the Bachall losa, or Staff of Jesus, 
a name accounted for by a curious legend preserved in the Tri- 
partite Life of the Saint. Under this name it is constantly 
referred to in ancient Irish writings, [See Appendix, No. 
CII.] 

A very ancient crozier, said to have belonged to St. Finn- 
hharr (of Termonbarry, in Connacht), — and beheved to have 
been made by Conlaedh, the artificer of St. Bi'igid of Kildare, 
early in the sixth century, — is now in the Museum of the 
Royal Irish Academy, as well as a beautiful crozier of about the 
year 1120, which, there is reason to believe, belonged to Clon- 
macnoise. 

In the collection of Dr. Petrie, so often alluded to before, 
there are some very beautiful examples of croziers, of exquisite 
workmanship, and undoubtedly of very high antiquity. There 
is also one in the possession of the clergymen of Clongowe's 
Wood College, which, there is reason to believe, was once 
the crozier of St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin. 

Passing over that now at Lismore Castle, and that of St. 
JBlathmac, and others in the Royal Irish Academy, the most 
highly-finished of all will be found to be that now the property 
of his Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, This 
crozier bears a GaedhHc inscription, which identifies it with the 
Church of Kells, and assigns it to the middle of the eleventh 
century. 

Various other objects of great interest, — as the Cross of Conga 
[Cong] ; the Fiacail Phadraig (the Tooth of St. Patrick) ; the 
Mias Tighernain (the Paten of St. Tighernan, dug, it is said, 
out of the grave of that saint in an island in Loch Conn, and 
now in the possession of the Knox family, of the county of 
Mayo), — would require observation, did our limits admit of it. 

But it is not to be understood that in this notice of our anti- 
quarian remains I mean to do more than call attention to their 
great importance, and the aids which they furnish us in so many 
ways in the study and illustration of the manuscript remains of 
our ancient Gaedhlic literature, and more especially of that part 
of it which relates to early Christian times. 



LECTURE XVI. 



fDelivercd March 30, 1855.]* 



Ecclesiastical MSS. Of the Early Lives of the Saints of Erinn. Of the 
Tripartite Life of St. Patrick. Of tlie contents of tlie Leahhar M6r Dana 
Doighre, now commonly called the Leahhar Breac. 

We come now to the ancient books and compositions, — of wliicli 
we still have so great a number remaining in the Gaedhlic lan- 
guage, some of them, indeed, of extreme antiquity, — relating to 
sacred and ecclesiastical subjects. Amongst the most important 
of these are the nmnerous tracts known as the Lives of the 
Saints, several Martyrologies and Festologies, and many works 
in prose and verse on various sacred subjects. 

Of the curious and valuable historic tracts, once very nume- 
rous, called Lives of the Saints, we have still left to us a good 
many. Of these, some are written on vellum ; and some on 
paper, copied from ancient vellum books. Amongst those 
written on vellum, we have three lives of Saint Patrick ; namely, 
one knoAvn as the Tripartite Life, in the British Museum ; one 
in the MS. commonly called the Leahhar Breac, but properly 
the Leahhar M6r Lima Doighre, in the Royal Irish Academy ; 
and a third in the Book of Lismore, at Lismore Castle. 

Of the Lives of St. Colum CilU we have also three written on 
vellmn, namely, one in the same Leahhar Mor Dilna Doighre, 
in the Royal Lish Academy ; one in the Book of Lismore ; and 
O'DonnelFs great Life of his Patron Saint and illustrious rela- 
tive, now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. 

Of St. Brigid we have two ancient Lives on vellum ; namely, 
one in the same Leahhar Mor Diina Doighre, in the Royal Irish 
Academy, and one in the Book of Lismore ; there is another on 
paper (about 140 years old) in the Royal Irish Academy. 

Of St. Senan, of Liiscathaigh (now called Scattery Island, in 
the Lower Shannon), there is a Life on vellum in the Book of 
Lismore, and another on paper, which is much more copious 
in incidents, in my own possession. This latter copy was made 
about the year 1720, from an original now I fear lost, by An- 
drew Mac Curtin, a native of the county of Clare, and one of 
the best GaedhHc scholars then hving. 

* See note at p. 320. 

22 b 



340 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 

r.F.cT. XVI. Of St. Fimien, of Clonard, tliere is a Life on vellum in tlie 
Of the an Book of Lismore. 

cient Lives Of St. Fi?mchu, o£ Brigohhann, in tlie county of Cork, tliere 
of Eiiini!'" is also a Life on vellum in the Book of Lismore. 

Of St. Ciarcm, of Clonmacnois, tliere is a Life on velkun 
in tlie part of tlie Book of Lismore wliicli is now in tlie city 
of Cork; (see ante, p. 197). 

Of St. MocJiiia, of Balla, in tlie county of Mayo, tliere is a 
Life on vellum in tlie same part of tlie Book of Lismore. 

Of St. CailUn, oi Fidhnaclia (in tlie coimty of Leitrim), tliere 
is a Life on velltun in tlie Royal Irisli Academy. 

Of St. Ceallach, tlie son of Eoghan Bel, King of Con- 
naclit, we liave a Life on vellum in tlie Royal Irish Academy ; 
and one in my own possession, which I transcribed some years 
ago from an ancient vellum manuscript, the property of James 
Marinus Kennedy, Esq., Dublin. 

Of the Life of St. Moling, of Teach 3foling (now St. Mullins, 
in the coimty of Carlow), there is a copy in my own possession, 
made by me some years ago, also from Mr. Kennedy's ancient 
vellmn manuscript. 

Of the Life of St. Brendan, of Clonfert, there is a copy on 
vellum in the part of the Book of Lismore wliich is now in 
Cork. 

We have on paper in Dublin, the Life of St. Patrick by Joce- 
lyn, of St. Brigicl of Kildare, and of St. Colum CilU; the Lives 
of St. Ciaran of Saigkir (in the King's County) ; St. Declan 
of Ardmore (in the county Waterford); St. Fiiian o^ Ard-Fi- 
nain (in the county of Tipperary) ; St. Finan Cam of Cinn 
Eitigh (in the King's Coimty); St. Finnhharr of Cork; St. 
Mochuda of Raithin and Lismore ; St. Maodhog, or Mogue, of 
Feaima Mhor, or Ferns (in the county of Wexford) ; St. Caemli- 
gJiin (or Kevin) of Gleann da Loclia (or Glendaloch) ; St. Mo- 
laise of Damhinis (or Devinis in Loch Erne) ; and of St. 
Grellan of Cill ChluainS (in the coimty of Gahvay). 

We have in Dublin, — in the Royal Irish Academy, and in my 
possession, — copies of all the Lives enumerated in this list ; and 
there is in the British Museum another collection of Lives of 
Irish Saints, some on vellum, and some on paper. 

There is another fine collection of Lives of Irish Saints in the 
Burgundian Library at Brussels, collected by the venerable 
Friar Michael O'Clery, the chief of the Four Masters, about the 
year 1627. Tliis collection consists of 39 different Lives, among 
which are a few of those that we have here. 

It is only a few years since these remarkable tracts of tlie 
Lives of the Irish Saints were looked upon with distrust and 



OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 341 

contempt botli by Protestant and Catliolic writers on Irisli His- l ect. xvj. 
tory. Even Dr. Laniran, a clear and able, but often too ^_, 

1 • • • 1 • T • 1 T-i 1 • -1 TT- • Ofthean- 

dogmatic writer, m his Irish Jiicclesiastical History, never misses cient uves ^ 
an opportunity to scoff at the venerable Father Jolin Colgan's of Erm'n.'" * 
credulity m gi^Hng to the world, in liis Acta Sanctorum Hiber- 
nian, a few of these Lives in their original simplicity and fidelity 
of detail. Dr. Lanigan, as it seems, would have nothing 
pubHshed but what might seem to his o"wn mind demonstrably 
consistent with probability: he would publish no legends of 
miracles and wonders ; and he woidd give no view of the social, 
political, and religious state of society obtained tlirough the 
medivun of this most valuable class of ancient Irish writings. 
Dr. Lanigan woidd expimge from these tracts everything that 
was repugnant to what he called "reason"; thus assuming to 
himself the very important office of censor, and leaving the 
world to rest satisfied with what he decided to be true history. 

This mode of treating history has been tried by several wi-iters 
and in several coimtries. Ancient records have been digested, 
the thread of continuous history carried down from time to time, 
unincumbered by collateral details of fable, and all fact clothed 
in legendary form rejected. These details, having the brand of 
" worthlessness" and " fiction" stamped on them by some great 
authority, were deemed unworthy of examination, and in course 
of time were allowed to moulder and perish; carrying with 
them into oblivion, however, much of the broad plain history 
of the ordinary life and acts of the great body of the world's 
inhabitants, and leaving in its place only the limited picture 
of the world's great personages and rulers. 

Colgan and Keating, both of them Irish priests, have been of the 
unmercifully dealt with by our writers of the last two hundred of coiKan 
years, on the very unfounded assumption that both these truly ''^'^^^ ^^'^'''^'"s 
learned men believed themselves everything which appears in 
their writings. This can scarcely be called a fair proceeding, 
when we remember that Keating never professed to do more 
than abstract without comment what he found before him in 
the old books ; and that Colgan had not promised or undertaken 
to give a critically digested History of the Lives of the Irish 
Saints at all. In fact Colgan, like Keating, simply midertook 
to publish through the more accessible medium of the Latin lan- 
guage, the ancient fives just as he found them in the Gaedhlic. 
And it would be more becommg those who have di'awn largely 
and often exclusively, on the writings of these two eminent 
men, and who will continue to draw on them, to endeavour to 
imitate their devoted industry and scholarship, than to attempt 
to elevate themselves to a higher position of fiterary fame by 



342 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 

LECT. XVI. a display of critical pedantry and Avliat tliey suppose to be in- 
dependence of opinion, in scoffing at the presumed credulity of 
cient Lives tliose wliosc labours liavc laid in modern times tlie very groimd- 
of Erimf"" work of Irisli history. _ 

But what, after all, is the reason of the very decided attempt 
to throw discredit on the Lives of the Irish Saints ; and why 
are they condemned as the contemptible and fabulous produc- 
tions concocted in latter ages, that they are often supposed to be ? 
No one who examines for himself can doubt that many holy 
men, at the first preaching in Erinn of the glad tidings of sal- 
vation by Saints Palladius and Patrick, founded those countless 
Christian chm'ches whose sites and ruins mark so thickly the 
surface of our country, even to this day, still bearing, through 
all the vicissitudes of time and conquest, the unchanged names 
of their original founders. 
Of St. Adam- St. Adamnau, an Irishman, and the tenth abbot of lona after 
of St. coilm Saint Colmn CilU, the founder of that great seat of piety and 
am. learning, wrote a life, in Latin, of his great predecessor and 

patron. St. Adamnan died, according to the Annals of the Four 
Masters, in the year 703. This Life, therefore, must have been 
written some time in the seventh century, say in about three 
generations after the death of Saint Colum Cille; Father Colgan 
has published this life in his Trias Thaumaturga, and although 
it is as full of wonders as any of the other Lives, yet it certainly 
cannot be placed in a list of lives written in the latter ages.^^j 
Be this as it may, however, the acknowledged fact that St. Adam- 
nan wrote a life of his relative, predecessor, and patron, in three 
generations, at most, after the death of the latter, is sufficient 
authority for the antiquity of the practice of writing or compil- 
ing such works, at this, if not at an earlier period. And as 
there were in Erinn in the fifth, sixth, and seventh centimes, 
many men as holy and almost as distinguished in their lives as 
St. Colum CilU, and as the churches they founded continued 
to be occupied and governed by men as eminent and devoted 
as St. Adamnan, there is no good reason to doubt that the very 
ancient Lives of St. Brigid, St. Ciarrcn of SaigJiir, St. Ciaran 
of Clonmacnois, St. Finnhliarr of Cork, St. Finnen of Clonard, 
aud many others, were written by their immediate successors in 
their respective churches. 

The idea of writing the Lives of the Saints of Erinn first ori- 
ginated, it woiild appear, with St. Fiacc, the celebrated poet, 
who was converted by St. Patrick, and consecrated the first 

(46) This most interesting work has been ably edited, since the above Lecture 
was delivered, by the Eev. "W. Eeeves, D.D., M.R.I.A,, for the Irish Archaeo- 
logical and Celtic Society. 



OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 



343 



Bisliop of Leinster. His cliurcli was at SleibhtS (Sletty) in the leot. xvi. 
present barony of Idrona and county of Carlow. This bishop ^^ ^^^ ^^ 
Fiacc wi'ote a metrical life of his great patron Patrick, some cient Lives 
time between the years 538 and 558 ; within which period Diar- of Erinn. 
moAcl Mac Ferghusa Cerrhheoil reigned as Monarch of Erinn, in ^^jfe^of^st.^ 
whose time Tara was cursed and deserted, — a fact alhided to as Patrick.) 
foretold only in this poem, and which is itself an illustration of 
the veracity of our ancient writers in this respect. [See Ap- 
pendix, No. CHI.] 

We have it on the authority of the Tripartite itself, that St. 
Patrick's hfe and miracles were collected by no less than six 
different writers, not including Fiacc of Slcibhte; among 
whom were St. Colmn Cille who died A.D. 592, and probably 
the St. Ultdn who died A.D. 656. We have it on the authority 
of the Liber Hymnormn (a composition, I believe, of the tenth 
centmy at least), that the Life and Acts of St. Brigid of Kil- 
dare were collected and written by St. Ultdn, who died, 
probably, as already observed, in the year 656. 

It is not to be expected, however, that these curious narra- 
tives of the lives and acts of the orio-inal founders of theCatho- 
lie Chm-ch of Ireland should have come down to our time m 
their primitive form, or without occasional expansions of some 
simple facts into fictions ; but that the miracles and wonderful 
works ascribed to the saints are mere fables, of comparatively 
modern times, certainly cannot be insisted on, since we find the 
same or similar acts recorded in the oldest lives of St. Patrick, 
St. Brigid, and others, as in those which might be called later 
lives. The "Book of Armagh", which is generally believed to 
be as old as the year 807, — but which, I conceive, is probably 
older than the year 727, — this very ancient book contains an ex- 
tract from the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, which records 
some wonderful miracles of the Saint, which, if not found in 
such ancient authorities as this, would be set down by modern 
writers, Cathohc as well as Protestant, as but silly inventions 
of the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries. 

To the truly philosophical writer and reader the Lives of our 
Saints will present little that is inconsistent with the necessary 
condition of neglected history and biography, but much that is 
valuable as presenting a clear, and I doubt not, veritable view of 
the actual state of society in all the relations of domestic, political, 
and reliofious life, in those remote a^es of our history : and he will 

• 1 ••I'll 

scarcely feel called upon to discuss the precise time at which the 
Almighty withdi'ew the grace of miraculous manifestations from 
the chosen propagators of His divine law. 

When foreign invasion and war had cooled down the fervid 



344: OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 

i,ECT. XVI. devotion of tlie native chiefs, and had distracted and broken up 
the long estabhshed reciprocity of good offices between the 
cient Lives Chiirch and the state, as well as the central executive controlling 
of Erton!™*^ power of the nation, the chief and the noble began to feel that the 
lands which he himself or his ancestors had oftered to the Church 
might now with little impropriety be taken back by him, to be 
applied to his own purposes, quieting his conscience by the ne- 
cessity of the case. When such a state of things as tliis did 
actually come to pass, dviring and after the Danish wars, it was 
no wonder if the Airchinnechs (or " Erenachs") of these church 
lands, who were seldom if ever ecclesiastics, were induced to 
take up the lives and acts of their patron saints, recopy them 
from mouldering tomes, and incorporate with the old text fabu- 
lous incidents of fearful struggles between the original patrons 
and the neighbouring chiefs of liis day, in which the latter were 
always sure to come off worst. I do not say that incidents of 
this kind were not found in the veiy oldest of these lives, but I 
am in a jDosition to show that such incorporations were actually 
made in the eleventh and twelfth and even later centuries. 

But, as to the genuineness and antiquity of many accounts 
of real miracles, full evidence is fm-nished by several ancient 
works. Thus, the Tripartite Life of Saint Patrick contains an 
account of one which we find copied imperfectly into the Book 
of Armagh. The following is the passage which relates this 
cm-ious incident, — one which I introduce for the piupose of 
illustration, as it shows how even a very old work may be 
corrected by one still more ancient. [See original in Appendix, 
No. CIV.] 

" One time", says the author of the Tripartite, " that St. 
Sechnall [Secimdinus] , of Domhnach Sechnaill [now Dun- 
shaughhn, in the county of Meath] went to Armagh, Patrick 
was not there. He saw Patrick's servants having two chariot 
horses unyoked. And Sechnall said : It were fitter to give these 
horses to Fiacc the bishop. [The reason for sending the chariot 
to Fiacc was, according to the Life, because he had a painful 
sore on his leg.] Patrick arrived at these words, and heard 
what was said. Patrick then yoked the horses to the chariot, 
and sent them forth without any one to guide [or take charge 
of] them ; and they went straight to St. MocJda's hermitage in 
Louth, where they stopped that night. On the next day they 
came to Domhnach Sechnall [Dunshaughhn]. They then went 
to cm Aiisaille, from that to Cill Monach, and from that to 
SUihhte [in Carlow], to Bishop Fiacc". 

Now this legend is quite intelligible in the Tripartite, but in 
the Book of Armagh it is not so. And the latter version, I think 



OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 345 

it not improbable, was constructed on the former in some such lect. xvi. 
manner as that I have above indicated. ^^ ^^^ ^^^._ 

The Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, to which we have so often ent uves of 
made alhision, has been long known to the writers on Irish ec- EHnn'""(Ti°e 
clesiastical history, through Father John Colgan's Latin transla- Life^Jfst'^' 
tion of it in his Trias Thaiimaturga, published at Louvain in i'atnck.) 
the year 1647. 

After tliis publication, the original tract appears to have been 
lost, as no mention of Father Colgan's, or of any other copy of 
it, occurs in any book or writing that I have seen or heard of, nor 
did 1 ever know of any person who saw it, or had even heard 
of its existence since Colgan's time. To those — and they were 
many — who had faith in Colgan's honesty, the total disappear- 
ance of this most important tract became a source of uneasi- 
ness ; and with others an idea had at length sprung up, though 
I beheve not publicly expressed, that it was doubtful whether 
Colgan, in his translation, had done justice to the original, and 
whether he had not left out many things that might vitiate the 
authenticity of the tract, as well as the peculiar religious doc- 
trines expressed and implied in it. This state of uncertamty, 
however, exists no longer, as an ancient copy of this most 
ancient and important tract has been recently discovered by 
me among the vast literary stores of the British Museum. 

In the month of May, 1849, I was summoned over to give 
evidence before the Public Library Committee of the House 
of Commons. After having been examined on two successive 
days before that body, I determined to pay a short visit to the 
British Museum, which I had never before seen ; and on being 
properly introduced to Sir Frederick Madden, that learned and 
poHte officer at once gave me the most free access to the Mu- 
sevun collection of Irish manuscripts. Among the volumes laid 
before me, my attention was at once caught by a thin book of 
large quarto size in a brass cover, not a shrine, but a mere cover 
of the ordinary shape and construction. On examining this 
cover, I foimd it composed of two plates of brass, projecting 
nearly half an inch over the edges of the leaves at the front and 
ends, and connected at the back by a pair of hinges, thus giving 
the voliune perfect freedom of opening on a principle not much 
put in practice by ordinary bookbinders. The brass was rather 
clean, and had a modern appearance. The plates measured 
about twelve inches in length, nine in breadth, and three- 
eighths in thickness. The front plate had a plain cross etched 
on it about eight inches long, with arms in proportion. I im- 
mediately guessed that the book within was not one of any 
insignificant character, and I hoped indeed that it might be 



346 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 

LKCT. XVI, some one of the many ancient works whicli, I well knew, had 
been long misshig. Full of expectation, I opened the volmne, 
enVurestf ^^^^ threw my eyes rapidly over the first page; from which, 
the Saints of tliough much soilcd and almost illegible, I discovered at once 
'Tripartite' that I had comc npon a life of St. Patrick. Being well ac- 
pafri°cko*' quainted with all the Irish copies of this Life known to exist 
here at home, I immediately found this to be one that was strange 
to me, and it at once occurred to me that it was a copy of the long- 
lost Tripartite. Under this impression, I called for Colgan's 
Trias Thaumaturga, which having got, I at once proceeded 
to a comparison ; and, although I am but little acquainted with 
the Latin language, I soon found my expectations realized, for 
it was unmistakeably a fine old copy of the Tripartite Life of 
St. Patrick. The Tripartite occupied originally twenty foHos or 
forty pages of this book ; but of these, the second and sixth folios 
were cut out at some imknown time long gone by. 

The volume, besides our saint's life, contains fragments of 
two ancient historical tales, namely, Fledh Bricrinn, or Brickiin's 
Feast, and the Tain Bo Chuailgne, mentioned in a former lec- 
ture ; but these tracts are written in a different hand from the 
Tripartite, and must have been originally part or parts of dif- 
ferent books. 

The following translation of a notice at the end of the Tri- 
partite gives the precise year in which it was transcribed. [See 
original in Appendix, No. CV.] 

" The annals of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the year that this 
life of Patrick was written, were 1477; and to-mori'ow night 
will be Lammas Eve, and it is in Baile an Mhoinin I am. It 
was in the house of W Troighthigh this was written by Domhnall 
Albanacli O Troighthigh, and Deo Gratias Jesus". 

There are so many places in Ireland called by the name of 
Baile an Mhoinin (that is, the village or place at or of the 
little bog), that it would be impossible, with only this mere ac- 
cident of the name, to identify it. The O' Troightliighs were, 
however, originally natives of the county of Clare, either in or 
near Corcomroe; and they were a clann of some note at an 
early period in the history of that district, as appears from an 
entry in the Annals of the Four Masters, at the year 1002 : 

" Conchohhar, the son of Maelsechlainn, lord of Corcomroe, 
and Aicher 0' Troighthigh, with many others, were slain by the 
men of Umhall". 

This Conchohhar, son of Ilaelsechlainn, was the founder of 
the family name of O'Conor of Corcomroe. 

With the former history of this volume we are quite un- 
acquainted. We only know that it passed from us some twenty- 



OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 347 

five years ago, in tlie fine collection of Gacclhlic MSS., sold by lect. xvi . 
Mv. James Hardiman to the British INIuscum; and that it forms oftheanci- 
No. 93, Efferton, in Mr. Hardiman's catalogue, -where it is ent Lives of 

-, ° 1 -r- p r< T. • 1 1 1 11 11' tlie Saints of 

set down as, " Lite ot St. Jratnck, and other legends and his- Krinn. aiie 
torical tracts on vellum in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries". Lite'T/st.^ 
The antiquity of this Life, in all its parts, may be well under- ^atnck.) 
stood from the fact that, in the middle ages, it required an in- 
terlined gloss, by the most learned masters, in order to make it 
intelligible to their pupils and to other less learned readers. I 
have myself fortunately recovered an ancient copy of those 
glossed passages (in MS. H. 3. 18. T.CD.), by which I am 
enabled to form an opmion of the antiquity of the text, which 
it has not perhaps fallen to the lot of other Gaedhlic scholars to 
do. The antiquity of the tract may be also inferred from 
JNIichael O'Clery's introduction to his Glossary of obsolete 
Gaedhlic Avords, published in Louvain in the year 1643, in 
which he classes the old Life of St. Patrick with several other 
ancient tracts which required explanations ; explanations which 
it had received from various eminent scholars, even down to his 
own time : indeed any one intimately conversant with ancient 
Gaedhlic writings will perceive at once that tliis tract is one of 
great antiquity. Tliis Life is written with frequent alternations 
of Gaedhlic and Latin sentences, the latter sometimes explained 
by the former ; but, generally, the narration continues on throvigh 
both. 

There can be httle doubt that the short sketch of St. 
Patrick's life, written into the Book of Armagh, was taken 
from this tract, for some reason that we cannot now" discover ; 
and there can be, I think, as little doubt that the annotations of 
Tirechan on St. Patrick's Life, foimd, in Latin, in the same 
Book of Aiinagh (and which Tirechan says, he obtained from 
the books and from the lips of his predecessor, St. Ultan, whose 
disciple he was, and who died, probably, a.d. 656), — there can 
be Httle doubt, I say, that these notes were taken, so far, from 
St. Ultan's written Life of our apostle, as well as from his verbal 
account of some information obtained or remembered by him 
after the compilation, as it is mentioned in the present tract, of 
our saint's life and acts. [See Appej^dix, No. CVL] 

I have said that I do not know of the existence, at present, 
of any other copy of the Ti-ipartite Life of St. Patrick, besides 
that which I had thus myself the good fortune to identify in the 
British Museum ; but, in Colgan's time, there were three copies 
of this hfe, " the author of which", says Colgan, " as it would 
appear, was St. Eimhin, or Evin" — [Colgan, vol. ii. p. 169]. 
I shall here quote what he says of those MSS, 



348 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 

LECT. XVI. " We give tliis life", says Colgan, " from tliree very ancient 
Gaecllilic MSS., collated with each other, and divided by its 

Oftheanci- i • i • i • i o f -i 

ent Lives of autlior mto three parts, with a triple pretace, one prenxed to 
El?nn?^"(The ^acli ; Concerning the fidelity, the authority, and the integrity, 
Life^oTsr' ^^ "^Q^ as the author, of which we shall inform the reader in 
Patrick.) the following observations : 

" The first thing that is to be observed is, that it has been 
written by its first author, and in the aforesaid manuscript, partly 
in Latin, partly in Gaedhlic, and this in very ancient language, 
almost iin]3enetrable, by reason of its very great antiquity ; ex- 
hibiting, not only in the same chapter, but also in the same fine, 
alternate phrases, now in the Latin, now in the Gaedhlic tongue. 
" In the second place, it is to be noticed that this life, on ac- 
comit of the very great antiquity of its style, which was held in 
much regard, used to be read in the schools of our antiquarians 
in the presence of their pupils, being elucidated and expoimded 
by the glosses of the masters, and by interpretations and obser- 
vations of the more abstruse words ; so that, hence, it is not to 
be wondered at that some words (which certainly did happen) 
from these glosses and observations gradually crept into the 
text, and thus brought a certain colour of newness into this most 
ancient and faithful author; some things being turned from 
Latin into Gaedhlic, some abbreviated by the scribes, and some 
altogether omitted". # * * 95 * * * 

" Fourthly", he says, " it is to be observed, that, of the three 
manuscripts above mentioned, the first and chief is from very 
ancient vellums of the O'Clerys, antiquarians in Ulster; the 
second, from the O'Deorans in Leinster ; the third, taken from 
I know not what codex : and that they differ from each other in 
some respects ; one relating more diffusely what is more close 
in the others ; and one relating in Latin what in the others 
was told in Gaedhlic ; but we have followed the authority of that 
which relates the occuiTcnces more diffusely and in Latin". 

Colgan then proceeds to consider the question of the author- 
ship of this Life of the Saint. 

He considers it as certain that the author was by birth a native 
of Erinn, and by profession a monk or priest. That he was a native 
of Erinn he considers proved by his exact and singular skill not 
only in the native tongue, but also in the proper names of men, 
places, families, and territories. He believes that the author flour- 
ished before the end, or about the middle of the sixth century, 
and that he was St. Eimliin (Evin), who, Jocehnus (cap. 186) 
says, wrote the acts of St. Patrick, partly in the Latin, partly in 
the Gaedhlic tongue. As to the age or time in which the writer 
flourished, Colgan draws several very ingenious arguments from 



OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 349 

the internal evidences in the work itself. Tlie cliief of these rest lect. xvt. 



on passages m which it is implied that, at the period in which they ^^ ^^^^ ^^^. 
were written, certain individuals, the dates of whose deaths we ent Lives of 
can refer with tolerable certainty to some time in the sixth cen- Eiinn*^ (The 
tnry, were then living. Thus we find the following: — " There LTfe'^/sJ®' 
is in that place a town called Brettan, where Loarn is [est] Patrick.) 
Bishop". Again: — "Patrick came to the Church of Donoch- 
more, where JNIimca is Bishop". In anotlier place he says : — 
" But this son of Milco is Bishop Guasactus, who is to-day [ho- 
die] at Granard in the territory of Carbry", Again, speaking 
of St. Fiacc, he observes: " But no one of them rose up to the 
servant of God, except Dublitliacli O'Lugcm', arch-poet of the 
king and kingdom ; and one young man of his disciples, who 
is to-day [hodie] in the church of SleibhW'' [Sletty.] 

As far as internal evidence can go, these passages, siippos- 
ing them to be genuine, which I see no reason to doubt, cer- 
tainly seem to imply that the writer lived in the times of which 
he speaks. It must be admitted, however, that this mode of 
speaking in the present tense, used by distinguished ecclesiastics 
of the fifth and sixth centimes, continued to be used in the eighth 
and ninth, as may be seen in the notes upon the Festology of 
Aengus Ceile De, though that work itself was written but shortly 
before the year 798. 

For myself, I can see no reason whatever to doubt any state- 
ment to the effect that the acts of so remarkable a personage as 
St. Patrick were committed to writing, and that probably by 
more than one person, during his own lifetime, and by several 
hands in the periods iiiimediately subsequent to it. And 
when a work narrating the acts of the saint's hfe is handed 
down to our times, accompanied by a very ancient tradition, 
and also by written testimony of its authenticity from a 
very remote period, I cannot see how we are warranted in 
rejecting it as spurious, or in presuming that, at least, the 
basis or framework of the narrative is other than what it 
purports to be. 

Colgan, in summing up his evidence about the Tripartite, 
quotes the passage from Jocehnus, in which that writer says, 
that St. Eiynhin (Evin) wrote a life of St. Patrick, partly in 
Latin, partly in Gaedlilic, and distinguishes this life from those 
by Saints Benignus, Mel, Luman, and Patrick Junior. It 
appears, therefore, that, at the time in which Jocelyn wrote — 
namely, the year 1185, it was beHeved that a hfe of St. Patrick 
then existed, which had been written by St. Eimldn (Evin). 
Colgan says that he beheves the copies wliich he used were 
essentially the same as that seen by Jocelyn. 



350 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 

LECT. XVI. As to the objections wliicli may be urged tbat St. Eimhin 

~~ r could not be the author of the Trij)artite, on the ground that 

ent Lives of there are cited in it, as the wi'iters of St. Patrick's miracles, the 

EHnn!"\The namcs of St. Colum Cille, St. Ultan, St. Aileran or Eleran the 

ilfe'^Tsr ^^^s*3, St. Adamnan, St. Ciaran of Belach Duin, St. Colman, and 

Patrick.) Others, who lived after the time of Eimhin (Evin), while St. 

Eimhin himself is not mentioned at all, he offers a very obvious 

explanation — that the passages in which they are mentioned 

are interpolations. 

It is only natural to suppose that additions were made, at 
various times, by the different scribes, or, as we may call them, 
editors, through whose hands the original j)assed; or that the 
assertion has reference to lives compiled by those writers after 
St. Eimhin, each absorbing in his own edition all that had 
been written by his predecessor, (such indeed the Tripartite in 
its present form appears to be) ; or, possibly, St. Eimhin s Life 
had not been accessible to the compiler. 

As far as my judgment and my acquaintance with the idiom 
of the ancient Gaedhlic language will bear me, I would agree in 
Father Colgan's deductions from the text of the Tripartite ; but 
I cannot get over the fact that compilers of the seventh century 
are mentioned in the tract itself. It is ciuious, however, that 
John O'Connell, of Kerry, who wrote a long poem on the 
History of Ireland about the year 1650, refers to " St. Eimhin s 
Life of St. Patrick", and thus supplies us with an additional 
authority in favour of Colgan's opinion. 

The first of the three parts gives an account of St. Patrick's 
parentage, captivity, education, arrival in Erinn, and mission 
to his former master in Ulster, his return to Tara, and conflict 
with king Laeghaires Druids, etc. ; and the part ends with 
those remarkable words, as if the author had preached as well 
as written the tract: " The miracles will be only related so far 
this day". [See original in Appendix, No. CVIL] 

The second part describes the saint's journey into Connacht, 
and his return by Ulster, north and east, after an absence of 
seven years ; and it ends with the same words as the first: " The 
miracles will be only related so far this day". 

The third part describes the saint's mission and travels into 
Leinster and Munster, with his retm-n and death at Armagh. 
[See observations on the opening passage of tliis thii'd part, in 
Appendix, No. CVIII.] 

It is much to be regTetted that Father Colgan did not Hve to 
pubHsh his Life of St Eimhin, the reputed author of the Tri- 



OF THE EAKLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 351 

partite Life of St. Patrick ; however, as lie lias fortimately given lect. xyi. 

us liis festival, tlie 22nd of December, we are able to identify 

liiin and establish his period. cnt Lives of 

In the Festology of Aengus CeUe Be (or the Culdee), we Eri„n!'"Sui 
find that T\n:iter, at the 22iid of December, beseeching the in- L^f";^^7gt'^' 
tercession of St. EimMn^ "the white" or " fair", from the banks Patrick.)' 
of the river Barrow. Now, the saint EimMn from the brink 
of the river Barrow, was EimJnn, the founder of the original 
chiu'ch or monastery of llainister Eiinhin [now Anglicized 
Monasterevan], on the brink of the Barrow, in the Queen's 
County. This St. EimMn was a Munsterman, and one of the 
four saintly sons o£ Eoghan, son oi Murchadh, son oi Muiredliach, 
son of Diarmaid, son of Eof/han, son of Ailill Flann Beg, son 
of F'lacha Muillethan, son of Eoghan Mor, son of Oilioll Oluiin, 
king of Munster, who died a.d. 234. EimMn was thus the 
ninth in generation from Oilioll Oliiim, which, by allowing 
thirty years to a generation, will make 270 years. This, added 
to the year 234, in which Ailill died, Avill bring us down to the 
year 504, in which year, then, this St. EimMn was probably 
living ; so that he had, very probably, seen and coua^ ersed with 
St. Patrick, who had ched only eleven years before this time, 
or in 493. 

Admitting, however, that the Tripartite Life of our saint was 
compiled by St. EimMn, it must be evident to any one that he 
could not have had full personal cognizance of all the incidents 
in the saint's career which are introduced into the work. He 
must have had the assistance of persons who had attended 
Patrick in his various missionary travels. And his dividing the 
work into three parts, each beginning with an appropriate in- 
troduction, and apparently read at fixed periods, — all this would 
seem to show that, whoever the writer was, the life was written 
and collated at intervals of a year or periods of greater length. 

There can, I think, be Httlc doubt that the lives said to have 
been written by Colum Cille, Ultan, Adanman, and others, 
were primarily drawn from this compilation, and exjianded by 
the addition or incorporation of local information, wliich escaped 
the original collector or compiler. 

In our present limits we cannot go farther into the considera- 
tion of this very ancient and important branch of religious and 
ecclesiastical Gaedlilic Kterature, which we have comprised imder 
the general name of Lives of the Saints of Erinn. The most re- 
markable of them is, without doubt, the Tripartite hfe of our 
great apostle, whose antiquity and authority we have been just 
discussing. But many others of great interest, and also bearing 
evidences of great antiquity, remain for consideration at a fu- 
ture occasion. 



352 



OF THE EABLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 



LECT. XVI. 

Of the con- 
tents of the 
Leabhar 
Mdr Diina 
Doighre, 
called the 
J.eabhar 
Breac. 



We now turn to anotlier class of religious compositions in tlie 
Gacdhlic language ; and of these the chief collection is to be 
found in the great volume commonly known by the name of 
the Leahliar Breac. 

We have in the course of these lectures often had occasion 
to refer to an ancient GaedliHc MS., generally called Leahliar 
Breac, or Speckled Book, preserved in the Library of the 
Royal Irish Academy; and as it is in itself a composition 
of great interest and importance, and as we shall often have 
occasion to refer to it in future lectures, it seems to me that a 
brief general notice of it will be appropriate here. 

The proper name of this book is Leabhar M6r Dilna Doighre, 
or the great book of Dun Doighre. 

Dun Doighre was the name of a place on the Galway side of 
the river Shannon, some distance below the present town of 
Athlone, where the great literary family of the Mac -^Egans 
had, from time immemorial, kept schools of law, poetry, and 
literature. This book appears to have been written by some 
member of that learned family about the close of the foujrteenth 
century. It is not a transcript of any one book, but, as will be 
seen, a compilation from various ancient books, preserved chiefly 
in the churches and monasteries of Connacht, Munster, and 
Leinster ; such as Mainister ua g-Cormaic (or Abbey Gormacan, 
in the county Galway) ; Leacaoin, in Lower Ormond ; Cluain 
Sosta (Clonsost) in the Queen's County ; Clomnacnois, etc. 

The volume is written in a most beautiful style of penman- 
ship, on fine large folio vellum. The contents are all, with one 
exception, of a religious character, and all, or nearly all, in the 
purest style of Gaedhhc. Many of the tracts are translations 
and narratives from the Latin. Among these are found a Scrip- 
ture narrative from the Creation to Solomon; the birth, life, 
passion, and resurrection of oiu* Lord ; and the lives, and man- 
ner of death of several of the apostles ; various versions of the 
finding of the Cross, etc. There are besides these several pieces 
ancient sermons or liomiHes for certain days and periods of the 
year — such as, sermons for Lent, Palm Sunday, Easter Sunday, 
Pentecost, on the institution of the Holy Eucharist, and others of 
a similar kind. In these sermons the Scripture text is always 
given in Latin, and then freely and copiously expounded and 
commented on in pme Gaedhlic; and in the course of these 
expositions various commentators are often mentioned and 
quoted. Besides these sermons, there are many small tracts on 
moral subjects, illustrative of the divine teachings of our Lord. 
St. SechnaWs Hymn, in praise of his uncle St. Patrick, is also 
to be found there ; as Avell as the celebrated Altus of St. Colum 



OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 353 

CilU; a Lorica by Gildas (wlio is believed to bave been a lect.xvi . 
Saxon saint) ; etc., etc. _ _ ^ ofthecon- 

Among tbe original Irisli tracts in tbe Leahhar M6r Duna tents of tiie 
Doighre, are foimd Pedigrees of the Irish Saints, compiled it is ji/or Duna 
believed by Aengus CeileDe, at the close of the eighth century, ^aTied'the 
as well as his celebrated Litany of the Irish Saints ; ancient ^f*^"'' 
abstracts of the Lives of Saints Patrick, Colum CilU, and Brigid 
of Kildare ; a curious historical legend of Cathal Mac F'inghuinef 
king of Munster in the eighth century, of 3fae Conglinne, the 
poet, and of the abbot of St. Finnbarr's monastery at Cork ; the 
^lartyrology o£ Aengus CeileDe, written cliiefly at Tamhlacht (or 
Tallacht, in the county of Dublin), before the year 798 ; ancient 
copies and expositions of the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Com- 
mandments ; ancient rules of discipline of the religious order of 
the Ceilidhe De, vulgarly called Culdees ; ancient Litanies and 
Liturgies, monastic Rules, Canons, sacred Loricas, and countless 
other articles of the same tendency, — among them an ancient 
rule and law for the obsei-vance of Sunday, or the Lord's day. 
The Leahhar Mot Duna Doighre contains also a Life of Alex- 
ander the Great, remarkable as being copied from the ancient 
Book of the celebrated St. Berchdn of Cluain Sosta (or Clon- 
sost), who flourished so early as in the seventh century. 

But to enter into more minute details of the contents of this 
curious and important volume, would carry me beyond my pre- 
sent purpose, nor, indeed, I may add, is it competent for a lay- 
man to deal with them in any but a very general manner. 
Compiled, as it was, from many and most ancient sources, the 
Leahhar Mor Dana Doighre is the most important repertory of 
our ancient ecclesiastical and theological writings in existence ; 
but it is not by any means our only resource for varied and 
valuable information on these subjects. 

Besides the Martyrology of Aengus, contained in this volume, 
we have the Martyrologies of Marianus Gorman ; the Martyr- 
ology of Tamhlacht (or Tallacht) ; the Martyrology of Cathal 
MacGuire, now at St. Isidore's in Rome ; and the Martyrology 
of Donnegall, compiled by the Four Masters. 

Some of my young friends, for whose special instruction in of the study 
these matters I am honoured with a chair in this University, may ent*'' jiaJtyr- 
here ask, what is the use or benefit of examininsf and studyino' oiogies' and 

. . P' n . . other Eccle- 

these ancient tracts, which we call Martyrologies ? This is a siasticai 
question which may be answered in a few words. Passing Gaeliuiic.*'^ 
over altogether for a moment the value of such studies in a 
religious point of view, we shall take them at their mere anti- 
quarian or their purely historical value. 

23 



354 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 

LECT. XVI. And we may positively affirm, that it is totally impossible to 
know, to imderstand, or to write, eitlier the civil or ecclesiastical 
oftheanci- liistory of Erimi, without a deep and thorough acquaintance 
orogies''and' with tliosc yet Unpublished and unexplored documents. This 
other Eccie- jg fg|^ ^j^j acknowlcdijed by several writers and historic inves- 

siastical . 01X1 I*'- 

Mss. in the tigators oi our day, oo that 1 have no hesitation m asserting, 
that until these national remains are thoroughly examined by 
competent and well-qualified persons, we shall have no civil or 
ecclesiastical history of our country worthy of the name. But 
even as a matter of individual pride and gratification, indeed asf 
a matter of intellectual enjoyment, could there be any tiling more 
agreeable to a cultivated mind than to know the origin and liis- 
tory of those countless monuments of the fervid piety and devo- 
tion of our primitive Christian forefathers, which are to be found 
in the ruined church and tower, the sculptured cross, the holy 
well, and the commemorative name of almost every townland 
and parish in the whole island ? Few out of the many thou- 
sands who see those places and hear their names know any- 
thing whatever of their origin and history ; and yet there is 
not one of them whose origin and history are not well pre- 
served, and accessible to those who will but qualify themselves 
to become acquainted with them, by a proper study of the rich 
and venerable old language in which they are recorded. 

Besides these martyrologies, and the many tracts on ecclesi- 
astical subjects preserved in the Leahhar MOr Di'ma Doighre, 
you can scarcely open an ancient Gaedhlic manuscript without 
meeting one or more pieces in prose or verse, illustrative of the 
great principles, particular doctrines, and moral apphcation of 
the Christian religion, as brought hither from Rome, and 
preached and established in Erinn by St. Patrick, in perfect 
connection with, and submission to, the never-failing Chair of 
St. Peter. 

Mine is indeed but a poor attempt at placing before you a 
view of the extent and variety of this important class of our 
ancient writings ; but it ought to be sufficient, in consideration 
of the natural duty that every man owes to himself, to his 
country, and to his race, to induce a more general and profound 
acquaintance with these long-neglected sources of our History. 



LECTURE XVII. 



[Delivered July 10, ISMJ 



Ecclesiastical MSS. (continued). Of the early Ecclesiastical Writings in the 
Gaedlilic language. Of the Books of Pedigrees of the early Saints of Eniin. 
Of the Martyrologies and Festologies. The Saltalr na Rami. The Mar- 
tyrology of IMariauus O'Gorman. The Martj^Tology of Tdmhlacht. The 
Fdire, or Festology, of Aeugus Ceile De. Of the Canon of Fothadh. 

The still existing materials for our ecclesiastical history are not, 
and could hardly be expected to be, as ample as those of the civil 
history of the coimtry ; because the causes which led to the ne- 
glect, destruction, or dispersion of both, affected the former more 
severely. From the year 1170 to the year 1530, this country 
was engaged in an incessant war for its civil independence 
against a powerful and perfidious foreign foe. From the year 
1530 again to the year 1690, she maintained a war for civil 
and rehgious liberty against a fierce tyranny, characterized 
by robbery as foul and rehgious persecution as unrelenting as 
any with which the page of Christian history is stamed. And 
from 1690 to 1793 (to come down no farther towards o^xc 
own times), she was doomed to be the victim of a system of 
plunder still more completely organized and more degrading 
to the people, — a system under wliich the robbery of mere 
property was even less galling than the brutal "domiciliary 
visits" and the various other personal insults and wrongs in- 
flicted under the protection of local legal tribunals where 
savage injustice invariably reigned, and the ojDpression of a 
legion of spies and infonncrs from whom notliing could be 
concealed and in whose hands the shghtest evidence of a sus- 
picious character became the means of destruction to the per- 
secuted Cathohc. 

In such a country the hand of the local tyrant, the village 
Nero and liis spies, of course fell heaviest of all on the ministers 
of God, the natm-al preservers as well as recorders of the history 
of the Church. And from about the year 1530, in the reign of 
the English King Henry the Eighth, to the year 1793, the 
priests of Ireland were ever subject to persecution, suppression, 
dispersion, and expatriation, according to the Enghsh law ; their 
churches, monasteries, convents, and private habitations, were 
pillaged and wrested from them ; and a Vandal warfare was kept 
up against all that was venerable and sacred of the remains of 

23 b 



356 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 

LECT. xYii. ancient literature and art which they possessed. Wlien, there- 
^,„„„„ ,.,„ fore, we make search for the once extensive monuments of 
loss and dis- leammg wmch the ecclesiastical ubraries contained of old, we 
irish°Eccie- must remember that this shocking system continued for near 
ffii^OTfcaf"*^ three hrmdred years ; and that during all that long period the 
*P^- '^^™^ clerffv — the natural rei^ositories of all the documents which be- 

thelastthree . c-/ i i • r- i /-^i i i • • n 

centuries, loiiged to the nistoiy oi the Ohm-ch — were kept m a continual 
state of insecurity and transition, often compelled to resort to 
the continent for education, often forced to quit their homes 
and churches at a moment's notice, and fly for their lives, in the 
first instance, to the thorny depths of the nearest forest or the 
damp shelter of some dreary cavern, until such time, if ever it 
should come, as they could steal away to the hospitable shores 
of some Christian land on the continent of Europe. Such were 
the times and such the circumstances which led to the destruc- 
tion and dispersion of the great mass of our ecclesiastical htera- 
ture and history ; for we may be assui'ed, and it is indeed matter 
of proof, that whatever else the Irish priest carried with him in 
his flight for his life, he rarely forgot, when at all possible, to 
take with him his Gaedhlic books, along with the various 
articles which appertained to the exercise of his sacred functions. 
Thus it was that so large a collection of these expatriated 
books passed into Belgium, the chief part of wliich found their 
way into the Franciscan College at Louvain. And there must 
have been other collections in Belgium besides this ; for I am 
acquainted with a manuscript book of historical and religious 
poems (of which few are fomid anywhere else), containing more 
than 10,000 quatrains, which was either compiled or transcribed 
at Ostend in the year 1631, now in possession of the O'Conor 
Don ; and another manuscript book of poems, less select, and 
not so large, was compiled or transcribed in Lisle and Antwerp, 
by the expatriated friar, Fergal O'Gara, in the year 1656, which 
is now in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy (No. 22. 5.). 
Of the originals of these two books no trace has been yet dis- 
covered, nor indeed, I believe, has any extensive search been 
yet made for them among the Belgian libraries. 

Yet, notwithstanding the losses which our ecclesiastical books 
must have suffered under the detestable war so long waged 
against their conservators, still a comparatively large and im- 
portant quantity of them remains extant, at tliis day, in the 
original Gaedlilic, though scattered over Europe, and now 
deposited in so many various and remote locahties. And it 
appears to me that I could not properly omit to devote a portion 
of this course of Lectures to the separate consideration of these 
ancient writings, in reference to. the materials which they con- 



OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 357 

tain for tlie elucidation of the history not only of the Church lect.xti i. 
in Ireland, but also of the nation itself. Analysis 

The most important ancient Ecclesiastical Writings in the of what 
Gaedhlic known to me may be conveniently classed under ten tuemostiia- 
distinct heads, not all of them, however, of equal importance to the^oaedhiic 
the special subject of om- present studies. ''^Tmss^''" 

There are, first — Canons and Ecclesiastial Rules, drawn up 
for the government and direction of bishops and priests, as well 
as of some ancient regular orders. 

Second — Monastic Rules of Disciphne, interesting also as 
containing a full and clear development of the rehgious doc- 
trines behoved and taught in these holy institutions. 

Third — A remarkable tract, containing the ancient ritual for 
the consecration of a church or oratory. 

Fourth — An ancient tract explaining the ceremonies of the 
Mass. (This tract contains a clear and beautiful statement of 
the Catholic doctrine of the Holy Eucharist.) 

Fifth — Forms of Prayers, and Invocations to God and the 
Saints ; among which is a beautiful Litany of the Blessed Virgin 
Mary. 

Sixth — Ancient Homihes and Sermons, with commentaries 
upon and concordances of the Evangelists. (Some of these ser- 
mons are preserved in pure Gaedhlic, and others of them are 
composed of Gaedhlic and Latin, for the better preservation 
and discussion of the Scriptural texts and quotations.) 

Seventh — Poems, doctrinal and moral, arrangement, in which the 
usages of the philosophers and the order of the creation are re- 
feired to as precedents. 

The author's name and pedigree are then given thus: — Aen- 
gus, the son of Oengoha, son of Ohlen, son of Fich-u, son o£ JDiar- 
onuit, son of Ainmirc, son of Cellar, son of Oengus, son of Akiis- 
luagh, son of Caelhad [of the Rudrician or Ultonian race, who 
was monarch of Erinn, and was slain A.D. 357], son of Crunn- 
badrai, son of Eochaldh Cohai; [and see Appendix, No. CXI.] 

The time at which AeD2;us composed his Festology was in 
tlie reign of Aedh Oirdnidhe, who was monarch of Erinn from 
the year 7Uo to the year 817. 

Tliis monarch, in the year 799, raised a large aimy, with 
which he marched against the people of the province of Lein- 
ster, and proceeded as far as Dun Guar, on the confines of that 
province and Meath, where he encamped. The monarch, on 
this occasion, compelled the attendance of Conmach, the suc- 
cessor of St. Patrick and Primate of Armagh, with all his 
clergy, to attend this expedition. When the army rested, how- 
ever, the clergy complained to the king of the hardship and 
inconsistency of their being called upon to attend on such occa- 
sions. The king listened to their complaint, and ofiered to lay 
it before his own poet, tutor, and adviser, the learned Fothadh, 
and abide by his decision, which was accordingly done. The 
poet's views were favourable to the clergy, and he gave his 
decision m a short poem of three quatrains, which are pre- 
served in this preface, and of which the following may be 



364 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 

LECT.xv ii. taken as a literal translation [see original in Appendix, No. 
_. „ , (_/-A.ll.J : — 

Foihathna THe Cliurcli of tlie Living God, 

Touch her not, nor waste, 
Let her rights be reserved. 
As best ever they were. 
Every true monk who is 

Possessed of a pious conscience, 
To the Church to which it is due, 
Let him act as any servant. 
Every faithful sixbject from that out, 

Who is not bound by vows of obedience, 
Has liberty to join in the battles 
Of Aedh the Great, son of Niall. 
And by this decision the clergy were exempted for ever 
after from attending military expeditions. This decision ob- 
tained the name of a Canon ; and its author has ever since been 
known in Irish history by the name of Fothadh na Canoine, or 
FothadJi " of the Canon". 
Of the Fmr4 At the time of this expedition Aengus appears to have been 
oio^)*of residing at his church, at a place called Disert Bethech, which 
cmim ^^7 °^ ^^^® north bank of the river n-JEoir, (or Nore), a few miles 
above the present town of Monasterevin, in the Queen's County, 
and not far from the place where the monarch Aedh had pitched 
his camp. The poet Fothadh, it appears, availed himself of 
Aengus's contiguity to show him the poem in which his deci- 
sion was expressed, and received his approval of it before pre- 
senting it to the king. The two clerical poets entered into 
bonds of amity and imion on this occasion ; and Aengus having 
then just finished his Festology, showed it for the first time to 
Fothadh, who solemnly approved of it, and recommended it to 
the perusal and pious recital of the faitliful. 

Aengus had received his clerical education at the celebrated 
church of Cluain Eidhneach (in the present Queen's County), 
after which he travelled into Munster, and founded the church 
oi Disert Aengusa (at a place situated near Ballingarry, in the 
present county of Limerick), a church, the primitive belfry or 
round-tower of which remains even to this day. 

On his return from Munster he went to the then celebrated 
chm-ch of Tamhlacht (Tallacht, in the coimty of Dubhn), over 
which St. Maelruain then presided. Maelriiain had foimded 
this chiuxh (which he dedicated to Michael the Archangel) in the 
year 769, on a site and endowment which had been offered "to 
God, to Michael the Archangel, and to Maelruain', by Donn- 
chadh, (or Donnoch), the pious and illustrious king of Leinster. 
Here Aengus, for greater humility, presented himself to Maelruain 



OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 365 

as a servant-man seeking for service, and J/ae/v^zmm employed liim lect.xvii. 
to take charge of liis mill and kiln (the ruins of which mill and ^^ ^,^g j^^.^.^^ 
kiln, in their primitive dimensions, I may here mention that I («■ Fest- 
have myself seen ; for it is only within the last five or six years Aengtis 
that these venerable remains have yielded to "the improving *^^*'^^ ' 
hand of modern progress"). Here Aengus remained many years 
faithfidly and silently discharging the duties of his humble em- 
ployment, until at last his learning and character were discovered 
by an accident, and he was (of course) obliged to abandon the 
lowly condition of life to which he had devoted himself. 

Aengus had commenced his poem at Cuil Bennchair in Ui 
FailgM (or OfFaly), continued it at Cluain Eidlinech, and 
finished it during his servitude at Tamhlaclit. 

The cause and object of writing this Festology are stated 
thus: — One time that Aengus went to the. church o£ Cuil Benn- 
chair, he saw, he says, a grave there, and angels from Heaven 
constantly descending and ascending to and from it. Aengus 
asked the priest of the church who the person was that was 
buried in this grave: the priest answered that it was a poor old 
man who formerly lived at the place. What good did he do ? 
said Aengus. I saw no particular good by him, said the priest, 
but that his customary practice was to recount and invoke the 
saints of the world, as far as he could remember them, at his 
going to bed and getting up, in accordance with the custom of 
the old devotees. Ah ! my God, said Aengus, he who would 
make a poetical composition in praise of the saints should doubt- 
less have a high reward, when so much has been vouchsafed 
to the efforts of this old devotee ! And Aengus then com- 
menced his poem on the spot. He subsequently continued it 
gradually, and finished it as we have ah'eady seen. 

Tliis composition consists, properly, of three parts. The first 
is a poem of five quatrains, invoking the grace and sanctifica- 
tion of Christ for the poet and his undertaking. 

The second is a poem, by way of preface, consisting of 220 
quatrains, of which 80 are prefixed, and 140 postfixed to the 
main poem. 

The third is the Festology itself, consisting of 365 quatrains. 

The Invocation is written in the ancient Conachlann, or 
what modern Gaedhlic scholars call in English " chain- verse" ; 
that is, an arrangement of metre by which the first words of 
every succeeding quatrain are identical with the last words of 
the preceding one. The following literal translation may not 
be out of place here [see original in Appendix, No. CXHI.J : 
Sanctify, O Christ ! my words : — 
O Lord of the seven heavens ! 



366 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL JMSS. 

LECT. xA'^ii. Grant me the gift of wisdom, 

o,„ „,,. . O Sovereign of tlie bright sun! 

(or Fest- (J bright Sim, who dost illuminate 

Aenlus The lieavens with all thy holiness ! 

^^^^^^^- O King who governest the angels ! 

O Lord of all the people ! 

Lord of the people ! 

King all-righteous and good ! 
May I receive the full benefit 
Of praising Thy royal hosts. 

Thy royal hosts I praise, 

Because Thou art my Sovereign ; 

1 have disposed my mind, 

To be constantly beseeching Thee. 

1 beseech a favour from Thee, 

That I be purified from my sins 
Through the peaceful bright-shining flock, 
The royal host whom I celebrate. 

The late Geneial Vallancey and Theophilus O'Flannagan 
having met this poem, which is rather conspicuous, in the 
Leabhar M6r Dana Doighre (or Leabhar Breac\ and finding 
that the name of Christ, in the first line, is contractedly written 
with CR and an horizontal dash over them, thought that they 
had discovered in it an address to the sun, and a most im- 
portant remnant of the worship of that luminary in ancient 
Erinn ! The letters CR were the contraction for Creas, which, 
the learned general discovered, from the books of the Brah- 
mins of Lidia, and the Sanscrit, to be a name for the sun com- 
mon to Lidia and Ireland ! 

These views of the learned gentlemen, as well as a highly 
poetical translation of the poor monk's poem, were embodied in 
a small printed pamphlet, and addressed, " To the President and 
Members of the Royal Irisli Academy, as a proof of the ancient 
History of Ireland", by General Vallancey. 

I regret that space does not allow me to embody this short 
pamphlet with the present lecture, as, perhaps, no better ex- 
ample could be found to show the manner in which, among the 
last generation, the character of an Irish historian and scholar 
could be acquired by the pedantic use of the most fanciful col- 
lation of our language and manners with the Sanscrit and 
other Eastern languages or dialects. And I am sorry to say 
that there are still among us writers who pass for historians and 
antiquarians, but who stand much in need of the lesson contained 
in this ridiculous example of General Vallancey 's astuteness. 

But to return. The Invocation to our Saviour is followed, 



OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 367 

in Aengus's Festology , By tlie first part of the metrical preface, l ect.x vii. 
consisting, as has been abeacly stated, of 80 stanzas. These ^^ ^^^^ ^^ ,.,.^ 
verses are in the same measure, and of the same character, as (or *"est- 
the Invocation, of which, indeed, they are a continuation. And, Aengus 
in fact, the entire work may be treated as one continuous poem, ^^^'^ ^^' 
divided into three parts or cantos ; for the last words of the In- 
vocation are the first words of the first preface, and the last 
words of this preface are the first words of the main poem, and 
the last words of the main poem are the first words of the post 
or second preface. 

The first, in beautiful and forcible language, gives a glowing 
account of the tortures and sufferings of the early Christian 
Martyrs ; how the names of the persecutors are forgotten, while 
the names of their victims are remembered with honour, venera- 
tion, and afiTection ; how Pilate's wife is forgotten, and the Blessed 
Virgin Mary is remembered and honoured from the uttermost '^ 
boimds of the Earth to its centre. Even in our own coimtry the 
enduring supremacy of the Church of Clnist is made manifest ; 
for Tara (says the poet) had become abandoned and desert under 
the vain-glory of its kings, while Armagh remains the populous 
seat of dignity, piety, and learning ; Cniaclw.in, the royal resi- 
dence of the kings of Connacht, is deserted, while Clonmacnois 
resounds with the dasliing of chariots and the tramp of multi- 
tudes, to honour the shrine of St. Ciaran; the royal palace of 
Aillinn, in Leinster, has passed away, while the church of St. 
Brigid at Kildare remains in dazzhng splendour ; Emania, the 
royal palace of Ulster, has disappeared, while the holy Coem- 
gliins church at Gleann-da-locha, remains in full glory; the 
Monarch Laeghaires pride and pomp were extinguished, wliile 
St. Patrick's name continued to sliine with growing lustre. And 
thus does the noble poet go on to contrast the fleeting and for- 
gotten names and glories of the men and great estabhshments of 
the great pagan and secular world, -with the stability, freshness, 
and splendour of the Christian churches, and the ever-green 
names of the illustrious, though often humble founders. 

The Felire^ or Festological Poem, itself comes next. It con- 
sists, as ah-eady stated, of 365 quatrains, or a stanza for every 
day in the year. The Circumcision of ovcc Lord is placed at 
the head of the festivals; and with it the poem begins, as 
follows [see original in Appendix, No. CXIV.] : 
At the head of the congregated saints. 
Let the King take the front place : 
Unto the noble dispensation did submit 
Christ — on the kalends of January. 
The whole of this the chief poem, as well, indeed, as the 



368 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 

LECT.xvii. first preface, is thickly interlined with an ancient gloss and 

commentary, on some difficult or obsolete words or jDassages, 

(or Fest- and sometimes witli notes on the situations of the churches of 

A°nglf the saints of Erinn, up to the author's time, with occasional 

ciiUDL passages from their Lives and Miracles. These notes are 

earned all over the margin, and require long and acciu'ate study 

to connect them with their proper places in the text. 

It will be seen, by and by, that this Festology is not con- 
fined wholly to the saints of Erinn. 

Our great apostle, St. Patrick, is commemorated at the 17th 
of March, in the following stanza [see original in Appendix, 
No. CXV.] : 

The blaze of a splendid sun. 
The apostle of stainless Erinn, 
Patrick — with his countless thousands, 
May he shelter our wretchedness. 
And at the 13th of April, Bishop Tassach, one of Patrick's 
most favourite companions, and his chief manufacturer and 
ornamenter of crozlers, crosses, shrmes, and bells, and who at- 
tended him at his death, is thus commemorated [see original 
in Appendix, No. CXVI.] : 

The kingly Bishop Tassach, 

Who administered on his arrival. 
The Body of Christ — the truly powerful King — 
And the Communion to Patrick. 
In the third division of his work, Aengus recapitulates the 
preceding canto or Festilogium ; he explains its arrangement, 
and directs the faithful how to read and use it; and he says 
that though great the number, he has only been able to enume- 
rate the princes of the saints in it; he recommends it to the 
pious study of the faithful, and points out the spiritual benefits 
to be gained by reading or reciting it ; he says that he has tra- 
velled far and near to collect the names and the history of the 
subjects of his laudation and Invocation; that for the foreign 
saints he has consulted St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, and Eusebius; 
and that from " the countless hosts of the illuminated books of 
Erinn" he has collected the festivals of the Irish saints. He 
then says that, having already mentioned and invoked the 
saints at their respective festival days, he will now invoke them 
in classes or bands, under certain heads or leaders ; and this he 
does in the following order: the elders or ancients, under 
Noah; the prophets under Isaiah; the patriarchs raider Abra- 
ham; the apostles and disciples xmder Peter; the wise or 
learned men under Paul; the martyrs under Stephen; the 
spiritual directors under old Paul; the virgins of the world 



OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 369 

under the Blessed Virgin Mavy ; the holy bishops of Rome lect. xvn. 
under Peter ; the bishops of Jerusalem under Jacob or James ; . 

the bishops of Antioch also under Peter ; the bishops of Alex- (or Festol 
andria under Mark ; a division of them imder Honoiati ; a Aenli°s 
division of learned men under the gifted Benedict ; all the ^*'*'^ ^^■ 
innocents who suffered at Bethlehem, under Georgius; the 
priests under Aaron ; the monks under Anthony ; a division of 
the saints of the world under INIartin ; the noble saints of Erinn 
imder St. Patrick ; the saints of Scotland under St. Colum 
Cille; and the last great division of the saintly virgins of 
Erinn, under the holy St. Brigid of Kildare. 

The sacred bard continues then, in an eloquent strain, to be- 
seech the mercy of the Saviour for himself and all mankind, 
through the merits and sufferings of the saints whom he has 
named and enumerated, through the merits of their dismembered 
bodies; their bodies pierced Avith lances; their womids; their 
groans ; their relics ; their blanched countenances ; their bitter 
tears; through all the sacrifices offered of the Saviour's own 
Body and Blood, as it is in Heaven, upon the holy altars; 
through the blood that flowed from the Saviour's own side ; 
through His humanity; and through His divinity in unity 
with the Holy Spirit and the Heavenly Father. 

At the end of this long invocation, the poet says the 
brethren of his order deemed all his prayers and petitions too 
little ; — whereupon he says that he will change his course, so 
that no one may have cause to complain. He then commences 
another eloquent appeal to our Lord, for himself and all men, 
beseeching mercy according to the merciful worldly interposi- 
tion of the divine mercy in the times past; — such as the 
saving of Enoch and Elias from the dangers of the world ; the 
saving of Noah from the deluge ; the saving of Abraham from 
the plagues and from the hand of the Chaldeans ; the saving of 
Lot from the burning city ; Jonas from the whale ; of Isaac from 
the hands of his father. He beseeches Jesus, through the inter- 
cession of His Mother, to save him as Jacob was saved from the 
hands of his brother, as John [Paul] was saved from the venom 
of the "v^per. He returns again to the examples of the Old Testa- 
ment, beginning with the saving of David from the sword of 
Goliath ; of Susanna from her dangers ; of Nineveh from des- 
truction ; of the Israelites from Mount Gilba [Gilboa] ; of 
Daniel from the lions' den; of Moses from the hands of Faro 
[Pharaoh] ; of the thi'ee youths from the fiery furnace ; of To- 
bias from his blindness ; of Peter and Pau^l from the dungeon ; 
of Job from demoniacal tribulations ; of David from Saul ; of 
Joseph from the hands of his brethren ; of the Israelites from 

24 



370 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 

LECT. xvir. the Egyptian bondage ; of Peter from tlie waves of tlie sea ; of 
John from the fiery caldron; of Martin from the priest of the 
(or Fest- idol. He besceches Jesus again, through the intercession of the 
Aengus Hcavcnly household, to be saved as He saved St. Patrick from 
C6ii4 D6. ^]-^g poisoned drink at Teamliar (or Tara) ; and St. CoemhgMn 
[Kevin] of Gleann da locha from the perils of the mountain. 

I have trespassed on your patience at such unreasonable 
length, with the details of this extraordinary poem, merely for 
the purpose of showing you that the gifted writer could not be 
set down as a mere ignorant or superstitious monk, but that he 
was a man deeply read in the Holy Scriptures, and in the civil 
and ecclesiastical history of the world, and more particularly 
that part of it which was contained in what he so enthusias- 
tically calls " The Host of the Books of Erinn". 

It is no part of the purpose of these Lectures to enter into 
doctrinal cliscussions on the merits of our ancient sacred 
waitings ; but taking this Festology of St. Aengus as a purely 
historic tract, largely interwoven with the early history of 
Erinn, civil and ecclesiastical, I almost think no other country 
in Europe possesses a national document of so important a 
character. 

Wlien we look at the great number of the early CathoHc 
Christians of Erinn, who are introduced by name into this 
tract, with their festival days, and with most copious references 
to the names and exact situations of the primitive chm'ches 
founded by them, — and when we find that if not all, at least, 
nearly all these churches may be, or have been already iden- 
tified by means of it, — its value can hardly be overrated. 

It was during the progress of the late Ordnance Survey of 
Ireland that this tract came first into notice; and it is no 
ordinary satisfaction to me to have to say, that I was the first 
person in modern times that discovered the value of its con- 
tents, when under the able superintendence of Colonel Larcom 
and Dr. Petrie, I brought them to bear, with important re- 
sults, on the topographical section of that great national un- 
dertaking. 

Such was the attention attracted by the Festology of Aengus, 
at that time, that the Board of Trinity College, at the sug- 
gestion of the Rev. Dr. Todd, employed me to make a fac- 
simile copy of the Leahhar Mor JJuna Doighre, or Leahliar 
Breac, in which it is contained, for the College Library; and 
on the breaking up of the department of the Ordnance Survey, 
to which I had been for seven years attached (and my con- 
nection with which, I may add, was suddenly and, as I felt then 



OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 371 

and feel now, wrongfully terminated), our spirited fellow-citizen, lect.xvh. 
my friend Mr. George Smith, of wliom I have already had ^ 

occasion to make honourable mention in connection with the (or rest- " 
Annals of the Four jNIasters, employed me to transcribe the ^'g,^^,\/^ 
Festology again, from the original book, Avith a view to its pub- cnuDi. 
lication. This, however, was not a fac-simile copy, wliich it 
would indeed be practically useless to print, even if such a thing 
were possible, because the tract consists, properly, of three 
parts ; namely, the text of the poem, the interlined gloss, and 
the interlined and marginal topographical and other notes. I 
copied these three parts distinctly, lengthened out all the con- 
tractions, and disposed them in their relative positions, in such 
an order and arrangement as met with the full approval of the 
late Very Rev. Dr. O'Renahan, President of JNIaynooth Col- 
lege, the Rev. Dr. Todd, Dr. Petrie, and Dr. John O'Donovan. 
And, having so transcribed and arranged it, I made a literal, 
and I trust an accurate, translation of the whole. 

In the year 1849 I had occasion to spend some months in 
London, in the British Museum, having, my copy of the 
Festology with me. In the course of the summer of that year 
Dr. Todd went to London, and we went together to Oxford, 
where we spent four days in comparing my transcript with the 
Oxford copies, and adding, as far as time would permit, such 
various readings as we believed desirable and useful. The 
publication of the edition so prepared has not yet, however, 
been midertaken; and the transcript and translation remain 
with Mr. Smith, waiting for, what I trust is not far distant, a 
more favourable season to present to the literary world the 
long-celebrated Felire of Aengus Ceile De. 



24 b 



LECTURE XVIII. 

[DeUvered July 15, 1856.J 

Ecclesiastical MSS. (continued). The Canons. The Ecclesiastical and Mon- 
astic Rules. Ancient Treatise on the Mass. Ancient Prayers and Litanies. 
Of the (so called) Prophecies. The " Dialogue of the Two Sages". The 
' Prophecies' attributed to Conn. The ' Prophecy' attributed to Axt. 

In tlie present Lecture, I propose to conclude my sliort account 
of tlie ecclesiastical MSS., by a very cursory sketcli of those 
of purely ecclesiastical interest; and I shall then proceed to 
the important subject of the historical pieces called the Prophe- 
cies. You will bear in mind the classification already made 
of these ecclesiastical MSS. 
And first, of the Canons : 

The ancient Canons preserved among the ecclesiastical 
writings in the Gaedhlic language, and with which I happen to 
be acquainted, are few and brief, and oftener found recited in 
monastic rules than standing by themselves. 

There are some important Ecclesiastical Canons included in 
the general institutes of the nation, to which, pending the 
inquiries of the Brehon Law Commission, I do not wish to 
allude further ; but I may mention the following canons among 
those preserved in the Leahhar Mor Dilna Doighre (sometimes 
called the Leahhar Breac), in the library of the Royal Ii'ish 
Academy: Canons concerning absence from Mass upon a Sun- 
day ; concerning confession and absolution ; concerning the re- 
ciprocal duties of the parish priest and his flock ; concerning the 
punishment of a bishop who confers holy orders on an un- 
qualified candidate; concerning the duties of the episcopal 
of&ce ; concerning the education of persons for the priesthood ; 
concerning the dedication of children to the service of the 
Church, and recalling them again. 

Besides these canons of the ancient Catholic Church of 
Erinn preserved in the Gaedhlic language, there are a great 
number preserved in the Latin. Of these latter I shall present 
you with one as a specimen, from the ancient Book of the 
canons of Armagh, and from that part of the same old MS. 
which was copied from the book written by St. Patrick's own 
hand. I select it not only as an example of its class among the 
writings I speak of, but because it is one of especial interest, 
inasmuch as it preserves to us the most perfect evidence of the 



OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 373 

connection of the Catholic Church in Erinn with the See ofLEc. xvm. 
Rome, from the very first introduction of Christianity into the 

' •' "^ 1° Of the 

country. Canons.— 

This canon has reference to matters of difficulty which might ncc^ion o" " 
arise in any parish or diocese of the kingdom of Erinn, and "'^ '^|^";'';^ 
which could not be settled by the local ecclesiastical authorities ; with the 
all which cases were to be referred to the Primate of Armagh ; ° ^ '^®' 
and if they could not be disposed of by him, they were then 
to be sent for final determination to him who sat in the apostolic 
chair of St. Peter at Rome. It is as follows : 

" Moreover, if any case should arise of extreme difficulty, 
and beyond the knowledge of all the judges of the nations of 
the Scots, it is to be duly referred to the chair of the archbishop 
of the Gaedhil, that is to say, of Patrick, and the jurisdiction of 
this bishop [of Armagh]. But if such a case as aforesaid, of a 
matter at issue, cannot be easily disposed of [by him], with his 
counsellors in that [investigation], we have decreed that it be 
sent to the apostolic seat, that is to say, to the chair of the 
Apostle Peter, having the authority of the city of Rome. 

" These are the persons who decreed concerning this matter, 
viz. : — Auxilius, Patrick, Secundinus, and Benignus. But after 
the death of St. Patrick his disciples carefvdly wrote out his 
books". [See original in Appendix, No. CXVIL] 

This most important Canon affords a proof so unanswerable 
as to dispose for ever of the modern imposition so pertinaciously 
practised upon a large section of our countrymen, as well as 
upon foreigners speaking the English language ; namely, that 
the primitive Church of Erinn did not acknowledge or submit 
to the Pope's supremacy, or appeal to it in cases of ecclesiastical 
necessity and difficulty. Nor is this canon, I may add, by any 
means the only piece of important evidence furnished by our 
ancient books on this great point of Catholic doctrine. 

The second class of these religious remains consist of the ^"g^jfjag®. 
Ecclesiastical and Monastic Rules. Of these we have ancient ticai and 
copies of eight in Dublin ; of which six are in verse, and two eules.^' 
in prose ; seven in vellum MSS., and one on paper. 

Of the authenticity of these ancient pieces there can be no 
reasonable doubt ; the language, the style, and the matter, are 
quite in accordance with the times of the authors. It is hardly 
necessary to say that they all recite and inculcate the precise 
doctrines and disciphne of the Catholic Chiu'ch in Erinn, even 
as it is at this day. 

It would, as you must at once see, be quite inconsistent with 
the plan of these introductory Lectures to enter into details of 



374 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS, 

LEc. XVIII . compositions of this kind; and I shall therefore content myself 
„o Qf t,,g hy placing before you a simple list of them in the chronological 
Kccieir.s- order of their authors, and with a very few observations on their 
Monastic character by way of explanation. 

liLLu.. rpi-^g £^gt -g ^ pQg^^ Qf 276 lines, by St. AilbU of Imliuch 

[Emly, in the present county of Tipperary], who died in the 
year 541. It is addressed to Eugene, son of Saran, priest of 
Cluain Caelain, in the same district ; and consists of lessons on 
the duties of a priest, an abbot, and a monk, and on the rules 
by which their lives ought to be regulated. 

The second in chronological order is, the Rule of St. Ciaran; 
but whether of Ciaran of SaigJm% or Ciaran of Cluainmacnois, 
who died in the year 548, I am not at present able to decide. 
This is a poem of 64 Hnes, on clerical and devotional duties. 

The third in chronological order is the Rule of St. Cornhghall 
of Beanncliuir^ [Bangor, in the present county of Down,] who 
died in the year 552. This is a poem of 144 lines, addi-essed 
alike to abbots, to monks, and to devout Christians in general. 

The fourth is the Rule of St. Colum Cille, who died in the 
year 592. This is a short piece, of about three pages quarto, in 
prose. It is a precept for the regulation of the life and time of 
a religious brother who preferred solitude to living in com- 
munity. He is recommended to reside in contiguity to a prin- 
cipal church, in a secure house, with one door, attended by one 
servant, whose work should be light, where only those should 
be admitted who conversed of God and His Testament, and in 
special solemnities only. His time was to be spent in prayers 
for those who received his instructions, and for all those who 
had died in the Faith, the same as if they had all been his most 
particular friends. The day was to be divided into three parts, 
devoted, respectively, to prayers, good works, and reading. 
The works were to be divided into three parts ; the first was to 
be devoted to his own benefit, in doing what was useful and 
necessary for his own habitation ; the second part to the benefit 
of the brethren ; and the third, to the benefit of the neighbours. 
This last part of his pious works was to consist of precepts or 
writing, or else sewing clothes, or any other profitable indus- 
trial work: "so that there should be no idleness", continues 
the writer: " ut Deus ait: non apparebis ante me vacuus". [See 
Appendix, No. CXVIII.] 

The fifth in chronological order, is the Rule of St. CartJiach, 
who was familiarly called Mochuda. He was the foiinder of 
the ancient ecclesiastical city of Raithin [near TuUamore, in 
the present King's County] ; and of the famous city of Lis M6r 
[Lismore in the present county of Waterford] ; he died at the 
latter place on the 14th day of May, in the year 636. 



OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 375 

Tills is a poem of 580 lines, divided into sections, eacli lec. xvin . 
addi'essed to a different object or person. The first division ^^ ^^ ^^^ 
consists of eight stanzas, or 32 lines, inculcating the love of Ecciesias- 
God and our neighbour, and the strict observance of the com- monastic 
mandments of God, which are set out generally both in word ^^"^^^• 
and in spirit. The second section consists of nine stanzas, or 
36 lines, on the office and duties of a bishop. The third 
section consists of twenty stanzas, or 80 lines, on the office and 
duties of the abbot of a church. The fourth section consists of 
seven stanzas, or 28 lines, on the office and duties of a priest. 
The fifth section consists of twenty-two stanzas, or 88 lines, 
minutely describing the office and duties of a father confessor, 
as well in his general character of an ordinary priest, as in his 
particular relation to his penitents. The sixth section consists 
of nineteen stanzas, or 76 fines, on the life and duties of a 
monk. The seventh section consists of twelve stanzas, or 48 
lines, on the life and duties of the Celidhe De, or Culdees. 
The eighth section consists of thirty stanzas, or 120 lines, on the 
rule and order of the refectory, prayers, ablutions, vespers, and 
the feasts and fasts of the year. The ninth and last section 
consists of nineteen stanzas, or 76 lines, on the duties of the 
kingly office, and the evil consequences that result to king and 
j)eople, from their neglect or unfaithful discharge. 

The sixth rule In chronological order, is the general Rule of 
the Celidhe Be, vulgarly called " Culdees". This is a prose tract 
of nine small quarto pages, wiitten or drawn up by St. Maelruain, 
of TamJdacht, [now Tallaght, in the county of Dublin,] who 
died in the year 787. It contains a minute series of rules for the 
regulation of the fives of the Celidhe J)e, their prayers, their 
preachings, their conversations, their confessions, their commu- 
nions, their ablutions, their fastings, their abstinences, their re- 
laxations, their sleep, their celebrations of the Mass, and so forth. 

The seventh in chronological order is the Rule of the Gray 
Monks ; but a chasm in the book has left us but the first stanza 
of this rule. 

The eighth and last in chronological order, is the Rule of 
Cormac Mac Cuilennain, king and archbishop of Cashel, who 
died in the year 903. This is a poem of fourteen stanzas, or 
56 lines, written in the most pure and ancient style of the 
GaedhHc languarge, of which, as well as of many other languages, 
the illustrious Cormac was so profound a master. This rvde is 
general in several of its inculcations ; but it appears to have been 
written particularly as an instruction and exhortation to a priest, 
for the moral and spiritual direction and preservation of himself 
and his flock. 



376 



OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 



LEC. XVIII, 

S" Of iin 
Ancient 
Treatise on 
the Mass. 



The third of the classes into which I have divided this branch 
of our ancient literature consists of a single piece, but one of 
peculiar interest. It is an ancient Treatise upon, or Explication of, 
the symbolical ceremonies of the Mass, in Latin and Gaedhlic, 
and a powerful exposition of the doctrine of the Eucharistic 
Sacrifice. 

I have already observed that these purely ecclesiastical writ- 
ings scarcely come within the province of those materials of our 
history, which form the subject of these Lectures. Nevertheless, 
I am tempted, in consideration of the very nature of the institu- 
tion within whose walls we are now assembled, so far to digress at 
this place, as to give you the substance of this very curiovis treatise. 
The passage which I have translated for you is short ; but, even 
were it a little longer, I think you would excuse me, when you 
find in it a complete and undeniable proof of what it is the fashion 
of Protestant writers to deny without any reason, namely, that 
the belief of our Gaedhlic ancestors respecting the Real Presence, 
and all the meaning of the Holy Sacrifice of the JNIass, was, in 
the early ages of the Church in Erinn, precisely the same belief 
now held by ourselves, precisely the same belief inculcated then, 
as now, by the Catholic Church throughout the world. 

The following extract is literally translated from the tract I 
have referred to. [See original in Appendix, No. CXIX.] 

" And this is the foundation of the faith which every Chris- 
tian is bound to hold ; and it is upon this foundation that every 
virtue which he practises, and every good work which he per- 
forms, is erected. 

" For it is through this perfection of the faith, with tranquil 
charity, and with steadfast hope, that all the faithful are saved. 
For it is this faith, that is, the Catholic faith, that conducts tlie 
righteous to the sight, that is, to see God in the glory and in the 
dignity in which He abides. It is this sight which is offered 
as a golden reward to the righteous after the Resurrection. 

" The pledge for this sight which has been left to the Church 
here for the present, is the Holy Spirit, which resides in, which 
comforts, and which strengthens her with all virtues. It is this 
Spirit which distributes His own peculiar gifts to every faithful 
member in the Church, as He pleases and as they require to re- 
ceive it from Him. For, it is by the Holy Spirit these noble 
gifts following, are bestowed upon the Church, among men ; viz. : 
Baptism and Penitence, and the expectation of persecutions and 
afflictions. 

" One of the noble gifts of the Holy Spirit is the Holy Scrip- 
tures, by which all ignorance is enlightened and all worldly 
affliction comforted ; by which all spiritual hght is kindled, by 



OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 377 

wliicli all debility is made strong. For it is tlirougli tlie Holy lec. xvin. 
Scripture that heresy and scliisni are banished from the Church, ^^ ^^ 
and all contentions and divisions reconciled. It is in it, well- Ai.cient 
tried counsel and appropriate instruction mil be found, for every thrsiass!" 
degree in the Church. It is through it the snares of demons, and 
vices are banished from every faitlifvd member in the Church. 
For the Di\ane Scriptm-e is the mother and the benign nvirse of 
all the faithfid who meditate and contemplate it, and who are 
nurtui-ed by it, until they are cliosen chilchen of God by its ad- 
vice. For the Wisdom, that is the Chm-ch, bountifully distri- 
butes to her children the variety of her sweetest drink, and the 
choicest of her spiritual food, by which they are perpetually in- 
toxicated and cheered. 

"Another division of that pledge, which has been left with the 
Church to comfort her, is the Body of Christ, and His Blood, 
which are offered upon the altars of the Christians. The Body, ^ 

even, which was born of Mary, the Immaculate Virgin, without ^ 

destruction of her virginity, without opening of the womb, with- 
out presence of man ; and which was crucified by the unbeliev- 
ing Jews, out of spite and envy ; and which arose after three 
days from death, and sits upon the right hand of God the Father 
in Heaven, in glory and in dignity before the angels of Heaven. 
It is that Body, the same as it is in this great glory, which the , ^ 
righteous consume off God's Table, that is, the holy altar. For x o S 
this Body is the rich viaticum of the faithful, who journey v^ f 
through the paths of pilgrimage and penitence of this world to "^ ^ _. 
the Heavenly fatherland. This is the seed of the Resurrection ,-^ '■^ r.^ 
in the Life Eternal to the righteous. It is, however, the origin ■'^.\,' ^ 
and cause of falHng to the impenitent, who believe not, and to 
the sensual, who distinguish it not, though they believe. Woe, 
then, to the Christian who distinguishes not this Holy Body of, 
the Lord, by pure morals, by charity, and by mercy. For it is 
in this Body that will be found the example of the charity which ^ 
excels all charity, viz., to sacrifice Himself, without guilt, in 
satisfaction for the guilt of the whole race of Adam. ^'\ 

" Tliis, then, is the perfection and the fullness of the Catholic 
Faith, as it is taught in the Holy Scriptures". 

I may observe hei-e that the [late lamented] Rev. Dr. Matthew 
Kelly (Professor of Ecclesiastical History in St, Patrick's CoL 
lege, Maynooth), to whom I submitted this piece, believed it to 
be the Mass brought into Ei-inn by St. Patrick, diftering as it 
does in some places, as to the order of the ceremonies, from any 
other Mass that he had ever seen. 

I may also observe that the Gaedhlic part of the tract, though 
modified in some respects from the peculiar ecclesiastical style 



378 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 

LEc. x\aii. of ortliograpliy of tlie eiglith and nintli centuries, is still of the 

3" Of an purest and most ancient Christian character. 

Ancient I bcKeve I may well be pardoned havinor ffone so far out of 

Treatise on ii • oo 

the Jiass. my path on the present occasion, as to present to you this pas- 
sage in full. I do so not only for its own sake, but in order to 
lay before the Catholic University of Ireland a specimen of mat- 
ter which appears to me to be of infinite value to the history of the 
Church in this country, and of which there is a very large amount 
preserved to us in the ancient writings just referred to. I cannot 
doubt but that it is only necessary to call the attention of the 
learned Catholic body to the existence of the wealth of evidence 
and illustration concerning the faith of oiu* ancestors, which lies 
as yet buried in these great old Gaedhlic books, to cause effective 
measures to be taken to make these useful to the religion of the 
people to-day, by making known what they contain in full to 
the world. 



and Litunies. 



4° Of an To rcsumc. The fourth class consists also of a single piece, 

form of Con- namely, an ancient Formula of the Consecration of a new church 
a^lm^cr' or oratory. 

This piece is important, no less for its antiquity, and with re- 
ference to its doctrinal character, than for the historical evidence 
it contains as to the form in which the primitive churches of 
Erinn were built, which must, according to this tract, have always 
had the door in the west end. 

5°ofAncient The fifth class of these religious remains consists of the 
Tocatinn's, Praycrs, Invocations, and Litanies which have come down to 
us: these I shall set down in chronological order, as far as my 
authorities will allow me, and, when authority fails, guided by 
my own judgment and experience in the investigation of these 
ancient writings. 

The first piece of this class (adopting the chronological order) is 
the prayer of St, Airercm the wise (often called Aileran, Eleran, 
and Airencui), who was a classical professor in the great school of 
Clonard, and died of the plague in the year 664. St. Aireran's 
prayer or litany is addressed, respectively, to God the Father, 
to God the Son, and to God the Holy Spirit, invoking them for 
mercy by various titles indicative of their power, glorjr, and at- 
tributes. The prayer consists of five invocations to the Father, 
eighteen invocations to the Son, and five to the Holy Spirit; 
and commences in Latin, thus : " O Deus Pater, Omnipotens 
Deus, exerci misericordiam nobis". This is followed by the same 
invocation in the Gaedhlic; and the petitions, to the end, are 
continued in the same language. The invocation of the Son 



OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 379 

begins tlius : " Have mercy on us, O Almighty God ! O Jesus lec xyiii. 
Christ ! O Son of the Hving God ! O Son, born twice ! O only 50 of Ancient 
born of God the Father". The petition to the Holy Spirit be- y^-^yfp, m- 

i.., i^ii/-\TTlo-'l vdcations, 

gms : " Have mercy on us, U Ahuighty God ! O Holy Spirit 1 and Litanies. 

spirit the noblest of all spirits !" [See original in Appendix, of st. Itr-^^ 

XSO. Vy^V^V.J ^ ^ . Wise.) 

When I first discovered this prayer in the Leahhar Buidhe 
Lecain, (or Yellow Book of Lecain), in the library of Trinity 
College, many years ago, I had no means of ascertaining or 
fixing its date; but in my subsequent readings in the same 
library, for my collection of ancient glossaries, I met the word 
Oirchis set down with explanation and illustration, as follows: — 

" Oirchis, id est, Mercy ; as it is said in the prayers of Airinan 
the Wise: — Have mercy on us, O God the Father Almighty !" 
[See original in Appendix, No. CXXL] 

I think it is unnecessary to say more on the identity of this 
prayer with the distinguished Aireran of Clonard. Nor is this 
the only specimen of his devout works that has come down to 
us. Fleming, in his Collecta Sacra, has published a fragment 
of a Latin tract of Aireran, discovered in the ancient monastery 
of St. Gall in Switzerland, which is entitled, " The Mystical 
Interpretation of the Ancestry of our Lord Jesus Christ". A 
perfect copy of this curious tract, and one of high antiquity, has, 

1 believe, been lately discovered on the continent. 

There was another A ireran, also called " the wise", — who was 
abbot of Tamlilacht [Tallaght], in the latter part of the ninth 
century ; but he has not been distinguished as an author, as far 
as we know. 

The second piece of this class is the prayer or invocation of ^? f,^,"f |^^ 
Colgu Ua Duineclula, a classical Professor of Clonmacnois, who Duinechda. 
died in the year 789. This prayer is divided into two parts. 
The first consists of twenty-eight petitions or paragraphs, each 
paragraph beseeching the mercy and forgi^'eness of Jesus, 
through the intercession of some class of the holy men of the 
Old and New Testament ; who are referred to in the paragraph, 
or represented by the names of one or more of the most dis- 
tinguished of them. The first part begins thus: — "I beseech 
the intercession with Thee, O Holy Jesus ! of thy four evange- 
lists who wrote thy gospel, namely Matthew, Mark, Luke, and 
John". The second part consists of seventeen petitions to the 
Lord Jesus, apparently oiFered at Mass-time, beseeching Him to 
accept the sacrifice then made, for all Christian churches, for 
the sake of the merciful Father, from whom He descended 
upon the Earth ; for the sake of His Divinity which the Father 
had overshadowed, in order that it might unite with His 



380 



OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 



LEC. XVIII. 

6° Of Ancient 
Prayers, In- 
vocations, 
and Litanies. 
(Of the 
Prayer of 
Aireran 
"tlie Wise"; 
and the 
Prayer of 
Colgu Ua 
Duinechda.) 

(Ancient Li- 
tany of tlie 
B. Virgin.) 



The Litany 
of Aengus 
am L)6 
(circa 798). 



liunianity; for the sake of tlie Immaculate body from wliich 
He was formed in tlie womb of tlie Virgin. The second prayer 
begins thus: — " O Holy Jesus; O Beautiful Friend; O Star of 
the Morning ; Thou full, brilliant Noon-day Sun ; Thou Noble 
Torch of Righteousness and Truth, of Eternal Life, and of 
Eternity." [See original in Appendix, No. CXXIL] 

The third piece of this fifth class is a beautiful and ancient 
Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, differing in many ways 
from her Litany in other languages, and clearly showing that, 
although it may be an imitation, it is not a translation. I 
believe it to be as old, at least, as the middle of the eighth 
century. It consists of fifty-nine Invocations, beginning ; " O 
Great Mary ! O Mary Greatest of all Marys ; O Greatest of 
women ; O Queen of the Angels", etc. ; and it concludes with 
a beautiful and eloquent entreaty that she will lay the un- 
worthy prayers, sighs, and groans of the sinners before her 
own merciful Son, backed by her own all-powerful advocacy, 
for the forgiveness of their sins. [See original in Appendix, 
No. CXXIIL] 

The fourth piece of this class is the Litany of Aengus CMle 
De, consequently dating about the year 798. This composition, 
quite independently of its religious character, affords a most im- 
portant corroborative piece of ecclesiastical history. It is men- 
tioned by Sir James Ware in his " Writers of Ireland", as " a 
book of litanies in which, in a long series of daily prayers, are 
invoked some companies of saints, who were either school-fel- 
lows under the same master, or who joined in society under the 
same leader, to propagate the faith among heathens; or, who 
were buried in the same monastery, or lived in communion in 
the same church; or, lastly, who were joined together by any 
other Hke titles". So wrote Sir James Ware, a Protestant gen- 
tleman of learning and integrity. And when I quote this ac- 
knowledgment of the authenticity of the litany, let me be 
permitted to add that of another Protestant gentleman of 
at least equal depth of learning and accuracy of discrimina- 
tion; one still among us, and who I hope may long con- 
tinue to enhghten us by his knowledge, to improve us by 
liis exquisite taste in the illustration of our ancient history, in 
literatm-e and in art, and to elevate us by the bright example of 
a blameless life of incorruptible lionoiu', a generous and manly 
liberality of tone, and many active, unostentatious, but exalted 
virtues ; I mean my dear and honoured friend Dr. George Petrie. 
Thus writes Dr. Petrie in his unanswerable Essay on the ancient 
Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland ; a work with wliich I hope 
all my hearers are familiar. 



OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 381 

" Having now, as I trust, sufficiently sliown that the Irish lec. xviii . 
erected churches and cells of stone, without cement, at the very ,o/^^. • . 

,. -in 1 • 1 • n /-^-i ■ ■ • • 1*^ 5° Of Ancient 

earnest period alter the introduction ot Lnristianity into the rrayers, 
country ; and if it had been necessary, I might have adduced a and°LUanies. 
vastly greater body of e-\ddence to substantiate the fact ; I may, ^Jf^i^^ljjts'^ 
I think, fairly ask: Is it possible that they would remain much c^tieOA; 
longer ignorant of the use of lime cement in their religions edi- 
fices, a knowledge of which must necessarily have been imparted 
to them by the crowds of foreign ecclesiastics, Egyptian, Roman, 
Itahan, French, British, and Saxon, who flocked to Ireland as a 
place of refuge, in the fifth and sixth centuries ? Of such im- 
migration there cannot possibly exist a doubt ; for, not to speak 
of the great number of foreigners who were disciples of St. 
Patrick, and of whom the names are preserved in the most 
ancient lives of that saint; nor of the evidences of the same 
nature so abundantly supplied in the lives of many other saints 
of the Primitive Irish Church; it will be sufficient to refer to 
that most curious and ancient document, written in the year 799, 
the htany of St. Aengus the Culdee, in which are invoked such 
a vast number of foreign saints buried in Ireland. Copies of 
this ancient litany are foimcl in the Book of Leinster, a MS. un- 
doubtedly of the twelfth centmy, preserved in the Hbrary of 
Trinity College, Dubhii ; and in the Leabhar Breac [properly 
the Leabhar If or Dima Duighre], preserved in the library of 
the Royal Irish Academy : and the passages in it, relative to 
the foreign ecclesiastics, have been extracted, translated into 
Latin, and pubhshed by Ward, in liis Life of St. Rumold, pa^e 
206 ; and by Colgan, in his Acta Sanctorum, page 539" [535].*"^ 
The Htany of Aengus begins thus : " The three times fifty 
Roman pilgrims, who settled in Ui Mele, along with Notal and 
Nemshencliaidh and Cornutan, invoco in auxilium meum, per 
Jesum Cluistum, etc.... The three thousand father confessors 
who congregated in Munster to consider one question, under 
Bishop Ibar, — and where to the Angel of God was ascribed the 

great feast wliich St. Brigid had prepared in her heart for Jesus, 

invoco in auxilium meum per Jesum Christum. The other 
thrice fifty pilgrims of the men of Rome and Latiuni who went 
into Scotland, invoco in auxilium meum per Jesum Christum. 
The thrice fifty Gaedliils of Erinn, in holy orders, each of them 
a man of strict rule, who went in one body into piloTimao-e 

W> Inquiry into the Origin and Uses of the Round Toivers of Ireland, p. 134. 
One slight mistake Dr. Petrie lias fallen into in this liassage, as to the tract in 
the Book of Leinster. The tract he alludes to there, is Aerigus's Book of the 
Pedigrees of the Irish Saints, and not his Litany, which is found only in the 
Leabhar Mor Dliaa Doiyhre. 



382 OF THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL MSS. 

LEc. XVIII. i-incler Abban, tbe son of Ua Cormaic, invoco in auxllium meum 
per Jesiim Cbristum", etc. [See orioinal in Appendix, No. 

5° Of Ancient i-ix'-vTT/- -| ^ 

Prayers, In- L/-<:V^V1 V .J 

and^Llianies And thus clocs Aeiigus go Oil to invoke groups of men and 
(The Litany -vvomen wlio came into Erinn from all parts of the world, and 
CiiUDL) joined tliemselves to various religious persons and communities 
tbroughovit our land, to benefit by their purity of morals and exalted 
j)iety; as well as the comitless groups of men, lay and ecclesias- 
tical, who left Erinn on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, under 
SS. Ailbhe, Brendan, etc.; and others who went out to plant 
and propagate their Christian knowledge and piety, in remote 
and unfrequented countries, which had not yet been brought 
within the range of the Lord's vineyard, or in which the seeds 
of Christianity formerly sown had either run to extravagant 
wildness or totally failed. 

After invoking these various groups at considerable length, 
he turns to the bishops of Erinn, whom he invokes in groups of 
seven, taking together those who either lived contempora- 
neously or succeeded each other in the one chru'ch ; as the seven 
bishops of Drom-Aurchaille; the seven bishops of Drom Derce- 
dan; the seven bishops of Tulacli na n-Esjjuc, or Hill of the 
Bishops, etc. [I may mention to you that this Tulacli na n-JlJspuc, 
was Tidla, near Cabinteely, in the county of Dubhn ; and that 
it is stated in the Life of St. Brigid, that these seven bishojDS, 
on a certain occasion, paid her a visit at Kildare, a circum- 
stance which fixes the time at wliich they lived.] 

The invocation extends to 141 groups of seven, or in all 987 

bishops, ending with the seven bishops of Domlinach Chairne 

[probably the place now called Doncycarney, near Dublin]. 

Of the Pro- We now come to another and the last section of our Eccle- 

cribed'^tVtiie siastical MSS., if wc may include imder this title the writings 

Erinn! '^^ callcd Propliccies ascribed to the saints of Erinn. 

Li opening the subject of ancient Gaedlilic Prophecies, it 
might be expected that I should take a comparative glance at 
the prophecies of other countries, as this would indeed be the 
most learned and approved mode of introducing the subject; 
but as I have hitherto in the progress of these Lectm-es confined 
myself to a simple analysis of the liistoric and Hterary remains 
of our own country, treated from the points of view offered by 
internal evidence only, I shall follow the same rule in this 
instance, and proceed to treat of our ancient prophecies, as they 
are called, on their own authority and on their own internal 
merits alone. 

In the first place I have to tell you, that although those 
ascribed to the saints form the chief part of our collection of 
prophecies, there are a few referred to times anterior to the year 



OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 383 

432, tlie year in which St. Patrick commenced his Christian lec. xvih. 
mission in Erinn; and their authorship is ascribed to persons 77 
still involved in the darkness of paganism. As, then, it is my phecies as- 
design to take all the " Prophecies" in their presumed chrono- sa^hts of ^'^^ 
losfical order, I shall begin with those which are referred to our ^'^"'"• 
pre-Christian period. 

The oldest prophecy, or rather prophetic allusion to future of «>e 
events in Erinn, that I can remember, is found in the ancient "Prophecies" 
but little-known tract, which is entitled AgaUamh an da theumeo'f 
Shuadh, or the Dialogue of the two Sages ^or Professors). The fThe"'P?o- 
liistory given of this Dialogue is shortly tliis. piiecy"inthe 

Adkna, a distinguished Connachtman, was chief poet of Ulster of the Two 
in the reign of Conor Mac Nessa (about four hundi-ed years "-^^^^"-^ 
before St. Patrick's arrival). Adhna had a son, Neidhe, who, 
after ha\ang been carefully instructed in the prescribed lite- 
rary coiu-se of the period by his father, was then sent by him into 
Scotland, to add to his stores of nati^^e knowledge all that could 
be acquired at the famous academy of Eocliaidh EchhheoiL, in 
that country. During Neidhe's sojourn in Scotland, his father, 
Adhna, died, and Athairne, the celebrated poet and satirist, was 
raised to his place of chief poet of Ulster. An account of these 
important changes having, however, reached young Neidhe in 
Scotland, he immediately returned to Erinn, and went straight 
to the palace of Emania. He entered the royal court at once 
under protection of his well-recognized poet's tonsure, and 
made directly for the chief poet's chair, which he found vacant 
at the moment, with the arch-poet's Tuighen, or official gown, 
lying on the back of it. (This gown of the arch-poet is de- 
scribed as having been cne ornamented with the feathers of 
beautiful birds.) Neidhe, finding the chair accidentally vacant, 
sat in it and put on the go-wn. Athairne soon after made his 
appearance, and seeing his appointed mantle and seat occupied 
by a stranger, he immediately addiessed him in these words : 
" Wlio is the learned poet upon whom the Tuighen with its 
splendour rests ?" [See original in Appendix, No. CXXV.] 

This led to a long, learned, and animated contest in literature, 
poetry, philosophy, Druidism, etc., in which Neidhe showed 
himself fully qualified to retain the position which he had tem- 
porarily assumed; but, in obedience to the beautiful patriarchal 
law of reverence for seniority which pervaded all conditions of 
society in ancient Erinn, ha^dng first estabhshed his superior 
qualifications, he then voluntarily vacated the chair, put off the 
splendid gown, placed it on the shoulders oC Athairne, and, in 
the absence of his father by death and of his later preceptor by 
distance, he adopted him as his father and preceptor. 



384 OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 

LEc. XVIII. Tliis strange piece is coucliecl in very ancient language, some- 
of the what resembling, indeed partaking largely of the character of, 
so-called tlic ancicnt text of the Brehon laws ; but every phrase, almost 
anteriortr cvcry word, throughout the whole, is explained in the version 
st.'^patHc°k. which is preserved to us, by an ancient interlined gloss, still in 
(The 'Pro- ancient, but much more accessible language. 
"Dialogue Wc liavc sliowu in a former Lecture, on the authority of the 
Sages"o^^° ancient Book of Uachonghhdil, that the obscurity of the lan- 
guage in which this dialogue was carried on, in the presence of 
King Conor and the nobles of Ulster, was the immediate cause 
of taking from the Poets the exclusive right which, down to 
that time, they had enjoyed, of interpreting the ancient laws 
of the country, and of opening their study to all such men 
of all grades as should incline to make the law their profession. 
This dialogue is also quoted at the word Teathra ("the Sea"), 
and at the word Tuighen (" the Gown") in Cormac's Glossary ; a 
compilation of the close of the ninth century. Yet, altliough the 
mere literary part of the tract may, perhaps, be referred to the re- 
markable period of Conor Mac Nessa's reign, it is too much to ex- 
pect that the precise reference to the precise discipline and doc- 
trines of the future Christian Church of Erinn, which it is made 
to contain prophetically, could have been really predicted by 
persons not yet rescued from the darkness of Paganism. The 
passage occurs thus : The Dialogue is carried on by way of ques- 
tion and answer : A thairne puts the question, and Neidhe answers. 
After a variety of questions relating to literature, poetry, Druid- 
ism, astronomy, ethics, etc., Athairne asks Neidhe whether he 
has any knowledge of the future state of Erinn ; Neidhe answers 
that he has, and he then goes into a long review of what is to 
happen in church and state, to the end of time. There would 
be mortalities of cows all over the world ; Kings would be few ; 
Professors of the various arts would be mere imitators ; Pagan 
enemies would waste Erinn, so that dignity of birth or extent 
of wealth would serve nobody. [This no doubt alludes to the 
Danish invasion in the eighth century.] Kings would be wan- 
derers ; religion extinguished ; the nobles crushed down ; the ig- 
noble raised up, and neither man nor God would be honoiu'ed or 
worshipped ; clerical orders and functions would be cast off, and 
hypocrisy and delusions assumed; musicians would be meta- 
morphosed into clowns; the churches would become subject to 
the lords of the lands ; pupils would neglect to maintain their 
tutors in their old age. There would come, after this, great 
mortalities; lightnings, and thunder; unnatural seasons; a 
vengeful slaughter for three days and three nights; and this 
would be the fiery plague of the festival of St. John the Bap- 



OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES, 385 

tist, which would desti'oj two-thirds of the people of the world, lec. xviir. 
and one-tliird of which should fall upon the animals of the sea ^^ ^^^ 
and the trees of the forest. After those years of sorrow, the fo-caiied 
foreigners would come in their ships to Inbher Domnainn [now anteriorVo* 
the Bay of ^Nlalahide, on the coast of the county of Dubhn]. s^paTrldf. 
This was to be the Eoth Rdmhach, or " Ro win of Wheel", (of (p^ "Pro- 

1 • O ' \ pilGCV iu tll6 

which more hereafter) ; and it would fly off to the Coirthe •'Dialogue 
Cndmhchoille, or Rock of Cndmhchoill (of which more here- sages^'.)"° 
after), where it would be broken; — that is, where the enemies, 
(of whom, as of a plague, it was the poetical designation,) would 
be overthrown and almost annihilated, as well as their " stammer- 
ing foreign women, that is, Saxon women, who would bear 
cliildren to their own fathers". The destruction and desertion of 
the great palaces and cities of Erinn was to take place, — namely, 
Emania, in Ulster; Tara, in Meath; Cruachain, in Connacht; 
Cashel, in ]\Iunster ; and Aileach, in Derry ; — after wliich the sea- 
would come over Erinn, seven years before the day of judgment. 

This part of this so-called prophecy appears to me curious, 
because it seems to brinsr the author s time down to the tenth 
centmy, when the Danes were accustomed to run over here 
from England, with their Saxon bond wives and bond women. 
But I need not dwell longer upon it at present. 

The second personage belonging to the pre-Christian period, "Propiie- 
to whom I have found any existing prophecy ascribed, is no ciibed to 
other than the celebrated Conn " of the hundi'ed battles", mon- HunOieV'** 
arch of Erinn, who was slain in the year of our Lord 157, or '^^"'^^• 
275 3^ears before the arrival of St. Patrick. 

Conn's name is connected vidth two distinct prophecies, — 
one delivered by himself, and entitled the Baile Chuinn, or 
Conn's Ecstacy ; the other dehvered to him, and entitled the 
Baile an Scdil, or the Champion's Ecstacy. The word Baile, 
wliich means madness, distraction, or ecstacy, is the ancient 
Gaedhlic name for a Prophecy. 

Of these two " Prophecies" nothing seems to have been 
known to Gaedhhc scholars and historians, for some centuries 
back, more than the quotation from the Baile Chuinn found in 
the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, as pubHshed by Father John 
Colgan, in his Trias Thaumaturgas, in the year 1647, (a quota- 
tion which was reprinted by Dr. Petrie, in his History and An- 
tiquities of Tara, published in the year 1839, in the l8tli volume 
of the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy). Even at the 
time that Dr. Petrie wrote his important Essay on Tara, the 
serious examination of our ancient Gaedhlic manuscripts was but 
in its infancy ; and when this Baile Chuinn was discovered in the 
Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, it was not known who Conn, the 

25 



386 



OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 



LEC. XVIII. 

Of tlie 
so-called 
"Proiihecics' 
anteiior to 
the time of 
St. Patrick 
('■ Prophe- 
cies" as- 
cribed to 
Conn of the 
Hundred 
Battles.) 



author of it, was ; nor at what time he flourished ; nor whether 
it contained any more than what is there quoted; it was only 
believed that he must have been some ancient Druid. Neither 
could the most minute research among our extensive collection 
of manuscripts in Dublin throw any light on his history. How- 
ever, on my visit to London in the summer of 1849, I had the 
good fortune to discoA^er an ancient copy of the entire prophecy, 
of which an extract only is quoted in the Tripartite Life. 

The piece is a short one, filling but one column of a small 
folio page. It is entitled Baile Chuinn Ched-Chathaigh; that is, 
' the Ecstacy (or Prophecy) of Conn of the hundred battles'. The 
manuscript is written on vellum, and was compiled or transcribed 
in Burren, in my native county of Clare, by Donnel O'Davoren, 
about the year 151)0. It Avill be found in the British Museum, 
classed, " Egerton 88". The transcript appears to have been made 
fromsome ancient decayedmanuscript,andAvith some carelessness, 
many words being carelessly spelled or contracted. The style 
of the composition is affectedly irregular and obscure, and can- 
not be taken as evidence of the remote antiquity to which it is 
referred. It will appear from what follows, that the piece pro- 
fesses to have been originally written forty nights before Conn's 
death. The " Prophecy", which is written in prose, has refer- 
ence to the succession of the kings of Tara ; and Conn com- 
mences with his own son, Art, of whom he disposes in the 
following few words : 

" Art will succeed at the end of forty nights ; a powerful 
champion, who shall die at Mucruimhe'' ; [see original in 
Appendix, No. CXXVL] The Prophecy then runs rapidly 
down to Mac Con, the successor of Art ; Cormac the son of Art, 
and successor of Mac Con ; Cairbre, the son of Cormac, killed 
at the battle of Gabhra; Fiaclia Sraibhtine, the son of Cairbr(^; 
Midred/iach, the son of Fiacha; and passing over Eoehaidh 
Muighmheadlwin, the son of Muiredhach, it comes down to his 
son again, Niall of the Nine Hostages ; and then to Laeghaire, 
the son of Niall, who was monarch when St. Patrick arrived. 
Here the prophet foretells the coming of our great apostle, in 
words which stand as follows, with their ancient explanations : 
" With Laeghaire the violent will the land be humbled by the 
coming of the Tailcenn, that is, Patrick ; houses across, that is 
churches, bent staffs, which will pluck the flowers from high 
places". [See original in same Appendix.] A somewhat dif- 
ferent and better version of tliis prediction is given in the ancient 
Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, where it is quoted, without gloss, 
from the BaiU Chuinn; it runs thus: "A Tailcenn shall come, 
he will erect cities, churches, music houses, with gables and 



e of 

ick. 



OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES 387 

angles; many king? will take up pilgrim staffs". [Sec original leg. xvih. 
in Appendix, No. CXXVII.] The word Taileenn (or Tailgenn), ^^ ^^^ 
which occurs here, and in various places in our ancient writings, so-caiiod 
means the reverend person, — to whom all men would bow the anteworVo^ 
head in reverence. [See same Appendix.] For the precise gf^p"",.' 
meaning of every word in this ancient strain I have succeeded (" Propiie- 
in procuring from ancient manuscripts the most undoubted au- cvibedto 
thorlty; and this is rather remarkable, since the version of it ^1^,',^,"^''° 
given by Father John Colgan in his Latin translation of the Matties.) 
Tripartite Life, is inaccurate and incongruous/^*' 

After bringing the predictions down to king LaeghairS, and 
the coming of St. Patrick, as we have just seen, the royal 
" prophet" is made to continue the list of his successors in the 
sovereignty, sometimes by name, and sometimes by description, 
down to the three Nialls, the last of whom, Niall Glun-duhh, 
was killed in battle with the Danes, near Dublin, in the year 
917; and from that down, by description, to a king described 
as the false fratricidal kingf in whose reiffn the Saxons were to 
come. Now, this fratricidal king of Tara was, without doubt, 
Domnall Bveaghach O Maeilsechlainn, who, in the year ]169, 
murdered his cousin Diarmaid, the rightful king of Tara, and 
set himself up in his place. And this was the precise year in 
which the Anglo-Normans (or Saxons, as they are called here), 
first invaded Ireland ; so that, whatever degree of credit might 
be due to the early part of this strange prophecy, the latter 
part savours strongly of a foregone knowledge of historic facts. 

It is unfortunate that no vestige of the original history of 
this prophecy has come down to us : what the immediate in- 
citing causes to it were, and to what extent it ran at the time 
that it was first introduced into the ancient Tripartite Life of 
St. Patrick. That some such accoimt existed, there is good 
reason to believe ; and upon the character of it would very 
much depend whether the so-called prophecy, or any part of it, 
was to be received as authentic or not. These observations 
will be better understood from the following fanciful history and 
description of the Baile an Scdil, the other ancient prophecy 
with which the name of king Conn is connected. The history 
is prefixed to the copy of this prophecy in the British Museum 
MS. (Harleian, 5280), and runs in the following style: — 

One morning Conn repaired at sunrise to the battlements of the 
Ri Haith, or Royal Fortress, of Tara, accompanied by his three 

c***^ It runs as follows : " Advenict cum circulo tonsus in capite, cujus aedes 
ad instar aedium Romanarum : efficiet quod cellaj futurte sint in pretio et 
aestimatione. jEdes ejus ei'unt angustae et angulatae et fana mueta pedum 
pastorale domiimbetux" — Trias Thaum.,-p. 123. 

25 B 



388 



OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 



IiEC. XVIII. 

Of the 
so-called 
"Proi)hccies' 
anterior to 
the time of 
St. Patrick. 
(" Proplie- 
cles" as- 
cribed to 
Conn of the 
Hundred 
Battles.) 



Druids, 3fael, Bloc, and Blnicne, and his three poets, Echain, 
Corb, and Cesarn; for he was accustomed every day to repair to 
this place with the same company, for the purpose of watching 
the firmament, that no hostile atrial beings should descend upon 
Erinn unknown to him. While standing in the usual place 
this morning, Conn happened to tread upon a stone, and imme- 
diately the stone shrieked under his feet, so as to be heard all 
over Tara, and throughout all Bregia, or East Meath. Conn 
then asked his Druids why the stone had shrieked, what it's 
name was, and what it said. The Druids took fifty-three days 
to consider ; and at the expiration of that period returned the 
folloAving answer: " Fed is the name of the stone; it came from 
Inis Fail, or the island of Fed; it has shrieked under your 
royal feet, and the number of shrieks which the stone has given 
forth, is the number of kings of your seed that will succeed you 
till the end of time; but", continued the Druid, " I am not the 
person destined to name them to you". [See original in Ap- 
pendix, No. CXXVIIL] 

Conn stood some time musing on this strange revelation; 
when, suddenly, he found himself and his companions en- 
veloped in a mist, so thick, that they knew not where they 
were, so intense was the darkness. They had not continued 
long in this condition, until they heard the tramp of a horse- 
man approaching them ; and immediately a spear was cast three 
times in succession towards them, coming nearer to them each 
time. The Druid then cried out: "It is a violation of the 
sacred person of a king to whoever casts [on the part of any 
one that casts] at Conn in Tara". The horseman then came 
up, saluted Conn, and invited himself and his companions to 
his house. He led them into a noble plain, where they saw 
a royal court, into which they entered, and found it occupied 
by a beautiful and richly dressed princess, with a silver vat full 
of red ale, and a golden ladle and a golden cup before her. The 
knight, on entering the palace, showed his guests to appro- 
priate seats, and sat himself in a princely chair at the head 
of the apartment ; and then, addressing himself to Conn, said : — 

" I wish to inform you that I am not a living knight ; I am 
one of Adam's race who have come back from death ; my name 
is LiiKjli Mac Ceithlenn, and I am come to tell you the length 
of your own reign, and the name and reign of every king who 
shall succeed you in Tara; and the princess whom you have 
found here on your entrance, is the sovereignty of Erinn for ever". 

The princess then presented to Conn the bare rib of an ox, 
and the bare rib of a boar. The ox's rib measured four-and- 
twenty feet in length ; and when both its ends were laid on the 
ground, it formed an arch eight feet in height. She subse- 



OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 389 

qiiently presented liiin with the silver pail and the golden ladle leg, xyih . 
and cup. The princess then took up the ladle, filled the cup, ^^ ^^^^ 
and said: " AVlio shall this cup with the red ale be given to?" socaiied 
The knight answered: "Give it to Conn of the Hundred Battles auteHdrtT 
(that is, he shall gain a hundi-ed battles) ; fifty years shall he sl!vlir\cl 
have reigned, when he will be slain at Tuath Amrois\ The ("Piophe- 
princess said again : " ^^^lO shall tliis cup with the red ale be ciibed to 
given to?" "Give it", said the knight, "to Art, the son of nun"ired ^^ 
Conn : he shall have reigned thirty years, when he shall be Matties.) 
slain at Magh Mucruimhe'\ And thus does the princess con- 
tinue to put her questions, the knight always giving the name 
of the succeeding king, the length of his reign, and the place 
and manner of his death, dowm to Laeghaire, the son of Niall, 
where the knight answers: " Give it to Laeghaire of the many 
Conflicts, who shall devastate the Life [Liffey, that is, Leinster], 
and many other territories. Five years shall he have reigned, 
when a stranger company shall come, among whom shall be the 
Tailcenn, that is, Patrick, a man of great dignity, whom God 
will honour, who will fight a great torch which shall illuminate 
Erinn even to the sea. Laeghaire shall be slain on the bank of 
the Caise. Kings and many champions will be brought to take 
up the pilgrim's staff by the preaching of the Tailcenn'. 

The prophecy is then continued in the same way doviai to the 
monarch Fergus, the son of Maelddin, who was to be slain in 
the Battle of Almhain, on a Friday, an occurrence which took 
place in the year 718. And here our copy unfortunately breaks 
off, otherwise we should be pretty well able to fix the probable 
date of the original composition of this piece. 

That this piece, however, whatever was its date, was a well- 
known tract, and of authority for the succession and reigns of 
the monarchs of Ermn in the middle of the eleventh century, is 
clear, as we find it quoted as an authority by Flann, of jNIouas- 
terboice (who died in 1056), in the 16th stanza of his poem on 
the succession of the Kings of Tara, when speaking of the 
monarch Eochaidh Muidhnhedlwin, who died in the year of our 
Lord 365, in the eighth year of his reign. Thus writes Flami 
[See original in Appendix, No. CXXIX.] : 

Died, after being kinged by the hosts, 

The smooth and stainless Eochaidh Mv.ighmliedliuin, 
Here was verified (whatever other cases may be,) 
That which was written in the Baile an Scdil. 

This is an important reference to the Baile an Scdil. It is 
pretty clear that Flann did not befieve in its inspiration, and 
that he had not found its historic details as accurate, in all in- 
stances, as those wliich related to Eochaidh Muighmhedhoin. 



390 



OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 



LEC. xvni. 

Of tlie 
so-called 
"Prophecies" 
anterior to 
the time of 
St. Patiick. 
(" Prophe- 
cies" as- 
cribed to 
Conn of tiie 
Hundred 
Battles ) 



A fine copy of Flann's poem is preserved in tlie Book of 
Leinster, compiled about eighty years after liis death. It be- 
gins [see same Appendix] : 

" The Kings of Tara who were animated by fire". 

I think it quite unnecessary to offer any observation on the J5az7e 
an Scdil itself, after having placed before you a fair version — 
indeed a literal translation nearly — of the purely fabidous account 
of its origin, which has come down to us, and which must certainly 
be as old as the prophecy itself. And notwithstanding that the 
BaiU Chiiinn is quoted in the most ancient copies known to us 
of the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, still it is impossible to assign 
to it any higher degree of antiquity or authenticity than to the 
other. Indeed, both seem to have been manufactured by the 
same hand, one being a mere echo of the other, but with some 
additional details, as far as our imperfect copy of it comes down. 

It wordd be absurd to believe that either Conn himself, or his 
doubtful informant the Seal (both pagans), could have recei^'ed 
any divine revelation, or could, even with druidical aid, have 
given us the precise name, length of reign, number and names of 
battles, as well as the place and manner of death, of every king 
of Conn's race, who would occupy Tara, from the year of our 
Lord 157, down to the Saxon or Anglo-Norman invasion of 
Ireland, in the year 1169 ! How, then, it may be asked, did 
this prophecy come to be introduced into our most ancient 
copies of the Tripartite Life ? To this question, I can only state 
my ojiinion in answer; an opinion founded, however, on the 
thoughtful reading and study for many years of the character 
and possible authenticity of such old compositions of a so-called 
" prophetic" character as have come under my notice. Allow me, 
then, to say, that we have no really ancient copy of the Tripartite, 
that is, any copy older than, or even as old as, the twelfth century ; 
and (if we had copies to refer to in succession from the sixth 
century to the twelfth, when the prophecy would, if perfect, we 
presume, have ended,) I have for my part little doubt that 
could we with certainty discover the first copy in which the 
Bails Chuinn occurs, we should find it not older than the year 
1169 ; that is, presuming that the present is the original version 
of the prophecy. 

It is a very remarkable fact, however, that Macutenius, who 
collected or wrote a short tract on the lile of St. Patrick before 
the year 700, introduces an ancient pagan prophecy of the 
coming of our apostle, of which he gives the Latin, but that he 
makes no mention, nevertheless, of the Baile Chuinn. Probus 
also, who wrote a Life of St. Patrick in the tenth century, it is 
believed, quotes the same pagan prediction, and gives a Latin 



son 
orin, 



OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 391 

translation of it, but has no reference to tlie Bade Chuinn; and leg, xvth . 
Joceljn, who wrote his Life of St. Patrick about tlie year 1185, ^^ 
gives the same pagan prophecy, but not a word about the other, so-caiieci 

I shall now pass from the Baile Chuinn, for the present, to antenorTo" 
take it up again when I come to speak more particularly of the gj°p!^",!jp°k 
pagan prophecy just referred to. ("Prophecy" 

The practice of ascribing predictions of the coming of St. Art -'the 
Patrick to persons who lived some centuries before that event, of^com 
Avas not confined to the case of Conn of the Hundred Battles, sjaj" a.d. 
or his gifted friend from the land of spirits, the Seal. We find, 
in the ancient historic tract on the Battle of 3fagh Mucruimhe 
(which was fought in the year of our Lord 195), a " prophetic" 
poem, ascribed to the monarch Ai't, the son of Conn, who was 
slain in that battle. This poem is preserved in the ancient vel- 
lum jNLS. called the Leahhar na h-Uidhre, compiled before the 
year HOG, a book which has been so often spoken of in the 
course of these lectures. There is a short prose introduction 
headed, " The Prophecy and Christian Belief of Art the Lonely", 
which states tliat the prophecy was the result of a vision which 
Art saw while enjoying a sleep on the top of\n^lJum]ia Selga, 
or hunting-mound, a short time before the battle, while hunting 
at Treuit (the place now called Trevit, situated about three 
miles east of Tara, in the county of Meath). 

In this vision Art is said to have seen the coming of St. 
Patrick ; the gi-eat changes which his mission would bring about 
in the condition of Erinn; the subsequent importance, as a 
religious estabhshment, of T7'edit, the place in which he then 
happened to be, and where, by his own direction, his body was 
carried from the battle-field and buried, in anticipation of the 
future sanctity of the place. 

The poem, which consists of 156 lines, was addressed to Den 
J/or, Art's attendant, and begins [see Appendix, No. CXXX.] : 
" Pleasant for Denna, the vehement", 

This is one of the oldest poems that I am acquainted with, 
and many of the words are explained by an ancient interlined 
gloss ; but it is remarkable that it has no reference to those who 
were to succeed Art in the monarchy, nor to the Danish or 
Saxon invasions. I think it was written immediately at, or 
about the time of founding the church of Treuit, and before 
either of the invasions had occurred, and that, consequently, 
the prophet was too honest to see farther forward into futurity. 

In my next Lecture I shall proceed with some account 
of the remainder of these so-called Prophecies, after which I 
propose to take up those ascribed to St. Colum Cille and his 
successors. 



LECTURE XIX. 

[Delivered July 1", 1856. J 

The (so-called) Prophf.cies (continued). The Prophecies attributed to Finn 
Mac Cumhaill. Of the Magical Arts of Finn. Of the Pagan Prophecy of the 
coming of St. Patrick, quoted by Macutenius. The Prophecies attributed 
to St. Caillin. The Prophecies attributed to Beg Mac De. The Prophecies 
attributed to St. Colum Cille. Of the spurious and modern Prophecies 
attributed to this Saint. 

In our last Lecture we considered shortly tlie remarkable ^'■Dia- 
logue of the Two Sages'\ the two " Prophecies" referred to Conn 
of the Hundred Battles, and that ascribed to his son Art, called 
the Lonely. Before we pass to the ProjDhecies (as they are 
called) attributed to the early Christian Saints of Erinn, we 
have still to notice one or two other compositions which pass 
under the same name, thouofh belonmnw to an earlier era. 

The next of our pagan " prophets" in chronological order is 
no less a personage than the celebrated Fmn Mac Cihnhaill, who 
was slain in the year of our Lord 283, or 149 years before St. 
Patrick's coming. It would indeed have been a great omission 
on the part of our ancient chroniclers of the wonderful, if they 
had failed to endow Finn with the gift of prophecy, along with 
all his other surprising accomplishments. 

I have in a former Lecture given a short account of the poems 
in general which we find ascribed to Finn in our old manu- 
scripts, and among them one foretelling the mission of St. 
Patrick, the foimding of a Christian church by St. Moling at 
lios Broc [now St. jNIullins, in the county of Carlow], and the 
future renoAvn of that place. There are, however, besides this, 
two other " Prophecies" known to me as ascribed to Finn, one 
of them of an ancient date, and the other not so old ; and there is 
a third prophecy of Finn's, preserved among some poems and 
prophecies ascribed to St. Colum Cille, in a vellum manuscript 
in the Bodleian Library at Oxford ; but I had not, when there, 
time to examine it. 

Of the two prophecies which I am about to describe, one is 
preserved in a vellum manuscript of the fifteenth century, in 
the Library of Trinity College (Class H, 3, 17). It is very 
short, and is written in irregularly measured prose, in ancient 
language, and with an interlined gloss. It is headed: " Finn, 
the grandson of Baisoie cecinit, foretelHng of Patrick, when he 



OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 393 

slipped off the flag on which he afterwards came to Erinn". lect. xix. 
[See original in Appendix, No. CXXXI.] q^ ^^^^ 

The "Prophecy", which consists of about thirty lines, begins sccaiied 
with the following [see same Appendix] : — antedor't'o* 

" It is not in the path of crime my foot has come, st^patTicic. 

It is not a decUne of strength that has come upon me, ("Piophe- 

Bnt it is the warrior's stone this stone rejects: mbedto 

He is a distinguished man for whom the stone rejects me, culmham. 
[a man] With dignities from the Holy Spirit" (i.^., the 
dignity of a bishop). 

It is impossible to imderstand the legend alluded to in this 
very curious piece, in the absence of any more of its history ; 
and the more so, that, as I am certain, the short heading is de- 
fective by two words ; for I should have but little difficulty in 
identifying the legend, and inferring the history of the pro- 
phecy, supposing it had run, for example, thus : " Finn, the 
grandson of Baiscne cecinit, foretelling of Patrick, when he 
[Finn] slipped off the flagstone upon which [the leper] came 
afterwards to Erinn". 

The legend of the leper and the flagstone is this : When St. 
Patrick was lea^'ing the coast of Britain to come over to Erinn 
on his mission, just as the ship had cast oft^ from the shore, a 
poor leprous man came on the beach, and begged earnestly to 
be taken on board. Patrick was willing to put back and take 
him up ; but the crew refused, and the ship moved on. The 
poor leper still continued his entreaties; whereupon, Patrick 
took his altar-stone (which, in the old writings, is called the 
Stone Altar), and casting it on the water within reach of the 
leper, desired him to sit on it and be quiet. This the leper 
did, and immediately the stone moved, following the ship 
throughout its course, until they reached the harbour of Wick- 
low, where the leper was one of the first to land ; after which 
the Saint again took possession of his " Stone Altar". This 
stone is spoken of as an altar in the text of this prophecy, and 
with the promise, that as long as it lives in Erinn Patrick's 
children in Christ will live in his doctrines. It is not im- 
probable that there was an ancient legend, which is not now 
known, of the history of this stone before Patrick consecrated 
it to his holy purposes. In this, as in the former prophecies, 
Patrick is called the Tailcenn. [See App., No. CXXVIL] 

Assuming the foregoing, then, to be the true reading of the 
legend imphed in the heading, there remains still the other 
legend to be accounted for ; that, namclj^ of Finn's slipping off 
the flagstone ; a legend, of which I have never met "with any 
trace in my reading, though it has been rather extensive in this 



394 



OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 



LECT. XIX, 

Of the 
so-called 
"Prophecies' 
antei'ior to 
the time of 
St. I'atrick. 
(" I'roplie- 
cies" as- 
criljeJ to 
Finn Mac 
CuinhaiU.) 



particular direction. If, however, I were allowed to infer tlie 
legend from tlie few facts mentioned in the opening lines of the 
prophecy, I shoidd say that it might perhaps have once run in 
this strain: — 

That Finn was hunting somewhere about Sliahh Alis (in the 
county of Antrim), where St. Patrick, during his early captivity 
in Erinn, was employed to herd the swine of his master Milchu ; 
that Finn in his progress happened to tread upon a stone, from 
which he slipped in some remarkable manner ; that, on looking 
at the stone, he discovered that it was one which offered a good 
material for a weapon, — probably for one of those curiously- 
fashioned weapons of which we have so many specimens of all 
sizes in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, and which now 
pass by the unmeaning name of celts (a kind of weapon, which 
in ancient Gaedhlic was called Lia Milldh, or Warrior's Stone), 
and one or more of which every champion carried in his girdle 
to be cast as occasion might require ; that Finn, in some unac- 
countable way, failed to appropriate the stone ; that he then had 
recourse to his Druidic powers of divination to discover the 
cause of his failure ; that he found the stone to be predestined 
for a higher and holier office than that of an offensive weapon 
in the hands of a professional warrior, and that on that account, 
it intuitively shrunk from his hand ; and finally that, long after- 
wards, when Patrick was employed as a swine-herd on this 
mountain, this stone having attracted his notice, he took it vip 
without difficulty, and carried it about him in his escape from 
bondage, and ever after, until he was ordained a priest ; and 
that then he formed it into the stone altar, which he carried 
with him on his jovirney from Rome, and upon which the leper, 
as we have already seen, accompanied him over the sea from 
Britain into Erinn. 

That some such legend as this had been (and probably is 
still) in existence, on which this prophecy was founded, any one 
who has paid much attention to the character of our old ro- 
mances, will, I think, without difficulty feel disposed to believe. 
But the matter certainly requires much further investigation. 

There are two other prophecies of Finn Mac Cumhaill to be 
found in modern Gaedhlic manuscripts ; but they are much in- 
ferior in style to the pieces just described, and it will be seen at 
once by the Gaedhlic scholar, that they must have been com- 
posed centuries after the former. 

The first of these is a poem of 188 lines, in which the poet 
Oisin is made to repeat to St. Patrick a prophetic poem 
which his father, Finn, had composed at Beinn Eclair (now the 
Hill of Ilowth). St. Patrick addresses Oisin as follows [see 
original in Appendix, No. CXXXII.] : 



OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 



395 



O Oisin^ wilt tliou relate unto us, 
Some of tlie prophecies of Mac Cthnhaill, — 
Of what the gifted king foretold, 
He whom angels truly honoured. 
Oisin answers : I will relate to thee with pleasure, 
O Patrick, the chaste son of Calphurnn, 
And thy heart will be sore from hearing 
Of all the evils which are foretold. 

Finn having one day sat in the east. 
Over the sea at the hill of Edar, 
He saw a black cloud ajaproach from the north. 

Which, all of a sudden, darkened Erinn. 

***** 

The hearty Caeilte then said 

To noble Fiim of Abnhain: 

Put thy thumb of knowledge to thy tooth, 

And leave us not in ignorance. 
Fin7i answers : Alas, my dearest Caeilte, 

The prophecy is far from thee, — 

Barbarians from beyond the sea 

Will one day confound the men of Erinn. 
Fi7in goes on then to show that this black cloud meant tlie 
Saxons, or Anglo-Normans, that 

On a Thursday a man goes to invite them. 

It will be a bad legacy to Erinn's land, — 

31ac Murchadha, the dark demon, 

His return shall be that of a ghost. 
The invaders, according to this poem, were to despoil the 
land of Eiinn for the space of 400 years, but the space of time 
varies in various copies. They were to receive several defeats, 
and some of these defeats are plainly enough pointed out, — as, 
for instance, where they were to be three times defeated by the 
brave Donn or lord of Ui Failglie, now OfFaly. This lord of 
Offaly must have been Afurchadh OConor, who defeated the 
English of jNIeath first in the year 1385, at the battle of 
Cruachdn Bri File [now Crochan, a well-known place in the 
present King's County] ; a second time in the year 1406, at the 
battle of Geisill [Geshill, in the same county] ; and a third time 
at cm Fochain [somewhere on the borders of Meath and 
OfFaly], in the year 1414. 

The foreigiiers were to receive another remarkable defeat at 
Ceann Feahhrat (on the borders of the counties of Cork and 
Limerick) ; and I believe that this was fulfilled in the year 1579, 
when the two sons of the Earl of Desmond mettSir Wilham 
Drury, the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, at Gort na Ti- 



iECT. XIX. 

Of the 
so-called 
"Prophecies" 
anterior to 
the time of 
St. rati ick. 
(" Prophe- 
cies'" as- 
cribed to 
Finn Mac 
CumhaiU.) 



396 



OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 



LECT. XIX. 

Of the 
so-called 
"Prophecies' 
anterior to 
the time of 
St. Patrick. 
(" Prophe- 
cies" as- 
cribed to 
Fm7i Mac 
CAmhaill.) 



The Legend 
of Finn's 
"Thumb of 
KnowledM". 



hrad, in tlie county of Limerick, not far from Ceann F'ebrat, 
and 'wliere tlie Englisli captains, Herbert, Eustace, and Spris, 
were killed, together with oOO of their men, immediately after 
which Sir William Drury himself died. 

After announcing these occurrences, the prophecy passes to 
the battle of Saimjel [Singland, near Limerick], where an oak 
of the house of O'Brien was to lead the native clanns against 
the enemy and defeat them with great slaughter, and then 
would the five provinces arise and expel the strangers alto- 
gether. This rising applies, doubtless, to the war of the latter 
part of Elizabeth's reign, and in which Hugh of Derry was to 
take a chief and successful part. This was, of course, the great 
Aedh Ruadh [Hugh Hoe] O'Donnell, and the poem must, I 
am very sure, have been written some fcAV years previous to the 
disastrous battle of Kinsale, in which Hugh was defeated and 
compelled to ily to Spain, where, as you are aware, that illus- 
trious chieftain soon afterwards died. 

It would be easy to analyze this whole prophecy, correct its 
incongruities, and fill in its dates and agents, if it were worth it; 
but as it is evidently a composition of the close of the sixteenth 
century (or a collection and continuation of some earlier local 
fugitive stanzas carried down to that period), I do not deem it 
worth any further notice, and shall therefore pass to another 
prophecy, ascribed, with equal veracity, to the same author. 

This second is a poem of forty lines, addressed by Finn Mac 
CumJiaill to some woman Avho recited a poem to him. The 
warrior prophet promises the coming of St. Patrick, who would 
bless Erinn, — all lauds would be measured by acres — the gray 
Saxons would be numerous — and he regrets his own inability 
to take part in their expulsion. Another word, however, would 
really be too much to waste on this piece. 

The history o^ Finn Mac CmnhailVs "Thumb of Knowledge", 
as related in the ancient Tales, is a very wild one indeed ; but 
it is so often alluded to that I may as well state it here. It is 
shortly this : upon a certain occasion this gallant warrior was 
hunting near Sliabh na m-Ban, in the present county of Tip- 
perary ; he was standing at a spring-well, when a strange woman 
came suddenly upon him, filled a silver tankard at the spring, 
and immediately afterwards walked away with it. Finn fol- 
lowed her, imperceived, until she came to the side of the hill, 
where a concealed door opened suddenly, and she walked in, 
Finn attempted to follow her farther, but the door was shut so 
quickly that he was only able to place his hand on the door- 
post, with the thumb inside. It was with great difficulty he 
was able to extricate the thumb; and, having done so, he ira- 



^ N OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 397 

^ metliately tlirust it, bruised as it was, into his mouth to ease the lect. xix. 

,. pain. No sooner had he done so, than he found himself pos- ^ 
w\sessed of the gift of foreseeinsf future events. This gift, how- so-caiied 

S ever, was not, we arc tokl, always present, bvit only when he anterlor'tT 

^ bruised or chewed the thumb between his teeth. (This legend st^pa™!jek 

'^ is found in the vellum MS., H. 3. 18., T.C.D.) Such is the 

1 1 veracious origin, handed down to us by the tradition of the 

' poets, of Finn Mac CumhailVs wonderful gift of prophecy ! 

i 

II The next and last of the so-called pagan prophecies, with "Prophecy" 

4 which I shall at present trouble you, consists of biit a few words, Patrick's 
^ which we generally meet in the form of a stanza of four lines, tdbiued'to 
I and relates exclusively to the coming of St. Patrick into Ireland, the piaids 
fcj^ It is found m all the ancient copies of the Saint's life that I have LaeghaiH. 
^ met. The history of this prophecy is, like itself, short enough. 
' Three years before the arrival of St. Patrick in Ireland, on his 
f^^ apostolic mission (that is, in the year 429), his coming was, it 
is stated, foretold as a fearful event to the pagan monarch Laeqh- 
^ aire, by his two chief Druids, Lochra and Luchat Mael, in the 
^ following words [see original in Appendix, No. CXXXIII.] : 
^ A Tailcenn wdll come over the raging sea, — [see p. 393.] 

v- With his perforated garment, his crook-headed staff, 

i With his table at the east end of his house, 

<) And all his people will answer, ' amen', ' amen'. 

The perforated garment is easily explained to be the Chasuble 
of the Catholic Priest; the crook-headed staff, the bishop's 
Pastoral Staff; and the table at the east end of his house, as the 
table of the Lord, tho Altar of the Church. 

Of the antiquity of this prophecy there can be no rational 
doubt, as we find it quoted by Macutenius; who, as already 
stated, wrote or transcribed some notes on the life of St. Patrick, 
some time before the year 700, which are preserved in the 
ancient Book of Armagh (fol. 2, page b, coL a), in which he 
says that the words of this little verse are not so plain on account 
of the idiom of the language. Macutenius does not give the 
original words, and his Latin translation of them clearly shows 
that he did not understand them. Probus also, who wrote a life 
of St. Patrick in Latin, in the tenth century (it is believed), 
quotes this prophecy, apparently from Macutenius, without the 
original words ; but he gives us a still more inaccurate translation 
than the former one. (See Trias Thaumaturgus, p. 49, col. a.) 
Now of all the pagan predictions of St. Patrick's apostolic 
mission, this alone has any colour of authenticity : not from any 
thing in its style or history, but from the fact that Christianity 
was fully established and extensively spread on the contin^it 



-., JU^^^iP ,^',',,^._,^ __. fJ^J/ g^n^^^^,,j^ Rte^^yr <>^U4^^, 

A^^/ /... 3^8^*^^/'^- OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES, , (/^ /T.'^f/ 

LECT. XIX. (and to some extent in Britain) in tlie reign of LaeghairS, ana?- 
from the liigh probability that his druids were well acquainted, J^^ 



' Prophecy' 



Patrick's 
coming, at- 
tributed to 
tlie Druids 



of Siimt if not with its doctrines, at least with its pecuhar external fea- 
tures and ceremonies ; and so, that from the fact of its having "^■ 
approached their own shores, and probably landed on them too, 

of" King they foresaw the inevitable consequence of its spreading over the 
atg air .. ^^^-^^^ \im.d. of Erimi, and the final overthrow of their own ancient 
system and the various institutions founded upon it. Tliis pro- 
phecy would not apply as much to Pallachus as to Patrick ; 
because although the former came one year earlier, he failed in 
his mission, whilst the success of the latter was complete and 
permanent. 

You may, if you wish, extend to Finn, Art, and Conn, the 
possibility of an acquaintance with Christianity, as well as to 
Laeghdires Druid ; but the probability is much more in favour 
of the latter. 

Of the "Pro- We now pass from our pagan to our Christian "Prophets"; 
cribed to the and amongst these we shall begin with St. Caillin of Fidhnacha 
Er'inn.°ahe Maiglie Rein (in the present county of Leitrim) ; who, according 
of sahiT'^"' ^^ ^^^^ ^i^'^' quoted in the Annals of the Four Masters, buried 
Caiiiu.) the great Conall Gulhan in his church in the year 464. 

The Life of St. Caillin, of which there is a vellum copy of 
the sixteenth century- in existence, contains a poem of 816 lines, 
ascribed to the saint himself, on the colonizations of Erinn, and 
the succession of its monarchs down to his own time, in the reign 
o^ Diarmaid, the son of Fergus CerrbJieoil, and in Avhich he 
" foretells" by name all the monarchs from Diarmaid down to 
. ,, Roderick O'Conor, in the year 1172. To this list he adds twelve 
^...../^J^^'^'^more, by fanciful descriptive names, the last of whom is to be 
'^.-^-^ Flann Cethach, in whose time Antichrist is to appear on earth, 
and of whom we shall have more to say a little further on. The 
" Prophet" then gives a list of the Ruaircs, Lords of BreifnS 
(Breifny), his native territory ; coming doAvn to gallant Ualgarg 
ORiiairc in the year 1241. Ten lords of the descendants of 
Ualgarg were to succeed himself Tlie last of these ten would 
be William Gorm (Blue William), who woidd plunder the saint's 
church at Fidhnacha, after which the sceptre would pass from 
his house. I have not been able to find any " Blue William 
O'Ruaire" in our annals ; but I find a William Ruadh (or red- 
haired William) O'Ruairc, Lord of Breifne, who died in the 
year 1430 ; and there is little doubt in my mind that this very 
glaring forgery was concocted in or about this time. This poem, 
which, as 1 have already said, contains 204 stanzas, or 816 fines, 
begins thus [see original in Appendix, No. CXXXIV.] : 



OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 399 

Great Erinn, Island of Angels". lect. 



There are many more prophetic rhymes interspersed through 
this Life of St. Caillin, but they were all written by the same 
' prophet' and at the same time as the first. 

The next of our Christian " prophets" was Beg Mac Be, who J<'J.™„f 
died in the year 556. He was the son of a Munster nobleman, Big Mac dl 
and held the office of poet and propliet at Tara, in the reign of 
the above king Diarmaid. He appears to have been a person 
of an eccentric character, more remarkable for ready wit than 
sound sense. He was a man, however, of a religious disposition, 
and well acquainted with St. Colum Cille, as well as with other 
distinguished ecclesiastics and scholars of his time. There are 
several fugitive stanzas, witty sentences, and prophetic sayings of 
his, scattered through our ancient writings, specimens of which 
may be seen in the Annals of the Foiu- Masters, at the years 478 
and 825. There is also what appears to be either a short collection 
or a continuous series of his prophetic prose sayings, preserved 
in the ancient vellum MS. already spoken of, (Harleian, 5280), 
in the British Museum. All the predictions in this little tract, 
which extends but about half a small folio page, are of an un- 
favourable character; they contain allusions to the Danish but 
none to the Anglo-Norman invasion, which I think plainly 
enough shows that they were written after the former, but before 
the latter. Indeed, the time of writing could, I beheve, be safely 
deduced from the first sentence of the piece, which runs as follows 
[see Appendix, No. CXXXV.] : " Wo is he who shall live to 
see in the land of the Gaedhil, the son succeed the father in 
[the primacy of] Ardmacha'' [Armagh.] This allusion to the 
son succeeding the father at Ardmacha would, I think, bring 
the composition of this prophecy down to about the year 940, 
when the lay usurpation of the Primacy commenced, which 
continued for 200 years afterwards ; but the allusion in the text 
to Aenghus Ua Flainn, successor of St. Brendan at Cluain Ferta 
(Clonfert, in the county of Galway), brings the time of the 
author down to the year 1036, in which O Flainn died. Beg 
Mac De is quoted also in the tract on the Danish wars, preserved 
in the Book of Leinster. 

The next, and the most popular of all our "prophets", is St. "^hlci^^f 
Colum Cille. It would be difficult, indeed, to fix on tire period saint coium 
at which prophetic sayings first began to be ascribed to this 
saint ; but the oldest MS. in which I have found him quoted 
as a prophet is the Book of Leinster, in a fragment of the his- 
tory of the Danish wars preserved in that book, and which must 



400 OF THE SO-CALLED PEOPHECIES. 

LKCT. XIX. have been compiled about the year 1150. The quotation con- 
sists but of the following stanza fsee original in Appendix, No. 

phecies as- KjJ%.Js^J^ V l.J . 

w^ o? ^^° " Those ships upon Loch Ree, 

}:}'"^\ (™?, Well do they mai^nify the paofan foreio^ners : 

of Saint They will give an Abbot to Ardmacha; 

" "'" ''' His will be the rule of a tyrant". 

This stanza has reference to the fleet of ships or boats which 
the Danes placed on the Upper Shannon, by means of which 
they plundered the churches and territories on both sides of the 
river. This was about the year 840, when Turgesius was the 
Danish leader, and when he made his wife supreme head of the 
great ecclesiastical city of Clonmacnois, and afterwards promoted 
himself to the Abbacy o^ Archnacha, as foretold (or rather, as I 
believe, aftertold) in this stanza. 

This stanza, however, is but a quotation from a poem of 360 
lines, which now exists, and in which it makes the tenth stanza ; 
or, what is more probable, this and a few more stanzas which 
appear to belong to it, were seized upon at a later period, and 
made the foundation of the present poem. 

This poem, which St. Colum Cille is said to have addressed 
to his friend and companion St. Baoithin, at lona, begins 
thus [see original in same Appendix] : 
" Attend, O excellent Baoiihin, 
To the voice of my bell in cold lona, 
Until I now relate to thee 
All that shall happen towards the world's end". 
The supposed prophet then gives a gloomy accoimt of what 
was to befal the Leath Chuinn, Conn's or the northern half of 
Erinn ; and the death of Cormac Mac CulHnan, king and arch- 
bishop of Cashel, in the year 903. Then comes the allusion to 
the fleet of Loch Ree, or the Upper Shannon — quite ovit of its 
proper place ; after which the battle of Clontarf is foretold. 
The prophet then passes down throiigh some of the Leinster 
and Munster kings and monarchs of Erinn to Muivclieartach (or 
Mortoch) O'Brien, who was to demolish Aileach, the ancient 
palace of the descendants of Niall of the Nine Hostages (situated 
in the present county of Derry) ; an event which occurred in the 
year 1101. Li this year, Murtoch O'Brien, monarch of Erinn, 
marched Avith a large force over JSas Ruaclh (at Ballyshannon), 
and from that to the above ancient palace of Griandn Ailigh, 
which he razed to the ground, ordering his men to carry back 
with them a stone of the building in every sack which had 
been emptied of its provisions upon the march ; and with these 
stones he afterwards built a parapet upon the top of his royal 



OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 401 

palace (whicli was situated on the site of the present cathedral lect. xix. 
of Limerick), as a perpetual memorial of his victory over the ofthe"Pro- 
ancient enemies of his house. r>hecies" as 

[I may here observe that this was not a wanton deed ofsaiiftsof 
destruction on the part of O'Brien, but a retaliation for some- upr"phecTe3^ 
diing of a similar insult which the northerns had, two hun- '^Jf'^^^K-,u. 
ored years before that, offered to the Dalcassians, when they 
made a sudden and unexpected rush into that country, and cut 
down and carried away by force, from the celebrated woods of 
Creatalach, [Cratloe, I beheve], as much prime oak as roofed 
and adorned the same palace o^ Aileacli?^ 

The prophecy goes on then to foretell that this indignity to 
the northerns should be avenged by Aedh (or Hugh), the 
valiant king of Tirconnell, who was to appear in 136 years 
after (that is, in the year 1237), and who was to be slain at 
Dubli]! by the sea-king, the son of Godfrey, after a reign of 
twenty-one years, that is, in 1258. Either the prophet or his 
transcriber of the poem is here, hoAvever, out in his calculation. 
No Hvigh O'Donnell of Tirconnell bore sway at or about the 
year 1258; nor have we any record, as far as I know, of any 
northern prince avenging the destruction of Aileach about this 
time, nor for 341 years after; that is, till the year 1599, when 
the great Red Hugh O'Donnell made a sudden irruption into 
Thomond, and plundered and ravaged tlie northern and north- 
eastern parts of it. And it is a remarkable fact that the fulfil- 
ment of this very prediction was at that time applied to him by 
the Dalcassian poet, Jiao^7^n Og Mac JBruaideadha [Mac Brody], 
whose cattle O'Donnell's people had carried on, but which 
O'Donnell, on the poet's demand, restored in full, whereupon 
the poet said [see original in Appendix, No. CXXXVIL] : 
" It was destined that, in revenge of Oileach, 

O Red Hugh ! the prophet foretold. 

The coming of thy troops to the land of Magh Adhair; 

From the north is sought the relief of all men". 
The prophecy then goes on to say that, in thirty years after, 
Aedh (but this is certainly a different Hugh, and this part of 
the poem is misplaced) Cliahhghlas (or Hugh the gray-bodied) 
would assume the rule of Erinn ; after whom there would be 
but seven sviccessors to the end of time, with twenty-seven 
years between each; that the last of them would be Flann 
Ciothach, in whose time would come the Brat Baghach, or 
Flag of Battles, and the Both Bamhach, or Rowing Wheel. 
This " rowing wheel" was to be a ship containing one thousand 
beds, and one thousand men in each bed; alike would this 
strange ship sail on sea and on land, nor would it furl its sails 

26 



492 OF THE SO-CALLED PROPHECIES. 

lECT. XIX . until it was wrecked by tlie Pillar-stone of Cndmliclwill. They 
would then be met by the brave chief oi CndmhchoiU, who 
phecies" as- Avo^ild cut them all off, so that not one of them shoiild ever 
sahfts of '^ cross the sea again. After this there woxild come a fleet to In- 
"Propiiede's" ^^^^''^ Domhiiann [the present bay of Malahide, in the county of 
9f J^ai'it Dublin]. This fleet was to consist of one thousand ships of all 
kinds. These would capture the cattle and women of Erinn ; 
and in the excess of their pride and confidence they would 
move on to Tara, where they woidd be overtaken by the king, 
Flann Ciothach [recte " GiuacJi", or the voracious]. A battle 
would ensue at the side of Rdith Chormaic, at the hill of Tara, 
and at the ford in the valley ; where almost a mutual annihi- 
lation of the contending forces would occur ; but the foreigners 
would be routed and followed to their ships, of which one barque 
only would escape over the sea. The foreigners, however, would 
leave twenty-seven famihes behind them, who were to mix with 
the natives, but who wo\dd be all destroyed (by the fiery bolt) 
at the festival of John the Baptist, which was to happen upon 
a Friday, and which would destroy three-fotaths of all men 
until it reached the Mediterranean sea. 

This part of the poem is evidently transposed, and shoiild 
have come in at or about the fourteenth stanza ; but it com- 
mences now at the sixty-seventh, and continues to the eighty- 
seventh stanza. And though this may appear to be a matter of 
very little moment, I shall presently show that restoring it to 
its proper place and time is a matter of the greatest importance 
in dealing with a curious subject which has not hitherto under- 
gone any thoroughly critical examination. 

As to the first prediction, that is, the coming of what is called 
the Brat Baghach or Flag of Battles, it is evident enough that 
this was to be a fleet of the Danes or Northmen, who were to 
be broken against the pillar-stone of Cndmhchoill. Now Cndmh- 
choill was an ancient wood situated near the present town of 
Tipperary ; and the history of the pillar-stone which stood in it, 
as it is handed down to us, is shortly this: — Mogh Ruith, the 
Archdruid of Erinn, ha"\ang, as we have seen in a former Lec- 
ture, exhausted the druidic knowledge of the best masters in 
Erinn and Scotland, travelled with his daughter into Italy, 
where they put themselves under the tuition of Simon Magus, 
and assisted him in his contention with the apostles. And it 
was with their assistance that Simon was said to have built the 
Roth Ramhacli, or " RoAving Wheel", by means of which he 
sailed in the air, to show that his miraculous powers were great