UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE DEPARTMENT OF ANGLO -SAXON , NORSE AND CELTIC A CRITICAL EDITION OF TOCHMARC FERBE WITH TRANSLATION , TEXTUAL NOTES AND LITERARY COMMENTARY REBECCA MARY SHERCLIFF ST JOHN ’S COLLEGE August 2018 This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ABSTRACT Thesis Title: A Critical Edition of Tochmarc Ferbe with Translation, Textual Notes and Literary Commentary Author: Rebecca Mary Shercliff This thesis provides a critical edition of the longest extant version of the medieval Irish text Tochmarc Ferbe (‘The Wooing of Ferb’), accompanied by translation, textual notes and literary commentary. Tochmarc Ferbe is found in two manuscripts, the Book of Leinster (LL) and Egerton 1782. This comprises three versions of the text: a short prose account in Egerton 1782, and a long prosimetric account in LL, followed in the same manuscript by a poetic account. After a preliminary analysis of the relationship between these three versions, the edited text of the long prosimetric version (LL-prose) is presented, alongside a facing-page translation. Issues arising from the text, in terms of interpretational difficulties, literary features and metrical analysis of the poems, are discussed in the form of textual notes. A particular focus is the prevalence of textual correspondences between Tochmarc Ferbe and other medieval Irish tales, many of which are identified as direct textual borrowings by the author of this text. The thesis concludes with a literary commentary focusing on the role of women in the LL-prose version. It is argued that its depictions of a wide range of female characters challenge traditional assumptions about medieval Irish attitudes towards women, which tend to focus on their supposed passivity and negativity. The portrayals of two female characters are singled out as especially noteworthy. Queen Medb, frequently viewed as the archetypal expression of negative attitudes towards power-wielding women in medieval Irish literature, is shown to receive a positive depiction in this text. Meanwhile, the main female protagonist Ferb is characterised by her use of speech, which dominates the text in a manner almost unparalleled in medieval Irish literature. It is argued that she subverts the usually passive role of lamenter by channelling her grief into an active force, offering an alternative model of positive female action. i PREFACE This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or is being concurrently submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been submitted, or is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. The thesis does not exceed the prescribed word limit for the English Degree Committee, including footnotes, references and appendices but excluding the bibliography. Permission has been granted to extend the word count to include appendices of 7000 words. This dissertation is written in conformance with the ASNC style-sheet. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The funding for this research provided by the AHRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Celtic Languages is most gratefully acknowledged. In addition, I would like to express my gratitude for the financial support provided by the CDT Student Development Fund, the ASNC Department Chadwick Fund and the St John’s College Learning and Research Grant, which enabled me to undertake a number of trips to visit manuscript archives and attend conferences. I would like to thank Trinity College Dublin and the British Library for permitting me to view the Book of Leinster and Egerton 1782, and also Irish Script on Screen for granting me access to their digital images of various manuscripts. I wish to express my most heartfelt thanks to my wonderful supervisor, Prof. Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, without whose support, guidance, insight and enthusiasm this thesis would never have been completed. Thank you for awakening my interest in medieval Irish back at the very start of my undergraduate course, and for maintaining your encouragement unfailingly throughout the subsequent eight years of study. Thanks must also go to the many other academics who have shared their time, input and interest in my research, especially Dr Margo Griffin-Wilson, who kindly elucidated the mysteries of Irish metrics for me, Prof. Paul Russell (who also supervised my MPhil thesis), Prof. Gregory Toner, Prof. Erich Poppe and Prof. Joseph Nagy. I have been incredibly lucky to have been surrounded by a network of kind and supportive friends who have kept me going through good times and bad. I am so grateful to every one of you. Above all, thank you to Helen, a constant source of inspiration and friendship, a brilliant academic and the best friend anyone could wish for. I have also relied hugely on the support of my family. Thank you to my sisters, Emily and Claire, and especially to my parents, Hugh and Tessa, who introduced me to Tolkien and to ASNaC in the first place and set me off on this unbelievable journey. Finally, to my husband Michael, there are no words to express my gratitude for your eternal patience and encouragement. All I can say is: without you there would be no thesis and so I dedicate it to you. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ i Preface ......................................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures .............................................................................................................................................. v List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................. vi 1. Textual Transmission and Date of Tochmarc Ferbe................................................................................ 1 1.1 Manuscripts .................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Textual Tradition ........................................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Linguistic Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 10 2. Text and Translation of the LL-prose version of Tochmarc Ferbe........................................................ 29 2.1 Editorial Method .......................................................................................................................... 30 2.2 Text and Translation .................................................................................................................... 32 3. Textual Notes ......................................................................................................................................... 85 3.1 Textual Correspondences and Textual Notes to Section 1 .......................................................... 85 3.2 Textual Notes to Sections 2–16 .................................................................................................. 104 3.3 Textual Notes to the Verse .......................................................................................................... 12 9 3.4 Ól nGúala ................................................................................................................................... 15 9 4. Literary Commentary: The Role of Women in the LL-prose version of Tochmarc Ferbe ................................................... 16 3 Epilogue .................................................................................................................................................... 201 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................. 20 2 Appendix 1: Corrigenda to Bergin, Best and O’Brien’s diplomatic edition ............................................. 21 7 Appendix 2: Shercliff, R., ‘Textual Correspondences in Tochmarc Ferbe ’, Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium 35 (2015), 187–203 .......................... 220 iv LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 1: Key events in the LL-prose, LL-poem and Eg-prose versions of Tochmarc Ferbe ......................... 7 Fig. 2: Possible stemma for Tochmarc Ferbe .............................................................................................. 9 Fig. 3: Location of Daim-Inis ................................................................................................................. 161 Fig. 4: The Roles of Female Characters .................................................................................................. 192 Fig. 5: Female vs Male Characters