Ruairí Ó Huiginn ([email protected])

Ruairí Ó hUiginn ([email protected]) 23N10: the Book of Ballycummin  Written 1575 in the house of Seaán Ó Maoil Chonaire, Baile in Chuimine (Ballycummin,  14 vellum folios + 132 pages (paper)  Scribes: Aodh, Dubthach; Tórna Ó Maoil Chonaire  C.80 texts, prose & verse  ‘uncouth’ orthography (S. Hayes O’Grady) Texts  A concentration of very early texts, e.g. Audacht Morainn, Verba Scáthaige, Apgitir Chrábaid, Immram Brain, Echtra Chonnla Chaím, Baile Chuind Chétchathaig, Bríathra Flainn Fína, etc.

Several associated with Cín Dromma Snechtai  Other Old and Middle-Irish compositions  Many of these texts are found in other MSS (15th & 16th cent.) but not in the same concentration  ‘Connacht Group’ (Ó Con Cheanainn, 1988) Exemplar  Copied from a single exemplar (?)  Context ?  Scholar’s book (?) :  Source/archival MS of a learned family (?) 23N10: Ulster Cycle Texts  Tochmarc Emire (Rec. 2, containing Verba Scáthaige 2) (pp. 11–12, 21–24, 113–17, 119–24, 25–6, 125–28)  Dindshenchas of Emain Macha (p.68)  Verba Scáthaige Rec. 1 (p.68)  Forfess Fer Fálgae (p.70)  Compert Con Culainn (p. 62)  Aided Chonchubair (p.16)

 Provenance and transmission of these texts? Ulster Cycle of Tales 1  C.80 sagas, poems & shorter prose compositions  Composed and redacted over many centuries  Served different functions: ‘historical’ narratives, exemplary myths, vehicles for moral and societal precepts, heroic ideals, legal precepts, political propaganda, genealogy, dindshenchas, caricature & burlesque, entertainment. Ulster Cycle of Tales 2  Origins obscure but to be sought among the Ulaid whose ancestors the tales celebrate

 East Ulster home to many important ecclesiastical foundations, e.g. Bangor, Dún Dá Lethglais (Downpatrick), Movilla, Nendrum,

 Cín Dromma Snechtai (Bangor?) Ulster Cycle of Tales 3  Compositions belonging to the Ulster Cycle found in the oldest stratum of narrative literature

 Ulster traditions became embedded in a ‘national’ historical narrative associated with the origins of peoples in different parts of Ireland: cf the prominence of Fergus mac Roích & Conall Cernach in the genealogies Armagh

 Patrician legend  Senchas Már  Revision of annals  Reshaping of genealogies  Written register of Old Irish 23N10: Ulster Cycle  Tochmarc Emire (Rec. 2, containing Verba Scáthaige 2 and the Dindshenchas of Emain Macha)

 Verba Scáthaige 1 (CDS)  Forfess Fer Fálgae (CDS)  Compert Con Culainn (CDS)  Aided Chonchubair (CDS) Transmission of Ulster Cycle  Tochmarc Emire ‘The wooing of Emer’  Verba Scáthaige ‘Scáthach’s prophecy’

 Táin Bó Cúailnge (Rec. 1) ‘The cattle-raid of Cooley’ Tochmarc Emire  2 Recensions (Toner)  Recension 1: 8th century. (Rawlinson B512) (incomplete)

 Recension 2: 11th century (LU, BL Harley 5280, BL Egerton 92, Book of Fermoy, RIA D iv 2, RIA 23 N 10) Verba Scáthaige  2 Recensions  Rec. A. 32 lines (Rawlinson B512; BL Egerton 1782; BL Egerton 88; RIA 23N10) Not embedded in Tochmarc Emire

 Rec. B: 81 lines. Embedded in Tochmarc Emire 2 Táin Bó Cúailnge Rec. 1  LU, YBL, Egerton 1782, Maynooth O’Curry 1  Multi-layered text  Old Irish core  Episodes subsequently added  Association with Louth toponyms (e.g. Comrac Fir Diad 7 Con Culainn) Verba Scáthaige: Táin Bó Cúailnge  Prophecy in VS 1 relates to early version of TBC  Prophecy in VS 2 relates to expanded version of TBC Lebor na hUidre (c.1100 AD Clonmacnoise)  Earliest MS witness for Táin Bó Cúailnge, Tochmarc Emire (TE2 & VS2)  Earliest witness for texts associated with Cín Dromma Snechtai

 Some texts in LU copied from MSS associated with Armagh and Monasterboice Lebor na hUidre & ‘Connacht Group’

 LU not the direct source of CDS and other early texts found in MSS of Connacht Group

 Many texts found in common between LU and Connacht Group go back to shared exemplar(s) found in Clonmacnoise 11th century but now lost  Exemplar(s) or copies thereof entered Connacht literary tradition afterwards  How? Connacht Group

 MSS of 15th & 16th centuries

 MS of Giolla Comáin Ua Conghaláin (= Giolla Comáin Ua Conghalaigh , fer légind of Ros Comáin, †1135)  mentioned as source by O’Davoren, scribe of Egerton 88 Uí Mhaoil Chonaire 1  Connacht Group associations with Uí Mhaoil Chonaire  BL Egerton 1782 (1517–18: sons of Seaán mac Tórna Ó Maoil Chonaire)  Oxford Bodleian Rawlinson B512 (15th-16th cent. Maeleachlainn, Seaán, Conchubhar Ó Maoil Chonaire)  BL Harley 5280 (1506: An Giolla Riabhach Ó Cléirigh @ Corrlios Conaill, Co. Roscommon) Uí Mhaoil Chonaire 2  Long-established family of historians (Walsh)  Historians of Síol Muireadhaigh (the O’Connors)  Establishment of Cluain Bolcáin 1232  Associations with LU (and Clonmacnoise?)  Clonmacnoise exemplars entered possession of Uí Mhaoil Chonaire late 12th or 13th century?  Uí Mhaoil Chonaire library/archive forms the basis of the Connacht Group Transmission (?)  1. East Ulster  2. Armagh (Louth, Monasterboice)  3. Clonmacnoise  4. Uí Mhaoil Chonaire  5. Late Medieval Connacht Group (23N10)

 Cf. transmission of Irish Annals Go raibh maith agaibh Thank You! Ruairí Ó hUiginn ([email protected]) 23N10: the Book of Ballycummin  Written 1575 in the house of Seaán Ó Maoil Chonaire, Baile in Chuimine (Ballycummin,  14 vellum folios + 132 pages (paper)  Scribes: Aodh, Dubthach; Tórna Ó Maoil Chonaire  C.80 texts, prose & verse  ‘uncouth’ orthography (S. Hayes O’Grady) Texts  A concentration of very early texts, e.g. Audacht Morainn, Verba Scáthaige, Apgitir Chrábaid, Immram Brain, Echtra Chonnla Chaím, Baile Chuind Chétchathaig, Bríathra Flainn Fína, etc.

 East Ulster home to many important ecclesiastical foundations, e.g. Bangor, Dún Dá Lethglais (Downpatrick), Movilla, Nendrum,

 Cín Dromma Snechtai (Bangor?) Ulster Cycle of Tales 3  Compositions belonging to the Ulster Cycle found in the oldest stratum of narrative literature

 Táin Bó Cúailnge (Rec. 1) ‘The cattle-raid of Cooley’ Tochmarc Emire  2 Recensions (Toner)  Recension 1: 8th century. (Rawlinson B512) (incomplete)

 Some texts in LU copied from MSS associated with Armagh and Monasterboice Lebor na hUidre & ‘Connacht Group’

 LU not the direct source of CDS and other early texts found in MSS of Connacht Group

 MSS of 15th & 16th centuries

 East Ulster home to many important ecclesiastical foundations, e.g. Bangor, Dún Dá Lethglais (Downpatrick), Movilla, Nendrum,

 Cín Dromma Snechtai (Bangor?) Ulster Cycle of Tales 3  Compositions belonging to the Ulster Cycle found in the oldest stratum of narrative literature

 Táin Bó Cúailnge (Rec. 1) ‘The cattle-raid of Cooley’ Tochmarc Emire  2 Recensions (Toner)  Recension 1: 8th century. (Rawlinson B512) (incomplete)

 Some texts in LU copied from MSS associated with Armagh and Monasterboice Lebor na hUidre & ‘Connacht Group’

 LU not the direct source of CDS and other early texts found in MSS of Connacht Group

 MSS of 15th & 16th centuries

 Cf. transmission of Irish Annals Go raibh maith agaibh Thank You! RIA MS 23 N 10. Acadamh RIoga na hEireann, 7 Márta 2019 R. 0 hUiginn, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (ruairi@celt dias.ie)

1 Ulster Cycle texts in 23 N 10 (a) Tochniarc Entire (Rec 2), (b) Dmdshenchas of Emain Macha, (c) Verba Scdthaige (Rec 1), (d) Forfes Per Falga, (e) Coni pert Con Culamn (f) Aided Cho;ichu hair

2. Toclnnarc Entire, (Rec. 2) [(LU, BE Harley 5280, BL Egerton 92, Book of Fermoy, RIA D iv 2, RIA 23 N 10) Verha Scathaige [Rec .1 (Rawl. B512; BL Egerton 17B2, BL Egerton 88, RIA 23N10) Thin Bó Cuazlnge [LU, YBL, Egerton 1782, Maynooth O’Curry 11

References

Best, R. I , 23 N 10 Facsimile (Dublin, 1954) Breatnach, L, The Eaily J,’islz Law Text Senc/zas Mar and the Question of its Date Quiggin Lecture Series 13 (Cambridge, 2011)

Evans, N , The Present and the Past in Medieval Iris/i Chronicles (Woodbridge, 2010) Henry, P L, ‘Verba Scdthazge’, Ce/twa 21 (1990), 191—207 Kelleher, J V. ‘The Tam and the Annals’, Eriu 22 (1971), 107—127 Mac Eom, C. S. ‘The interpolator H in Lebor na hUidre’, in. J. P. Mallory & C. Stockman (eds) Ulidia. Proceedings of the First International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales (Belfast, 1994), 39—46 Mulchrone, K, Catalogue of Iris/i Manuscnpts in the Royal Iris/i Academy. Fasciculus 22 (Dublin, 1940) O Con Cheanainn, T, ‘A Connacht medieval literary heritage Texts derived from Cm Dromma Snechtai through Leabhar na hUidhre’, CMCS 16 (1988), 1—40 o Corráin, D., ‘What happened Ireland’s medieval manuscripts’, Peritia 22—3 (2011— 12), 191—223 O Corráin, D, ‘Mael Murre: the scribe, family and background’, in R 6 hUigrnn (ed) Lebor na liUidic Codices 1-Ithernenses Exunu I (Dublin, 2015), 1—27 O Corrám, D., Claws Litteraruni Htheinensiuni I—Ill (Turnhout, 2017) O hUigrnn, R, ‘Lebor na hUidre: From Clonmacnoise to Kilbarron’, in R 6 hUiginn (ed) Lebor na hUidre. Codices Hibernenses Exunu I (Dublin, 2015) 155—82 Stifter, D., ‘Ulster connections of CIn Dromma Snechtai’, in M B. 0 Mainnmn & C. Toner (eds) Lllidia 4 Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales (Dublin, 2017), 23—37 Thurneysen, R., Zn irisclien Handschriften und Litteiatuidenkmalein (Berlin, 1912) Thurneysen, R ,Die iriscite Helden— und Konigsage his rum sieb:ehnten Ja/ithundeit (HaIle, 1921) Toner, C., ‘The transmission of Tochmatc Emire’, Eriu, 49 (1998), 71—88 Walsh, P., Irish Men of Learning (ed. C 0 Lochlainn. Dublin, 1947).