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UJ the pResence of this Book in thej.m kelly Library has Been rru6e possiBle thRouqh the qeneROSity of Stephen B. Roman From the Library of Daniel Binchy ,j0B&& BOOKBIHOtRS EUSTACE ST kOljnv_\*VI IRISH TEXTS SOCIETY cumctNN Na s^mbeaNN nsaeoicse VOL. XXXIV (1932) 1938 Printed at thb By Ponsonby & Gibbs. LEBOR GABALA ERENN THE BOOK OF THE TAKING OF IRELAND Part I EDITED AND TRANSLATED, WITH NOTES, ETC. BY R. A. STEWART MACALISTER, D.Litt. DUBLIN : PUBLISHED FOR THE IRISH TEXTS SOCIETY BY THE EDUCATIONAL COMPANY OF IRELAND, LTD. 89 TALBOT STREET 1938 CONTENTS. Corrigenda v Table of Abbreviations vi Introduction ix SECTION I: FROM THE CREATION TO THE DISPERSAL OF THE NATIONS. Introduction CORRIGENDA. 2 3 : — p. xiii, line 23 after R add traceable in some quotations in R . line — of p. xv, 20: add At the top the first page of E there are two old library class-marks, A. 1. 8 and B. 35. Above the 8 there is the invocation Emanuel, faint but decipherable : between the two marks there is an illegible note, dia dui (?)... ib, with a date ending (1)753. p. xvi, line 10 : add — P was probably meant to complete an acephalous copy already in its writer's possession : hence the abrupt ending. p. xxiii, line 6 : after manuscripts add — I dare not flatter myself that these complex lists of variants contain no errors or omissions, but I feel confident that nothing of importance has been overlooked. p. xxxiv, line 2 : for VA read \fV. p. 8, line 6, below the table : for eleventh read twelfth. In line 8, after Madrid, — M is of add 2 , likewise at Madrid, the eleventh century. p. 12, line 21 : delete whether . importance. In line 24, after edge, add— The tear would have run in the opposite direction if it had been inflicted in the act of it later original pillage ; must have been a misdemeanour, to remove from the leaf matter not germane to its new context. p. 163, line 14 : for Dula read Dala. 29 footnote : of the Irenaeus text. p. 223, ( ) after version add — line : p. 239, 15 add This poem is printed, Todd Lectures, iii, p. 46. TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS AND CRITICAL SYMBOLS. — 1 . Notation for Redactions : R3 the Third Redactions. R\ R\ , First, Second, Min or /<, the version called Mlniugud. K, the modernised version of Micheal 6 Cleirigh. 2. Notation for the Extant Manuscripts : — A : Stowe A.2.4. A : Book of Lecan, first text. B : Book of Ballymote. M : Book of Lecan, second /3: H. 2.4 in T.C.D. text. 1 /3 : H.1.15 in T.C.D. P : P.10266 in National 2 j3 : Stowe D.* 3.2. Library, Dublin. D : Stowe D.4.3. R : Rawl.B.512 in Bodleian E: E.3.5. no. 2 in T.C.I). Library. 1 1 F : Book of Fermoy. V : Stowe D.5.1. 2 3 F : Stowe D.3.1. V : Stowe D.4.1. 3 H : 11.2.15 no. 1 in T.C.D. V : Stowe D.1.3. L : Book of Leinster. 1 R is contained in L, F. 2 R » „ „ A,D,E,AP,R,V. R3 » „ „ B, /i p,ft\ H,M. Min is suffixed to the copies of R- in A, R,V. To distinguish the portions of these MSS. containing the Min text from those the Br text containing ? the symbols ^A, ^R, ^V are used for the former. K is contained in a number of paper MSS., but for purposes of reference the authoritative autograph (23 K 32 in R.I. A.) has been considered sufficient. •For the sake of brevity the shelf-marks of the Stowe collection are here stated in Arabic numerals, though Konian numerals are used in the Library. ABBREVIATIONS AND CRITICAL SYMBOLS, vii Where it is necessary to refer to any combination of all of two of the j3 MSS., or to three them, on as is the formula fi (varied required) used for brevity. 1 are of one dismembered MS. F , F\ parts collectively denoted by F. 1 3 V3 are of one dismembered MS. V V , , , parts collectively denoted by V. 3. Notation for Lost Manuscripts of Critical Importance : — *a, *x, *w, *z. *y B, the exemplar from which B was copied. 1/ B, the exemplar from which v/B was copied. £/ B, a MS. in the ancestry of B at an unspecified number of steps back from it. (Analogous symbolism for the ancestry of the other MSS.) v/BH, the common ancestor of B and H. [But Hv/B means the extant MS. H in combination with v/B.] oo 3 the of the Third or the R , autograph Redaction, compiler of the Third Redaction, according to the con Lex t. oo L, the Manuscript in which the tradition repre- sented by L was differentiated from the other MSS. of the same Redaction. 3 the from which all the extant v/R , Manuscript Manuscripts of the Third Redaction are derived or not be identical with ooR 3 (which may may ). (Analogous symbolism for the ancestry of other MSS. and Versions.) Note.—R alone denotes the Bodleian MS. R with a ; " superscript numeral is to be read Redaction." 4. Miscellaneous abbreviations : — c : Correction, corrector (according to context). : a in the text. g Gloss, glossator ; gloss incorporated viii ABBREVIATIONS AND CRITICAL SYMBOLS. or a also g-: a secondary gloss, gloss upon gloss, incorporated in the text. external to the 3 : a gloss which remains text, super- or in script (sprs), subscript (sbs), the margin (marg) of the MS. 2 : s scribe of a MS. : the s Scribe s\ , first, second, is to be read y : Interpolation, interpolator, yc M " interpolated by a corrector of M." y sprs s M " interpolated, above the line, by the original scribe of M". (y is used in preference to i as being a more distinctive letter.) LG : The name of the text, Lebor Gabala. " " s., d. : in the translation, to be read son of," daughter of." om, ins, in the lists of variae lectiones, to be read "omit(s)," "insert(s)." sec. man. = secunda manu. R.I.A. : Royal Irish Academy. T.C.D. : Trinity College, Dublin. : sections of § The the book. II : The paragraphs of the book. The glossarial or other interpolated matter in the is the . text denoted by signs \ || secondary 1 1 marked ... : these glosses being + II symbols are more fully elucidated, where necessary, in the notes. The columns on each folio of the MS. are denoted in letters a the the usual way by the Greek /3 y S, recto and verso being numbered thus contin- uously. In most cases a \6 are on the recto, 7 § on the verso. Except in the case of the 2 is MSS. H, f3, j3\ j3 the numeration by folios, not by pages. In the translation, glossarial matter is enclosed in of brackets ; the restoration lost square | ] matter in angled brackets < > . INTRODUCTION. Lebor GabCila Erenn, a title which we can Lest translate literally, "the Book of the Taking- of Ireland," is a com- pilation which professes to narrate the history of the successive colonists of that country. The earlier Redactions have come down to us, in whole or in part, in fifteen mss. (counting F, V, as one each, but counting separately the two versions in the Book of Lecan). These have been enumerated in the foregoing table, and are more fully described below. For critical purposes, however, the number has to be reduced to eleven. A is a direct (and very poor) copy of 1 2 D, and gives us nothing that D cannot supply : while ft ft /3 are all derivatives from B, and are thus of no use except to restore one folio, which B lost at some time after they were written. Although these manuscripts agree, on the whole, in the facts, or alleged facts, which they set forth, the words in which they state them differ profoundly. They fall into redactional groups, essentially at variance in the selection and order of presentment of the narratives, and in the language in which these are expressed. The editor has no alternative but to print them in extenso, independently of 1 one another. A single composite text, with an unmanageably cumbrous sediment of variae lectiones at the bottom of the page, would be perfectly useless for any critical student of this important document and of its complex history. It may be said that this conclusion has not been reached without experiment. 1 There are a few places in which this is not necessary, but these are exceptional. b x INTRODUCTION. The work is primarily paedagogic, for which purpose it is interspersed with mnemonic sets of verses, intended to be Learned off by heart. To the modern reader these verses are an un mitigated nuisance, rarely adding anything to what he has already learnt from the prose text; nevertheless it is clear that they are the foundation on which the whole work, in its present form, is based. The corpus of historical verse became the common reservoir of knowledge upon which the prose drew and the selections which made therefrom compilers ; they dictated the selection of facts which they set forth in the several redactions. For this reason, the treatment of the verse has to be different from that of the prose : it has been found most convenient (again after experiment) to separate the verse texts from the prose, and to print them independently. It is probable, indeed, that this is a return to the practice of the original prose redactors; that they did not write out the verse compositions in full, but merely jotted down as cues the opening words of each in the margins of their mss., in the confidence that their readers would already have these texts securely in their heads, as they themselves had.