Texts

Ríagail Phátraic ‘Rule of Patrick’

  • Old Irish
  • Early Irish law texts, Irish religious texts
Tract on the relationship between church and laity.
Author
Ascribed to: Saint Patrick
Saint Patrick
(fl. 5th century)
No short description available

See more
In the Book of Lismore, this text is (incorrectly) attributed to St Patrick.
Language
  • Old Irish
Date
8th century (Sharpe).(2)n. 2 Richard Sharpe, ‘Some problems concerning the organization of the church in early medieval Ireland’, Peritia 3 (1984): 252. or 9th century (Kelly).(3)n. 3 Patricia Kelly, ‘The Rule of Patrick: textual affinities’ in Ireland and Europe in the early Middle Ages... (2002): 287.
Provenance
Origin: Ard Macha
Ard Macha ... Armagh
County Armagh
No short description available

See more

“The ascription to St Patrick is manifestly false, but taken with the Rule’s appeal to the ‘Testament of Patrick’ (timna Pátraic) and assertion of an authority extending to all Ireland, it points to Armagh as its place of composition” (Follett).(4)n. 4 Westley Follett, Céli Dé in Ireland (2006): 142–143.

Classification

Early Irish law textsEarly Irish law texts
...

Irish religious textsIrish religious texts
...

Sources

Notes

Westley Follett, Céli Dé in Ireland (2006): 142–143.
Patricia Kelly, ‘The Rule of Patrick: textual affinities’ in Ireland and Europe in the early Middle Ages... (2002): 287.
Westley Follett, Céli Dé in Ireland (2006): 142–143.

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.

[ed] [tr.] OʼKeeffe, J. G. [ed. and tr.], “The Rule of Patrick”, Ériu 1 (1904): 216–224.
Internet Archive: <link>
Edition and translation based on TCD 1336.
[dipl. ed.] Binchy, D. A. [ed.], Corpus iuris Hibernici, 7 vols, vol. 6, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1978.  
comments: numbered pp. 1926–2343; diplomatic edition of legal material from:
  • Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1336 (continued)
  • Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1387
  • Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 502
  • Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1308
  • London, British Library, MS Additional 4783
  • London, British Library, MS Nero A 7
  • Copenhagen, Det Kongelige Bibliotek, MS NKS 261b
  • Dublin, National Library of Ireland, MS G 3
  • Dublin, National Library of Ireland, MS G 11
  • Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS C i 2
  • Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1318/16
  • Dublin, Trinity College, MS E 3. 3
CIH 2129.6–2130.37 Diplomatic edition of the text in TCD 1336.
[ed.] [tr.] Stokes, Whitley [ed. and tr.], Lives of saints from the Book of Lismore, Anecdota Oxoniensia, Mediaeval and Modern Series, 5, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1890.
CELT: <link> Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive: <link>, <link> Internet Archive: <link>
135, 359 (notes) Book of Lismore version. The corresponding Leabhar Breac version of this fragment is edited and translated in the notes. direct link direct link
[ed.] [tr.] Reeves, William, The Culdees of the British Islands, as they appear in history: with an appendix of evidences, Dublin: Gill, 1864.
HathiTrust: <link>
Fragment embedded in the ‘Rule of the Céli Dé’.

Secondary sources (select)

Kelly, Patricia, “The Rule of Patrick: textual affinities”, in: Próinséas Ní Chatháin, and Michael Richter (eds), Ireland and Europe in the early Middle Ages: texts and transmissions / Irland und Europa im früheren Mittelalter: Texte und Überlieferung, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2002. 284–295.
Sharpe, Richard, “Some problems concerning the organization of the church in early medieval Ireland”, Peritia 3 (1984): 230–270.
Follett, Westley, Céli Dé in Ireland: monastic writing and identity in the early Middle Ages, Studies in Celtic History, 23, Woodbridge, 2006.
142–143
Contributors
C. A., Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
September 2012, last updated: January 2024