Manuscripts

Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1339 Book of Leinster

  • Irish, Latin
  • s. xii2
  • Irish manuscripts
  • paper + vellum
Identifiers
Location
Shelfmark
H 2. 18
Classification
Cat. no. 1339
Title
Book of Leinster
Lebor Laignech, or in Modern Irish, Leabhar Laighneach; also known as the Book of Nuachongbáil (Lebor na Nuachongbála)
Type
manuscript miscellanies Irish religious literature Irish narrative literature vernacular Irish verse Irish histories Irish genealogies
Provenance and related aspects
Language
Irish Secondary: Latin
Date
s. xii2
Second half of the 12th century.
Origin, provenance
Origin: Ireland
Ireland
No short description available

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ass. with Mac Murchada (Díarmait)
Mac Murchada (Díarmait)
(c.1110–1171)
king of Leinster, son of Donnchad Mac Murchada (d. 1115)

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It has been suggested that Díarmait Mac Murchada was a patron of the MS. See, for instance, Pádraig Ó Macháin, ‘A poem on Diarmaid Mac Murchadha in the Book of Leinster’, Celtica 30 (2018).
Later provenance: ass. with Ó Mhorda familyÓ Mhorda family
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.

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Later provenance: ass. with Lhuyd (Edward)
Lhuyd (Edward)
(d. 1709)
No short description available

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Purchased by Edward Lhuyd (c. 1660-1709) while on tour through Ireland in c.1700.
Later provenance: ass. with Ware (James)
Ware (James)
(d. 1666)
(Sir) James Ware, Irish scholar, historian and antiquarian

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Origin, provenance
Terryglass (Co. Tipperary); possibly Oughaval or Clonenagh (Co. Laois)
Hands, scribes
Úa Crimthainn (Áed) [abbot of Terryglass]
Úa Crimthainn (Áed) ... abbot of Terryglass
(fl. 12th c.)
abbot and coarb of Terryglass (Tír Dá Glas), near Lough Derg, and one of the scribes and compilers of the Book of Leinster.

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Anonymous [LL scribe for bishop Finn of Kildare]Anonymous ... LL scribe for bishop Finn of Kildare
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.

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Anonymous [LL scribe T]Anonymous ... LL scribe T
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.

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Anonymous [LL scribe U]Anonymous ... LL scribe U
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.

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Anonymous [LL scribe M]Anonymous ... LL scribe M
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.

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Anonymous [LL scribe S]Anonymous ... LL scribe S
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.

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William O'Sullivan (1966) has detected four main hands, two of whom can be associated with known scholars:
  1. Áed Úa Crimthainn, abbot and coarb of Terryglass, the main scribe and compiler
  2. A hand associated with Finn, bishop of Kildare
  3. Hand T, whose “style [is] common to the Táin and the Togail Troí” (p. 7)
  4. Hand U, whose “style [is] characterised by the frequent use of uncial a in medial positions” (p. 7)

In addition, O'Sullivan refers to “two subsidiary styles, each of which occurs once only”.

  1. Hand M was responsible for the copy of Mesca Ulad.
  2. Hand S, who appears to have been employed by Áed to continue the copy of Cath Maige Mucrama.
Hands indexed:
Hand A So-called because of his identification with Áed Úa Crimthainn, abbot and coarb of Terryglass, the main scribe and compiler. Áed Úa Crimthainn [abbot of Terryglass]Úa Crimthainn (Áed) ... abbot of Terryglass
(fl. 12th c.)
Úa Crimthainn (Áed), Áed Úa Crimthainn, mac Crimthainn (Áed)
abbot and coarb of Terryglass (Tír Dá Glas), near Lough Derg, and one of the scribes and compilers of the Book of Leinster.
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Hand F Hand F, so-called because his assumed association with Finn, bishop of Kildare. Anonymous [LL scribe for bishop Finn of Kildare]Anonymous ... LL scribe for bishop Finn of Kildare
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.

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Hand M was responsible for the copy of Mesca Ulad on ff. 261b25-268. Anonymous [LL scribe M]Anonymous ... LL scribe M
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.

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Hand S Takes over from F to continue the copy of Cath Maige Mucrama and to copy some other prose texts (289-308). Anonymous [LL scribe S]Anonymous ... LL scribe S
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.

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Hand T1 See Duncan (2012)
Hand T2 See Duncan (2012)
Hand T3 See Duncan (2012)
Hand T4 See Duncan (2012)
Hand U See Duncan (2012) Anonymous [LL scribe U]Anonymous ... LL scribe U
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.

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Patron
possibly Díarmait Mac Murchada
Codicological information
Material
paper + vellum
Dimensions
33 cm × 23 cm
33 cm x 23 cm (= c. 13 inch x 9 inch).
Condition
A note in the manuscript says that 45 leaves are lost
Distinct units
pp. 355–374

The last leaf of this manuscript (pp. 375–376) did not belong to LL.

pp. 377–410

A 16th-century supplement to the Book of Leinster.

Table of contents
Legend
Texts

Links to texts use a standardised title for the catalogue and so may or may not reflect what is in the manuscript itself, hence the square brackets. Their appearance comes in three basic varieties, which are signalled through colour coding and the use of icons, , and :

  1. - If a catalogue entry is both available and accessible, a direct link will be made. Such links are blue-ish green and marked by a bookmark icon.
  2. - When a catalogue entry does not exist yet, a desert brown link with a different icon will take you to a page on which relevant information is aggregated, such as relevant publications and other manuscript witnesses if available.
  3. - When a text has been ‘captured’, that is, a catalogue entry exists but is still awaiting publication, the same behaviour applies and a crossed eye icon is added.

The above method of differentiating between links has not been applied yet to texts or citations from texts which are included in the context of other texts, commonly verses.

Locus

While it is not a reality yet, CODECS seeks consistency in formatting references to locations of texts and other items of interest in manuscripts. Our preferences may be best explained with some examples:

  • f. 23ra.34: meaning folio 23 recto, first column, line 34
  • f. 96vb.m: meaning folio 96, verso, second column, middle of the page (s = top, m = middle, i = bottom)
    • Note that marg. = marginalia, while m = middle.
  • p. 67b.23: meaning page 67, second column, line 23
The list below has been collated from the table of contents, if available on this page,Progress in this area is being made piecemeal. Full and partial tables of contents are available for a small number of manuscripts. and incoming annotations for individual texts (again, if available).Whenever catalogue entries about texts are annotated with information about particular manuscript witnesses, these manuscripts can be queried for the texts that are linked to them.

Sources

Primary sources This section typically includes references to diplomatic editions, facsimiles and photographic reproductions, notably digital image archives, of at least a major portion of the manuscript. For editions of individual texts, see their separate entries.

[dig. img.] “Trinity College, Dublin”, Anne-Marie OʼBrien, and Pádraig Ó Macháin, Irish Script on Screen (ISOS) – Meamrám Páipéar Ríomhaire, Online: School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1999–present. URL: <https://www.isos.dias.ie/collection/tcd.html>.
Digital image reproduction, with catalogue description direct link
[dipl. ed.] Best, Richard Irvine, Osborn Bergin, M. A. OʼBrien, and Anne OʼSullivan [eds.], The Book of Leinster, formerly Lebar na Núachongbála, 6 vols, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1954–1983.
CELT – 1-260: <link> CELT – 400-470 (excl. Táin bó Cúailnge): <link> CELT – 471-638 and 663 (excl. Dinnshenchas Érenn): <link> CELT – 761-781 and 785-841 (excl. Dinnshenchas Érenn and Togail Troí): <link> CELT – 1119-1192 and 1202-1325 (excl. Esnada tige Buchet and Fingal Rónáin ): <link>
Diplomatic edition
[dipl. ed.] Best, Richard Irvine, Osborn Bergin, and M. A. OʼBrien, The Book of Leinster, formerly Lebar na Núachongbála, vol. 1, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1954. 260 pp. + 4 pl.
CELT – edition (pp. 1-260): <link>
[dipl. ed.] Best, Richard Irvine, and M. A. OʼBrien, The Book of Leinster, formerly Lebar na Núachongbála, vol. 2, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1956. xi + pp. 261-470 + 2 pl.
CELT – pp. 400-470: <link>
[dipl. ed.] Best, Richard Irvine, and M. A. OʼBrien, The Book of Leinster, formerly Lebar na Núachongbála, vol. 3, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1957. xxi + pp. 471-760.
CELT – pp. 471-638 and 663: <link>
[dipl. ed.] Best, Richard Irvine, and M. A. OʼBrien, The Book of Leinster, formerly Lebar na Núachongbála, vol. 4, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1965. xxvii + pp. 761-1117.
CELT – pp. 761-781 and 785-841: <link>
[dipl. ed.] Best, Richard Irvine, and M. A. OʼBrien, The Book of Leinster, formerly Lebar na Núachongbála, vol. 5, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1967. xv + pp. 1119-1325.
CELT – pp. 1119-1192 and 1202-1325: <link>
[dipl. ed.] OʼSullivan, Anne [ed.], The Book of Leinster, formerly Lebar na Núachongbála, vol. 6, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1983. xv + pp. 1327-1708.
CELT – pp. 1327–1595 (excl. pp. 1596–1708): <link>
[facs. ed.] Atkinson, Robert [ed.], The Book of Leinster sometime called the Book of Glendalough: a collection of pieces (prose and verse) in the Irish language, compiled, in part, about the middle of the twelfth century, Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1880.
Facsimile edition, with introduction and indexes.

Secondary sources (select)

Duncan, Elizabeth, “A reassessment of the script and make-up of Lebor na Nuachongbála”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 59 (2012): 27–66.
Mac Eoin, Gearóid, “The provenance of the Book of Leinster”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 57 (2009–2010): 79–96.
Manning, Gerald, “The later marginalia in the Book of Leinster”, Celtica 24 (2003): 213–222.
Bhreathnach, Edel, “Two contributors to the Book of Leinster: Bishop Finn of Kildare and Gilla na Náem Úa Duinn”, in: Michael Richter, and Jean-Michel Picard (eds), Ogma: essays in Celtic studies in honour of Próinséas Ní Chatháin, Dublin: Four Courts, 2002. 105–111.
Ó Concheanainn, Tomás, “LL and the date of the reviser of LU”, Éigse 20 (1984): 212–225.
OʼSullivan, William, “Notes on the scripts and make-up of the Book of Leinster”, Celtica 7 (1966): 1–31.
Gwynn, Aubrey, “Some notes on the history of the Book of Leinster”, Celtica 5 (1960): 8–12.
Abbott, T. K., and E. J. Gwynn, Catalogue of the Irish manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, Dublin: Hodges, Figgis & Co, 1921.
Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive: <link>
158–161. direct link
Contributors
C. A., Dagmar Schlüter, Dennis Groenewegen, Patrick Brown
Page created
November 2010, last updated: December 2023