Texts

Táin bó Flidaise

  • Early Modern Irish
  • prose, verse
  • Ulster Cycle
Early Modern Irish recension of Táin bó Flidais, which relates how the exiled Ulster hero Fergus mac Róich obtained his wife Flidais after killing her husband Ailill Finn, king of the Ciarraige. In the earliest manuscript, it forms part of a longer narrative work about Fergus, beginning with Oidheadh Chloinne Uisnigh and concluding with a sequel entitled Tóraigheacht tána bó Flidaise.
For the shorter Old Irish version, see Táin bó Flidais.
Title
Táin bó Flidaise
Also known as Táin bó Flidhais, etc. In a colophon at the end of the Glenmasan manuscript, following Tóraigheacht tána bó Flidaise, the preceding texts are collectively referred to as Táin bó Flidaise con a Toruigheacht. It is a matter of some debate whether or not this also encompasses the first tale in the manuscript, Oidheadh Chloinne Uisnigh.
Manuscripts
At least two leaves in the first gathering of the MS are wanting so that the text is incomplete at the beginning.
Copy by Dáibhi Ó Duibhgeannáin (1671)
col. 345
Fragment containing the end of the tale.(1)n. 1 “In O'Donovan's time one leaf of this was in [[Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1317 |No. 1317]]” (T. K. Abbott • E. J. Gwynn, Catalogue of Irish MSS in TCD (1921): 100). See further, Tomás Ó Concheanainn, ‘The YBL Fragment of Táin Bó Flidais’, Celtica 13 (1980) and Tomás Ó Concheanainn, ‘A personal reference by Giolla Íosa Mac Fhir Bhisigh’, Celtica 18 (1986).
Language
  • Early Modern Irish
Form
prose, verse (primary)
prosimetrum

Classification

Ulster Cycle
Ulster Cycle
id. 1797

Sources

Notes

“In O'Donovan's time one leaf of this was in [[Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1317 |No. 1317]]” (T. K. Abbott • E. J. Gwynn, Catalogue of Irish MSS in TCD (1921): 100). See further, Tomás Ó Concheanainn, ‘The YBL Fragment of Táin Bó Flidais’, Celtica 13 (1980) and Tomás Ó Concheanainn, ‘A personal reference by Giolla Íosa Mac Fhir Bhisigh’, Celtica 18 (1986).

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

Edition wanted
A new, digital edition based on all manuscripts, with translation, is being prepared by Laura Malone.
[ed.] [tr.] Mackinnon, Donald [ed. and tr.], “The Glenmasan manuscript [part 1]”, The Celtic Review 1 (1904–1905): 3–17, 102–131, 208–229, 296–315.
CELT – edition: <link> CELT – translation: <link> Internet Archive: <link>
208–229, 296–315
[ed.] [tr.] Mackinnon, Donald [ed. and tr.], “The Glenmasan manuscript [part 2]”, The Celtic Review 2 (1905–1906): 20–33, 100–121, 202–223, 300–313.
CELT – edition: <link> CELT – translation: <link> Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive: <link>
[ed.] [tr.] Mackinnon, Donald [ed. and tr.], “The Glenmasan manuscript [part 3]”, The Celtic Review 3 (1906–1907): 10–25, 114–137, 198–215, 294–317.
CELT – edition: <link> CELT – translation: <link> Internet Archive: <link>
294–317
[ed.] [tr.] Mackinnon, Donald [ed. and tr.], “The Glenmasan manuscript [part 4]”, The Celtic Review 4 (1907–1908): 10–27, 104–121, 202–219.
CELT – edition: <link> CELT – translation: <link> Internet Archive: <link>
10–27 (continued by the Tóruigheacht at 104–121 and 202–219)
[ed.] Dobbs, Margaret E., “On Táin Bó Flidais”, Ériu 8 (1916): 133–149.
The Stowe extracts (B iv 1) corresponding to portions missing from Mackinnon's text.

Secondary sources (select)

Aldridge, R. B., “The routes described in the story called Táin bó Flidhais [part 1]”, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 91 (1961): 117–127, 219–228.
Aldridge, R. B., “The routes described in the story called Táin bó Flidhais [part 2]”, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 92 (1962): 21–39.
Bhreathnach, Edel, “Tales of Connacht: Cath Airtig, Táin bó Flidhais, Cath Leitreach Ruibhe, and Cath Cumair”, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 45 (Summer, 2003): 21–42.
Breatnach, Caoimhín, “Oidheadh Chloinne Uisnigh”, Ériu 45 (1994): 99–112.
Ó Concheanainn, Tomás, “The YBL Fragment of Táin Bó Flidais”, Celtica 13 (1980): 56–57.
Ó Concheanainn, Tomás, “A personal reference by Giolla Íosa Mac Fhir Bhisigh”, Celtica 18 (1986): 34.
Ó hUiginn, Ruairí, “Growth and development in the late Ulster Cycle: The case of Táin Bó Flidais”, in: Joseph Falaky Nagy (ed.), Memory and the modern in Celtic literatures, 5, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2006. 143–161.
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
April 2011, last updated: January 2024