Drama and the Performing Arts in Pre Cromwellian Ireland : A Repertory of Sources and Documents from the Earliest Times

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Drama and the Performing Arts in Pre-Cromwellian Ireland A repertory of sources and documents from the earliest times until c. 1642

Drama and performance in Ireland call to mind the present rather than the ancient past, yet Irish dramatic and performative traditions were far richer before the coming of Cromwell than has genereally been appreciated. This book draws together all known documentary evidence for drama and performance in Ireland up until the closure of the ®rst public theatre in Ireland in 1641; a historical overview of Irish drama and performance prefaces the record collection, and descriptions are given of every manuscript and early printed book from which the records have been taken. Alan J. Fletcher is Lecturer in English Language and Medieval Literature, University College Dublin.



Drama and the Performing Arts in Pre-Cromwellian Ireland A repertory of sources and documents from the earliest times until c. 1642

Alan J. Fletcher

D. S. BREWER


# Alan J. Fletcher 2001 All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner First published 2001 D. S. Brewer, Cambridge ISBN 0 85991 573 5

D. S. Brewer is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. PO Box 41026, Rochester, NY 14604±4126, USA website: http://www.boydell.co.uk A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fletcher, Alan J. (Alan John) Drama and the performing arts in pre-Cromwellian Ireland: a repertory of sources and documents from the earliest times until c. 1642/Alan J. Fletcher. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-85991-573-5 (hd.: alk. paper) 1. Irish drama ± History and criticism ± Sources. 2. English drama ± Irish authors ± History and criticism ± Sources. 3. Performing arts ± Ireland ± History ± Sources. 4. Theater ± Ireland ± History ± Sources. I. Title. PB1307.F57 2000 891.6'2209±dc21 99±054616

This publication is printed on acid-free paper Typeset by Joshua Associates Ltd, Oxford Printed in Great Britain by St Edmundsbury Press Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk


Contents List of ®gures Preface and acknowledgements Abbreviations A note on terminology 1 Introduction 1.1 A summary historical context

viii ix xi xiii 1 1

2 Major Trends in Drama and Performance 2.1 The Gaelic tradition 2.2 The English reaction 2.3 The English contribution

6 6 12 15

3 Editorial Procedures 3.1 Organization of the Repertory 3.2 Principles of selection 3.3 Dating and the format of item headings 3.4 A note on texts and transcriptions

23 23 25 33 34

4 The Documents 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Gaelic documents 4.3 Annals and chronicles in languages other than Irish 4.4 Civic documents 4.5 Guild documents 4.6 Administrative documents 4.7 Ecclesiastical documents 4.8 Antiquarian compilations 4.9 Miscellaneous compilations 4.10 Households 4.11 Irish State Papers 4.12 Letter collections 4.13 Early printed books 4.14 Miscellaneous manuscripts 4.15 Miscellaneous books

37 37 38 72 73 86 88 94 101 106 108 121 129 130 136 144


vi

Contents

5 The Records 5.1 Not precisely localized or dated 5.2 Not precisely localized but dated 5.3 Localized but not precisely dated 5.4 Localized and dated 5.5 Households (Boyle, Butler, Devereux, Fitzwilliam, Perrot and Sidney) 5.6 Ecclesiastical Dioceses and Provinces (Armagh Province, Cloyne Diocese and Dublin Province)

146 146 162 195 198

6 The Appendices 6.1 Proclamation of Henry VIII as King of Ireland 6.2 The Earl Marshal's ordinances for ceremonial protocol 6.3 Sir Brian O'Rourke's `trayterous pagent' 6.4 The writings of Barnaby Rich 6.5 John Clavell's Prologue and Epilogue to a play at the `New house' 6.6 James Shirley's Prologues and Epilogues for the Werburgh Street Theatre 6.7 James Shirley's The Royall Master (title page, selected commendations and Epilogue) 6.8 James Shirley's St. Patrick for Ireland (Prologue and part of the Epilogue) 6.9 Henry Burnell's Landgartha (title page, Prologue and part of the Epilogue) 6.10 Excerpts from the bethada of the Irish saints 6.11 Texts mentioning the crosaÂin 6.12 The Tech MidchuÂarda diagrams 6.13 The prose Tech MidchuÂarda versions 6.14 The poetic Tech MidchuÂarda account 6.15 FõÂs AdamnaÂin 6.16 Three Gaelic biblical narratives 6.17 Cath Cairnd Chonaill 6.18 Mesca Ulad 6.19 Togail Bruidne Da Derga Â eda SlaÂine 6.20 Genemain A 6.21 Fingal RoÂnaÂin 6.22 Cath Maige Mucrama 6.23 Aislinge Meic Con Glinne 6.24 TromdaÂmh Guaire 6.25 Poets curse a chief and his household 6.26 The Gaelic Marco Polo and the Gaelic Mandeville 6.27 Ceithearnach UõÂ Dhomhnaill

435 435 436 436 439

404 432

440 441 447 449 450 452 460 467 469 469 470 471 472 473 473 475 475 476 476 477 478 479 480


Contents 6.28 6.29 6.30 6.31

A crosaÂntacht Â dam oÂenathair na ndoÂene Gilla Mo Dutu uÂa Casaide's A Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar EÂirinn Jerome Cardan's account of an Irish prestigiator

vii 481 481 482 482

7 Post-1642 Documents 7.1 Not precisely localized or dated 7.2 Localized and dated 7.3 Households (Boyle)

484 484 485 491

Notes to section 5 Notes to section 6 Notes to section 7

492 585 599

Addendum

603

Index

605


Figures Fig. 1. Performers at the south-west end of the royal hall according to the CrõÂth Gablach

7

Fig. 2. A chieftain banqueting, from John Derricke, The Image of Irelande (London, 1581; STC 6734)

8

Fig. 3. Dublin c. 1500 (selected sites only)

16

Fig. 4. Kilkenny c. 1600 (selected sites only)

17

Fig. 5. Limerick c. 1600 (selected sites only)

18


Preface and Acknowledgements This book owes an inestimable debt to the Records of Early English Drama project, under whose aegis it was initially undertaken, and to the prime mover of that project, Alexandra F. Johnston. She it was who as far back as 1980 ®rst suggested that I start working on the Irish records. The way in which the results of that work have been presented here will show a striking family resemblance to a more distinguished parent. Early in my work, I was for a while accompanied by Michael Benskin. He came to it principally via his concern with medieval Hiberno-English, and although he later withdrew in order to concentrate on that and related ®elds of research, I have continued to bene®t from his bracing intellectual exchanges and to relish his friendship. His transcriptions of a portion of the Dublin records, copies of which he generously provided me with, were ever executed with the greatest care and accuracy. To him I dedicate this book, offered from one vir umbraticus et pulvere scholastico obsitus to another, if he will tolerate the attribution, the words being William Camden's. Many others assisted during the book's protracted gestation. Notable among these were four constant helpmates, Mary Clark, Howard Clarke, SeaÂn Donnelly and Alan Harrison. I would also like to thank Peter Ainsworth, Bo Almqvist, John Andrews, Elizabeth Baldwin, Peter Beal, Barra Boydell, John Bradley, PaÂdraig Breatnach, Derek Britton, Hubert Butler, Nicholas Canny, Nicholas Carolan, Mary Davis, Peter Day, Joseph De Cock, Janette Dillon, Terence P. Dolan, Audrey Douglas, Ian Doyle, Adrian Empey, David Evans, John Farrell, Peter Farrelly, Ignatius Fennessy OFM, Alan Gailey, Jodi-Anne George, Raymond Gillespie, Sue Groves, Marian Gunne, Hakan Hallberg, Steven Hobbs, Colin Ireland, Fergus Kelly, Patricia Kelly, John Killeen, Geoffrey Lester, Peter J. Lucas, James Lydon, Kate Manning, Patricia McCarthy, Iain McIver, Andrew McKriel, Fintan Morris, Â Cathasaigh, DaithõÂ O Â hO Â gaÂin, Donal James Murray, Ken Nicholls, TomaÂs O O'Brien, Christy O'Dwyer, Thomas Pettitt, A. J. Piper, Carol Quinn, Stephen Redmond, Raymond RefausseÂ, Joan Rimmer, Palle Ringsted, Jane Roberts, Mary L. Robertson, J. R. Seymour Phillips, Hugh Shields, Katherine Simms, Carole Smith, Roger Stalley, CeÂline Van Hoorebeeck, Ron Waldron, Larry Walsh, and lastly, for tea and occasional sympathy as much as for ¯uent negotiation with the BibliotheÁque Mazarine in Paris, Malcolm Wisener. I am grateful to the Duke of Devonshire and to Viscount De L'Isle for their generosity in allowing me to consult their family papers and to quote from them; also I am also grateful to the Fitzwilliam Milton Estates for permission to consult their archives and to the Northamptonshire Record Of®ce for permission to consult and quote from the Fitzwilliam accounts. Nor can I ever hope adequately to thank the staff of the many libraries and archives in which I had the privilege of working and where I met with unfailing courtesy. This being so, I trust that singling out for special mention the staff of the ®ve institutions where I spent most of my time will not appear too


x

Preface and Acknowledgements

invidious: the Bodleian Library, Oxford; Dublin City Archives; the National Library of Ireland; the Royal Irish Academy; and Trinity College Dublin. The partial assistance of the National University of Ireland and the publications committee of University College Dublin is gratefully acknowledged. Finally, I would like to thank Pru Harrison, Caroline Palmer and Richard Barber at the Press for handling a complicated manuscript and seeing it through to publication with such patience and professionalism. Dublin, St Patrick 1999


Abbreviations BL Bodl. BR CAI CARD CHL co. DCA DCL DIL DNB EETS EIS HL JCS KAO KCA LPL NA NLI NLS NRO OED PRO PRONI RCB RIA s.a. SCA STC

TCD UUL Wing

London, British Library Oxford, Bodleian Library Brussels, BibliotheÁque royale Albert Ier Cork, Cork Archives Institute J. T. and R. M. Gilbert, ed. Calendar of the Ancient Records of Dublin in the Possession of the Municipal Corporation, 19 vols (Dublin, 1889±1944) Derbyshire, Chatsworth House Library county Dublin, Dublin City Archives Dublin, Dublin City Library Contributions to a Dictionary of the Irish Language (Dublin, 1913±76) Dictionary of National Biography Early English Text Society William S. Clark, The Early Irish Stage (Oxford, 1955) California, Huntington Library G. E. Bentley, The Jacobean and Caroline Stage, ¦ vols (Oxford, 1941±68) Maidstone, Kent Archives Of®ce Kilkenny, Kilkenny Corporation Archives London, Lambeth Palace Library Dublin, National Archives Dublin, National Library of Ireland Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland Northampton, Northamptonshire Record Of®ce The Oxford English Dictionary (A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles), 2nd ed., prepared by J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner (Oxford, 1989) London, Public Record Of®ce Belfast, Public Record Of®ce of Northern Ireland Dublin, Representative Church Body Library Dublin, Royal Irish Academy sub anno (ùnder year') Shef®eld, Shef®eld City Archives A Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland and Ireland and of English Books Printed Abroad 1475±1640, compiled by A. W. Pollard and G. R. Redgrave; revised and enlarged by W. A. Jackson and F. S. Ferguson, completed by Katharine F. Pantzer, 3 vols (Oxford, 1986) Dublin, Trinity College Uppsala, University Library D. Wing, Short-Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England,


xii

WRO

Abbreviations Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and British America and of English Books Printed in Other Countries, 2nd ed., 3 vols (New York, 1972±88) Trowbridge, Wiltshire Record Of®ce


A Note on Terminology This study uses three sets of terms conventional to Irish historiography for distinguishing three ethnic traditions in Ireland during the period under review. Each had distinctive allegiances and political outlooks. The Òld English' (used virtually interchangeably here with Ànglo-Irish') were those English who settled in Ireland following the Norman conquest of 1169. Catholic by confessional allegiance, they were also traditionally loyal to the English throne, a combination that required skilful balancing in the years following the Reformation. `New English' is used of the Protestant planters and administrators who entered Ireland in the wake of the Reformation. The native people of Ireland, indigenous before either of these immigrant groups arrived, are referred to as the Irish or the Gaelic Irish. Historical phases of the Irish language are also referred to by their conventional names: Old Irish (the language of about the seventh to the ninth century); Middle Irish (that of about the tenth to the twelfth century); and Classical or early modern Irish (that of about the thirteenth to seventeenth century).

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1 Introduction

1.1 A summary historical context The island of Ireland, standing at the most westerly edge of Europe, is 32,588 square miles in size. Her uplands are located mainly near the coast, and though many low hills are also scattered throughout the interior, this is more notable for its plains, bogs and loughs. During the period covered by this Repertory, the land was thickly forested. Vast wooded areas rendered many parts of the country inaccessible, like north-east Ulster and south-west Munster, until extensive commercial exploitation began clearing them in the seventeenth century. The terrain was famous for its natural fastnesses, notoriously the refuge of the Gaelic Irish during times of war. At the beginning of the period in which the records substantially begin (that is, in about the seventh century), the indigenous Celts throughout Ireland were organized into numerous small tribal units or tuÂatha, each tuÂath ruled over by a local king or chieftain. Struggles for supremacy between these local kings were common. Some tuÂatha had also been corralled together into larger lordships presided over by the more powerful of the overkings: the tuÂatha of the northwest, for example, were dominated by the UõÂ NeÂill dynasty, and the south-west by the O'Briens. The evangelization of the country, though a slow and complicated business, had also by the seventh century been progressing for some two hundred years, and with the coming of the clerical classes and their apparatus of Latin learning came also the means for codifying Gaelic culture. The secular native legal texts, among the earliest of the sources excerpted for this Repertory, are a case in point. Though invariably extant in later manuscripts, many were probably ®rst committed to parchment in the seventh and eighth centuries. Monastic centres were established around which auxiliary settlements sprang up. Workshops at these centres were capable of turning out craftsmanship of extraordinary sophistication, as surviving examples of Celtic manuscript illumination and metalwork eloquently testify. By the late eighth century, this rich culture was attracting the Vikings' attention. Though initially landing as raiders, in time they settled, founding coastal towns well sited to serve their mercantile interests. Dublin on the east coast, already home to a native Gaelic monastic community before their arrival, was settled by them in the ninth century. It became their Irish headquarters, and in the Viking world a settlement of premier importance. Other places too were settled, with Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Wexford and Youghal ranking among the most important.


2

1. Introduction

When invaders and settlers from Scandinavia might effect such signi®cant changes to Irish demography, it is a safe prediction that the impact of changes caused by invaders and settlers from Ireland's nearest geographical neighbour, mainland Britain, might be even more profound. From 1169, the AngloNorman conquest and settlement of Ireland, led by Richard FitzGilbert de Clare and his baronial associates, began securing Ireland in the name of the English Crown. By 1171, Dublin had been taken from the Hiberno-Norse and occupied by de Clare, though Henry II himself, aware of his barons' inclination towards maverick enterprise in this new land of theirs, came across in person in the same year to stamp their activities with his royal licence. The twelfth century in Ireland saw not only the beginnings of English colonial expansion, but also country-wide ecclesiastical reform. The Church's administration was restructured, its personnel and their moral conduct overhauled. During this period the diocesan system was introduced, ®rst for the provinces of Armagh and Cashel (respectively in the north and south of the island), next for Dublin and Tuam (respectively in the east and west), and such native learned literary professions as poetry, history and law, which hitherto had gravitated around the monastic centres, now began to split away and become secularized. The Anglo-Normans respected these newly established diocesan divisions, but superimposed upon them their own administrative system. They began the shiring of Ireland, a process complete well before the end of the period under review here. While the Anglo-Normans were able to establish a few footholds in the north and west, it was principally in the east and south-east of the country that they governed and, as was their wont, they consolidated their position by erecting castles and defences. Around these strongholds towns sprang up. Throughout the thirteenth century, the project of Anglo-Norman settlement pushed steadily further a®eld until, by about 1300, it had reached its territorial height. Large areas continued to be ruled by native Gaelic chieftains with whom accommodations were reached so that, for the price of tribute and service, they might be left free to enjoy their old autonomy and privileges. Thus by this date Irish society saw Dublin and its environs administered by the Crown, parts of the provinces administered by the Anglo-Norman barons and other parts, territorially still the most extensive, by Gaelic chieftains. Consequently in many areas Gaelic traditions continued to ¯ourish, and large parts of the country retained their cultural character much as in the ancient past. But political tensions and internal con¯icts, exacerbated by absenteeism and upheavals of invasion (notably, the Bruce campaigns from 1315 on), destabilized the Anglo-Norman colony in the fourteenth century. Native Irish chieftains grew restive in this unsettled political climate, and seized the opportunity to pursue their territorial ambitions more vigorously. Anglo-Norman parliaments complained of a Gaelic resurgence and pointed with alarm at the absorption of Englishmen of the colony into a Gaelic way of life. A midcentury plague was a further blow to colonial morale. With Irish revenues to the English treasury now dropping into unpro®tability, the Crown looked for an appropriate moment to take the Irish situation in hand. The ®rst major intervention came in 1361 when Edward III dispatched to Ireland his son Lionel, duke of Clarence. Clarence was active in Ireland until 1366, one of his last administrative acts being the summoning of the 1366 Kilkenny parliament


1.1 A summary historical context

3

whose statutes, amongst other things, aimed to stem the waxing tide of Gaelicization. The next major interventions before the century expired were led by Richard II himself, ®rst in 1394±5 and again in 1399, though on the latter occasion his force was much smaller and he came dogged by a domestic danger that would result in his deposition shortly after his return to England. By the ®fteenth century the English had learnt the lesson that interventions in their Irish colony were costly, and past experience suggested that future ones would be equally unpromising: settlements achieved by direct intervention, like King Richard's, had begun unravelling soon after being made. During this century the colony was largely left to shift for itself. A forti®ed earthwork, the Pale, was built around the area on the east of the country administered by the Crown and with Dublin at its centre. Beyond the Pale, the country was either controlled by lords of Anglo-Norman stock, like the Butler earls of Ormond or the FitzGerald earls of Desmond, or by Gaelic chieftains. Already in the fourteenth century, some of these resurgent chieftains had started acquiring Anglo-Norman castles, either by leave or by force. As their fortunes continued to revive in the ®fteenth and early sixteenth centuries, many had stone tower houses built. Their lifestyle in this and several other respects caused them to resemble the Anglo-Irish descendants of the Anglo-Normans, most of whom had become acculturated to greater or lesser extents to a Gaelic way of life. The late-medieval revival of Gaelic Ireland was accompanied by renewed patronage of those traditional members of Gaelic aristocratic entourages, the harpers, bards and storytellers, and this not only among the Gaelic Irish. Some AngloIrish lords were patronizing them too, to the dismay of purists like those who in drafting the Kilkenny Statutes had sought to keep the ethnic cleanliness of the colony unsullied. This complex polity in which, outside the Dublin Pale, the power of local lords and chieftains was paramount, was stabilized from the late ®fteenth century on by the rule of the FitzGerald earls of Kildare. The FitzGeralds cultivated alliances with the most in¯uential persons in the land. Although governing in the king's name, they succeeded in juggling the various interests of the Anglo-Irish, the Gaelic Irish, and the Crown with considerable skill, and effectively turned themselves into Ireland's power-brokers. Their thirst for hereditary governership, however, was known full well in England and ultimately regarded there as a threat. When in 1534 Thomas FitzGerald besieged Dublin, largely as a heavy-handed signal to the Crown not to meddle but to leave Geraldine prerogatives intact, his rebellion was put down with crushing force and his lands con®scated. The social instability which followed his removal was managed in various ways: application of the policy now known as surrender and regrant required rebellious Gaelic chieftains to submit to the English government and in return receive English titles and have their local authority endorsed and upheld; in addition, their heirs were to be educated in England or within the Pale, where they might learn `civility'. Also, after the Dublin parliament of 1536 in which Henry VIII was declared supreme head of the Church in Ireland, the secular landowners of Anglicized Ireland who had been disgruntled by recent events were to some extent tranquillized with promises of a share in the distribution of con®scated Irish monastic property. In confessional allegiance the Anglo-Irish (or Old English) remained Catholic, and many boycotted the Protestant services of the


4

1. Introduction

State Church. Yet at the same time they were anxious to stress that in temporal matters they were loyal to the Crown. As administrative positions fell vacant in Dublin and elsewhere, the recruitment of English-born Protestants (the New English) to ®ll them fuelled resentment in the Old English community. Old English lawyers contrived to protect their community's interests with a formula that meant that declarations of loyalty to the Crown did not also entail acknowledgement of the Crown's authority in matters spiritual. Two Lords Deputy (as Irish viceroys at this date were known) had careers particularly informative about the nature of governmental policy in the colony in the second half of the sixteenth century: Sir Thomas Radcliffe, third earl of Sussex, and Sir Henry Sidney. Sussex followed his predecessors in the matter of surrender and regrant. He also planned the institution of provincial presidencies in areas whose frequent commerce with Gaelic culture had caused them to `degenerate' (the standard English term for ethnic assimilation). The presidencies could monitor the adherence to English law and custom of the Old English or the reconciled Gaelic Irish who ruled in those areas. However, Sussex became absorbed in a costly and fruitless expedition against Shane O'Neill, a Gaelic Ulster lord who held surrender and regrant in contempt. Finally the Crown, losing patience, pulled the ®nancial plug on Sussex's enterprise. It was left to Sir Henry Sidney to establish the provincial presidencies. At the beginning of his Lord Deputyship, Sidney was even tougher than Sussex had been about dispossessing Irish rebels and parcelling out their lands to `civil' settlers. His plan was to encourage a plantation of Ireland driven by individual, private enterprise. Anger at his uncompromising approach provoked a rebellion in which were embroiled no less than relatives of the tenth earl of Ormond, Thomas Butler, a loyal Old English courtier and a favourite of Elizabeth I. Representations at court prevailed and the queen, pardoning all the rebellion's instigators except James Fitz Maurice FitzGerald, commanded Sidney to abandon his provocative methods. Henceforth his policies, like Sussex's before him, would be more temperate. Both Sussex and Sidney epitomize the Lord Deputy's predicament, on the one hand constantly having to justify to England any major action taken and on the other being ever likely to face royal criticism for overspending. When the indicted James Fitz Maurice FitzGerald, who had escaped to the Continent, returned to Ireland and drew the earl of Desmond into rebellion with him in 1579, the Crown was at last compelled to invest substantially in Ireland, if only in terms of levying a large army to put the rebellion down. Desmond was killed in 1583, his lands in counties Cork, Limerick, Kerry and Waterford con®scated, and these extensively planted by the 1590s with English settlers. While Munster was for the moment thus paci®ed, Ulster, of old resistant to the claims of English sovereignty, broke out in a rebellion in 1594 which in 1595 was openly joined by Hugh O'Neill, third earl of Tyrone. The English administration's successive failures to check him emboldened rebellion in the other provinces. O'Neill's fortunes reversed in 1601, however. He had marched south to Kinsale in Munster to join with an army sent to his aid from Spain. With the Spaniards, his Ulster forces and the troops he had recruited in Munster, he engaged the Lord Deputy, Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, but after a decisive rout retreated again to Ulster. In 1603 he capitulated and received a royal pardon.


1.1 A summary historical context

5

With the collapse of this combined Gaelic resistance following the Battle of Kinsale and the subsequent ¯ight of O'Neill and his confederates from Ulster in 1607, the way was now wide open for the plantation of forfeited land. Though this took place mainly in Ulster ± where vast acreages were allocated to servitors, adventurers and to the London Companies ± large tracts of Munster were also parcelled out. Here, perhaps the most conspicuous plantation acumen was that shown by the New Englishman Sir Richard Boyle, created from 1620 ®rst earl of Cork. Boyle, who amassed great wealth and power from his Munster investments, maintained a ®ne household at Lismore, co. Waterford, that vied with any in Ireland, including even that of the Lord Deputy. From 1633, that Lord Deputy was Sir Thomas Wentworth who, apart from ®nding Boyle overweening, was moved to clip his estates with measures as swingeing as any he applied to other Irish landowners so that his royal master, Charles I, could enjoy additional revenue. Wentworth's unpopular administration increasingly alienated both the Old and the New English communities. Eventually he was impeached and executed in London in May 1641. A cocktail of grievances resulted in a general uprising of native Irish in October of the same year, beginning in Ulster but quickly spreading south throughout the country, and joined before the year was out by many of the Old English families. By 1642 the rebels had set up their provisional government at Kilkenny, making that city the headquarters of the Confederate Catholics of Ireland. This confederation endured, though not without considerable internal con¯ict, until its dissolution in January 1649. By August of that year, Oliver Cromwell had landed with his parliamentary army, and was poised to march through the country, sweeping away what royal support remained. This is the broad summary of the historical context within which the items gathered here are located. Not only will they document drama and performance during this lengthy period, many will also open perspectives upon aspects of the historical context outlined above which are unavailable in sources more traditionally consulted by historians. The breadth of the historical value of these items, therefore, both for what they disclose of the nature of drama and performance in pre-Cromwellian Ireland as well as for their contribution to the wider historical picture in which drama and performance participated, will, it is hoped, emerge in the pages that follow.


2 Major Trends in Drama and Performance

2.1 The Gaelic tradition It is clear that Irish society, from the earliest period to which sources give access, was inhabited by a host of performing artists and entertainers. Early documents witness to a taxonomy of Gaelic performance the like of which is unequalled anywhere in the British Isles. Since this is so, these documents afford a rare opportunity to re¯ect not only on Irish performance practices but also on ones that may once have been common throughout the British Isles, if not indeed throughout Europe generally, but which outside Ireland are far less substantially documented until much later in the medieval period. A preoccupation threading several early Irish texts concerns the arrangement of a king's hall: which household members should sit where and, in some sources, what cuts of meat should they expect to receive from the banquet pig? For example, the Old Irish CrõÂth Gablach (`Branched Purchase'?), a law text codi®ed c. 700, poses the question directly, `co sernar tech righ?' (`how is a king's hall arranged?'), and proceeds to answer itself, prescribing where everyone must sit. Next to poets in the hall sit harpers, but in a place apart from these and sitting in the hall's south-west corner on their own are cuisle players (the cuisle was a variety of pipe), horn players and jugglers/tricksters/acrobats. The king himself is to sit at the east end of the hall, which means that these performers are placed in the far hall corner to his left (see Fig. 1). To what extent this prescription of seating etiquette was more than a literary scheme and actually replicated in reality must be uncertain, especially when other related texts had equally ®rm but very different ideas about where performing artists should sit. On the two ground plans of the Tech MidchuÂarda (the `Hall of the Central Court'), for example, where seating takes pictorial form rather in the manner of some modern-day seating plan for a formal dinner (Appendix 6.12), the cuisle players and horn players are remote from each other, not grouped together as in CrõÂth Gablach, and a variegated assortment of low-class entertainers, corresponding perhaps most closely to CrõÂth Gablach's jugglers/tricksters/acrobats, is distributed in various places towards the west end of the hall and near the door. In this respect the ground plans tend to agree with the Old Irish LaÂnellach Tigi RõÂch ¦ Ruirech (the `Full Complement of the Hall of a King and an Overking'), another text preoccupied with hall placings, where practitioners of buffoonery and satire were positioned by the door-posts. But whatever their points of detail, what all the sources agree on, and what was


2.1 The Gaelic tradition

7

Fig. 1. Performers at the south-west end of the royal hall according to CrõÂth Gablach

doubtless a historical reality, is that entertainers were an indispensable part of a royal household or entourage, and that they were capable of a wide range of performance skills. The Tech MidchuÂarda diagrams provide an especially useful point of departure for exploring the diversity of Gaelic performance practice. In early Irish records, one of the commonest words for a performer is druÂth (plural, druÂith), a professional fool or buffoon, and it is clear from the company that a druÂth might keep and from the medley of skills at his disposal that he sometimes encroached upon the performance specialisms of others whose names denoted very particular skills, people like the reÂim, the clesamnach or the braigetoÂir (what these performers did will be explained shortly). The word druÂth, then, was semantically rich, a hold-all word capable of suggesting a person able to move from one end of the spectrum of Gaelic performance art to the other. As in modern English, the word for `fool' in early Irish could also be used to signify a congenital idiot, probably because aspects of the behaviour of both types of person might strike onlookers as comparably bizarre. Occasionally this


8 2. Major Trends in Drama and Performance

Fig. 2. A chieftain banqueting, from John Derricke, The Image of Irelande (London, 1581; STC 6734)



9

makes deciding which sense an early source intended, professional or congenital, a dif®cult matter, but on the Tech MidchuÂarda diagrams there is no ambiguity. Here the professional druÂth is in question, and he appears into the bargain in one of his specialized incarnations as a rõÂgdruÂth (a `royal' or a `king buffoon'), though despite whatever grandeur this compound might seem to attribute to him, the term rõÂgdruÂth in fact reveals far more about the institutional centrality of the druÂth's of®ce in early Gaelic society than about his actual social prestige. This, as the law texts make quite clear, was in fact very low. A suggestive account of some of the things that a rõÂgdruÂth might do is available in the saga narrative Cath Almaine (the `Battle of Allen'), composed in about the tenth century about events which occurred in 722. In this year, Fergal mac MaõÂle-duÂin fought a fateful battle against Murchad mac Brain, overlord of Â a Magleine was summoned north Leinster. On the eve of battle, the rõÂgdruÂth U to entertain Fergal's army, and told the soldiers tales of battles fought in times past. Eve-of-battle storytelling appears in other Irish narratives (see endnote 58 to the Repertory below), and so it may be that literary tradition has dictated the motif's appearance again here in a narrative that patently embroiders its historical centre with literary embellishments. Yet the advantages of using such tale-telling to address the human needs and anxieties inevitably generated by the prospect of an impending battle are self-evident, and perhaps one actual historical function of the rõÂgdruÂth was indeed the telling of heroic tales to stiffen military resolve at times of crisis. In appropriating the role of storyteller, the druÂth's profession is seen here to border on that of the sceÂlaige (`storyteller') or senchaid (`reciter of lore'), two other functionaries of early Irish society who in discharging their occupation might practice an art of public performance. This appropriation would not be surprising, and would simply provide a further instance of the performance mobility that the word druÂth already implies. Â a Magleine's repertoire was the extraordinary geÂim Another skill in U (`shout', `roar') that he was capable of emitting. Moreover, says Cath Almaine, ever since that day his shout has remained among the druÂith of Ireland. Here it looks as if the narrator of Cath Almaine was seeking to explain the origin of something else that druÂith in his own time were famous for, their shout, probably some sort of practised and distinctive vocal art. DruÂith are often presented as disruptively noisy in other contexts; they were never to be tolerated in a sick man's house, for example. At least two Old Irish legal texts forbade the druÂth's presence there, Di ChetharsÇlicht AthgabaÂla (Òn the Four Divisions of Distraint'), and Bretha CroÂlige (`Judgements of BloodLying'), implying in their strictures that noise was the last thing a sick man should have to put up with. Vocal noise often accompanies capering and boisterous physical activity in general and, running true to expected form, the druÂth seems characteristically to have indulged in both. Evidence suggestive of this is found in Saltair na Rann (the `Verse Psalter'), composed c. 988±90, when its author, to whet appreciation of what King David actually did when he danced with all his might before the Ark of the Lord (2 Kings 6:14), applied a speci®cally Irish simile to him: David behaved amal druth icfurseoracht, `like a druÂth clowning' (Appendix 6.16). His kingly capers thus literalized the concept of rõÂgdruÂth in an unusual way. In some cases, the energetic mobility of the druÂth might be narrowly focused upon his face, as when he trespassed into the province of the reÂim (`contortionist', `girner') and postured with the mops and


10

2. Major Trends in Drama and Performance

mows of comic facial distortion. A sinister twist on this accomplishment was manifested on the face of the dying druÂth Mac Glas in the Old Irish tale Fingal RoÂnaÂin (the `Kinslaying of RoÂnaÂn'; Appendix 6.21), and indeed the Mac Glas episode can be plausibly read as evidence of the historical actuality of this aspect of druÂth performance. The druÂth's physical antics of sundry sorts also extended to feats of legerdemain and juggling. Another rõÂgdruÂth, Tulchinne, in the eighth-century tale Togail Bruidne Da Derga (the `Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel'), was also King Conaire's clesamnach (`juggler', `trickster', àcrobat'). Although the account of his juggling feats is fabulously extravagant, as one might expect from a saga narrative, there is nevertheless good reason to believe that behind its idealized evocation lay an actual historical performance practice (Appendix 6.19); for example, the Old Irish Bretha EÂtgid (`Judgements of Inadvertence'), which as a law tract might be thought prima facie to have had a greater purchase on historical reality than might a literary one, lays down the penalties to be paid for any injuries sustained while watching a juggling act, and some of the implements juggled with sound very much like those manipulated by Tulchinne. Early Irish texts have also much to reveal about the physical appearance of druÂith, their professional dress and the way in which they might band together in touring troupes. The description of another royal fool (though this time it is not rõÂgdruÂth but a related word, rõÂgoÂinmit, that is used of him) features in the twelfth-century tale Mesca Ulad (the Ìntoxication of the Ulstermen'). The tale gives a strong impression of how outlandish a druÂth's appearance could be. The face of the royal fool RoÂimid was said to have been `black like an Ethiopian's' (Appendix 6.18). Perhaps this is an early instance of face blackening, the traditional disguise of the fool of the morris side even to this day. Tulchinne also carried a bell to attract attention, and in this respect he stands as one of the earliest belled fools in any text surviving from the medieval British Isles. While royal fools were the responsibility of their patron and may not have strayed far from his entourage on their own initiative, it is clear that some druÂith were entirely free to roam, either singly or in groups. These went hunting for patronage wherever they could ®nd it, even if only in the most modest form of once-off payments in kind. Most usually these were payments of food. DruÂith evolved potent methods for getting what they wanted. The Church in particular found their attentions unwelcome, and tried to curb their wanderings with prohibitive legislation. Itinerant druÂith are often spoken of in association with another important class of Gaelic performing artist, one similarly excoriated by clerics, the caÂinte (plural, caÂinti) or satirist, a low-grade poet whose satirical routine might be conducted in a highly performative and theatrical fashion (compare the liturgy of poetic cursing in Appendix 6.25). Even the most eÂlite members of the Gaelic poetic hierarchy could turn their hand to satire if they were driven to it, but caÂinti were satire's habitual and professional practitioners: as the Old Irish law text MõÂadsÇlechta (`Rank Sections') put it, a caÂinte was a man who earned his food through threatening the blemish of satire.1 The power of the caÂinti ± and of the druÂith, who in some of the early Irish saints' lives were set on a par with caÂinti and who were 1

See, for example, section 5.1 below, Old Irish, MõÂadsÇlechta.



11

perfectly capable of behaving similarly ± derived from the fact that early Gaelic society was a shame culture: public satirical destruction of a person's reputation was an institutionalized practice and something greatly to be feared. Indeed, satire was credited in some sources with quasi-magical potency. It had the power of raising blemishes on the victim's face or, in extreme cases, of even causing death. In the Old Irish Epistle of Jesus, druÂith and caÂinti consort in a list of itinerants whose Sunday peregrinations the Epistle sought to proscribe.2 Similarly, the early Irish saints' lives are full of stories about rapacious druÂith and caÂinti harrassing saints with petulant demands for food or other gifts, and threatening satire if their demands were not satis®ed (Appendix 6.10). Satire is also the domain, alongside that of music, in which evidence is thickest for female participation in the Gaelic performing arts (see, for example, Appendix 6.20, an excerpt from a tale in which a female satirist goes into action). Extant specimens of verse satire demonstrate the extent to which satirists declared open season on a whole range of perceived human imperfections, imperfections presented with crippling scurrility. One Middle Irish lampoon offers a robust case in point. It targeted an anonymous woman for farting: ÀtaÂ ben istõÂr, nõÂ abraim a hainm,/ maidid essi a deilm amal chloich a tailm' (`There's a woman in the land, I don't mention her name. Her fart ¯ies from her like a stone from a sling').3 Indeed farting, doubtless precisely because of its social solecism,4 lent itself in Ireland to re®nement into a comically affronting performance art. It was the forteÂ of a specialist group of performing artists known as the braigetoÂiri (`farters'). These also found their place reserved on the Tech MidchuÂarda seating plans and in other sources kept company with druÂith and caÂinti. Needless to say, their skills were equally abhorred by the Church, as a clerical aside in the twelfth-century tale Aislinge Meic Con Glinne (the `Dream of Mac Con Glinne') makes plain (Appendix 6.23). Again, druÂith may have encroached too upon the territory of the braigetoÂiri, if one possible interpretation of their behaviour in the Middle Irish Suidigud Taigi MidchuÂarda (the `Settling of the House of the Central Court') is to be believed (Appendix 6.14). So what the records amply illustrate is a Gaelic society which well before 1169 and the arrival of the Normans played host to a diverse range of performing artists, of whom the druÂth may be conveniently regarded as the generic representative. For the most part these performing artists, while lowclass, were tenaciously rooted in society. They catered not only to the noble households, but also to whoever might be prepared to offer them patronage. The occasions on which they performed were similarly various, and ranged from private or semi-private household functions like feasts and banquets to public gatherings such as fairs and assemblies, the oenaige (singular, oenach), which chieftains were obliged to convene at regular intervals and at which social, political and, perhaps, commercial business was transacted. A prime example of the crowd of entertainers jostling at an oenach that took place either in 1079 or possibly a few years earlier is found in one of the poems of the 2 3 4

See section 5.1 below, Old Irish, Epistle of Jesus. K. Meyer, ed. BruchstuÈke der aÈlteren Lyrik Irlands (Berlin, 1919), p. 34, number 77. There is some evidence, though admittedly it is later (late sixteenth and early seventeenth century) and reported by Englishmen, that the Irish traditionally held farting in abhorrence (J. O. Bartley, Teague, Shenkin and Sawney, being an Historical Study of the Earliest Irish, Welsh and Scottish Characters in English Plays (Cork, 1954), p. 31).


12


tradtion known as dindshenchas (`history of notable places'; see in section 5.4 below, under Carmun, s.a. 1079?). The activity of the professional Gaelic musician adds an important dimension to this picture that must also be taken into account. Although early Irish sources singled out the harp as the instrument most deserving respect and digni®ed it with the preeminent place in the Gaelic musical hierarchy (note, for example, the Old Irish law tract Uraicecht Becc which declared that harping was the one profession of minstrelsy worthy of honour-price),5 it seems clear that some harpers also toured to wherever they might ®nd an appreciative audience, and in this regard their profession was indistinguishable from that of the low-class entertainers described earlier. A good illustration of the association in practice between the high-class, theoretically aloof profession of harper and that of the low-class entertainers already surveyed occurs in the Cath Almaine. In 721, one year before his defeat by Murchad mac Brain, Fergal mac MaõÂle-duÂin, wishing to discover his sons' true moral character, is said to have secretly visited their houses by night. Both houses sounded with harp playing, but while in the house of the second son it was cruitireacht ciuÂin bõÂnd (`quiet, sweet harp playing'), in the house of the ®rst it merely added one more strain to a riotous and giddy assembly of harpers, timpaÂn players (the timpaÂn seems to have been a variety of lyre),6 clowns, satirists, whores and jugglers. Therefore in practice, far from being hermetically sealed in some notionally eÂlite world of musical preeminence, it is clear that certain harpers stooped to consorting with low-class performers. Moreover, they might combine their harping with other Âa types of performance art: the mid-twelfth-century poet Gilla Mo Dutu U Casaide, for example, had no dif®culty in presenting the legendary character Feidlimid as both a scelaigi is chruttiri (à storyteller and a harper'; Appendix 6.29). Whatever the theory, in practice it paid to be versatile, and narrow specialism was a luxury that relatively few performing artists would have been able to afford. So wherever professional musicians, including harpers, foregathered, the likelihood was that other performance skills were not far to seek. 2.2 The English reaction After the Norman invasion of 1169, one of the earliest foreign reactions to Gaelic culture and its performing arts is distilled in the Topographia Hiberniae of Giraldus Cambrensis. His seminal work went through various Latin recensions and, after 1387, became more widely accessible again via John Trevisa's English translation of Ranulf Higden's Polychronicon.7 In one redaction or another the Topographia conditioned English perceptions of 5

6

7

The honour-price was a monetary valuation of a person's status calculated according to his circumstances at any given time (F. Kelly, A Guide to Early Irish Law, Early Irish Law Series 3 (Dublin, 1988), pp. 8±9). Compare the way in which harpers are set apart from most other entertainers on the Tech MidchuÂarda diagrams (see Appendix 12). On its organology, see A. Buckley, `What was the TiompaÂn? A Problem in Ethnohistorical Organology: Evidence in Irish Literature', Jahrbuch fuÈr musikalische Volks- und VoÈlkerkunde 9 (1978), 53±88. The Topographia Hiberniae was one of Ranulf Higden's prime sources (and see R. Waldron, `The Manuscripts of Trevisa's Translation of the Polychronicon: Towards a New Edition', Modern Language Quarterly 51 (1990), 281±317).


2.2 The English reaction

13

Ireland throughout the Middle Ages and well into the sixteenth century. Giraldus had little that was positive to say about things Irish, but Irish harping, a notable exception, he praised for its musicality and wide cultivation throughout the island. Subsequent writers, by contrast, were far more hostile. This was not because they contested the harp's musical qualities as celebrated by Giraldus ± no one disagreed about them ± but because they considered harpers to be agents of sedition whose activity undermined English strategies for effective Irish colonization. A clear example of this from the century of Gaelic resurgence is to be seen in one of the articles of the Statutes of Kilkenny of 1366 which forbade `Tympanors fferdanes, Skelaghes, Bablers, Rymors, Clercz ne nullez autres minstrells Irrois' (`timpaÂn players, poets, storytellers, babblers, rhymers, clerics or any other Irish minstrels') from coming among the English and thereby muddying the ethnic purity of the colony. That the in®ltration of the colony by Gaelic performing artists was not just the ®gment of an embattled imagination is suggested from a Crown plea from co. Cork in the early years of the century. In 1315, one Muriartagh O Coyqnan (sic), harper and actor (àctor' possibly translating histrio in the lost original), was prosecuted for various misdemeanours, including his `habit of coming to the houses of the liege men of the country as a minstrel to ask for alms, and if they were refused him, of endeavouring to rob them' (see in section 5.4 below, under co. Cork, s.a. 1315). At the other end of the century and of the country, Archbishop John Colton of Armagh sought to legislate in his synodal statutes, drafted after the Kilkenny Statutes and sometime between 1381 and 1404, `contra minos {read mimos} ioculatores poetas timpanistas siue citharedas & precipue contra kernarios ac importunas & improbos donorum petitores quin uerius extortores' (àgainst mimi, jesters, poets, timpaÂn players or harpers, and especially against kerns and importunate [women] and dishonest seekers, or rather extorters, of gifts'). And Kilkenny Statutes nothwithstanding, special cases and exemptions could be made for allowing Gaelic performing artists to continue entering the Pale with impunity subject to their good behaviour.8 What is clear, then, is that, hostile though the of®cial English reaction almost invariably was to Irish harpers and their confederate performing artists, an accurate re¯ection can nevertheless be seen in it of the continuity of central aspects of the ethos and conduct of the Gaelic performing classes, aspects already in evidence before the Normans invaded in 1169. From the sixteenth century, when attempts to secure the colony were being dramatically stepped up, Gaelic performing artists once more came to the forefront of English consciousness as partisans of an intractable Gaelic social order and as limbs needing radical amputation once attempts at their reformation failed. To cite but one example from many: the Dublin parliament of 1541 passed a set of ordinances for Dublin, Munster, Thomond and Connacht which tried to restrain wandering minstrels, via their patrons, with the legislation ùt nulli mimj histriones aut ceteri Munerum exquisitores in solemnitatibus natalis domini aut pasche aut alio quocumque tempore decetero admittantur nec aliquid minus {read munus} eis tribuantur {read tribuatur} sub pena perdicionis vnius auris' (`that no mimi, actors/minstrels or other seekers after gifts on the feasts of the Nativity of our Lord, or Easter, or any other time, be admitted 8

See, for example, in section 5.4 below, under Kilkenny, 1375.


14


by anyone, nor that any gift be given them, on pain of loss of one ear'). Comparison with medieval legislations, like those of Archbishop Colton cited above, reveals striking similarities, and thus argues for an essential continuity of practice amongst the Gaelic performing classes stretching back over several centuries. Hostile English reactions to Gaelic culture do not necessarily make compromised witnesses to what was actually taking place. For example, Thomas Smyth's report of 1561 (in section 5.2 below, s.a. 1561), though antipathetic, is fundamentally a believable account of the organization and the personnel of the Gaelic performing classes, for the accuracy of many of his observations can be corroborated from other less obviously partial sources. Further, English reactions are sometimes able to amplify our understanding of Gaelic performers whose activities are only dimly glimpsed in native Irish sources. The outstanding example here is the carrowe (an Anglicized version of Irish cearrbhach, `gambler'). Carrowes were performers too, often spoken of in English documents in conjunction with the kinds of performer discussed earlier, and they packaged their performance in a theatrical manner: some were crazily garbed in straw and leaves for their gambling. Certain commentators seem to imply that this was the direct result of their gambling debts and of having wagered the shirts from off their backs. But the Irish lords who performed their hybrid masque of gambling in 1602 (see in section 5.4 below, under Lecale, co. Down, s.a. 1602), and who were got up in ivy leaves and rabbit-skin masks, may have been playing at an aristocratic game of being carrowes when they played their Christmastide dicing. Throughout the sixteenth century the English authorities struggled to contain the native Gaelic performing classes and the threat they posed: not only did performing artists puff up the pride of Gaelic chieftains by their ¯attery, as Edmund Spenser, among many, observed, thereby rendering a species recalcitrant enough even less amenable to English government, but their arts seduced the weaker minded of the colony into a Gaelic lifestyle. This was the old lament of the Kilkenny Statutes, but now it was being heard with repeated urgency. Irish harpers were particularly to be feared because members of the harping fraternity existed on both sides of the ethnic divide; since their profession was already recognized and credited everywhere, harpers might enjoy even more social mobility than would in any event have accrued to them as members of an itinerant entertainer class. The political advantages of this racial bilocation could work in both directions, in spite of the English complaints, and it is clear that the English too were not above employing Irish harpers as messengers and spies whenever opportunity arose.9 Sometimes they even retained them to perform on a regular basis in their households. But the general attitude to them was one of suspicion. Fiant after ®ant witnessess to the royal pardon extended to Irish harpers, and notably between the 1570s and 1590s, a number of regional seneschalships were created whose terms of of®ce explicitly included execution of martial law upon Irish harpers and similar unruly members. The province of Munster in particular was perceived as swarming with them, and the Desmond earls were repeatedly enjoined to root them out. A unique census of performing artists made in the context of 9

See, for example, in section 5.4 below, Ballyshannon, 1597.


2.2 The English reaction

15

Desmond's own rebellion against English authority between 1579 and 1583 survives in the Irish State Papers and includes many harpers in its list of seventy-odd assorted culpables (see in section 5.4 below, under co. Cork, s.a. 1584). In the sixteenth century, therefore, Gaelic performing artists were cast by the English as agents provocateurs par excellence, and this not unjusti®ably. As early as the fourteenth century, one Gaelic poet had archly observed about the self-serving, chameleon poet that: DaÂ chineadh daÂ gcumthar daÂn i gcrõÂch EÂireann na n-uaraÂn, na Gaoidhilse ag boing re bladh, is Goill bhraoininnse Breatan. I ndaÂn na nGall gealltar linn Gaoidhil d'ionnarba a hEÂirinn; Goill do shraoineadh tar saÂil sair i ndaÂn na nGaoidheal gealltair.10 `There are two races to whom poetry is sung in the land of Ireland of the springs ± the Gaels, known to fame, and the Galls of the dewy isle of Britain. In poetry for the Galls we promise that the Gaels shall be expelled from Ireland; in poetry for the Gaels we promise that the Galls shall be driven eastwards over the sea.' Their ethnic loyalties could be doffed and exchanged for the price of a meal.

2.3 The English contribution When the English started arriving in Ireland, they brought with them entertainers and performing artists of their own, and this from the earliest years of the colony's existence. Dublin's Guild Merchant roll, Ireland's oldest surviving civic muniment, mentions several individuals bearing the surname Le Harpur or Le Pipere; one Le Harpur even had a small harp sketched in the margin of the roll next to his name. A playful rebus, merely? There is less reason to think so when other early Dublin sources reveal harpers and pipers at large in the city who undisputedly earned a living by playing those instruments from which their surnames derived. (It was not always in the happiest of circumstances that these minstrels plied their trade: in 1297, Roger Le Harpour of Dublin brought a case against one Robert Le Feure for having caused two shillings worth of damage to his harp by throwing a stone at it.) By the early®fteenth century, the English minstrels of the colony had organized themselves into some sort of guild, for in 1436 one William Lawless, who styled himself marescallus of the liege English mimi of Ireland, petitioned for special powers to 10

Â DaÂlaigh E. Knott, Irish Classical Poetry, 2nd ed. (Cork, 1966), p. 67. The poet Gofraidh Fionn O (²1387) wrote this poem for Gerald FitzGerald, son of Maurice, ®rst earl of Desmond. The Janus-like nature of the late-medieval Irish poet is also noted by J. E. Caerwyn Williams, `The Court Poet in Medieval Ireland', Proceedings of the British Academy 57 (1971), 85±135; see p. 131 and note 1.


16


Fig. 3. Dublin c. 1500 (selected sites only)


2.3 The English contribution

17

Fig. 4. Kilkenny c. 1600 (selected sites only)


18


Fig. 5. Limerick c. 1600 (selected sites only)

apprehend Irish mimi like `clarsaghours, tympanours, crowthores, kerraghers, rymours, skelaghes, bardes & alii' (`harpers, timpaÂn players, players on the crowd, gamblers, rhymers, storytellers, bards and others'). Clearly the 1366 Kilkenny Statutes were not working adequately, and Gaelic minstrels were continuing to enter the Pale and depart again, taking with them intelligence useful for the king's Irish enemies. One suspects they were also taking the food out of the mouths of the likes of William Lawless: the granting of his petition would have conferred upon him and his fellows the advantage of a monopoly



19

over the provision of entertainment, though this was not something that the terms of his petition acknowledge in as many words. Just as performance provided a unique means of voicing Gaelic identity, so too did it provide English settlers with a means of articulating an identity of their own in their new and adopted land. The relatively larger corporate resources of towns and cities allowed drama and performance to become proportionally more ambitious, and at the same time profoundly expressive of the civic ideologies which sustained drama and performance and which, in turn, drama and performance helped to sustain. Medieval Dublin was no exception, and it is from here that the bulk of Ireland's early urban evidence survives. Though sadly it is atelous, the earliest extant morality play from the British Isles comes from Dublin, and it was possibly originally composed there in response to speci®c cultural needs, not just one more commodity imported like so many others from across the Irish Sea.11 This is the play known as The Pride of Life.12 The words and music of another rarity survive from this period, the Latin liturgical play known as the Dublin Visitatio Sepulcri.13 Apart from primary evidence of this sort, other sorts of evidence establish the central place occupied by drama and performance in the life of the late-medieval and early Renaissance city. The pageants of Corpus Christi day, for example, which were ®xed by a corporation edict of 1498, were but one link, if a conspicuous one, in a yearly chain of dramatic, ceremonial events supervised by the corporation to celebrate the city's identity and to proclaim it in the face of whoever might be tempted to encroach upon civic jurisdictions and prerogatives.14 Although it is possible that the Corpus Christi pageants were associated with some sort of fully-¯edged dramatic presentation and were not just a procession of tableaux vivants, this is not entirely clear. Dramas were certainly performed, however, on ®xed stages erected on the Hoggen Green from at least the early sixteenth century.15 They are known solely on the basis of reports in the Dublin Chronicle, a city-sponsored attempt to inscribe Dublin in the august tradition of annalistic discourse.16 The imperative of civic ceremonial was the driving force behind much of the public dramatic display mounted in Dublin, just as it was the interests of civic ceremonial that called for the recruitment of the talents of many of Dublin's musicians.17 The Dublin waits, ®rst on record from 1465 (though a band of 11

12

13 14

15

16 17

See A. J. Fletcher, Drama, Performance, and Polity in Pre-Cromwellian Ireland (Toronto, 2000), pp. 84±90 and 121±3, for commentary. The best modern edition is that of N. Davis, ed. Non-Cycle Plays and Fragments, EETS, SS 1 (Oxford, 1970), pp. 90±105. Fletcher, Drama, Performance, and Polity, Appendix I. A. J. Fletcher, `Playing and Staying Together: Projecting the Corporate Image in SixteenthCentury Dublin', in A. F. Johnston and W. HuÈsken, ed. Civic Ritual and Drama (Amsterdam and Atlanta, 1996), pp. 15±37 and `The Civic Pageantry of Corpus Christi in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Dublin', Irish Economic and Social History 23 (1996), 73±96. The Hoggen Green was a public recreational area to the east of the city walls, in the region of present-day College Green, in front of Trinity College. It is plotted on Fig. 3 above. See H. B. Clarke, Ùrbs et Suburbium: Beyond the Walls of Medieval Dublin', in C. Manning, ed. Dublin and beyond the Pale: Studies in Honour of Patrick Healy (Rathmichael, 1998), pp. 45±58; see Fig. 6. See further below in section 4.4, headnote to The Dublin Chronicle. An important batch of evidence in the Repertory is that for civic entries, and not only for Dublin; see also further below in section 5.4, under Kilkenny and Limerick, for example, s.a. 1637 and 1567 respectively.


20


pipers was already in existence by 1456), existed primarily to serve the civic weal, and were allowed to stray further a®eld in search of patronage only with the mayor's prior approval and then only for brief periods. Their ®rst duty was to be available in the city to service the machinery of civic ceremonial. Sometimes they functioned in close proximity to actual civic drama, as in 1561 when after a dinner and a pageant of the Nine Worthies organized by the mayor for the new Lord Deputy, Sir Thomas Radcliffe, the city waits accompanied the Lord Deputy back to his lodging at the end of the evening. Dublin in the sixteenth century emerges from the documents as a conglomeration of interest groups and subcultures, not all of whose agendas were commensurate or compatible, but which were nevertheless tied together in a bond of civic cooperation by the corporation. The corporation, aware of the potential disunity that the existence of subcultures might create, policed them by various means, including, very importantly, obliging them to participate in pageantry. The city's youth, for example, were coordinated by an annually elected of®cer, the Mayor of the Bullring, who counted among his duties the responsibility for setting forth the pageant of the Nine Worthies. This was not only a pageant that featured in the Corpus Christi procession, but one that the corporation required to be played on various other civic occasions when it wished to cut a dash before the State government, as indeed at the corporation's banquet in honour of Sir Thomas Radcliffe in 1561. Youthful energy could thus be channelled along socially productive lines, rather than frittered away on the playing in the streets of useless, sometimes even parlous, pastimes like tennis or football.18 There are also signs that the youth may have begun their training in self-presentation from an early age: in 1583 one David Duke was paid 26s 8d for performing an interlude on Black Monday (1 April in that year); given that he was a schoolmaster by profession, it seems likely that he could have drafted his charges into his cast.19 By the seventeenth century, public involvement in drama and performance, though by no means a thing of the past, was changing in nature in response to new social demands. For example, the civic, ceremonial theatre of the masses that had existed in the sixteenth century had changed too by the seventeenth. Gone were the more colourfully theatrical processions like those on St George's Day, when the pageant of St George, complete with dragon, processed through the streets to St George's Chapel. More nakedly territorial processions, like the franchise ridings which staked out the extent of the mayor's jurisdiction, were being refurbished instead. Also, from about 1635, we see in Dublin a growing availability of a privatized theatrical experience with the opening of the Werburgh Street Theatre, the next purpose-built playhouse to be built in the British Isles outside London. Simultaneously, legislation was passed banning demotic pastimes peddled by the likes of `Beare-wards, Common players of 18

19

Or it could be diverted with the occasional extraordinary concession, as when in 1588±9 Dublin was visited by two touring troupes from England, the Queen's players and the Earl of Essex's players, and the corporation paid them for showing their sport in the streets. See below in section 5.4, under Dublin, s.a. 1588±9. Popular activities like dancing and the setting up of maypoles, of which the Repertory also provides evidence, and not only for Dublin, likewise needed careful supervision. See below in section 5.4, under Dublin, s.a. 1582±3, and note the children in Kilkenny who played in the Corpus Christi play, 1631 (see in section 5.4, under Kilkenny, 13 January 1631).



21

Enter-ludes, & Minstrels wandring abroad, all Juglers, and wandring persons' (see in section 5.2 below, under Edict of the Irish Parliament, s.a. 1635). It is tempting to see a connection between these two developments. The Werburgh Street Theatre was an upper-class enterprise, instigated by the Lord Deputy Sir Thomas Wentworth, and always run with an eye to the taste and requirements of the ruling classes resident in Dublin Castle. Several of the plays put on there are known, including ones speci®cally written for production in Werburgh Street by Henry Burnell and James Shirley.20 This theatre's function could be regarded as the franchising out of one of the commodities of civilized life in the viceregal household. Dramatic pastimes had taken root there generations before, so the Werburgh Street Theatre allowed vicarious association with aristocratic life and its values for the price of a theatre ticket: earlier Lords Deputy, like Radcliffe and Sidney, had patronized performers, and at the turn of the century, the Lord Deputy Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, had presided over castle theatricals (see in section 5.4 below, under Dublin, s.a. 1601). Indeed, an important section of the Repertory illustrates the importance of the patronage of musicians and performers in the households of the ruling eÂlite, both in the sixteenth century and the next. While by the seventeenth century the social function of drama and performance in Dublin had therefore begun to shift and diversify, outside Dublin their practice continued much as before, as far as the records permit us to determine. In Kilkenny, for example, where it is known for a fact that a civic Corpus Christi play existed, and where a vigorous civic drama was mounted in the streets from at least the time of bishop John Bale,21 the tradition of Corpus Christi performance lived on until at least 1637, a good two generations after the demise of the public observances on Corpus Christi in Dublin. The longevity into the seventeenth century of Kilkenny's Corpus Christi drama is remarkable in the British Isles. By this date, of course, the effective political power of Gaelic Ireland was at an end. It had been brought to heel after 1601, and its chief wielders had ¯ed from Ulster in 1607. While its cultural icons lingered on, they did so now in a domesticated and colonized way, appearing in forms as diverse as the Dalway harp (see in section 5.4 below, under Cloyne, co. Cork, s.a. 1621), or seen refracted within the ®rst (and only) masque text to have survived from pre-Cromwellian Ireland, a sword dance written by John Clavell for performance at Christmas in 1632, in the household of Lord Barry near Cork.22 Even that most intractable Gaelic province, Ulster, had been subjugated by planters, largely of English and Scottish extraction, some of whom were happy to do the fashionable thing when they regaled visiting London of®cials with theatrical offerings (in the case that we have, with Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing; see in section 5.4 below, under Coleraine, s.a. 1628). The Gaelic minstrel classes, who had been the transmit20

21

22

To the Werburgh Street repertoire gathered by A. Harbage, Annals of English Drama 975±1700, rev. S. Schoenbaum (London, 1964), pp. 136±41, should be added: Ben Jonson, The Alchemist; possibly Henry Burnell's ®rst play, alluded to in the Prologue of Landgartha (see below) but now lost; two of John Fletcher's plays (their identity is conjectured by Stevenson, `Shirley's Publishers', pp. 150±1); and possibly James Shirley's The Opportunity. If not much earlier. The ®rst recorded outing of some of John Bale's plays was in Kilkenny in 1553; see below in section 5.4, Kilkenny, s.a. 1553, and endnote 534. See Fletcher, Drama, Performance, and Polity, Appendix IV.


22


ters and consolidators of the old Gaelic social order, had lost their menace and were being actively cultivated and collected by the New English ruling caste. When this happened, when the note of nervousness had vanished from English descriptions of the Gaelic performing arts, and when they found themselves appearing like admired trophies, then English power had ®nally won, and its governmental authority, at least for the time being, had established itself.


3 Editorial Procedures

3.1 Organization of the Repertory The organization of the Repertory is generally modelled on that of volumes of the Records of Early English Drama series (REED), to which the Repertory is intended to provide an Irish complement. But unlike REED records hitherto published, which have been of speci®c cities or counties in England,1 those gathered here are from an entire island. Such extended scope, compounded, furthermore, with the island's peculiar history, has necessitated a presentation which is correspondingly a little different to that which the REED volumes adopt. The differences ought not prove too disconcerting to those users of the REED series who have grown accustomed to the more regular diet it provides and the way it is presented. The familiar fare, like payments to city waits, visitation articles for ferreting out theatrical profanities, or court cases in which erring minstrels are brought to book, also appears here in this collection, but fare of a different sort, largely provided by the evidence forthcoming from Gaelic Ireland, has proved more challenging. It is this that has occasioned most of the departures from usual REED presentation practice. The Repertory is organized in two principal sections. The ®rst, the Records, is itself organized under six main headings. Under the ®rst heading are to be found items not precisely localized or dated. `Not precisely localized' means that even at best, an item can be located no more precisely than in one of Ireland's four major provinces (in Ulster, Leinster, Munster or Connacht); `not precisely dated' means that an item is not assignable within one generation (that is, within a period of thirty years; dating procedures are explained further below in section 3.3). This may seem a rather forlorn place from which to begin; yet in fact, under this heading are to be found some of the items of greatest antiquity and interest which, were they merely relegated to an appendix, would risk being improperly marginalized. Nor is the prospect for their dating quite so entirely bleak as the heading might suggest: the items grouped here, the bulk of which are in Irish, can be approximately dated on linguistic grounds. Most belong to the Old Irish period, some are in Middle Irish and a few are in early modern or Classical Irish. The bulk of these items derives from the complex, rich corpus of early Irish law. Legal texts, like a few others excerpted in the 1

One exception to date, a few records from the Isle of Man, are included in Appendix 5 of D. George, ed. Records of Early English Drama: Lancashire (Toronto, 1991).


24

3. Editorial Procedures

Repertory, came into being by a cumulative process of compilation. Some comprise textual strata of differing ages (thus, for example, a law text compiled in the Old Irish period may acquire glosses and scholia later, yet these too may contain material of interest to the present volume). Thus questions of dating may raise complex issues (see further on dating procedures below in section 3.3). In some cases it is also possible to suggest where the law schools or centres were in which particular legislations were framed or the province to which they originally chie¯y pertained. Wherever there is room for such additional re®nement of date and location, endnotes will indicate it. The second main heading also gathers under it items that are not precisely localized, in the sense de®ned above, but which are dated, also in the sense de®ned above, that is, they are ascribable, with greater or lesser precision, to within a thirty-year period. These items are in English, Irish or Latin. Many apply to Ireland in the broadest geographic sense, but again, wherever a particular province or region is evidently intended, endnotes will indicate it. Items that are localized but not precisely dated are arranged under the third main heading. The minimum requirement for deeming an item localized is to establish the county that it concerns or, as may often be the case when a Gaelic Irish lordship is in question, which combination of counties it overlaps (as, for example, the lordship of Ely O'Carroll, that incorporated parts of north co. Tipperary and south-west co. Offaly). Localized items are arranged alphabetically, whether that be by town, city, townland, parish, barony, lordship or county. Counties precede towns of the same name in the Repertory (thus, for example, items pertaining to co. Kildare precede ones pertaining to Kildare town). Fourth come the items that are both localized and dated, in the senses de®ned above. They are mostly in English, with some in Irish and a few in French. Some further explanations about the arrangement of the items seem appropriate. Items which appear under the ®rst heading whose dating can be established only in the broadest terms (for example, those that may date to any time within the Old Irish period) are placed before items whose dating can be estimated more precisely. Thus, for example, the text Tecosca Cormaic (the Ìnstructions of Cormac', counsels ostensibly offered by King Cormac Mac Airt to his son), which has been estimated to have been written anytime between the seventh and the ®rst half of the ninth century, is placed before a set of penitential commutations associated with the spiritual movement known as the CeÂli DeÂ (and therefore dateable to c. 800), even though, were the truth known, the former may conceivably postdate the latter. Similarly, under headings where the dating of an item may be known within thirty years, an item produced, for example, sometime between 1636 and 1641 will precede ones dateable even more exactly to 1636, 1637, 1638, 1639 and 1640. An item which derives from a book printed before 1642 is entered under the date of the book's publication, except whenever good grounds exist for dating the item more exactly to the period to which it pertains. Thus, for example, a developed account of the Christmas revelry of Henry II in Dublin is to be found only in Meredith Hanmer's Historie of the Kingdome of Ireland, which he compiled sometime between 1591 and his death in 1604 and which appeared in print in 1633. But the events referred to (leaving aside the question of whether or not


3.1 Organization of the Repertory

25

they occurred in quite the form that Hanmer relates) must have happened in the year 1171, and are therefore entered under that date. Similarly, antiquarian transcriptions or paraphrases of items up to 1642 are entered under the date to which the item pertains, or in the case of items once extant amongst accounts and payments, under the date when the account or payment was authorized, if that is ascertainable. Items derived from letters are entered in the Repertory under the date of their composition; although this date is infrequently that of the events of interest to which the letter refers, endnotes will normally discuss these and their date. For some items, only a terminal date, usually the death date of their author, is known, and in a few such cases, that death date also falls post 1642. All these are necessarily grouped under the heading of not precisely dated, but the few that might in theory be dated post 1642, near the time of the death date, are also included here rather than among the post-1642 documents, since they cannot be known for certain to postdate 1642. When an item declares its location, it is entered as precisely localized even in cases where the present day location is undecidable, as for example in the case of the fair held at the place called Carmun in the year 1079 (or perhaps a little earlier). Some items, though entered as localized, have been admitted on the basis of good circumstantial evidence. These, and any other locations that are uncertain for whatever reason, will be discussed in the endnotes. Under the Repertory's ®fth heading is assembled an important group of items, in English, pertaining to the households of the Old and the New English gentry. Sixth and last come ecclesiastical items, in Latin, French and, after the Reformation, in English, arranged by province. The second principal section of the Repertory is made up of thirty-one Appendices, followed ®nally by a group of post-1642 documents. The Appendices mainly comprise items in Irish, with a few in English or in Latin, while the post-1642 documents are in English, French or Irish. 3.2 Principles of selection One of the most controversial aspects of this Repertory may be the principles guiding item selection. To some these may appear unacceptably ¯exible, for not everyone is likely to agree with where I have chosen to draw lines of inclusion and exclusion. Against any such objection I can only offer the pragmatic defence that if anything is to be said at all, lines must be drawn somewhere, and that if the places in which I have chosen to draw them are explained, then readers with ®rm views will at least have been forewarned about what they will consider to be the Repertory's limitations. Against another possible charge, the Utopian criticism that more copious quotation of an item's context would have situated the item in question more meaningfully, I must again enter a pragmatic defence. Not only is it not practicable to quote copious context, but even were this to be done, the decision about where the context should end would still be open to dispute. So the items in this Repertory might appropriately be regarded as essential points of departure: those readers choosing so to regard them will at least have been alerted to their existence and may if they so wish pursue the larger contexts for themselves. It should be stated at the outset that items selected for inclusion in the


26


Records section of the Repertory are normally ones which appear to refer to historical reality. To such items a premium has been attached, although sometimes, to be sure, it is hard to decide whether an item actually was historical or not. Hence the historicity of some items may be doubtful; for example, some have a historical core around which layers of saga material have subsequently coagulated, as in the case of the Cath Almaine, noted earlier, or the BoÂrama (the `Tribute paid in Cattle'), a narrative whose historical core, as far as the excerpt selected in the Repertory is concerned, dates to the year 600, but which was written up and elaborated in the Middle Irish period, approximately in the eleventh century. Texts like these are nevertheless included in the Repertory whenever narrow historical dates attach to their core narratives. Certain items, which pass themselves off as historical, can clearly never have been: the fabulous tales associated with historical saints are a case in point. Yet even pseudo-historical items may yield historically authentic insights into their authors' perceptions of performers and the performing arts, and a substantial selection has therefore been made from such items for the Appendices. Very broadly speaking, therefore, Record items may be considered historical in ways that Appendix items may not (with the exception of Appendices 6.1±9, on which see further below). In sum, however much embroiled the possibility of distinguishing fact from ®ction may be, even ®ction may have its value as an access to history, as will be explained further shortly. Selection principles for items from native Gaelic sources require the most clari®cation. I will begin with Gaelic musicians of various sorts. There is a wealth of reference to music and musicians in Gaelic sources before 1642. When musicians were evidently aristocrats or churchmen, who it may be presumed played their music either as a polite public accomplishment, as a personal solace or by way of communal entertainment and edi®cation, they are not included. Conversely, performers for whom music may have been a means of earning a living, if not necessarily the exclusive means, are automatically included when there is good reason to believe in their historical existence, and a selection of ®ctional performers of this class, especially if the contexts in which they feature throw any additional light on the nature of their profession and performing skills, is included in the Appendices. A particularly fertile source of references to such folk may be found in Irish bardic poetry. Poems of this tradition, normally the bespoke compositions of professional poets who had particular patrons and occasions in mind, alude often to the minstrelsy to be heard in a patron's house, a sure token of his generosity and the esteem in which he was held by members of the bardic class. When such alusions can be connected with a speci®c patron, place and occasion, they may be included in the Repertory, but statements about music of a more general kind in poetry of this sort, like elegiac regrets at the passing of a way of life and the music that graced it, or vague statements of the order of `the sound of the harp was to be heard in the land of x', are not normally included, and neither are references to music and musical performance which are merely metaphorical. Notices of the three strains of harp music frequently distinguished in early Irish sources, the strains which induced respectively weeping (goltraige), laughter (gentraige) and sleep (suantraige), are similarly not all routinely collected, but are represented in the Repertory in one example from the late Old Irish triads. It might be noted that the Gaelic musicians who performed croÂnaÂn (`humming', though this


3.2 Principles of selection

27

translates only approximately whatever their vocal art actually was) have also not been included as a matter of course, though they may feature incidentally by virtue of their association with performers who have been deemed eligible for inclusion on other grounds. It often proves the case that no practical distinction is to be drawn between musicians on the one hand and on the other members of the professional Gaelic poetic classes, the practitioners of varieties of verse which might range between the genres of praise and satire. The delivery of poetry in Gaelic society was often a public (and musical) event. The paramountcy of poetry's public dimension is perfectly understandable, given the fact that poets and their compositions ful®lled important social functions that could only be conducted adequately in a public forum. As the principal architects of their patrons' reputations, poets required audiences to impress. Feasts, for example, would afford ready-made opportunities for poetic display. Delivery of compositions in festive circumstances, therefore, was likely to entail a high degree of performance art. However, while some poets, whatever their position within the carefully graded Gaelic poetic hierarchy, doubtless performed their own compositions publicly, and sometimes indeed to the accompaniment of music, sometimes they did not, but left the performance aspect of what they had composed to someone else, a person often referred to in the sources as a reccaire (`reciter'; plural, reccairi). Presumably, this was someone skilled in the performance aspect of the delivery, perhaps more skilled in this than the poet himself. Some references to reccairi have been selected for the Records and the Appendices, though they are not gathered as a matter of course. Neither are bald mentions of poets alone, although it is well ever to bear in mind how staunch was the af®nity between poetry, music and the performing arts. The exclusion of passing referrences to poets in Gaelic sources also applies to the numerous similar mentions of them in English ones, especially in the Tudor and early Jacobean ®ants, where Irish bards and rhymers (as they are most commonly called) abound. Indeed, the blurring of the distinction between music and verse noted in the Gaelic context is evident also here in the English one: see, for example, the case of Owen Keynan, a blind harper/bard/poet/rhymer (in section 5.4 under Cappervarget, co. Kildare, s.a. 1541). However, unless a special reason supervenes for including bards and rhymers, they are passed over. If, for example, an item mentioning bards and rhymers associates them with harpers (or even with gamblers), it will not be omitted: in such cases, they may ®nd themselves included in the Repertory on the strength of their association. The eligibility of gamblers for consideration among performing artists will be clear from earlier discussion; here it might additionally be observed that gambling, and especially the playing of dice, had a longstanding connection with the province of public performance in England as well as Ireland, where it was a notable feature of some mummings.2 The Gaelic poetic profession is frequently described as hierarchical in early 2

Compare C. L. Kingsford, ed. John Stow A Survey of London, 2 vols (Oxford, 1908; repr. 1971), I, 96±7. On the Sunday before Candlemas in 1377, a troupe of 130 Londoners, disguised as mummers and attended by `trumpets, sackbuts, cornets, shawms and other minstrels', came by night to Kennington near Lambeth where the young prince Richard was. They played a dice game, feasted, danced with the prince and his company, drank and took their leave.


28


Gaelic sources. Members of its lowlier grades, or fodaÂna, were especially noted for their composition of satire, and the conduct of satirists, as noted earlier, renders them prime candidates for consideration for inclusion in the Repertory. However, as with poets, bards and rhymers, references to the taman, drisiuc and oblaire, three grades of satirist who were the lowest of the low in the Gaelic poetic hierarchy, are not routinely gathered unless their contexts have rather more to reveal about their behaviour than merely naming them. Contexts in which appear other, more generic words for a satirist (the commonest being caÂinte) are also ripe for consideration. A few examples of caÂinti and their behaviour, including some rarer cases of the activity of the satirist's female counterpart, the banchaÂinte (less commonly, the berach) have been included, whether in the Records or in the Appendices, according to the relative apparent historicity of the item in question. Other, less commonly attested words for a satirist (rindile and dulsaine, for example) have been treated similarly. The criterion once again has been respect for the relative richness of information that a potential Repertory item affords about the behaviour of these satirists or about the ostensible attitudes to them of the authors of the items in which they are mentioned. The delivery of satire in Gaelic society, a public performance evidently calculated to amuse its target audience if not its target, shaded steadily into the province of other sorts of professional entertainment, as was earlier seen. Thus the activity of the caÂinti might overlap that of the druÂith. Items in which it is clear or seems highly likely that the druÂth in question was a congenital idiot have been omitted. Although other words for a professional fool or jester, like fuirseoÂir, occur somewhat less frequently, many of their contexts disclose much about the druÂth's profession, and so they are substantially represented in both Records and Appendices. Specialists within the jester's profession, like the braigetoÂir, reÂim, clesamnach, and so on, are also extensively represented in Gaelic sources, and are of considerable importance to the Repertory, though some of their most colourful instances are undisputably ®ctional and are hence collected in the Appendices. De®nitions of entertainers found in Old or Middle Irish glossaries are not normally noticed unless they offer substantial explanation of the word that they seek to gloss, and do not simply pair it with a synonym. A special group of professional buffoons, the crosaÂin (singular, crosaÂn), has been treated as an exception, however, for recent research convincingly establishing them as a variety of actor with specialised roles and skills has prompted my decision to record every crosaÂn reference that I am aware of, whether historical or pseudo-historical, in the Records or the Appendices, as appropriate.3 The only exception to this is the omission of family names which, although they may incorporate the crosaÂn element, do not otherwise occur in contexts that betray any evident awareness that the people bearing them currently belonged to (or once hailed from) this particular performer class. We may turn now from the Gaelic items to those preserved in English, Latin and French. Men whose surnames clearly signal a profession which is of interest to the Repertory are normally included, and certainly when their context suggests that surname and profession may indeed have been one and 3

See A. Harrison, The Irish Trickster, The Folklore Society Mistletoe Series 20 (Shef®eld, 1989).



29

the same. Sometimes, however, the name may be no more than a patronymic unrelated to its owner's current profession; when there has seemed any reason to suspect that this may indeed be so, the item has been omitted. Principles of selection for Dublin items merit special explanation, since these items contribute so substantially to the Repertory as a whole and are in a few respects sui generis. Civic ceremonies form one important centre of interest, though necessarily not all have been admitted. One such case is Dublin's Shrove Tuesday ball-bearing ceremony, a custom in evidence from 1462 and which may have resembled a comparable ceremony in the city of Chester. On balance, it has been decided to exclude references to it, and the one occasion when it does appear in the Repertory, in the company of a reference to the pageant lists in the Chain Book, is coincidental (in section 5.4 under Dublin, s.a. 1569). The ball-bearing ceremony is chie¯y mentioned in two civic sources, the Assembly Rolls and the Treasurer's Book, but apart from the fact that it seems to have entailed some kind of procession or riding on horseback in which men who had married during the year would carry a ball and pay dues to the city treasury, the precise nature of its ritual observance is otherwise unclear. There is no unequivocal evidence of its association with any music, drama or the performing arts. From the late-medieval period, Dublin hosted another ceremonial event, one whose social stakes were higher and which took place on a much larger scale. The riding of the franchises was a civic occasion held to mark the limits of the mayor's jurisdiction. Often this procession called upon the services of musicians. Indeed, by the early eighteenth century, the franchise riding had established an international reputation and was attracting foreign visitors to see its procession which by now included a lavish parade with pageant wagons sponsored by the various city guilds. While there is no direct evidence of the use of pageant wagons in the franchise ridings which fall within the purview of this Repertory, the presence of musicians is attested, and so it has been decided to include every notice of a franchise riding. Most references to civic musicians and waits, as well as to musicians retained privately by the gentry and by of®cers of state, have similarly been included as a matter of course, both in Dublin and elsewhere, though not musicians merely on record as having served in a military capacity (this includes the bagpipers who often accompanied Irish soldiers, as much as the trumpeters who accompanied English ones). References to known musicians are not invariably recorded, either when the item in which they appear makes no mention of their professional musical activity, or when it adds nothing to our understanding of their performance role. Thus, for example, in the case of the retained musicians of Sir Richard Boyle, ®rst earl of Cork, it may be interesting to note that several of them paid him rent on the houses they occupied, but repeated notice in the Repertory of such rentals would seem to serve little purpose. These payments have therefore been excluded. Conversely, references to makers of instruments of the sort used in secular performance are included, even when no performance as such is in question. Church musicians, unless they performed in unusual circumstances or outside their usual liturgical context, have been omitted, as have references to the training of choristers, to church organs, organ builders and organists. In order to enhance understanding of the general context of Holy Sepulchre devotion in medieval Dublin, for this was the context both nourishing and


30


nourished by the Dublin Visitatio Sepulcri play,4 the payments for the Sepulchre light maintained in a church near to St John the Evangelist's, the church of St Werburgh, have been included, even though it is not strictly clear that St Werburgh's also celebrated Easter with a liturgical drama. (Mere receipts of paschal money or Sepulchre money that also occur in the churchwardens accounts in which the St Werburgh's Sepulchre light features have been ignored.) At this juncture a contrasting policy adopted for selecting certain of the Kilkenny items might be noted: payments for a Sepulchre light which appear in the Corporation Book of the Irishtown there have been omitted because, unlike Dublin, Kilkenny yields no clear evidence of liturgical drama alongside its Holy Sepulchre devotions. Of course, it may well be that the vagaries of document survival are responsible for this absence, for in many other respects Kilkenny was an important centre of dramatic and ceremonial activity. One other allusion to clerical drama, to costumes worn by devils who customarily appear ìn ludis clericorum', has been omitted since, although it was made by an Irishman, it seems not entirely certain to have intended practices found in Ireland.5 In Dublin, the stage-manager and focus of much civic pageantry, as earlier noted, was the corporation, and many items have been selected from corporation documents. All references to the Mayor of the Bullring have been collected, both in Dublin and in Kilkenny, the only other Irish town (and, after 1609, city) in which evidence survives for a similarly named civic of®cial. All references to actual bullrings throughout the country have also been included. In both Dublin and Kilkenny, Corpus Christi was an occasion for plays or pageants. A few documents have therefore been collected which, while not in themselves explicitly concerned with dramatic pageantry, nevertheless usefully enlarge our understanding of the circumstances in which it ¯ourished. Of the Dublin city craft guilds, on whose pageantry the corporation kept a watchful and supervising eye, the guild of the Tailors is the one from which most evidence of interest has survived, and I have erred on the side of generosity when quoting items and their context from the nineteenth-century transcription of the lost Tailors' guild book. All civic receptions in which orations and/or music featured have also been collected, both in Dublin and in the other towns and cities of Ireland. Similarly, details are included of the funeral in Dublin of mayor Robert Cusack, in which the city trumpeter had an important part to play. The Repertory also contains references, both from Dublin, the Pale and other places in Ireland, to maypoles and their associated customs, to dances of various sorts, some civic, some private, and to games banned by the authorities, including in this category one case of an inter-village wrestling match (in section 5.4 under Naas, s.a. 1305). Before moving on to explain the principles guiding selection of the Appendices, a ®nal policy governing selection of both Gaelic and non-Gaelic 4 5

Fletcher, Drama, Performance, and Polity, Appendix I. M. Esposito, ed. Itinerarium Symonis Semeonis ab Hybernia ad Terram Sanctam, Scriptores Latini Hiberniae 4 (Dublin, 1960), p. 61. The allusion was made in 1323 by a Franciscan friar, Symon Semeonis, in the context of a visit to the Holy Land. Though evidently based in Clonmel, Symon travelled widely in England and on the Continent, and could have encountered ludi clericorum anywhere.



31

items must be explained. Several of the texts appearing in this Repertory were recycled in later versions by other authors. Cases in point are the later redactions, based on the Old Irish law text Uraicecht Becc (the `Small Primer'), of the seven grades of the ®lid (`poets'), or the paraphrases by later writers of what Giraldus Cambrensis originally penned, c. 1185, in his Topographia Hiberniae. Later adaptations which add little, if anything, new of interest to this collection are ignored. Finally we come to material consigned to Appendices: to repeat, Record items, broadly speaking, may be considered historical in ways that Appendix items may not (with the exception of Appendices 6.1±9 and 6.31). This division, however, and the `non-historical' status imputed to Appendices 6.10±30, need further explanation. Lea®ng through the Appendices will quickly reveal that most are in Irish. Irish society during the period under review did not generally produce those kinds of documents that students of British history tend to be most familiar with. There is little in the Irish language in the way of deeds, leases, quitclaims, account books, patents or the like, documents which may be thought to lay reassuring claim to the real world. On the other hand, there is an immensely fertile crop of the sorts of narrative texts that historians have traditionally been wary of, regarding them at best as of doubtful worth or at worst as containing nothing to suit their purpose. Selections from this abundance of saga material and verse, of saints' lives and satires (to name but a few genres) are included in the Appendices, and the decision to include them has rested on my contention that while they are undisputably products of the imagination, they may, nevertheless, offer an access to history if used correctly. By comparing them with texts whose representation of reality may be considered less obviously fanciful, points of similarity between both sorts of text may emerge which become noteworthy: such correspondences may gesture towards that historical actuality which it is the chief concern of this Repertory to document. Moreover, imaginative texts may enhance understanding of practices that in texts of surer historical purchase may only be attested in relatively ¯eeting terms. Yet since references to musicians, entertainers and the performing arts in Irish literary sources are legion, I have by no means exhausted them or their possibilities in the Appendices. Instead, I have offered a sample of cases which are of exceptional interest for the way in which they corroborate and even extend our understanding of the sorts of Gaelic evidence assembled among the Records proper. The organization of the Appendices into two (technically distinct) groups was suggested by an ethnic division often made in late-medieval Irish ecclesiastical writings: the minority, Appendices 6.1±9, originated inter Anglicos (these Appendices are in English); and the majority, all the rest, originated inter Hibernicos (these Appendices are in Irish and some in Latin). The Appendices inter Anglicos are presented ®rst. Here may be found sets of documents in the following chronological order: the proclamation of the 1541 Dublin parliament (some of whose events also feature in the Records); the orders of the English Earl Marshal, appropriated to Irish use after 1568, for observing protocol on ceremonial occasions; the case of Sir Brian O'Rourke's mimetic vili®cation and abuse of a statue representing Elizabeth I (in 1586 or 1587, though the incident was still topical as late as 1593); excerpts from A Catholicke Conference, published in 1612, and from the 1622 edition of The Irish Hvbbvb, or, The


32


English Hve and Crie, both by Barnaby Rich; John Clavell's Prologue and Epilogue to a play presented at the `New house' (probably the Werburgh Street Theatre, Dublin), c. 1635±7; James Shirley's Prologues and Epilogues to plays performed in the Werburgh Street Theatre, c. 1637±40; the title page, selected commendations and Epilogue to James Shirley's play The Royall Master, performed in Dublin Castle on New Year's Day 1638 and also probably at a time soon after at the Werburgh Street Theatre; the Prologue and part of the Epilogue to his Werburgh Street Theatre play St. Patrick for Ireland, c. 1639; and ®nally the title page, Prologue and part of the Epilogue to Landgartha by Henry Burnell, ®rst performed at the Werburgh Street Theatre on St Patrick's Day 1640. After these are presented the Appendices inter Hibernicos. While an effort has been made also to arrange these in chronological order, dates of some items have not always been quite so readily determinable, and therefore an arrangement by genre has supplemented arrangement by chronology. Appendix 6.10 is a case in point. It includes excerpts from eight different saints' lives (the lives of two of these, SS CiaraÂn of Saigir and Coemgen, are represented in multiple versions) whose composition dates, with two exceptions (the lives of of SS FlannaÂn and MaedoÂc), are only very approximately determinable. Appendix 6.11 is similar in this regard. It contains glossarial and pseudo-historical references to crosaÂin (one of which, in deriving from the Irish Life of St Brennan, also straddles the boundary between Appendices 6.10 and 6.11). Appendices 6.12±14 are related: in Appendix 6.12 are presented the two extant diagrams prescribing seating etiquette in the Tech MidchuÂarda, ®rst as given in the Book of Leinster and then some years later in the Yellow Book of Lecan; Appendix 6.13 prints different versions of the prose account of the Tech MidchuÂarda; and Appendix 6.14 prints the poetic account. Appendices 6.15± 16 are selected from religious texts, and Appendix 6.17 from a text with a strong af®liation to the Irish saint's life tradition. Appendix 6.15 gives an excerpt from the FõÂs AdamnaÂin (the `Vision of AdomnaÂn'). Appendix 6.16 comprises Irish versions of three different Bible narratives, arranged according to their biblical chronology: David dancing before the Ark of the Lord; King Herod's feast at which he was beguiled into granting the request for John the Baptist's head; and a description of the musicians at the funeral of Jairus' daughter. Appendix 6.17, thematically close to topics found in the Saints' Lives in Appendix 6.10, relates a story of a posthumous miracle of King Guaire from the Cath Cairnd Chonaill (the `Battle of Cairn Conaill'). Appendices 6.18±22 are taken from secular sagas, respectively: Mesca Ulad; Togail Bruidne Da Â eda SlaÂne (the `Birth of A Â edh SlaÂne'); Fingal RoÂnaÂin; and Derga; Genemain A Cath Maige Mucrama (the `Battle of Mag Mucrama'). Appendices 6.23 and 6.24 contain passages from the tales of Aislinge Meic Con Glinne and TromdaÂmh Guaire (`Guaire's Burdensome Poetic Company'). A liturgy of poetic cursing is presented in Appendix 6.25. Appendix 6.26 gives excerpts from the Irish translations of two exotic Middle English texts: the travels of Sir Marco Polo and the travels of Sir John Mandeville. Appendix 6.27 contains an excerpt from the Ceithearnach UõÂ Dhomhnaill (Ò'Donnell's Kern'), and Appendix 6.28 a description of a reccaire (`reciter') at work in a sixteenthcentury crosaÂntacht text. Appendices 6.29 and 6.30 are both brief: 6.29 illustrates the notional compatibility of harping with storytelling in a poem



33

Â a Casaide; and 6.30 illustrates a reference to of 1147 by Gilla Dutu U mountebanks in the Foras Feasa ar EÂirinn of Geoffrey Keating. While the last Appendix, 6.31, seems, on balance, to belong most appropriately inter Hibernicos, this is not strictly clear. However, if for no other reason, its detailed account of the performance of an Irish prestigiator (`juggler'), being in Latin, ®ts comfortably within this section. Finally, a selection of post-1642 documents has been included. They are arranged according to the date of their composition, though in most cases they Â refer to pre-1642 events. Hence, for example, the 1652 poem of DaÂibhidh O Bruadair, CreÂacht do dhaÂil me im arthach galair (À fateful wound has made of me a hulk of sadness'), which has a description of aristocratic pastimes at feasts in pre-Cromwellian Ireland, is given under the year of its composition, in spite of its anterior reference. Similarly, the various post-1642 documents relating to the establishment of Ireland's ®rst purpose-built theatre in Werburgh Street, Dublin, are listed under the year or approximate year in which they were composed, even though the theatre itself was built c. 1635±6. However, items which though ®rst on record after 1642 may refer to speci®c events at a determinable time and place before that date have been included in the Records proper. Thus, for example, the reference to a performance of Gorboduc at Dublin Castle on ¦ September 1601 to celebrate the birthday of Elizabeth I is included in section 5.4 under Dublin, s.a. 1601, though it is ®rst mentioned in a publication of 1749. But references that are less precise, as for example the Restoration patents in 1661 in favour of John Ogilby, which refer to his earlier appointment as Master of the Revels and to his general theatrical activity in Dublin, are given under 1661, the year in which they were issued. Although I have tried to gather sources comprehensively within the terms outlined above, the task has been so large that some sources will have eluded me, perhaps even ones under my nose. I regret any sins of omission, but circumstances permitting, I will hope to repair them in a subsequent edition. 3.3 Dating and the format of item headings It is important that each item in the Repertory be dated as exactly as possible. Most information on an item's date is contained in its heading, and the dating attributed to it there justi®ed in an accompanying endnote in problematic cases. The ®rst line of an item heading speci®es either a year, a period of years, or a period (for example, Old Irish, Middle Irish, `Before 1642', etc.) in which the item was composed. The second line ascribes to the item a short title. This may be accompanied by an endnote whenever additional information is desirable (for example, to justify dating in the problematic cases, as mentioned earlier, or to explain historical references or provide translations). When the item derives from an extant manuscript, the third line of the heading gives its shelfmark and the item's location in the manuscript. When the item derives from a printed source, bibliographical details and the item's location in the source are given in an endnote. Sometimes the printed source is an edition of a manuscript now lost, and its editor may have recorded the item's former location in the lost original. In such cases, this information is also included in brackets on the third line of the heading.


34


Whenever items may be dated not only to particular years but also even more narrowly to particular days and months, the third line of the heading records this, again in brackets. Several items derive from sets of accounts drawn up during ascertainable ®scal years or accounting periods (most of the items from the Treasurer's Book of Dublin Corporation, for example, are of this sort). In these cases, the ®scal year or accounting period is usually also speci®ed in brackets on the third line of the heading; whenever the item mentions exact dates or precisely dateable occasions within (or near to) the ®scal year or accounting period in which the item falls, this information is also normally given in brackets below the third line of the heading. In the case of published antiquarian transcriptions of manuscripts now missing from the Kilkenny Corporation Archives, days and months speci®ed in the third line of the heading normally refer to the date of the item's issue, even when there may be internal references to exact dates or precisely dateable occasions. In a few cases where the date of issue is not known, the item is dated according to any internal references that it may contain to exact dates or precisely dateable occasions. Thus while dating has been as exact as possible, in some cases it raises complex questions: the subsequent glosses and scholia written on many of the Old Irish law texts, for example, have already been mentioned above in this regard in section 3.1. Linguistic datings cited in the ®rst line of item headings should be understood to refer to the language of the canonical text whenever items comprise a number of textual strata of different linguistic dates. Endnotes may add further detail on the dating of textual strata, and therefore should always be additionally consulted. Fortunately, however, the majority of the datings in the Repertory are straightforward, like those attached to most of the items derived from the various annal collections (though even these may not be unfailingly reliable). Wherever annal datings are for some reason faulty or problematic, endnotes explain the dif®culty. 3.4 A note on texts and transcriptions Texts in this Repertory which are in Irish, French or Latin are translated in their endnotes (except for formulaic Latin, not invariably translated, in a few items otherwise in English); obscure English lexis is glossed as it arises (lexis once glossed may not always be glossed subsequently), or discussed in endnotes whenever fuller explanation seems warranted. Collations of texts extant in multiple copies are not routinely given unless textual variants contain matter of substantial interest to the concerns of this collection. All documents have either been transcribed for the ®rst time or, even if a modern printed edition exists, afresh (readings of previous editors have not been collated). A notional foliation, pagination or numeration (as appropriate) has been assigned in square brackets to any manuscript whose leaves or membranes have either not, or only very inadequately, been counted. Principles of transcription are conservative. As far as possible, document layout has been retained. In some manuscripts of early Irish texts, glosses are stacked one upon another and defy practicable typographical reproduction. In


3.4 A note on texts and transcriptions

35

these cases ± and only in these cases ± a number has been introduced into the text to key it to its accompanying gloss. It should be stressed that none of these numbers is present in the original. Marginalia are ignored unless of substantial interest. Manuscript lineation is observed only if in the original the item is formatted as verse. Line breaks in some early printed prose texts have been indicated by a vertical bar, |, inserted at the point at which the line break occurs. No attempt has been made to alter original punctuation, word division, capitalization or spelling, though most abbreviations have been expanded and indicated by underlining. Italic type in printed sources is not normally reproduced, but italic type present on the title pages of early printed books is reproduced in section 4.13. The expansion of abbreviations reproduced in published or manuscript antiquarian transcriptions of lost originals is more conservative. In these cases, only the commonest of abbreviations are expanded (as comparison, for example, of several of the late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century items from Kilkenny in section 5.4 of the Repertory will show). Abbreviations in English, French or Irish with counterparts in the standard Latin repertoire are expanded, as appropriate, according to their usual Latin orthographic values. A few abbreviations peculiar to Irish are expanded according to their traditional Irish orthographic values where these are unambiguous. In cases when their values may vary according to the grammatical status of the word they accompany or according to the scribe's preferred spelling if he ever writes the letter or letters for which they stand out in full, then they are accordingly expanded. A superscript dot over a consonant indicating lenition is normally expanded as an h, except in a few places where it is customarily retained (in the name of the law text MõÂadsÇlechta, for example). A word abbreviated to its initial letter between two dots (occasionally one dot, normally to the right of the letter) is expanded to the word's full form and the dot(s) omitted (for example, nõÂ .h. to nõÂ hannsa), always according to the scribe's preferred spelling when writing the word in full, if this is ascertainable. In this respect, it should be noted that in English documents a wide range of abbreviations exists for `Lord' or `Lord's/Lords': `L', `L.', `.L.', `Lo', `Lo.', `Lo:', etc.; for `Lordship' or `Lordship's/Lordships': `L', `Lps', `llps', etc.; and for `Lady' or `Lady's/Ladies': `la.', `lads.', etc. These are expanded, according to context, to the form that the scribe might be expected to have written had he written the word out in full (i.e., dots, if they form part of the abbreviation, will not be reproduced in the edited text). Abbreviations of a few common words have been left intact, including, for example, abbreviations for measures and sums (`li.', `s.', `d', òb.', etc.). Some other common and still-current abbreviations are also left unaltered, like the ampersand. Left intact in Irish texts are the following `Tironian' signs: ¦ (= Latin et, Irish ocus); .i. (= Latin id est, Irish ed oÂn); K (= Latin vel, Irish noÂ/no/naÂ, according to function). Occasionally, where expansion of an abbreviation may be doubtful, an apostrophe has been printed to the right of the letter that the abbreviation is attached to. Superscript letters have been lowered to the line except when they occur with numerals (for example, vijth). `Xp' and `xp', the Greek opening letters of the nomen sacrum, have been transliterated as `Chr' or `chr' when occurring in Latin documents, and as `Cr' or `cr' in vernacular ones. The letters `y' and `' for modern `th' are retained, as is the letter ì' for the numeral `1' (for example, ì6i6'). Ì' and `J' have been uniformly transcribed as Ì', unless the text gives


36


good reason to preserve the distinction, and `ff' (for modern `F') retained. A cedilla on eÎ, found occasionally in early texts to mark an ñ vowel ligature, is retained. The hair-line often placed over i to distinguish it from neighbouring minims is only indicated as Âõ in Irish texts when the i in question had historically a long vowel; otherwise, no length marks are supplied other than those indicated in the manuscript. Wherever it is unclear whether an upper- or a lower-case letter was intended, the lower-case is opted for. Superscript circles, o o , enclose text that has been subsequently added in a hand (or hands) other than that of the scribe of the main part of the entry. Caret marks are indicated by the signK , followed by the matter for insertion, set in its appropriate place in the text. If this matter was originally written interlinearly above the line, it is enclosed in half square brackets: e f; if below the line, in half square brackets: g h. Full square brackets, [ ], enclose scribal deletions (in translations, full square brackets enclose either explanatory notes, or words not actually present in the original but required to complete modern sense). Within square brackets, dots (to a maximum of three) estimate the number of characters deleted and now illegible in the manuscript. Thus `[. . .]' indicates three (or more) characters deleted. Angle brackets, h j, enclose conjectural restorations of text illegible for some other reason (for example, blotting), or of text lost on account of manuscript damage, or of characters needed to complete a word but whose abbreviation mark has been omitted (in the latter case, the characters between the angle brackets are also underlined). Within angle brackets, dots (to a maximum of three) estimate the number of characters illegible or lost and beyond reasonable conjecture. Thus `h. . .j' indicates three (or more) characters illegible or lost. Places where space has been left for words to be added later are indicated as (blank). Rubricated words or letters, litterae notabiliores, letters written in display script or otherwise somehow distinguished from their surroundings, are printed in bold typeface. Otiose ¯ourishes and line-®llers have been ignored. Curled brackets, { }, in texts in English enclose brief editorial explanations, normally of obscure lexis. They are introduced immediately after the text needing explanation. The points at which folio, page or membrane changes occur within a document are indicated between uprights, | |. Three dots within, or immediately following, a quotation indicate editorial omission, respectively, of matter within, or immediately following, that quotation. In some quotations, especially those from accounts, in which each entry may occupy a line or lines of its own, three dots immediately above or below an entry indicate that other entries are present in the manuscript immediately above or below the one quoted.


4 The Documents

4.1 Introduction The documents drawn upon for the Repertory are arranged and described below under the following subheadings: 4.2 Gaelic documents, 4.3 Annals and chronicles in languages other than Irish, 4.4 Civic documents, 4.5 Guild documents, 4.6 Administrative documents, 4.7 Ecclesiastical documents, 4.8 Antiquarian compilations, 4.9 Miscellaneous compilations, 4.10 Households, 4.11 Irish State Papers, 4.12 Letter collections, 4.13 Early printed books, 4.14 Miscellaneous manuscripts and lastly 4.15 Miscellaneous books. The descriptions of manuscripts of particular importance are prefaced with headnotes. In presenting manuscript descriptions, interleaves not belonging to the codex in its original state have not been counted (as in the case of codices into which interleaves have been introduced during rebinding). Whenever leaf size in a codex varies signi®cantly (that is, whenever variation of more than 10mm above or below the codex mean in height, in width, or in both frequently occurs), the leaf on which the item of concern is to be found is speci®ed and measured. Whenever leaves have been mounted within frames, the original leaf dimensions are given, not those of the leaf as augmented by the frame. Measurements which for some reason have been dif®cult to establish con®dently are prefaced with an asterisk. When disparate materials have been assembled in one volume, as for example in the case of the Irish State Papers or the Letter collections, only the item selected for the Repertory is measured, with an indication of its page or folio, as appropriate, in the volume. Similarly in such cases, the date of the item is given, and the dates of the entire volume in parenthesis. Some documents have more than one system of foliation, pagination or numeration. In these cases, the most recent system (which is usually also the most complete) is referred to in both the document descriptions and Repertory, and any earlier system is normally passed over in silence. Imperfections in the application of a system are not routinely described unless doing so helps to locate an item. Unnumbered documents are given a notional foliation (or a numeration in the case of membranes), and where appropriate a note is made of the leaf (or membrane) from which the notional foliation (or numeration) begins. Four or more scribes at work in a manuscript are normally referred to as `various scribes' in the descriptions (occasional jottings in other hands are not


38

4. The Documents

normally taken into account). If an item was once independent of its current context, as again in the case of the Irish State Papers or the Letter collections, the number of its scribes only is estimated (and for further explanation of the presentation of descriptions of documents in the Irish State Papers or the Letter collections, see their respective subheadings below). Names of Irish persons may either be given in a standard modern Irish spelling, or in the form in which they appear in the item. Manuscript bindings are dated to their century, but pagination, foliation and numeration systems are often less amenable to being dated. Whenever these systems are described as `modern', they may be either nineteenth- or twentieth-century additions. The description `post-medieval' is sometimes used for systems which are not `modern' in the sense de®ned, but whose date after the medieval period is nevertheless dif®cult to determine. 4.2 Gaelic documents These include an exceedingly wide range of materials, and cover, to name but a few ®elds, law, poetry, prose, annalistic and medical writing. They are arranged here by their repository in the alphabetical order: Brussels, BibliotheÁque royale Albert Ier; Chatsworth, Derbyshire, Chatsworth House Library; Clonalis, co. Roscommon, the Library of The O'Conor Don; Copenhagen, Det Kongelige Bibliotek; Dublin, National Library of Ireland; Dublin, National Museum of Ireland; Dublin, Royal Irish Academy; Dublin, Trinity College Library; Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland; Killiney, co. Dublin, Franciscan House of Studies, DuÂn Mhuire; London, British Library; Oxford, Bodleian Library; and Rennes, BibliotheÁque municipale. Of these several repositories, four have major holdings of Gaelic manuscripts: the Royal Irish Academy, Trinity College Dublin, the British Library and the Bodleian. Since it is still often customary to refer to many manuscripts in the Royal Irish Academy and Trinity College Dublin by their earlier shelfmarks, these are also given in round brackets after their modern equivalents. If a manuscript has a name by which it is more familiarly known (as, for example, the Book of Leinster, TCD, MS 1339 (H. 2. 18), or the Leabhar Breac, RIA, MS 1230 (23 P 16) ), this name is given at the head of its description. Classi®ed as Gaelic documents are manuscripts whose contents, though not necessarily exclusively, are nevertheless predominantly in Irish (any other languages occurring less frequently are noted in round brackets). Also included among the Gaelic documents are manuscripts with substantial items in Irish (in some cases, as for example in certain of the manuscripts in the Ware and Carew collections discussed below, these items may have been lifted from earlier compilations themselves perhaps exclusively or predominantly Gaelic). One Gaelic source, the inscriptions carved on the so-called Dalway Harp, is sui generis, and as such will be given individual treatment under Dublin, National Museum of Ireland. Brussels, BibliotheÁque royale Albert Ier (BR) During the religious intolerance in Ireland of the later sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, many Irish Catholics sought an education in Europe, where their confessional allegiance was more readily accepted. The BibliotheÁ-


4.2 Gaelic documents

39

que royale Albert Ier, Brussels, was therefore well appointed to become in due course the resting place of such writings as continental Irish Catholics might produce. BR, MS 2324±40; annals, saints' lives, religious poetry and verse prophecies, Â eda SlaÂne, copied into booklets at various places including a text of Genemain A Â by MõÂcheaÂl O CleÂirigh between 1627±35, and ®nally compiled in Louvain, with later annotations and marginalia by John Colgan and other scribes; paper; Irish (Latin); i + 357 + i; seventeenth-century ink foliation, probably introduced at the time of binding, and superseding earlier contemporary foliation systems; f. 75: 188mm 6 157mm; f. 207: 187mm 6 145mm; f. 277: 187mm 6 145mm; occasional litterae notabiliores, but otherwise no decoration; creases on some folios show that some booklets were folded, but all are in good condition; seventeenth-century binding of plain parchment on cardboard, the front cover of which is detached, and at the bottom of whose spine is written in ink: 2324± 40; and: 2324 ± | ± 2340; the whole preserved in a nineteenth-century sleeve, with two labels on the sleeve spine: 2324; and beneath: 2340 BR, MS 4190±200; religious texts and saints' lives, including FõÂs AdamnaÂin and the lives of SS CiaraÂn and Lassar, copied into booklets at various places by Â CleÂirigh between 1629±35, ®nally compiled in Louvain and with MõÂcheaÂl O some later annotations; paper; Irish (Latin); i + 287 + ii; seventeenth-century ink foliation, probably introduced at the time of a previous binding and Â CleÂirigh's original; f. 120: 194mm 6 143mm; f. 146: 196mm superseding O 6 152mm; occasional litterae notabiliores, but otherwise no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of brown half leather, at the top of whose spine is printed on a label: 4190 | 4200; and at the bottom of which is stamped in black: 4190±4200 BR, MS 5301±20; miscellany of religious and other materials, including extracts from different annals and Cath Almaine, copied into booklets by An Dubhaltach Mac Firbhisigh (on whom see the headnote to the Ware Collections under section 4.8 below) and by other scribes in the seventeenth century (the latest recorded date is 1660); paper; Irish (Latin); viii + 285 + v (¯yleaf vi contains a seventeenth-century index and ¯yleaf vii is of leather, possibly once serving as a wrapper to an earlier binding); seventeenth-century ink pagination completed in pencil, and in one section correlating an earlier contemporary pagination system; the pagination is consecutive, but p. 270 skips directly to p. 272, p. 278 is paginated 278±279, its verso paginated 280 and the recto of the following leaf also paginated 280; p. 5: 212mm 6 162mm; p. 8: 212mm 6 162mm; occasional litterae notabiliores, but otherwise no decoration; the earlier part of the manuscript, by An Dubhaltach Mac Firbhisigh, in good condition, but some dirtying and repairs in later parts, and some leaves mounted on guards; modern binding of red half leather, at the bottom of whose spine is stamped in gold: 5301±20; the whole preserved in a modern sleeve, with a label on the sleeve spine stamped in gold: 5301±20


40

4. The Documents

Chatsworth, Derbyshire, Chatsworth House Library (CHL) Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, the English seat of the dukes of Devonshire, has in its Library one important medieval Gaelic manuscript, the Book of Lismore. This manuscript was a serendipitous ®nd, discovered in a wooden box with a twelfth-century crozier in 1814 when workmen were opening a blockedup doorway in Lismore Castle, co. Waterford. (Chatsworth House Library also possesses some of the household papers and diaries of Richard Boyle, ®rst earl of Cork, which are described below under 4.10 Households.) The Book of Lismore The Book of Lismore comprises an anthology of texts, including saints' lives, heroic legends and travel literature, which re¯ects the taste of the late-®fteenthcentury Gaelic lord for whom it was compiled, FõÂnghin Mac Carthaigh Riabhach (²1505), and his Anglo-Irish wife CaitlõÂn, daughter of Thomas, eighth earl of Desmond. Mac Carthaigh Riabhach was lord of Cairbre (the lordship of Carbery, co. Cork). CHL, the Book of Lismore (the Book of Mac Carthaigh Riabhach); copied by Â CallanaÂin, probably at the Francisvarious scribes, including one Aonghus O can house in Timoleague, co. Cork, in the later ®fteenth century; Irish; parchment; iii + 198 + iii; modern pencil foliation; 362mm 6 257mm; interlace decoration features on some litterae notabiliores, and some rubrication; generally in good condition, but some leaves are very badly darkened; ®ne nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, on the front cover of which is stamped in gold: BOOK OF | MAC CARTHY REAGH | COMMONLY CALLED | THE BOOK OF LISMORE; and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: BOOK OF | MAC CARTHY | REAGH | COMMONLY CALLED | THE BOOK OF | LISMORE | ORIGINAL | IRISH MANUSCRIPT | XVTÇHÇ CENTURY. Clonalis, co. Roscommon One manuscript of present concern is preserved in the Library of The O'Conor Don, at Clonalis House, co. Roscommon, the Book of The O'Conor Don. This has not been conveniently available for inspection, and the following description is derived from the efforts of previous scholarship and from photostats of the manuscript. The Book of The O'Conor Don is a member of a group of Irish manuscripts produced by expatriates working on the Continent in the earlier part of the seventeenth century. Its principal scribe, a certain Aodh, may be one and the Â Dochartaigh responsible for copying a part of the same with the Aodh O Duanaire Finn poem book (see Killiney, co. Dublin, Franciscan House of Studies Library, MS A 20 below). The Book of The O'Conor Don contains an anthology of religious and historical poems in Irish, dating from the fourteenth to the early seventeenth century, which Aodh copied at Ostend in 1631. He was working for a certain Captain Samhairle (possibly the same Captain Samhairle Mac Domhnaill for whom Killiney, co. Dublin, Franciscan House



41

of Studies Library, MS A 20 was also made in the same place just four years earlier). Library of The O'Conor Don, Clonalis House, co. Roscommon, the Book of Â The O'Conor Don; poetry copied by various scribes, but chie¯y by Aodh (?O Dochartaigh) for Captain Samhairle (?Mac Domhnaill) at Ostend in 1631; Irish; paper; 393; seventeenth-century ink foliation; 205mm 6 145mm; some rubrication is applied throughout, and occasionally litterae notabiliores are embellished with interlace; generally in good condition, but some leaves are soiled and some torn; modern binding. Copenhagen, Det Kongelige Bibliotek Det Kongelige Bibliotek in Copenhagen houses one manuscript of present concern, the duanaire of the Maguire family of co. Fermanagh. In fact, all its poems are addressed to the same member of this family: CuÂ Chonnacht MaÂg Uidhir, Lord of Fermanagh from 1566 to 1589. Copenhagen, Det Kongelige Bibliotek, MS Ny kgl. Saml. 268b in folio; poetry copied by various scribes in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries; Irish; paper and parchment; i + 41 + i; modern ink foliation; f. 16: 320mm 6 200mm; zoomorphic decoration added to some litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, but some staining appears, especially on earlier leaves; early nineteenth-century binding of brown half vellum over cardboard, covered with blue paper, and at the top of whose spine is stamped in gold the monogram of King Frederik VI of Denmark (ruled 1808±39); and stamped on the spine on a brown leather title label: Poemata heroica lingua hibernica ± Codex membranaeceo chartaeceus. Dublin, National Library of Ireland (NLI) Four Gaelic manuscripts pertinent to the Repertory are preserved here. The ®rst three were all purchased from the Phillipps manuscript collection. The fourth, the Book of Magauran, was acquired more recently from the Library of The O'Conor Don in Clonalis, co. Roscommon, where the Book of The O'Conor Don described above still remains. What is now NLI, MS G 3 was originally part of the same codex as MS G 2, Â dhamh O Â though only MS G 3 is of present concern. One of its scribes, A Â Cianain, who died at Lisgoole, co. Fermanagh, in 1373, had been the pupil of Â DubhagaÂin (²1372), some of whose texts he probably used as SeoaÂn MoÂr O exemplars for his own compilation. This was written evidently not for a patron, but as a miscellany for personal use. NLI, MS G 3; a miscellany of prose and verse, copied by two or three main Â dhamh O Â CianaÂin, in the fourteenth and (possibly) scribes, one of whom was A ®fteenth century (the hand of the item on f. 22v, featured in section 5.1 below as `Verses on honori®c portions', may be either fourteenth- or ®fteenth-century), and internal evidence dates a Latin memorandum on f. 17 to after 1513; Irish (Latin); parchment; ii + 79 + ii; modern ink foliation; 199mm 6 134mm; rubrication is applied to litterae notabiliores in red, yellow and green in some


42

4. The Documents

sections, and some zoomorphic and anthropomorphic ornamentation features; in good condition; eighteenth- or nineteenth-century binding of green parchment, the backing of the spine of which is missing and whose front cover is partially torn, and in whose top left-hand corner is written in ink: G.3 NLI, MS G 7; a miscellany of prose and verse, including dindshenchas, copied by one main scribe in the sixteenth century; Irish; parchment; iii + 11 + i; modern columnar numeration in ink, except for a singleton leaf which is stitched to the verso of leaf 6, on which a more recent pencil numeration of 24a has been added; 221mm 6 157mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though there is some dirtying, especially along the bottom edges of leaves; modern binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: CO- | DEX | HI- | BER- | NI- | CUS | MS. | G | 7 A portion of the manuscript of medical matter now preserved as NLI, MS G 11 may have been copied at Woodstock, about a mile to the west of Athy, co. Â Bolgaidhi, has af®nities with Kildare. The family name of its main scribe, O south-east Leinster, and is rarely found elsewhere. NLI, MS G 11; medical matter, including the Bretha CroÂlige (`Judgements of Â Bolgaidhi, 1466±76; Irish Blood-Lying'), copied mainly by Donnchadh O (Latin); parchment; ii + 232 + viii; two coextensive late-seventeenth- or early-eighteenth-century ink paginations, the ®rst system (the most adequate and that referred to in the Repertory) running 1±459, and the second system (less accurately implemented) ending on p. 195 of the ®rst system; 233mm 6 168mm; rubrication is used, mainly in red, but with some in green and yellow, and some zoomorphic ornamentation is applied to litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, but certain leaves are soiled; early-eighteenth-century binding of brown half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: MS. | G | 11; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 11 The Book of Magauran is the name by which the earliest duanaire extant is familiarly known. It contains bardic verse dedicated to members of the MaÂg ShamhradhaÂin family of Tullyhaw, co. Cavan. NLI, MS G 1200 (Book of Magauran); bardic poetry copied mainly by Â CianaÂin (²1387); Irish; parchment; xiii + 27 + xiii (a narrow RuaidhrõÂ O parchment strip bearing text is intercalated between folios ¦ and 8); nineteenthcentury ink foliation; f. 3: 295mm 6 209mm; f. 6: 295mm 6 209mm; f. 8: 275mm 6 208mm; f. 21: 270mm 6 201mm; rubrication in red, and some in blue, is applied throughout to litterae notabiliores; in fair condition, though many leaves are much darkened with age; nineteenth-century binding of brown half leather. Dublin, National Museum of Ireland The Dalway (or FitzGerald) Harp A harp in organological terms is a chordophone approximately triangular in shape. It comprises three limbs: the harmonic curve (or stringholder or neck), which runs horizontally and to which the tuning pegs are attached; the soundbox, the instrument's resonating chamber, which runs diagonally; and



43

the forepillar, which connects the end of the harmonic curve to the end of the soundbox. The strings (on early Irish harps these were normally made of metal) ran between the harmonic curve and the soundbox. The Dalway harp derives the name by which it is most commonly known from the Dalway family of co. Antrim, in whose possession it remained for many years, although originally it was made in 1621 for the use of musicians in the household of Sir John FitzEdmond FitzGerald of Cloyne, co. Cork. Its soundbox is missing, possibly destroyed over time as a result of the tension exerted upon it by its original ®ftytwo strings. Only the remnants of its harmonic curve and forepillar now survive. (A conjectural reconstruction of its shape is published in J. H. Pierse, `Nicholas Dall Pierse of Co. Kerry, Harper', Journal of the Kerry Archñological and Historical Society 6 (1973), 40±75; see Plate 6 opposite p. 57.) The inscription transcribed from it for the Repertory runs along the harmonic curve and the forepillar. Dublin, Royal Irish Academy (RIA) The Royal Irish Academy was founded in May 1785 upon the initiative of James, earl of Charlemont, and members of the Dublin Society (later the Royal Dublin Society). Its brief was to promote the study of science, antiquities and polite literature. Today it houses a major collection of Gaelic manuscripts, over thirty of which have provided items for this volume. RIA, MS 3 (23 L 17); poetry dating from the thirteenth to the seventeenth Â a MurchuÂgha in Carrignavar, co. Cork, 1744±5 (see centuries, copied by SeaÂn U also by him BL, MS Additional 29614 below); Irish; paper; iii + 152 + v; modern pencil foliation running 7±10, followed by eighteenth-century ink foliation running 11±158; 197mm 6 155mm; very occasionally display script is used on litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, but all leaves are strengthened with lisse; eighteenth-century binding of brown half leather, with modern repairs, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: 23. | L. 17. | ROYAL | IRISH ACADEMY RIA, MS 5 (23 D 4); poetry copied by one main scribe (evidently trained to write in Munster) in the seventeenth century; Irish; paper; i + 204 + i; modern ink pagination; 145mm 6 102mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, but there is considerable staining and discolouration on some leaves; nineteenth-century binding of brown half leather, on the spine of which is af®xed a label: 23 | D | 4 Â Lochlainns The Book of the O Â Lochlainn This manuscript was written for the Limerick doctor Brian O Â (²1734), and contains poetry and genealogical material related to the O Lochlainn family between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, as well as Â Lochlainns were held material about the legendary Ulidians from whom the O to have sprung. Â Lochlainns); copied by Aindrias Mac RIA, MS 11 (Stowe E iv 3; Book of the O CruitõÂn in Moyglass, co. Clare in 1727; Irish (English, Latin); paper; v + 139 +


44

4. The Documents

xlvii (i-xliv, though mostly blank and in effect endleaves, are part of the book proper); eighteenth-century ink pagination with modern pencil adjustments; 310mm 6 203mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though the front cover is detached; eighteenth-century binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: STOWE | MS | E | IV | 3 | ROYAL IRISH | ACADEMY RIA, MS 132 (23 D 2); genealogies and other texts, including Tecosca Cormaic (`Cormac's Teachings'), copied by two main scribes in the seventeenth century; Irish; paper; vi + 15 + iv; seventeenth-century ink pagination; 134mm 6 90mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, but there is some staining and the top right-hand corners of leaves, now missing, have been repaired with lisse; nineteenth-century binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: 23. | D. | 2. | ROYAL | IRISH | ACADEMY RIA, MS 156 (23 D 5); a miscellany of prose and verse copied by SeoÂn Mac Solaidh, in the barony of Slane, co. Meath, c. 1715, and by his associate Riosdaird Tuibear, also in the eighteenth century; Irish; paper; ii + 208 + iii; eighteenth-century ink pagination; 148mm 6 89mm; no decoration; in good condition; eighteenth-century binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: 23. | D. 5. | ROYAL | IRISH ACADEMY Â RIA, MS 203 (Stowe E v 5); a miscellany of prose and verse copied by PoÂl oÂg O LongaÂin in Cork in 1819; Irish; paper; i + 188 + i; nineteenth-century ink pagination; 182mm 6 115mm; occasionally rubrication and decoration are applied to initial litterae notabiliores; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: E | V | 5 | R.I.A. RIA, MS 211 (23 G 20); a miscellany of prose and verse copied mainly by Â LongaÂin, in various places in cos. Cork, Kerry and Limerick MõÂcheaÂl O between 1786±1814; Irish (English, Latin); paper; viii + 196 (counting a paper insert on p. 224) + v; nineteenth-century ink pagination; 346mm 6 212mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, but the edges of most leaves have been repaired with lisse, some are soiled and the last ones badly damaged; nineteenth-century binding of brown half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: O'LONGAN'S | IRISH | MANUSCRIPTS | VOL. 1.; beneath this is written in white ink: 23 | G | 20; beneath this is af®xed a label, largely illegible: G h. .j RIA, MS 303 (23 L 37); a miscellany of prose and verse, including several Â BruÂdair, copied by three scribes between 1706±9, principal poems by DaÂibhõÂ O among whom was one SeaÂn Stac; Irish (English, Latin); paper; i + 135 + i; contemporary ink pagination running 1±26, 35±62, 65±164, 164a-189, 192±231, 234±45, 249±64 and 267±90; p. 57: 198mm 6 151mm; very occasionally display script is used on litterae notabiliores; in fair condition, but many leaves are strengthened with lisse or paper stiffeners at their right edge, and much dirtying throughout; late-eighteenth- or early-nineteenth-century binding of brown half leather, at the top of whose spine is stamped in gold: 23 | L | 37; and at whose bottom is stamped in gold: R.I.A.



45

RIA, MS 308 (23 M 16); a miscellany of prose and verse copied by Aindrias Mac Mathghamhna between 1767±76; Irish (English, Latin); paper; iii + 127 + iii; eighteenth-century ink pagination, continued in modern pencil from p. 229; 194mm 6 136mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though there is a little staining; eighteenth-century binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: 23 | M | 16 | R.I.A. Leabhar Chlainne Suibhne This manuscript, in three distinct sections, contains material either compiled for, or directly concerning, members of the Mac Suibhne family of co. Donegal. The item included in the Repertory is from a poem that appears in the third section, and is copied by an unknown scribe in an early-seventeenth-century hand. The poem is addressed to Domhnall Mac Suibhne, who ¯ourished c. 1619. RIA, MS 475 (24 P 25; Leabhar Chlainne Suibhne); copied by various scribes in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries; Irish (English, Latin); parchment, with paper ¯y- and endleaves; xiii + 80 + xiii; modern pencil pagination, running 1±180; p. 149: 356mm 6 222mm; interlace applied occasionally and grey metalic rubrication of litterae notabiliores in some sections; in generally good condition, but extensive staining and damp marks on some leaves; lateeighteenth- or early-nineteenth-century binding of white half leather, at the bottom of whose spine is a paper label: 24 | P | 25 Liber Flavus Fergusiorum This manuscript, now bound in two parts, was once an heirloom of the Fergus family of Connacht. Some of the exemplars used in its compilation evidently hailed from co. Roscommon: for example, according to a note on f. 23 of Part 1, one of these was copied at Lissian (a townland in the barony of Frenchpark, Â Maelchonaire (perhaps the man whose co. Roscommon), by Donnchadh O death is recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters, s.a. 1404). Although the description of the Liber in the current Catalogue regards it as the product of various scribes' work, something still seems to be said for an earlier view, which the Catalogue rejects, that one scribe, copying over a period of time, may have been chie¯y responsible for its production. The manuscript is a miscellany, mainly of religious texts, exempla and homilies, and includes versions of the SeÂnadh Saigri (the `Blessing' or Ènchantment of Seirkieran', f. 11v) and the FõÂs AdamnaÂin (ÀdomnaÂn's Vision', f. 17v). For these texts, see respectively Appendices 6.11 (i) and 6.15. RIA, MS 476 (23 O 48; Liber Flavus Fergusiorum), Part 1; copied mainly by one scribe, c. 1437; Irish (Latin); parchment; ii + 37 + ii; modern pencil foliation; f. 11: 268mm 6 213mm; f. 19: 280mm 6 216mm; some litterae notabiliores are rubricated in red or slate grey; generally in good condition, but there is extensive staining throughout, especially on the ®rst leaf; seventeenth-century binding of brown reversed leather, on the front cover of which is stamped in gold: LIBER FLAVUS | FERGUSIORUM | PARS. I.; a label af®xed to the spine is now obliterated.


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4. The Documents

Leabar ChaillõÂn (the Book of Fenagh) In about 1516, the scribe of this manuscript, Muirgius Mac PaidõÂn UõÂ Maelchonairi (²1543, according to the Annals of the Four Masters), incorporated the verse contents of an early codex then known as the Book of St CaillõÂn Â Rodaige, into the present manuscript Life of St CaillõÂn. He did this for Tadhg O Â the comarbae (ècclesiatical heir') of St CaillõÂn at Fenagh, co. Leitrim. The O Rodaige family were the hereditary comarbai of Fenagh. RIA, MS 479 (23 P 26; Leabar ChaillõÂn or the Book of Fenagh); copied by one Muirgius Mac PaidõÂn UõÂ Maelchonairi, c. 1516; Irish (Latin); parchment; vii + 42 + vii; modern pencil pagination; 305mm 6 244mm; generally in good condition, but the ®rst and last leaves are blackened and stained; rubrication is applied to some litterae notabiliores, either in red or in ochre; nineteenthcentury binding of black leather (covered in a black leather dust jacket), on the front cover of which is stamped in gold: BOOK | OF | FENAGH | MS. | ROYAL | IRISH | ACADEMY. The Book of Lecan This manuscript, with the Yellow Book of Lecan (described below), survives from the library of the Mac Firbhisigh family of Lecan, co. Sligo. They were a learned family of historians. A note on f. 32 by its chief scribe, Gilla IÂsa MoÂir Â a Dubda, king of Mac Firbhisigh, says that he was working when RuaidhrõÂ U UõÂ Fiachrach, was alive, and hence his scribal stint can be dated with some accuracy between c. 1380 and 1417, the year of RuaidhrõÂ's death. In fact on the strength of internal evidence, it is likely to date more exactly to the autumn of Â Cuindlis (scribe of the Leabhar 1397. Gilla IÂsa was assisted by Murchadh O Breac, also described below, and of a portion of the Yellow Book of Lecan). Â Cuindlis in 1417 (when Tadg Riabhach Two other scribes appear, Riabhach O Â dhamh O Â Â CuirnõÂn in about 1418. O Â O Dubda succeeded RuaidhrõÂ) and A CuirnõÂn seems to have been responsible for copying the Records item on f. 83v (see The customs of UõÂ Mhaine in section 5.3 below). The content of the Book of Lecan resembles that of the Book of Ballymote (described below), for evidently some of this content was derived from a source similar to that also drawn upon for parts of the Book of Ballymote. Unlike the Book of Ballymote, however, the Book of Lecan was written as an heirloom by this family of historians. Amongst other items, it includes a version of the Lebor GabaÂla (the `Book of Invasions'), noõÂbshenchas (ècclesiastical history'), the Historia BritÂ ces (the `Scholars' Primer'), a version of onum of Nennius, the Uraicept na nE CoÂir Anmann (the Àppropriateness of Names'), the Lebor na Cert (the `Book of Rights'), banshenchas (`traditions of women'), dindshenchas, and various genealogical and hagiographical materials. (Nine of its leaves are detached and now preserved as TCD, MS 1319 (H. 2. 17), though these are not of present concern.) RIA, MS 535 (23 P 2; Book of Lecan); copied chie¯y by Gilla IÂsa MoÂir Mac Â Cuindlis, and by Riabhach O Â Firbhisigh c. 1397 and assisted by Murchadh O Â Â Â Cuindlis and Adhamh O Cuirnõn between 1417±18; Irish; parchment; i + 302 + i; modern ink foliation; 305mm 6 220mm; occasional anthropomorphic



47

ornament appears, and some rubrication in yellow or vermillion is applied to litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, but there is some staining; modern binding of white half pigskin on oak boards, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: THE BOOK OF LECAN | ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY The Book of Ballymote The Book of Ballymote was the ®rst Irish manuscript to be acquired by the Royal Irish Academy. Possibly originally commissioned by a Mac Donnchadha patron, it was begun and partly written when Tommaltach oÂg Mac Donnchadha was lord of Tirerril, co. Sligo, between 1383±97. One of its Â DuibhgeannaÂin (²1452, according to the Annals of the scribes was Maghnus O Four Masters), a member of the learned family of that name from north Connacht who served as hereditary historians to the Mac Donaghs, the Mac Dermots and the O'Farrells. On p. 445, Maghnus noted that he was at the house of Domhnall Mac AodhagaÂin (²1413). His tutor was Gilla na Naem Mac AodhagaÂin (²1399), Domhnall Mac AodhagaÂin's elder brother. Since both were evidently alive when Maghnus was writing, his stint was ®nished before 1399 (and may in fact date to c. 1391). The evident association of Maghnus with members of another learned family, the Mac AodhagaÂins, under whose auspices some of the legal manuscripts described below were also produced, witnesses to a network of collaborations between the learned Â Droma and families during this period. Two other scribes, Solamh O Robertus Mac SõÂthigh, who sometimes worked in close association with Maghnus, also feature in the Book. They may have been hereditary scribes Â DuibhgeannaÂin household. (The hand of Solamh appears also in the of the O Yellow Book of Lecan, described below.) The scribes of the items collected for the Repertory are identi®able as follows: p. 208, Robertus Mac SõÂthigh; Â Droma; pp. 342 and 347, Maghnus O Â pp. 296 and 305, Solamh O DuibhgeannaÂin. RIA, MS 536 (23 P 12; Book of Ballymote); copied by three principal scribes, Â DuibhgeannaÂin, Solamh O Â Droma and Robertus Mac SõÂthigh, Maghnus O between c. 1391 and the ®fteenth century; Irish (Latin); parchment; v + 247 + iii; modern pencil pagination; p. 208: 382mm 6 252mm; p. 291: 382mm 6 251mm; p. 294: 382mm 6 249mm; p. 342: 381mm 6 246mm; p. 347: 382mm 6 245mm; some anthropomorphic, zoomorphic and foliate decoration is employed, and rubrication is applied to litterae notabiliores in some sections; generally in good condition, though worm has attacked some of the earlier leaves; ®fteenth- or sixteenth-century binding of brown leather on wooden boards, repaired in the nineteenth century, and on the spine of which is Â TA | MS. | ROYAL stamped in gold: LEABHAR | BHAILE | AN MHO IRISH ACADEMY RIA, MS 617 (23 K 32); a version of the Lebor GabaÂla, copied probably by Â CleÂirigh, c. 1630; Irish; paper; iv + 132 + iii; modern ink CuÂcoigriche O pagination; 187mm 6 134mm; occasional litterae notabiliores feature; generally in good condition, though a few leaves are damp stained; seventeenthcentury binding of brown leather, now protected by a modern black leather dust jacket, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: LEABHAR | GABHALA


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4. The Documents

| O'CLERIGH. | MS. | ROYAL | IRISH | ACADEMY; between: MS.; and: ROYAL; is af®xed a label: 23 | K | 32 Annals of the Four Masters This composition, a collection of annals of Ireland known from the seventeenth century as the Annals of the Four Masters, was, as its title suggests, the product Â CleÂirigh, CuÂcoigriche O Â CleÂirigh (of co. Donegal), of four scholars: MõÂcheaÂl O Â Maoilchonaire (of co. Roscommon) and CuÂcoigriche O Â DuibhFearfeasa O geannaÂin (of co. Leitrim). They worked at the Franciscan house near Ballyshannon, co. Donegal, between January 1632 and 10 August 1636, where they Â CleÂirigh (the brother of MõÂcheaÂl) and by were for a while assisted by Conaire O Â Maoilchonaire. Two complete holograph sets of the Annals, each in Muiris O three volumes, were made. One of these sets is held by the Royal Irish Academy, and it is from this set that the items excerpted for the Repertory have been chosen (RIA, MSS 687 (23 P 6), 688 (23 P 7) and 1220 (Stowe C iii 3) ). Of the other set, only two of the three original volumes survive, one in Killiney, co. Dublin, Franciscan House of Studies Library, MS A 13 and another in TCD, MS 1301 (H. 2. 11). RIA, MS 687 (23 P 6; Annals of the Four Masters); annals, running from 1171 Â CleÂirigh, CuÂcoigriche O Â CleÂirigh, Conaire O Â to 1499, copied by MõÂcheaÂl O Â Maoilchonaire and Fearfeasa O Â CleÂirigh and two others (possibly Muiris O Maoilchonaire), in Donegal between January 1632 and 10 August 1636; Irish; paper, with an unfoliated parchment bifolium inserted after f. 34; iii + 287 + iii; two modern foliations, the ®rst, running 1±34, followed by the second, running 1±255 (f. 145 is foliated as `145±149'); 232mm 6 153mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though leaves are mounted within frames; ornate eighteenth- or early-nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: ANNALS | OF THE | IV. MASTERS | 1171±1499 | ORIGINAL | MS | ROYAL | IRISH | ACADEMY; below this is af®xed a fragmentary label: 23 | P | 6 RIA, MS 688 (23 P 7; Annals of the Four Masters); annals, running from 1500 Â CleÂirigh, CuÂcoigriche O Â CleÂirigh, and Conaire O Â to 1616, copied by MõÂcheaÂl O CleÂirigh, probably in Donegal at about the same time as MS 687 above; Irish; paper; iii + 293 + iii; modern pencil foliation; 230mm 6 160mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though leaves are now individually mounted within frames; ornate eighteenth- or early-nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: ANNALS | OF THE | IV. MASTERS | 1500±1616 | ORIGINAL | MS | ROYAL | IRISH | ACADEMY; below this is af®xed a fragmentary label: 23 | P | 7 RIA, MS 741 (Stowe B ii 2); dindshenchas, copied by one scribe in the ®fteenth or sixteenth century; Irish; parchment; xix + 8 + xxxiii; modern pencil foliation; 273mm 6 216mm; interlace decoration, some zoomorphic, is often employed on litterae notabiliores; in fair condition, but the outer leaves are very badly darkened and there is some staining on the inner leaves; eighteenth-century binding of brown leather, on the front cover of which is stamped in gold: IRISH MS. | No. V. | FRAGMENT: | DIN=SEANCHUS. |



49

SáC. XIV.; and on the re-backed spine of which is stamped in gold: B | II | 2 | R. I A RIA, MS 756 (23 E 26); historical and genealogical matter, including a version of the Lebor na Cert, copied by two principal scribes, Riosdaird Tuibear and SeoÂn Mac Solaidh, beginning in November 1716 (a scribal note on p. 290 declares that the text excerpted in the Records, the Seanchas Geraltach, was copied by Riosdaird Tuibear on 15 July 1719); Irish (Latin, English); paper; ii + 388 + i; eighteenth-century ink pagination, running 1a-12a, then 1±138, 139a, 139, 139b, 140±356, 358±62; 296mm 6 180mm; very occasional zoomorphic ornamention is employed on litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, but there is staining on the some leaves; eighteenth-century binding of brown leather, at the top of whose spine is stamped in gold: 23. | E. | 26; and at whose bottom is stamped in gold: ROYAL IRISH | ACADEMY | RIA, MS 967 (23 N 10); tales and dindshenchas, including a version of the CaÂin Domnaig (the `Law of Sunday') and Tecosca Cormaic, copied by three main scribes, Aodh, Dubthach and Tornae, in the second half of the sixteenth century (Dubthach noted on p. 101 that he was ®nishing his stint on the ®rst Monday after the feast of St John, 1575); Irish (Latin); parchment and paper; vi + 14 (parchment) + 66 (paper) + iv; modern ink pagination; parchment leaves: 204mm 6 136mm; paper leaves: 202mm 6 135mm; interlace decoration embelishes some litterae notabiliores, especially in the parchment section; the parchment section shows some staining, the paper section is fragile and repaired with lisse, while some leaves have holes and are extremely fragmentary, especially the ®nal ones; nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, on the detached spine of which is stamped in gold: 23 N. 10. Â DuinnõÂn in RIA, MS 968 (Stowe A iv 1); saints' lives, copied by Domhnall O Cork in 1627; Irish; paper; iv + 156 + ii; seventeenth-century ink pagination; 179mm 6 146mm; no decoration; in fair condition, though many leaves are damaged and have been strengthened with lisse; nineteenth-century binding of dark green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: STOWE | MS. | A. | IV. | 1. RIA, MS 998 (23 F 21); poetic miscellany, mainly of eulogies on members of the Butler family, copied by various scribes and compiled c. 1576 for TioboÂid BuitleÂir; Irish; parchment (endleaves i-ii of paper); i + 9 + iv; ink pagination running 1±5, continued in modern pencil, running 6±7, ®rst ink pagination resuming on 8, modern pencil on 9, [10] unnumbered, 11 in ink, 12±13 in pencil, 14±15 in ink, [16] unnumbered, 17 in ink and [18] unnumbered; p. 6: 289mm 6 210mm; very occasional litterae notabiliores feature; generally in good condition, but a little staining especially at the beginning and the end, and leaf 8 repaired with lisse; nineteenth-century binding of maroon half leather, on the spine of which is written lengthways in gold: IRISH. M.S.; beneath which is written in white ink: 23 | F | 21 RIA, MS 1080 (Stowe B iv 2); largely a verse miscellany, copied mainly by Â CleÂirigh between 1627 and 1628; Irish; paper; ii + 152 + i; MõÂcheaÂl O seventeenth-century ink foliation, running 1±158, completed in modern pencil, running 159±62; 191mm 6 153mm; occasional litterae notabiliores


50

4. The Documents

feature; generally in good condition, but imperfect at beginning and end, and leaves are mounted on guards; nineteenth-century binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: STOWE MS. | B | IV | 2 The Book of Fermoy The Book of Fermoy is an anthology which includes a copy of the Lebor Â a Chorra; see Appendix 6.11 GabaÂla, saga tales (amongst them the Immram U (iii) ), religious texts, poems and medical matter. It was probably compiled for a member of the Roche family of Fermoy. The Roches were highly Gaelicized Anglo-Normans who held lands in north-east co. Cork. Their Book was produced mainly in the ®fteenth century (the date 22 November 1457 appears on p. 55, for example), with some earlier (fourteenth-century) leaves incorporated and some later additions made in the sixteenth century (notably the medical matter in the last section of the manuscript, from treatises once Â hIÂceadha family, hereditary physicians in medieval belonging to the O Munster). Various scribes were at work in it, two of whom are clearly Â Leighin, one of the ®fteenth-century scribes (¯oruit c. named: Domhnall O 1460), and Torna Mac Torna UõÂ Mhaoilchonaire who was active in the sixteenth century. On p. 153, Torna also named the place in which he wrote as being Baile an Caislein an Roitsigh, that is, Castletown Roche, in the barony of Fermoy, co. Cork. The fourteenth-century leaves have been identi®ed as the Â dhamh O Â CianaÂin (on whom see above under NLI, MS G work of the scribe A 3). Material of speci®c concern to the Roche family of Fermoy also appears in the manuscript, and it is very likely that over the years most of it was produced in or around Fermoy. RIA, MS 1134 (23 E 29; Book of Fermoy); copied by various scribes, including Â Leighin (®fteenth century) and Torna Mac Torna UõÂ MhaoilchoDomhnall O naire (sixteenth century) in the fourteenth, ®fteenth and sixteenth centuries; Irish; parchment; i + 119 + i; modern ink pagination; p. 129: 265mm 6 190mm; p. 171: 258mm 6 187mm; generally in fair condition, though many leaves, now mounted within modern parchment frames, are badly discoloured by time and/ or reagent, and their original edges are badly damaged; modern binding of white half pigskin on oak boards, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: BOOK OF | FERMOY | ROYAL | IRISH | ACADEMY Annals of Connacht The Annals of Connacht, which have close textual af®nities with the Annals of Loch CeÂ (see below), were compiled probably some time early in the sixteenth century. They were copied by three scribes who are likely to have been members Â DuibhgeannaÂin family (on this family, see the headnote to the Book of of the O Ballymote above). The Annals of Connacht were themselves consulted in the production of the Annals of the Four Masters, also described above. RIA, MS 1219 (Stowe C iii 1; Annals of Connacht); annals, running from 1224 to 1562, copied by three main scribes in the sixteenth century; Irish; parchment; v + 91 + iv (a collection of miscellaneous papers and letters, not counted here, has also been bound in at the end); modern ink foliation; 285mm 6 210mm;



51

very occasional interlace decoration features on litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, though there is some damage to the last ®ve folios; eighteenth-century binding of brown leather, parting from the manuscript and with its front cover detached, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRISH MS | No. IX. | ANN CONNAC. | SáC. XVI; below this is af®xed a label: C | III | 1 Annals of the Four Masters RIA, MS 1220 (Stowe C iii 3; Annals of the Four Masters); annals dated Anno Mundi 2520 ± A.D. 1171, copied between January 1632 and 10 August 1636 by Â CleÂirigh, CuÂcoigriche O Â CleÂirigh, and probably also by the MõÂcheaÂl O following, the latter two of whom copied the bulk of the manuscript: Fearfeasa Â Maoilchonaire, Conaire O Â CleÂirigh and Muiris O Â Maoilchonaire; Irish; O paper; xix + 524 + xvi (the last two endleaves are detached with the back cover); seventeenth-century ink foliation (foliation is omitted from the eighteenthcentury blank interleaves, and a foliation has been subsequently superimposed on an earlier foliation which ran 1±137, 178±209, 230±39, 230±572, skipping numbers 138±77 and 210±29, and duplicating numbers 230±39: references in the Repertory are to the subsequent, superimposed alterations); 264mm 6 180mm; no decoration; in good condition; ornate eighteenth-century binding of brown leather whose front and back covers are detached, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRISH MS | No. XXI. | ANNALES | IV MAGISTROR: | HIBERNICI; below this is af®xed a label: C | III | 3; at the top of the spine is af®xed a label: C. 3. 3 Â RIA, MS 1222 (Stowe D ii 2); verse and prose dindshenchas, copied by Muiris O CleÂirigh probably in the sixteenth century; Irish; parchment; v + 90 + viii (endleaves i-ii contain notes in Irish and English); modern ink foliation; f. 5: 278mm 6 204mm; extensive rubrication features in red, yellow and green, plus many zoomorphic and occasional anthropomorphic ornaments on litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, but there is a little staining and tearing of the edges of leaves, especially of the opening ones; eighteenth-century binding of brown leather, on the re-backed spine of which is stamped in gold: STOWE | MS. | D. | II. | 2. | ROYAL IRISH | ACADEMY RIA, MS 1223 (Stowe D iv 2); a miscellany of prose and verse, including a Â Hachoideirn, SeaÂn version of the SeÂnadh Saigri, copied mainly by Eoghan O Mac Aedacain and one other unnamed scribe, at the monastery of Kilcormick, co. Offaly, in the ®fteenth century; Irish; parchment; iii + 89 + iv (not counting a modern set of notes bound in after endleaf i); modern pencil foliation; f. 49: Â 257mm 6 221mm; f. 51: 250mm 6 218mm; rubrication features in Eoghan O Hachoideirn's section, some interlace decoration is used on litterae notabiliores, and there is one elaborate zoomorphic capital; generally in good condition, but some leaves are damp stained, some gnawed either along their top or bottom edges, and in places at the right edge of leaves text has been lost to the binder's knife; sixteenth-century binding of brown leather on wooden boards, repaired in the nineteenth century but with the front board and spine now loose, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: STOWE | D. | IV. | 2. | ROYAL IRISH | ACADEMY


52

4. The Documents

The Book of UõÂ Mhaine (the Book of the O'Kellys) This manuscript, whose contents include, amongst other things, genealogies, Â ces, historical tracts, religious and secular poetry, a copy of the Auraicept na nE a copy of the Lebor na Cert, dindshenchas, traditions about saints and Â a Ceallaigh banshenchas, was produced in Connacht for Muircheartach U (bishop of Clonfert, 1378±94, and archbishop of Tuam, 1394±1407), and probably just before his archiepiscopal elevation in 1394 (the year in which he also spent Christmastide in Dublin with Richard II). Its contents are reminiscent of earlier compendia of Gaelic learning made by ecclesiastics before the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169. The Book takes its name from the lordship of UõÂ Mhaine in north-east co. Galway and south co. Roscommon ruled over by the O'Kellys. (One of its two named medieval scribes, FaÂelaÂn Mac an Ghabhann, died in 1423, according to the Annals of the Four Masters.) Four leaves of the Book are preserved as ff. 17±20 of BL, MS Egerton 90 (see below). RIA, MS 1225 (Stowe D ii 1; Book of UõÂ Mhaine); copied by various medieval Â dhamh CuÂsõÂn, c. 1394, with scribes, including FaÂelaÂn Mac an Ghabhann and A some sixteenth-century additions; Irish (Latin); parchment; ii + 157 + ii; modern pencil foliation; f. 35: 421mm 6 267mm; f. 85: 421mm 6 242mm; some rubrication appears, either in vermillion, yellow or in both, and in certain sections occasional use is made of chrome and green, with zoomorphic interlace decoration sometimes applied to litterae notabiliores; in fair condition, but there is extensive staining and discolouration throughout; modern binding of white half pigskin on oak boards. Âa RIA, MS 1227 (3 B 23); devotional prose and homilies, copied by Tadcc U RigbardaÂin in the ®fteenth century; Irish (Latin); parchment; i + 41 + i; modern pencil pagination; 229mm 6 155mm; rubrication is sometimes applied to litterae notabiliores, either in green, red, yellow or ochre; generally in good condition, but there is some staining, especially on the ®rst and last leaves, and each leaf is now mounted on a guard; nineteenth-century binding of blue half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: MISCELLANEA | HIBERNICA. | MS. | ROYAL | IRISH | ACADEMY; on a label af®xed between: MS.; and: ROYAL: 3 | B | 23 Lebor na hUidre (the Book of the Dun Cow) The Lebor na hUidre (the Book of the Dun Cow), the oldest surviving manuscript entirely in Irish, has been thus called since at least the ®fteenth century. Its unusual name probably derives from its former association with an important relic kept at the monastery of Clonmacnoise, co. Offaly, the hide of the cow which belonged to the monastery's founder, St CiaraÂn. It is not known for certain where the copying of its three main scribes took place, but the family of one of them, MaÂel Muire Mac CeÂlechair, had been long connected with Clonmacnoise, and MaÂel Muire died there in 1106. There has been some debate over which of the Lebor na hUidre hands may be that of MaÂel Muire, whether it was that of the copyist and compiler of the bulk of the manuscript (referred to in discussions as M), or that of the copyist referred to as H, who it is generally



53

agreed was working a little later than M (and than A, the scribe who began the manuscript, perhaps in the last quarter of the eleventh century). H revised texts already copied, added glosses and some homilies. Much of the material compiled in Lebor na hUidre was derived from sources hailing from Meath and from Monasterboice, co. Louth. The contents are miscellaneous, and include tales of immrama (`wanderings'), like the Voyage of Bran and the Voyage of MaÂel DuÂin, the FõÂs AdamnaÂin, the Togail Bruidne Da Derga, the Â eda SlaÂne, all of which feature in the Appendices (see Appendices Genemain A 6.11 (x), 6.15, 6.19 and 6.20), the Ulster sagas of the legendary hero CuÂ Chulainn and the earliest version of the Irish national epic, TaÂin BoÂ Cuailnge (the `Cattle Raid of CuÂalnge'). RIA, MS 1229 (23 E 25; Lebor na hUidre); copied by three main scribes, one of whom was MaÂel Muire Mac CeÂlechair, who was active before 1106; Irish; parchment; i + 67; modern ink pagination; p. 30: 288mm 6 215mm; p. 52: 287mm 6 218mm; p. 88: 292mm 6 216mm; p. 92: 291mm 6 212mm; p. 94: 212mm 6 168mm; p. 96: 270mm 6 196mm; p. 117: 262mm 6 193mm; richly decorated, with parti-coloured rubrication (red, yellow and purple) applied to some litterae notabiliores, and with some zoomorphic ornamentation; generally in good condition, though there is some staining, and all leaves are mounted on guards; modern binding of half white pigskin on oak boards, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: LEBOR | NA | HUIDRE | ROYAL IRISH | ACADEMY Leabhar Breac (the Speckled Book) The Leabhar Breac received its popular name possibly as late as the eighteenth century. Before then it had long been known, and more appropriately, as the Leabhar MoÂr DuÂna Doighre (the `Great Book of Duniry'), after the place of that name in co. Galway. It was copied by one main scribe, probably Â Cuindlis, who also assisted in the production of the Book of Murchadh O Lecan (see above) and who, a few years earlier in c. 1398±9, had copied a portion of the Yellow Book of Lecan (see below). His dated scribal stints in the Leabhar Breac are between December 1408 and Samhain (31 October) 1411. He seems to have produced it either for a cleric or clerical community, to judge by its contents, or for some member of the Mac AodhagaÂin family, famous lawyers who were active in the west of Ireland and some of whose law manuscripts are still extant (see further below). (Amongst other possible Mac AodhagaÂin associations, the jotting on p. 109, Misi Solam (Ì am Solamh'), mentions a personal name, Solamh, which features frequently in Mac AodhaÂ Cuindlis copied the Leabhar Breac from exemplars that gaÂin clan pedigrees.) O he found in the various places that he visited on his travels, as for example in Clonsast and Clonmacnoise, co. Offaly, and possibly also Loughrea, co. Galway. Some of it was written in Cluain Leathan. Though unidenti®ed, this place was probably situated some miles north of Lorrha, in the barony of Lower Ormond, north co. Tipperary. Cluain Leathan is known to have been a Mac AodhagaÂin centre of learning, and is perhaps to be identi®ed either with Ballymacegan or with Kiltyroe, two adjoining townlands. Many parts were written in MuÂscraige ThõÂre (a region in the baronies of Upper and Lower


54

4. The Documents

Ormond). The Leabhar Breac mainly contains religious texts of various kinds, homilies, exempla, saints' lives, and an important copy of Aislinge Meic Con Glinne (for which see Appendix 6.23). Â RIA, MS 1230 (23 P 16; Leabhar Breac); copied probably by Murchadh O Cuindlis early in the ®fteenth century, and before 1411; Irish (Latin); parchment; i + 142 + i; modern ink pagination; 382mm 6 249mm; ®ne zoomorphic strapwork and interlace decoration embellish some litterae notabiliores, and there is lavish rubrication in red, yellow, and blue, these colours being applied either singly or in combination; generally in good condition, though the edges of certain folios are damaged, and some others are badly discoloured through wear, soiling or the use of reagent; modern binding of white half pigskin on oak boards, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: AN LEABHAR | BREAC | ROYAL IRISH | ACADEMY Section A of RIA, MS 1243 (23 Q 6), pp. 1±6, was produced in the Mac AodhagaÂin legal school at Duniry, co. Galway, in 1575, though one of its Â DeoraÂin. (He added a colophon Misi Gaibrial O Deoradhain scribes was an O Â DeoraÂin . . . A.D. 1575', on p. 5. A . . . anno domini 1575, Ì am Gabriel O Gaibrial who signed various entries in TCD, MS 1336 (H. 3. 17) (see below), where he gave the date of his writing as 1577, may be one and the same scribe.) Â Section B of the manuscript, pp. 7±30, contains work emanating from an O DeoraÂin legal school at TõÂr BriuÂin on the river Shannon, co. Roscommon, and Â DeoraÂin, in the which was under the direction of Cairbre Mac Domnaill O middle of the sixteenth century. A certain Gilla na Naem oÂg (without patronymic) is mentioned in this section (p. 11). He may be the Gilla na Â Deorainand (O Â DeoraÂin) who was responsible for BL, MS Harley 432 Naem O (see below). In TõÂr BriuÂin there also worked alongside Gilla na Naem oÂg Â Deoragain various other scribes, including a certain Flann Mac Cairbre O Â DeoraÂin family name again), and two others, both with the name of (note the O Fergal. Section D of the manuscript, pp. 33±52, the section from which the item Â Duibhdabhoirprinted in the Repertory is taken, has an association with the O Â enn legal texts copied into BL, MS Egerton 88 (see below). Domhnall O Duibhdabhoirenn, whose hand appears in MS Egerton 88, also worked on Section D, with others under his direction. (As is clear from a note on p. 42, he Â rlaith in 1565.) was writing at a place called Baile O RIA, MS 1243 (23 Q 6); law texts copied by various scribes, including Gaibrial Â Deoradhain, Gilla na Naem oÂg (O Â DeoraÂin?), Flann Mac Cairbre O Â O Â Duibhdabhoirenn in the sixteenth century; Irish; Deoragain and Domhnall O parchment; ii + 28 + ii; eighteenth- or nineteenth-century ink pagination; p. 52: 263mm 6 176mm; occasional rubrication is applied to litterae notabiliores in brown or in slate grey ink, some of which are also decorated with interlace; generally in good condition, but there is much staining throughout; eighteenthcentury binding of olive green leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: BREHON | LAWS; beneath this is af®xed a label: 23 | Q | 6



55

Dublin, Trinity College Library (TCD) After the Royal Irish Academy, the next most signi®cant repository for the purposes of this volume is the Library of Trinity College Dublin, which holds some nineteen manuscripts of concern here. Trinity College, established in 1592 on the land of the dissolved monastery of All Hallows, bene®ted notably in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries from various bequests, book donations and purchases. Most of the manuscripts described below were acquired during these centuries. Annals of Ulster The compilation of the set of annals now known as the Annals of Ulster was undertaken by Cathal oÂg Mac Cathail oÂig Mac Maghnusa (²1498), vicar general of the diocese of Clogher and head of a sept of the Maguires of co. Fermanagh. Two fair copies of his compilation were made by the scribe Â LuinõÂn (²1528), a member of the family who were hereditary RuaidhrõÂ O Â LuinõÂn's earliest and best copy was that described historians to the Maguires. O immediately below. He subsequently made another copy of the annals for RuaidhrõÂ Mac Craith of Termonmagrath, co. Donegal (see Bodl., MS RawÂ Casaide, extended the linson B. 489, below). A second scribe, RuaidhrõÂ O annals in this manuscript from 1505 to 1541, and various other scribes added subsequent entries sporadically until 1588. TCD, MS 1282 (H. 1. 8; Annals of Ulster); annals, running 431±1504, and Â LuinõÂn in the early sixteenth century; Irish copied mainly by RuaidhrõÂ O (Latin); parchment; ii + 119 (counting an interleaved stub with contemporary writing on it) + vii; modern pencil foliation; 318mm 6 234mm; interlace decoration is very occasionally applied to litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, but there is considerable staining; nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, now detached, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: ANNALS | OF | ULSTER | H. | 1. | 8. TCD, MS 1286 (H. 1. 12); a copy of the Lebor GabaÂla, dindshenchas and Â CleÂirigh in December 1631 at the various pedigrees, compiled by MõÂcheaÂl O Franciscan house at Lisgoole, co. Fermanagh, and the second portion of the manuscript, in which the item collected in the Repertory appears, was copied by Â Dalaigh, c. 1742; Irish; paper; i (detached) + 149 + xvii (detached ®nal Aodh O quire containing an index, and paginated 103±33); two consecutive contemporary paginations, in red ink: the ®rst, running 1±184 (completed 185±7 in modern pencil), followed by the second, running 1±31 (completed 33±133 [32 is not paginated] in modern pencil); 315mm 6 201mm; some rubrication is used in both portions of the manuscript and occasional litterae notabiliores feature; in good condition; eighteenth-century binding of green parchment, on the spine of which are af®xed the following series of labels, each succeeding the other in descending order: Class. H | Tab. h. .j | N h. .j ; hCljass H. | hTajb. 2 | Nh.j ¦ | Thhje Book of | Chojnquhejsts ; Lhejabhahrj | Gabalhaj | &c. ; H | 1 | 12 ; 1286 TCD, MS 1289 (H. 1. 15); a copy of the Lebor GabaÂla, dindshenchas and various pedigrees, derived in large part from the Book of Ballymote (see


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4. The Documents

Â Neachtan between 1729±45; Irish (Latin); above), and copied by Tadhg O paper; ix + 497 + iv; eighteenth-century ink pagination; 305mm 6 195mm; some rubrication is applied, and occasionally display script and Textura varieties of litterae notabiliores feature; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of brown half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: MISCELhLANEjA | HIBhEjRNICA | TRANSCRIBED | BY | T. O'NAGHTAN. | H. 1. | 15.; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 1289 Annals of Loch CeÂ The so-called Annals of Loch CeÂ, compiled probably in the 1580s (and thus later in the same century than the Annals of Connacht to which they are textually related), contain an alternative version of the text also witnessed in the Annals of Connacht (see above). They were copied in part at Cloonybrien, co. Â DuibhgeannaÂin family lived. The Loch Roscommon, where a branch of the O CeÂ and Connacht annal manuscripts were products of scribes working for this learned family. Brian Mac Diarmada, chieftain of the lordship of Magh Luirg (Moylurg, a territory in the barony of Boyle, co. Roscommon) between 1568 and 1592, seems to have instigated the production of the two extant Loch CeÂ annals manuscripts, TCD, MS 1293 (H. 1. 19) and a portion of BL, MS Additional 4792. Indeed, he added several entries to both in his own hand. TCD, MS 1293 (H. 1. 19); annals, running 1014±1571, copied by various Â Duibhscribes, and mainly by Pilip Badlaigh (probably a member of the O Â geannain family) in 1589, with assistance from Dubhthach and Conairi Â DuibhgeannaÂin family), from Brian Mac (probably also members of the O Diarmada himself, and from Donnchadh Mac an Filedh; Irish (Latin); parchment and paper; ii + 137 + ii; modern pencil foliation; f. 50: 259mm 6 192mm; f. 74: 269mm 6 200mm; f. 126: 272mm 6 204mm; f. 130: 258mm 6 189mm; f. 132: 252mm 6 192mm; interlace decoration occasionally embellishes litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, though the ®rst and last leaves are much darkened and others are a little discoloured; seventeenthcentury binding of brown leather, with nineteenth-century repairs, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: ANNALES | HIBERNIá | H. I. | 19; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 1293 TCD, MS 1308/i, ii (H. 2. 12); a copy of the Acallam na SenoÂrach, the tract corus bard ¦ bardni, and a law fragment, copied by one scribe in the ®fteenth or sixteenth century; Irish; parchment; 10; modern pencil pagination; 258mm 6 173mm; zoomorphic ornamentation features, and rubrication is applied to some litterae notabiliores in red, yellow and blue, each colour either singly or in combination; generally in good condition, but there is some staining, especially on the ®rst leaf; unbound leaves preserved in a modern blue Manila folder, on the front cover of which is written in pencil: MS 1308/i-iii TCD, MS 1315 (H. 2. 13); chie¯y medical texts, including a tract on Latin declension, copied by three main scribes in the ®fteenth or sixteenth century; Irish (Latin); parchment; ii + 115 + ii; modern pencil pagination; pp. 69±70: 269mm 6 184mm; some litterae notabiliores feature, and rubrication is applied to one diagram; generally in good condition, but there is some staining of the



57

opening leaves; nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, whose front cover is detached, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: MISCELLANEA | HIBERNICA | EX DONO | JOH. SEBRIGHT | EQ. AUR. | H. 2. | 13.; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 1315 The booklets (designated as Volumes in the descriptions below) which comprise TCD, MS 1316 (H. 2. 15a) date to the fourteenth and ®fteenth centuries, though the booklet of present concern, Volume 2, dates to the fourteenth century. All the booklets originated in one of the Mac AodhagaÂin law schools in the region of north co. Tipperary and east co. Galway. A substantial proportion of their text was copied by Conchobhar Mac AodhagaÂin (he copied f. 15 in Volume 2, for example), and at least three other scribes added commentary and glosses, Â edh, Conchobhar's son, who noted the date 1350 in a memorandum including A at the bottom of f. 18v in Volume 2, and another, who has been identi®ed as Â DallaÂin, whose hand appears in certain other fourteenth-century LuÂcaÂs O manuscripts (for example, TCD, MS 1298 (H. 2. 7), cols 1±236, which he Â dhamh O Â CianaÂin, on whom see above under NLI, MS G 3). MS copied for A 1316 is one of the most important of the extant codices of early Irish law. TCD, MS 1316 (H. 2. 15a), Volume 2; copied by Conchobhar Mac AodhagaÂin Â edh his son and LuÂcaÂs O Â DallaÂin) in the and two other main scribes (A fourteenth century; Irish; parchment; 28; modern pencil foliation; f. 15: 490mm 6 245mm; f. 29: 346mm 6 254mm; rubrication in red, and also occasionally in yellow, green and purple, is applied to several litterae notabiliores, and there is some use of interlace decoration and zoomorphic ornamentation; generally in good condition, but there is some staining, and some leaves are mounted on guards; modern binding of white pigskin, on the front and back covers of which is stamped in gold: H. 2. 15 VOL. II 6±33 | 11±42 | 47±66 | 43±46 TCD, MS 1317 (H. 2. 15b); copied in the seventeenth century by An Dubhaltach Mac Firbhisigh (²1670); Irish; paper; vi + 172 + ii; modern stamped ink pagination; 305mm 6 200mm; some rubrication appears in the earlier leaves; in fair condition, though many leaves in the ®rst half of the manuscript are repaired with lisse, and some are stained with damp; nineteenthcentury binding of blue leatherette, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: MISCELLANEA | HIBERNICA | H. | 2. | 15. | No. 2.; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 1317 The Yellow Book of Lecan The principal matter of the Yellow Book of Lecan is historical, topographical, mythological, legal, medical and religious. This miscellaneous nature is underscored by the variety of the manuscript's composition, for its sections were copied by various scribes between dates ranging from 1391 and 1592, and in various places, including cos. Sligo, Galway, Tipperary and Cork. The later leaves of the manuscript (cols 573±958, the earliest in terms of copying) were mainly the work of Gilla IÂsa MoÂir Mac Firbhisigh (²1418), who was active in 1391. He was assisted by his son TomaÂs Cam. Gilla IÂsa was the head of the school of the Mac Firbhisigh family in Lecan, co. Sligo, and hereditary


58

4. The Documents

Â Dubda. It is likely that much of the Yellow historian to the local chieftain O Book re¯ects Mac Firbhisigh interests, and like certain other manuscripts described above, it too witnesses to collaboration between the Gaelic learned families of its region during the late Middle Ages: the hand of a Book of Â Droma, also appears in it, as does the hand of Ballymote scribe, Solamh O Â Cuindlis, the scribe of the Leabhar Breac and of portions of the Murchadh O Book of Lecan (see the descriptions above) between cols 281±344. The scribes who wrote the texts excerpted here for the Repertory are identi®able: col. 77 Â occurs in a section of the manuscript copied by Iolland and Tornae O Maoilchonaire (with help perhaps from a third, unnamed scribe) in the sixteenth century; cols 94, 114 and 122 in a section also copied by them in 1572; col. 220 in a section copied by Donnchad Mac Gilla Naem UõÂ DuinnõÂn in 1405, at Rossbrinn Castle, Skull parish, co. Cork; and col. 740 in a section copied by Gilla IÂsa MoÂir Mac Firbhisigh. (A portion of the Yellow Book of Lecan now extant as NLI, MS G 4 is not of present concern.) TCD, MS 1318 (H. 2. 16; Yellow Book of Lecan); copied by various scribes, Â Maoilchonaire, Donnchad Mac Gilla Naem UõÂ including Iolland and Tornae O DuinnõÂn and Gilla IÂsa MoÂir Mac Firbhisigh, between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries and in various places, including cos. Sligo, Galway, Tipperary and Cork; Irish (Latin); parchment; xx + 242 + viii; late-seventeenth century columnar numeration in ink; col. 18: 288mm 6 230mm; col. 77: 302mm 6 224mm; col. 94: 300mm 6 224mm; col. 114: 295mm 6 225mm; col. 122: 299mm 6 225mm; col. 220: 296mm 6 216mm; cols 243±4: 297mm 6 217mm; col. 292: 304mm 6 213mm; col. 339: 310mm 6 220mm; col. 811: 309mm 6 219mm; col. 740: 313mm 6 213mm; rubrication and interlace decoration are used in some sections; generally in good condition, but some leaves are badly stained or rubbed; nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: LEABHAIR BUIDHE | LEACAIN | AND MISCELLANEA; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 1318 TCD, MS 1322 (H. 3. 3); a collection of dindshenchas, copied by John O'Keenan, some time before Christmas in some unspeci®ed year in the Â Maoilchonaire, who is sixteenth century (a contemporary note says SeaÂn O perhaps the man of the same name who kept a school in Elizabeth I's reign, is sick at Ardkyle, a place near Six Mile Bridge, co. Clare); Irish; parchment; iii + 39 + iii; modern pencil foliation; 279mm 6 225mm; rubrication is used on litterae notabiliores in the earlier part of the manuscript, and there is some anthropomorphic ornamentation and occasional interlace decoration; generally in good condition, but some leaves are stained by damp and/or reagent; modern binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold lengthways: THE DINN SEANCHUS; and at the bottom: H. | 3. | 3 The codices TCD, MS 1336 (H. 3. 17) and 1337 (H. 3. 18) both have af®liations with the Mac AodhagaÂin legal family. The ®rst third of MS 1336 is also Â DeoraÂin (the Heptads copied associated with another family of lawyers, the O Â DeoraÂin section into this manuscript appear twice, for example, once in the O Â DeoraÂin and Mac and again in the Mac AodhagaÂin section). Both O AodhagaÂin scribes seem to have participated in the manuscript's production. Part of it was copied in co. Laois, probably in 1578. The various Volumes that



59

comprise MS 1337, a collection mainly of legal texts, have af®liations with a Mac AodhagaÂin law school of the west of Ireland. The hand of An Cosnamach Mac AodhagaÂin appears and dates noted in the manuscript range between 1511 and 1565. The Mac AodhagaÂin family, to judge by their frequent representation in the annals and extant legal manuscripts, were amongst the most active and in¯uential of the post-Norman legal families in Ireland. TCD, MS 1336 (H. 3. 17), Volume 1; copied by SeaÂn Mac AodhagaÂin and An Cosnamach (Mac AodhagaÂin, probably), in various places in cos. Tipperary and Laois in the sixteenth century; Irish (Latin); parchment; vii + 89 + ii; modern pencil foliation; 224mm 6 155mm; rubrication, and sometimes zoomorphic ornamentation, is applied to some litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, apart from a little staining around the edges of some leaves; modern binding of white pigskin, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: H. 3. 17 | VOL. I | 1±89 TCD, MS 1336 (H. 3. 17), Volume 6; copied by various scribes (one of whom, who copied fols 206±13v, features also in part of TCD, MS 1316 (H. 2. 15a) ) in the sixteenth century; Irish; parchment; ii + 51 + ii; modern pencil foliation; 226mm 6 138mm; rubrication, and sometimes zoomorphic ornamentation, is applied to some litterae notabiliores; in fair condition, except for the opening and closing leaves which are badly darkened, and the bottom right corners of the opening leaves have also been gnawed; modern binding of white pigskin, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: H. 3. 17 | VOL. VI | 206±255 TCD, MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 2; copied by one main scribe in the sixteenth century; Irish; parchment; 8; seventeenth- or eighteenth-century ink pagination; p. 6: 192mm 6 131mm; occasional rubrication of litterae notabiliores features in green or grey; generally in good condition, but the outer last leaf is damp stained; modern wrapper of white pigskin, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 1±14; preserved in a blue cardboard folder, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 1±14; and in pencil: 1337; and on the spine of which is stamped in ink: 2 TCD, MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 3; copied by various scribes in the sixteenth century; Irish; parchment; 24; seventeenth- or eighteenth-century ink pagination; pp. 15±17: 191mm 6 130mm; occasional rubrication of litterae notabiliores features in red, green or grey, and there is some zoomorphic ornamentation; generally in good condition, if partially discoloured by damp; modern wrapper of white pigskin, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 15±58; preserved in a blue cardboard folder, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 15±58; and in pencil: 1337; and on the spine of which is stamped in ink: 3 TCD, MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 4; copied by various scribes in the sixteenth century; Irish; parchment and paper; 16 (counting a parchment tab containing text); seventeenth- or eighteenth-century ink pagination; p. 87: 191mm 6 134mm; some rubrication of litterae notabiliores features in grey, green or pink, and there is one zoomorphic ornament; generally in good condition, though the outer leaves are darkened; modern wrapper of white pigskin, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 59±87; preserved in a blue cardboard


60

4. The Documents

folder, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 59±87; and in pencil: 1337; and on the spine of which is stamped in ink: 4 TCD, MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 9; copied by various scribes in the sixteenth century; Irish; parchment; 25 (counting two parchment tabs containing text); seventeenth- or eighteenth-century ink pagination; p. 178: 162mm 6 121mm; some litterae notabiliores are used; generally in good condition, though there are some damp marks and staining; modern wrapper of white pigskin, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 173±213; preserved in a blue cardboard folder, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 173±213; and in pencil: 1337; and on the spine of which is stamped in ink: 9 TCD, MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 10; copied by various scribes in the sixteenth century; Irish; parchment; 28; seventeenth- or eighteenth-century ink pagination; p. 248: 220mm 6 146mm; occasional rubrication of litterae notabiliores features in red; generally in good condition, though the outer leaves are stained by damp; modern wrapper of white pigskin, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 214±268; preserved in a blue cardboard folder, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 214±268; and in pencil: 1337; and on the spine of which is stamped in ink: 10 TCD, MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 13; copied by one main scribe (who may be the same as that responsible for Volumes 19 and 20 described below) in the sixteenth century; Irish; parchment; 24; seventeenth- or eighteenth-century ink pagination; p. 378: 200mm 6 142mm; occasional rubrication of litterae notabiliores features in red and yellow, and some zoomorphic ornamentation is used; generally in good condition, though there is a little damp staining on the outer leaves; modern wrapper of white pigskin, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 353±398; preserved in a blue cardboard folder, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 353±398; and in pencil: 1337; and on the spine of which is stamped in ink: 13 TCD, MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 14; copied by various scribes in the sixteenth century; Irish; parchment; 21 (not counting stubs of excised leaves); seventeenth- or eighteenth-century ink pagination; p. 423: 245mm 6 172mm; occasional rubrication of litterae notabiliores features in blue, pink or yellow; in fair condition, though some leaves are very badly stained; modern wrapper of white pigskin, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 399±437; preserved in a blue cardboard folder, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 399±437; and in pencil: 1337; and on the spine of which is stamped in ink: 14 TCD, MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 19; copied by one main scribe (who may be the same as that responsible for Volume 13 above and 20 below) in the sixteenth century; Irish; parchment; 23 (counting a tab containing text); seventeenth- or eighteenth-century ink pagination; p. 590: 169mm 6 129mm; rubrication of some litterae notabiliores features in red and yellow throughout; generally in good condition, though some leaves are mottled with damp; modern wrapper of white pigskin, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 585±628; preserved in a blue cardboard folder, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 585±628; and on the spine of which is stamped in ink: 19



61

TCD, MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 20; copied by one main scribe (who may be the same as that responsible for Volume 13 above and 19 above) in the sixteenth century; Irish; parchment; 16; seventeenth- or eighteenth-century ink pagination; p. 644: 169mm 6 130mm; rubrication is applied to some litterae notabiliores in red and yellow throughout; generally in good condition, though there is extensive staining; modern wrapper of white pigskin, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 629±660; preserved in a blue cardboard folder, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 629±660; and on the spine of which is stamped in ink: 20 TCD, MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 24; one parchment leaf (p. 869) was copied by one scribe in the sixteenth century, and the paper leaves were copied by various scribes in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; Irish; paper and parchment; 19; seventeenth- or eighteenth-century ink pagination; p. 869: 64mm 6 192mm; no decoration; the parchment leaf (p. 869) is in good condition, but the later paper leaves are extensively damaged by staining and tearing; modern wrapper of white pigskin, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 844/i-870/ii; preserved in a blue cardboard folder, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 844/i-870/ii; and on the spine of which is stamped in ink: 24 TCD, MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 25; copied by various scribes in the sixteenth century; Irish; parchment; 4; seventeenth- or eighteenth-century ink pagination; p. 874: 232mm 6 139mm (these two leaves constitute a bifolium, the ®rst leaf of which is wider than the second); rubrication is occasionally applied to litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, but the last two leaves are much darkened and discoloured; modern wrapper of white pigskin, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 871±877; preserved in a blue cardboard folder, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: 871±877; and in pencil: 1337; and on the spine of which is stamped in ink: 25 The Book of Leinster The Book of Leinster or, more properly, the Lebar na NuÂachongbaÂla (the `Book of the New Foundation'), was written by various scribes, of whom four Â a Chrimthainn, comarbae of Terryglass, near Lough Derg, were chief: Aedh U Â a GormaÂin (or more likely his co. Tipperary, some time after 1166; Find U amanuensis), bishop of Kildare (²1160); and two others, one of whom, referred to in discussions as T, was largely responsible for putting the Book together, and whose stints may date to the 1180s and 1190s. The Book was begun c. 1152 and much of it had been assembled by c. 1161. Possibly the earliest phase of its production took place at Terryglass, though this is not certain. In 1164, Terryglass was destroyed. The Book is known to have been at Oughavall, near Clonenagh, co. Laois (Clonenagh had long associations with the UõÂ Chrimthainn). Conceivably it was here that the scribe T put the Book together in the 1180's and 1190's, and here it remained for some four hundred years (whence its name Lebar na NuÂachongbaÂla). It contains, amongst other things, the earliest extant Tech MidchuÂarda diagram (see Appendix 6.12), a version of the Lebor GabaÂla, important recensions of Irish sagas like TaÂin BoÂ Cuailgne, Mesca Ulad (see Appendix 6.18), the BoÂrama (see section 5.2, s.a. 600), some


62

4. The Documents

dindsenchas, a copy of the Sanas Cormaic (`Cormac's Glossary') and various genealogies. The scribes of the leaves excerpted for the Repertory were bishop Find (or his amanuensis, f. 15), another (unidenti®ed) scribe (f. 106v), Aedh (f. 165), yet another scribe whose hand appears only in the Book's copy of Mesca Ulad (f. 196), and a scribe employed by Aedh to copy ff. 207±16 at bishop Find's request (noted on f. 212v). (Ten leaves of the Book are now preserved in Killiney, co. Dublin, Franciscan House of Studies, MS A 3, but are not of present concern.) The Book was consulted during the earliest phase of the compilation of the Yellow Book of Lecan in the 1390s (see above) and is quoted as a source in the Book of Ballymote (see also above). TCD, MS 1339 (H. 2. 18; Book of Leinster); copied by various scribes, Â a Chrimthainn and Find (or his amanuensis), possibly including Aedh U both at Terryglass, c. 1152±61, and at Oughavall, c. 1180±90, with minor additions by various scribes in the fourteenth and ®fteenth centuries; Irish; parchment; 177; modern pencil foliation; f. 15: 323mm 6 227mm; f. 101: 317mm 6 223mm; f. 106: 318mm 6 221mm; f. 165: 326mm 6 230mm; f. 196: 326mm 6 234mm; f. 198: 330mm 6 235mm; f. 206: 327mm 6 236mm; f. 212: 321mm 6 235mm; zoomorphic and anthropomorphic ornamentation is applied to some litterae notabiliores, and rubrication is in red, pink, mauve, green and yellow: the Tech MidchuÂarda diagram on f. 15 is embellished with each of these colours; in fair condition, though there is much staining and discolouration (some due to the application of reagent) on certain leaves, and in places the ink is much rubbed; the Book is unbound and its leaves preserved individually in a modern wooden box. Â Dalaigh, c. TCD, MS 1346 (H. 4. 4); saints' lives, copied mainly by Aodh O 1725±50; Irish; paper; iii + 198 + iii; modern pencil pagination; 180mm 6 129mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though there is some staining throughout and the last leaf is repaired with lisse; modern binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold lengthways: VERSE AND PROSE; beneath this is stamped in gold: H. | 4. | 4.; between these stamps is af®xed a label: 1346 TCD, MS 1382 (H. 5. 10); poetry and prose, copied by Shane O'Sullivan in 1703; Irish; paper; 88; modern ink pagination; 193mm 6 142mm; occasional litterae notabiliores appear; in fair condition, but the top and bottom corners of many leaves, especially the opening ones, are worn away; preserved in a ®fteenth-century parchment wrapper. TCD, MS 1403 (H. 5. 32); the TrõÂ Bhiorghaithe an BhaÂis (the `Three Shafts of Death') and the Foras Feasa ar EÂirinn of Geoffrey Keating, copied principally Â Maoilchonaire in March 1645, with later annotations; Irish by SeaÂn O (English, Latin); paper; xiii + 246 + ii; modern pencil foliation, running 1± 133 and applied only to pages bearing text, including one intercalated nineteenth-century leaf; 356mm 6 250mm; rudimentary interlace is occasionally added to litterae notabiliores; in good condition; late seventeenth- or early eighteenth-century binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: KEATING'S | HISTORY | OF IRELAND | IRISH M.S.; beneath this is af®xed a label: H | 5 | 32; and at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 1403



63

TCD, MS 1432 (E. 3. 3); grammatical and medical writings, copied by four Â Dubugan (who was writing for main scribes, the ®rst of whom was Diarmaid O Â LoÂingsib Daleig), in the ®fteenth or sixteenth century; Irish (Latin); Uilliam O parchment; ii + 26 + ii; modern pencil pagination; 418mm 6 279mm; rubrication of some litterae notabiliores features in red, and sometimes also in yellow; generally in good condition, though the opening leaf is much darkened; eighteenth-century binding of brown leather, with its front cover detached. Yet another manuscript from a Mac AodhagaÂin legal school may be TCD, MS 1433 (E. 3. 5), Part 1. On p. 13 appears the signature of one Fergal Mac AodhagaÂin. TCD, MS 1433 (E. 3. 5), Part 1; law texts and a version of the Lebor GabaÂla, copied by two main scribes in the sixteenth century; Irish; parchment; i + 30 + i; modern ink pagination; p. 14: 387mm 6 275mm; p. 37: 345mm 6 237mm; p. 44: 347mm 6 235mm; rubrication is applied to litterae notabiliores in red, or in red and yellow, and occasional use is made of zoomorphic ornamentation; generally in good condition, but there is some darkening and staining; sixteenth- or seventeenth-century binding of brown leather with modern repairs, whose back cover is detached, and on the spine of which is stamped lengthways in gold: AICILL &c.; beneath this also in gold: hEj. | 3. | 5.; on the front cover is af®xed a label: 1433/1 Edinburgh, National Library of Scotland (NLS) The National Library of Scotland contains one Gaelic manuscript of concern here. Advocates' Library, MS 72. 1. 25, is in two sections: medical matter is copied on the ®rst and on the last bifolium, and between these two bifolia is sandwiched the bulk of the manuscript which comprises religious texts, including the poem excerpted for Appendix 6.11 (vii). Though various scribes are at work in the manuscript, most of it is in the hand of a single scribe. NLS, Advocates' Library, MS 72. 1. 25; medical and religious texts, copied by various scribes in the ®fteenth or sixteenth century; Irish; parchment; 24; modern pencil foliation; f. 20: 152mm 6 141mm; occasional litterae notabiliores feature, and an anthropomorphic face in®lls the lobe of one capital letter on f. 18; generally in good condition, but there is some darkening and staining, especially on the bifolium at the beginning and on that at the end; preserved in a nineteenth-century blue leather sleeve, on the front of which is af®xed a label: XXV 72. 1. 25 | Kilbride Collection | No 21; the whole is preserved in a modern grey Manila folder, on the front of which is written in pencil: Adv. 72. 1. 25 Killiney, co. Dublin, Franciscan House of Studies, DuÂn Mhuire An initiative taken by some of the early seventeenth-century Irish Franciscans of St Anthony's College, Louvain, resulted in the collection, copying and preservation of an important set of Gaelic manuscripts. Their project was to gather into a great archive Irish hagiographical and historical materials which, in the civil turmoil of this period, were at risk of being lost. The manuscripts


64

4. The Documents

which constitute the nucleus of the collection, now housed at the Library of the Franciscan House of Studies in Killiney, co. Dublin, are some of the fruits of that initiative. Two are of present concern. Foras Feasa ar EÂirinn The Foras Feasa ar EÂirinn (the `Basis of Knowledge about Ireland'), by SeÂathruÂn CeÂitinn (or more familiarly, Geoffrey Keating, c. 1580 ± c. 1644) was completed c. 1634 (and certainly before 1640). The manuscript of Foras Â irinn selected here is an authoritative one: the section pertinent to the Feasa ar E Â CleÂirigh, a Repertory falls in a portion of the manuscript copied by MõÂcheaÂl O famous scribe whose work appears in several other manuscripts also featuring in the Repertory (see, for example, RIA, MS 687 (23 P 6; Annals of the Four Masters) above, or BR, MS 2324±40, above). Killiney, co. Dublin, Franciscan House of Studies Library, MS A 14; Foras Feasa ar EõÂrinn, genealogies and other notes, copied at least in part in Kildare, Â CleÂirigh, co. Kildare, by two principal scribes, one of whom was MõÂcheaÂl O between 4 and 28 September in some year probably in the second quarter of the seventeenth century; paper, Irish (Latin, English); viii + 121 + vii; seventeenthcentury ink pagination, running 1±12, followed by seventeenth-century ink foliation, running 1±82, completed in modern pencil, 83±94; 307mm 6 197mm; occasional litterae notabiliores feature; generally in good condition, though some leaves are slightly stained and some strengthened with tissue; nineteenthcentury binding of green half leather, on the front cover of which af®xed a label: A 14; and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: FRANCISCAN | LIBRARY | MSS. | SEATÇRUN CEATINN | FORAIS FEASA | AR EIRINN | A | 14 The poem FeÂgthar tech Finn, which is excerpted here from the Duanaire Finn (`Finn's Poem Book'), is extant in Killiney, co. Dublin, Franciscan House of Studies Library, MS A 20. This manuscript may be af®liated through one of its Â Dochartaigh, with the Book of The O'Conor Don described scribes, Aodh O above (it is in the section copied by Aodh that the item selected for the Repertory occurs). MS A 20 was copied some four or ®ve years earlier, however, in 1626 and 1627, and like the Book of The O'Conor Don, mainly in the same place, Ostend. It was also probably intended for the same recipient. Possibly this was Captain Samhairle Mac Domhnaill, with whom the device on the front cover of the book has been associated. As well as the Duanaire Finn, the book contains a copy of the Middle Irish Accalam na SenoÂrach (the `Conversation of the Old Ones'). Killiney, co. Dublin, Franciscan House of Studies Library, MS A 20; the Accalam na SenoÂrach and Duanaire Finn, copied for Captain Samhairle Mac Â CathaÂn, at Ostend and Louvain, in Domhnaill, mainly by Niall gruamdha O Â Dochartaigh, at Ostend, in 1627; Irish (Latin, English, 1626, and by Aodh O Flemish); paper; iii + 230 + iv; two seventeenth-century ink foliations, the ®rst, running 1±139, followed by the second, running 1±94; 295mm 6 195mm; some decoration is applied to litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, but some leaves have been strengthened with tissue and there is a little staining;



65

seventeenth-century binding of plain parchment, with nineteenth-century repairs, on the front cover of which is stamped in gold: ANNO |[device]| 1628; and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: SGEALTA. | DUANAIRE FINN. London, British Library (BL) The British Library is also home to an important collection of Gaelic manuscripts. From the point of view of the Repertory, manuscripts containing legal texts loom largest. Manuscripts are arranged here by collection in the alphabetical order Additional, Cotton, Egerton and Harley. BL, MS Additional 18747; tales in prose and verse, copied by Patrick Lynch, c. 1800; Irish; paper; iv + 160 + iv; modern pencil foliation; 244mm 6 189mm; no decoration; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of blue half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: TALES, ETC. | IN IRISH | BRIT. MUS. | ADDITIONAL | MS. 18,747; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 171; and: A 10 Â Murchadha of BL, MS Additional 29614; poems and prose, copied by Seaan O Raheenagh, near Blarney, co. Cork, from 1725 onwards (see also by him RIA, MS 3 (23 L 17) above); Irish (English); paper; ii + 62 + iii; modern pencil foliation; 303mm 6 194mm; occasional zoomorphic ornamentation and litterae notabiliores appear; generally in good condition, though the right edges of leaves have been repaired, and there is some staining on the last leaves by damp; nineteenth-century binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: O'BRUADAR | POEMS | &C | 1726; beneath this and lengthways: ADDITIONAL | 29,614. | BRIT. MUS.; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: B. 11 The manuscript now preserved as BL, MS Additional 30512 contains a miscellany of theological prose and verse, the earliest sections of which were copied in the second half of the ®fteenth century by Uilliam Mac an Lega. (This scribe, an active one, appears in several other extant Gaelic manuscripts.) MS Additional 30512 also contains a chronicle of the FitzGerald earls of Desmond, which was added later by Torna UõÂ Mhaoilchonaire (²1532; this Torna was probably a brother of the SeaÂn Mac Torna UõÂ Mhaoilchonaire whose son was the principal scribe of BL, MS Egerton 1782; see below). Some matter was copied in 1561 at Cahir, co. Tipperary, by An Cosnamach Mac Fhlannchadha for Pierce, son of Edmund Butler. (Edmund Butler was lord of Trian Chluana Meala, a lordship in the barony of Iffa and Offa East, co. Tipperary, from 1559±²1566.) BL, MS Additional 30512; theological prose, verse, and a Desmond chronicle, copied by various scribes, including Uilliam Mac an Lega, Torna UõÂ Mhaoilchonaire and An Cosnamach Mac Fhlannchadha, between the second half of the ®fteenth and the early sixteenth centuries, with some notes made in the seventeenth century; Irish; parchment; xiii + 122 + vii; modern pencil foliation; 196mm 6 136mm; some zoomorphic ornamentation is applied, rubrication, and interlace decoration on litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, but the opening and closing leaves are discoloured and stained; modern binding


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of brown leather with gilt decoration, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: LEABHAR | MAOIL | CHONAIRE | BRIT. MUS. | ADDITIONAL | 30,512.; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 682; and: B BL, MS Additional 33993, Part 1; bardic and political poetry, including an Irish prose version of Mandeville's Travels, copied by various scribes in the sixteenth century, and the ®rst section of which (ff. 1±19) was written in the region of co. Tipperary; Irish (Latin); parchment; ii + 29 + iii; modern pencil foliation; 180mm 6 133mm; some rubricated litterae notabiliores feature in the Mandeville section; generally in good condition, but all leaves are mounted on guards and some are extensively stained by damp; nineteenth-century binding of blue half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRISH | PIECES | IN PROSE | AND | VERSE. | BRIT. | MUS. | ADD. | 33,993.; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the following labels: 682; and: a 9 The Irish portion of the composite codex BL, MS Cotton Nero A. vii, was Â LuinõÂn of the Ard, co. Fermanagh, in 1571. It is the only copied by Matha O early legal manuscript so far known to have had an Ulster connection. Matha Â LuinõÂn (²1588) may be that Matthew O Lonine who was pardoned in a ®ant O of 1586. His hand also appears in Bodl., MS Rawlinson B. 489, and possibly in Â LuinõÂn family served BL, MS Egerton 90 (on both of which see below). The O as hereditary historians to the Maguires of Fermanagh. BL, MS Cotton Nero A. vii; the ®rst (Latin) section of the manuscript was copied by two scribes in the late twelfth century, and the Irish section of the Â LuinõÂn of the Ard, co. Fermanagh, in 1571; manuscript was copied by Matha O Latin (Irish); parchment (ff. 1±131), paper and parchment (Irish section, ff. 132±57); v + 157 + iv; seventeenth-century ink foliation; 154mm 6 117mm; some caligraphic penwork and litterae notabiliores are used, some of which are rubricated, throughout the Irish section; generally in good condition, but there is some staining by damp; nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, with the arms of the Cotton family stamped in gold on the front and back covers, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: LANFRANCI | ET ANSELMI | ARCHIEP. CANT. | EPISTOLá. | HEN. DE SALTREIA | DE PURGATORIO | S. PATRICII. | TRACT. DE LEGIBUS. | HIBERNICE. | MUS. BRIT. | BIBL. COTTON. | NERO A. VII.; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 691; and: A The circumstances of the compilation of BL, MS Egerton 88 witness once more to the commerce between the learned families of the west of Ireland at the time Â Duibhdabhoirenn scribes (Domhnall of its production. Its two identi®able O Â Duibhdabhoirenn law school which was and Maghnus) af®liate it with the O active in the Burren, co. Clare, but the copying of much of it took place at Mac AodhagaÂin law schools in Park and in Tuam, both in co. Galway. It was compiled between 1564 and 1569. It contains various legal items, some unique to this manuscript, and also some other, non-legal items, such as tales, Â engusso (the `Calendar of Aengus'), glossaries and including the FeÂlire O grammatical work, including the Auraicept na nEÂces. Â BL, MS Egerton 88; copied by various scribes, including Domhnall O Â Â Duibhdabhoirenn, Cormac O Briain and Maghnus O Duibhdabhoirenn, and



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much of it in co. Galway, in the second half of the sixteenth century; Irish; parchment; iv + 93 + iv; modern pencil foliation; f. 6: 258mm 6 179mm; f. 40: 210mm 6 176mm; f. 85: 252mm 6 180mm; some caligraphic penwork is employed and litterae notabiliores feature throughout, some of which are rubricated either in pink, green or grey; generally in good condition, but several folios are damaged by damp; late eighteenth- or early nineteenthcentury binding of brown leather, with the arms of the Egertons, earls of Bridgewater, stamped in gold on the front and back covers, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: BREHON LAWS, | HISTORICAL | TALES, | ANCIENT GLOSSARY | ETC. | IN IRISH. | MUS. BRIT. | BIBL. EGERTON. | 88 | PLUT. | DXV.E.; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 685; and: c 1 Four leaves originally belonging to the Book of UõÂ Mhaine (see RIA, MS 1225 (Stowe D ii 1) above) are preserved as ff. 17±20 of BL, MS Egerton 90. The leaves contain various historical poems, though none is of present concern. For Â DeoraÂin the rest, MS Egerton 90 contains legal texts, possibly with some O Â af®liation (on the O DeoraÂin legal family, see the descriptions of RIA, MS 1243 (23 Q 6) and TCD, MS 1336 (H. 3. 17) above), and conceivably some additions Â LuinõÂn (on whom see the headnote to BL, MS are in the hand of Matha O Cotton Nero A. vii above). BL, MS Egerton 90; legal texts and poems copied by various scribes in the fourteenth, ®fteenth and sixteenth centuries, with possible additions in the hand Â LuinõÂn in the second half of the sixteenth century; Irish (Latin); of Matha O parchment; vi + 19 + vi; modern pencil foliation; f. 12: 286mm 6 200mm; f. 14: 286mm 6 204mm; interlace decoration is added to some litterae notabiliores in the section from which the item in the Repertory is excerpted; generally in good condition, though there is a little staining, especially on the last leaves, and all leaves are mounted on guards; modern binding of red half leather, on the front cover of which is stamped in gold the arms of the Egertons, earls of Bridgewater, and on the spine of which is stamped lengthways in gold: EGERTON MS. | 90. | BRIT. MUS. | MISCELLANEOUS. | (IRISH).; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 685; and: D BL, MS Egerton 93; the Tripartite Life of St Patrick, religious texts and saga fragments, copied by three scribes, the ®rst of whom was Domhnall Albanach Â Troighthigh (copyist of the Tripartite Life), active probably in co. Clare in O 1477, and the other two in the sixteenth century; Irish (Latin); parchment; iii + 35 + iii; modern pencil foliation; f. 13: 274mm 6 185mm; f. 14: 272mm 6 185mm; rubrication is occasionallly applied and there is some use of litterae Â Troightigh; in fair condition, but some notabiliores in the scribal stint of O leaves are extensively stained and damaged by damp, the outer leaves in particular are darkened, and certain others are reinforced with paper stiffeners; eighteenth-century binding of brown leather, with modern repairs to the spine, whose front and back covers are stamped in gold with the arms of the Egertons, earls of Bridgewater, and on whose spine is stamped lengthways in gold: EGERTON MS. | 93. | BRIT. MUS. | TRIPARTITE LIFE | OF ST. PATRICK.; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 685; and: b4


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4. The Documents

BL, MS Egerton 153; law tracts and a treatise on prosody and grammar, copied mainly by Edward O'Reilly in 1818; Irish; paper; iv + 67 + iv; modern pencil foliation; 239mm 6 184mm; no decoration, but occasional litterae notabiliores feature; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, on the front cover of which is stamped in gold the arms of the Egertons, earls of Bridgewater, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: TRACTATUS | JURIDICI: | HIBERNICE | MUS. BRIT. | BIBL. | EGERTON | 153 | PLUT. | D. XV. D.; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 440; and: G. 15 The miscellany of saga tales, religious texts, annals and verse that comprises BL, MS Egerton 1782 was assembled probably for Art buidhe Mac Murchadha CaomhaÂnach. It remained in Leinster throughout the sixteenth century, and at the end of that century was owned by the O'Byrnes of co. Wicklow. It eventually came into the possession of the antiquarian William Monck Mason, and from his collection it was acquired in the nineteenth century by the British Library. The chief of its four main scribes, the one responsible for copying the bulk of the manuscript, including the two items selected for the Repertory, was a son of SeaÂn Mac Torna UõÂ Mhaoilchonaire, and another of the four main scribes was his brother IarnaÂn. (SeaÂn Mac Torna UõÂ Mhaoilchonaire had become ollamh (`professor of poetry') to the O'Connors and other related families in 1495; he died while the manuscript was being compiled.) BL, MS Egerton 1782; miscellany of secular and religious texts in prose and Â Maoilchonaire family, mainly at verse, copied by four main scribes of the O Cluain PlocaÂin, co. Roscommon, c. 1517, with additions by others throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; Irish (English, Latin); parchment; vi + 125 + xi; modern pencil foliation; f. 45: 232mm 6 154mm; f. 58: 233mm 6 156mm; rubrication in red and green is applied in some sections, and some zoomorphic interlace in others; in fair condition, though throughout there is much staining and dirtying of certain leaves; nineteenth-century binding of dark green leather, with the arms of the Egertons, earls of Bridgewater, stamped in gold on the front and back covers, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: BIBLIOTHECA | OF | PROSE AND VERSE. | IRISH. | MUS. BRIT. | BIBL. EGERTON. | 1782. | PLUT. | DXX.D.; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 683; and: a MS Harley 432, one of the most handsome of the Gaelic legal manuscripts to come out of sixteenth-century Ireland, is dateable from a marginal note on f. 19v. This laments the death of SeaÂn Mac Fhlannchadha, chief lawyer to the earl of Desmond. According to the Annals of the Four Masters, Mac Fhlannchadha died in 1578. Harley 432 was written at Inch St Lawrence, about six miles south-east of Limerick, and has af®liations with other codices also featured in Â Deorainand the Repertory. On f. 14 appears the name Gilla na Naem O Â DeoraÂin, a famous family of legal scribes (probably a version of the name O who are connected with various of the manuscripts described above), and a certain Gilla na Naem oÂg, without patronymic, is mentioned in work emanatÂ DeoraÂin legal school which was bound in with the Mac ing from an O AodhagaÂin legal manuscript RIA, MS 1243 (23 Q 6) (on which see above). Â Deorainand (O Â DeoraÂin), c. BL, MS Harley 432; copied by Gilla na Naem O



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1578; Irish; parchment; v + 20 + v; modern pencil foliation; f. 6: 338mm 6 239mm; f. 8: 58mm 6 158mm; f. 9: 336mm 6 236mm; f. 10: 338mm 6 233mm; no decoration, but occasional display script is used for litterae notabiliores; in good condition; modern binding of brown leather, whose front and back covers are stamped in gold with the arms of the Harleys, earls of Oxford, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: SEANCHUS | MOR. | GREAT | DIGEST | OF LAW. | MUS. BRIT. | BIBL. HARL. | 432. PLUT. XLVIh.j .E.; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 692; and: e 3 BL, MS Harley 5280; secular and religious prose, including the CaÂin Domnaig, Â CleÂirigh (son of Tuathal O Â CleÂirigh, ²1512) copied mainly by Gilla Riabhach O in the sixteenth century; Irish (Latin); paper and parchment; iv + 79 + iii; modern pencil foliation; 246mm 6 170mm; occasional zoomorphic interlace decoration is used on litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, but there is a little staining; nineteenth-century binding of red half leather, on the front cover of which is stamped in gold the arms of the Harleys, earls of Oxford, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: MISCELLANEOUS | IRISH | TEXTS. | BRIT. MUS. | HARLEY | MS. | 5280.; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 692; and: C. 19 Oxford, Bodleian Library (Bodl.) The Bodleian Library holds six Gaelic manuscripts of relevance to the Repertory. Two are from the collection given to Oxford by Archbishop Laud in his manuscript donation of 1636. Three are Ware manuscripts (on Ware, see below under section 4.8 Antiquarian compilations), several of which found their way into the Rawlinson collection, and hence into the Bodleian. The remaining one, a refugee from Lambeth Palace Library, is now on deposit with the Bodleian Library from University College, Oxford. It was compiled from various booklets of manuscript and printed material, most of which are in English, in the early seventeenth century by Sir George Carew (on Carew, see also below under section 4.8 Antiquarian compilations). It might with as much justice have been described together with the Carew Collections below, were it not for the item in Irish which it has supplied to the Repertory. Descriptions follow here alphabetically by collection, in the order just rehearsed: Laud, Rawlinson and University College, Oxford. The selection of texts contained in Bodl., MS Laud Misc. 610, re¯ects the taste of its Anglo-Irish patron, EÂmann Mac Risderd Buitler (Sir Edmund Butler, ²1464), for whom it was assembled and for the most part copied in 1453±4. (EÂmann Mac Risderd also incorporated into it another set of quires written earlier in the century for his uncle James, fourth earl of Ormond, 1404±52.) The manuscript contains much pious reading and a few heroic tales, as well as some genealogies and a copy of Sanas Cormaic and of the Acallam na SenoÂrach. The matter excerpted for the Repertory from f. 72v is probably in the hand of Gilla Â na Naem Mac AodhagaÂin, while that from f. 83v is copied by SeaaÂn buidhe O CleÂirigh, the chief scribe of the manuscript. Various scribes worked on it, however, and in various places, including Pottlerath, Carrick-on-Suir, Gowran, Kilkenny and Dunmore, all in co. Kilkenny. It was evidently prized, for it was


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4. The Documents

Â mann Mac Risderd after he had been given as part of the ransom levied on E captured by Sir Thomas FitzGerald, eighth earl of Desmond, while ®ghting for the Lancastrian cause in 1462. By 1591, it was in the house of An Cosnamach Mac Fhlannchadha. The Mac Fhlannchadha family served as lawyers to the Butlers (and also to the Desmonds; see the description of BL, MS Harley 432 above). Thus by the late sixteenth century, it had returned to the region of its origin. It eventually came into the possession of Sir George Carew, and from him it passed to Archbishop Laud, whence it arrived in the Bodleian. Bodl., MS Laud Misc. 610; copied by two principal scribes, chie¯y by Seaan Â CleÂirigh, and assisted by Gilla na Naem Mac AodhagaÂin, in 1453±4; buidhe O Irish (Latin); parchment; i + 146 + i; seventeenth-century ink foliation, running 1±80, thereafter superseded by a modern pencil foliation, running 81±147; f. 72: 332mm 6 247mm, f. 83: 337mm 6 250mm; some rubrication features in purple, red, green, yellow and purplish brown; generally in good condition, but some leaves are faded; seventeenth-century binding of brown leather, on the front and back covers of which are stamped in gold the arms of the Carew family, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: LAUD. | 610. Bodl., MS Laud Misc. 615; a miscellany mainly of poetry, copied by two principal scribes c. 1527; Irish; parchment; xviii + 210; seventeenth-century ink pagination, running 1±142, completed in modern pencil, running 143±74; f. 122: 288mm 6 161mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though some text has been cropped during binding, and some leaves are dirtied; seventeenthcentury binding of brown leather, on the front and back covers of which are stamped in gold the arms of the Carew family, surmounted by the letter T, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: T.; at the bottom of the spine are af®xed two labels, one above the other, and now largely illegible, apart from the upper one which reads: 615 Bodl., MS Rawlinson B. 487; the Irish miscellany section of the manuscript, which includes a copy of the Accalamh na SenoÂrach and the Heptads, was copied in the ®fteenth or sixteenth century, mainly by two scribes (the date 1641 appears on a map of the diocese of Kilmore among the endpapers); Irish (Latin endpapers); parchment, paper endpapers; vi + 103 (not counting endpapers); early seventeenth-century ink foliation; 278mm 6 220mm; some interlace decoration is added to litterae notabiliores by the second of the main Irish scribes; generally in good condition, but there is much darkening of the opening folios of the Irish section (the ®rst main scribe's stint) and some staining of the stint of the second main scribe; seventeenth-century binding of brown leather, on the front and back covers of which are stamped in gold the arms of the Ware family, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: MS. | RAWL. B. | 487 The two medieval sections of Bodl., MS Rawlinson B. 502 are separated from each other by sets of notes copied by Sir James Ware in the seventeenth century. The ®rst medieval section, comprising twelve leaves, was copied by a single scribe working in Clonmacnoise, co. Offaly at the end of the eleventh or beginning of the twelfth century. The second medieval section, copied by another scribe c. 1130 and comprising seventy leaves, contains the text from which Appendix 6.16 (i) has been excerpted, the Saltair na Rann (the `Verse Psalter'). An emphasis on matters concerning Leinster in this section of the



71

manuscript suggests that it was copied in that region, possibly at the monastery of Killeshin, co. Laois. In the description below, the notices of date, scribe, language, measurements, decoration and condition refer speci®cally to the second medieval section of the manuscript. Bodl., MS Rawlinson B. 502; religious texts, including the Saltair na Rann, dindshenchas and genealogies, copied by one scribe c. 1130; Irish (Latin); parchment, separated by sections of paper leaves copied by Sir James Ware (on the paper endleaf are pasted two parchment strips cut from a legal text copied in a sixteenth-century hand); ii + 171 + i; seventeenth-century ink foliation; f. 36: 285mm 6 215mm; ®ne zoomorphic interlace is applied to certain litterae notabiliores, and these may be embellished in either red, yellow or occasionally green; generally in good condition, though some leaves are darkened with age; seventeenth-century binding of brown leather, on the front and back covers of which are stamped in gold the arms of the Ware family. Annals of Ulster See the headnote to TCD, MS 1282 (H. 1. 8; Annals of Ulster) above. Bodl., MS Rawlinson B. 489 (Annals of Ulster); annals, running 436±1588, and Â LuinõÂn (²1528) in the early copied mainly by (or conceivably for) RuaidhrõÂ O sixteenth century, with later continuations by various other scribes, including Â Casaide (²1541) and Matha O Â LuinõÂn (²1588); Irish (Latin); RuaidhrõÂ O parchment; 121; early ink foliation, running 1±69, is superseded by a modern pencil foliation, running 70±126; 335mm 6 240mm; many litterae notabiliores throughout are rubricated in red or in aquamarine, and there is occasional use of zoomorphic ornamentation; generally in good condition, though the ®rst and last leaves are darkened with age; seventeenth-century binding of brown leather, on the front and back covers of which are stamped in gold the arms of the Ware family, and on the spine of which is written in white ink: 489 The miscellaneous collection of material now preserved in Oxford, MS University College 103 was assembled in the early seventeenth century by Sir George Carew (on whom see the introduction to the Carew Collections below). All of its items concern Irish history, and include genealogies of the Mac Donnell family, Irish annals, (printed) rates for customs in Ireland, seventeenth-century plantation documents, rentals, A discourse for the reformation of Ireland and a discourse on the province of Munster delivered to Sir George Carew as lord president of Munster in 1600. The fragment of Irish annals, from which one of the Repertory items is excerpted, covers the years 1467±8 (the other item, A discourse for the reformation of Ireland, is dated 1579±83). Oxford, MS University College 103; Irish historical materials from the ®fteenth to the seventeenth century, copied by various scribes (some materials are printed) in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries; English (Irish); paper; xxiii + 160 + xiv; seventeenth-century ink foliation (the ¯yleaves are paginated); f. 54: 195mm 6 150mm; ff. 108v-09: 199mm 6 150mm; very occasional litterae notabiliores feature; in good condition; seventeenth-century binding of brown leather, bearing traces of two green fabric fastening thongs, whose spine is cracked and front cover detached, on whose front and back


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4. The Documents

covers are stamped in gold the arms of the Carew family, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: Y Y; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label : MS. UNIV. Coll | E. 1h.j73 Rennes, BibliotheÁque municipale The BibliotheÁque municipale in Rennes houses one manuscript of present concern, a religious miscellany containing an Irish version of the De contemptu mundi of Innocent III, homilies, religious tracts, an Irish translation of Mandeville's Travels, saints lives and dindshenchas. The Irish text of Mandeville's Travels was translated from an English source in 1475 by Fingin O'Mahony, an Irish chieftain (²1496). He worked at Rosbrin in the barony of Skull, co. Cork. The manuscript was produced at Cell CreÂide, a Franciscan house near Bandon, co. Cork, in the ®fteenth century, probably not long after 1475. Rennes, BibliotheÁque municipale, MS 598 (15,489); a miscellany of poetry and prose, mainly religious, copied by various scribes working at Cell CreÂide, a Franciscan house near Bandon, co. Cork, in the late ®fteenth century; Irish (Latin); parchment; i + 125 + i; eighteenth-century ink foliation (a modern pencil foliation is also applied but only between fols 1±68); 258mm 6 191mm; red, yellow and ochre rubrication is applied in the earlier leaves, green and red rubrication in the later leaves, and litterae notabiliores may occasionally be embellished with zoomorphic and anthropomorphic ornament; generally in good condition, though its opening leaves in particular are much darkened and stained; eighteenth-century binding of brown leather, on the spine of which are af®xed respectively the labels: Inanus h. .j | Irlhajndaihsj; 15489; Mss 598 | anc. h.j38; and: 121 | I 2 4.3 Annals and chronicles in languages other than Irish TCD, MS 574 (E. 3. 20); antiquarian compilation chie¯y of different sets of annals, copied by various scribes in the seventeenth century, and including the annals of Friar John Clyn which run from prehistory to 1349; Latin (Irish, English, Greek); paper; iii + 365 + iii; modern pencil pagination; 308mm 6 205mm; no decoration; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, whose front cover is detached, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: ANNALES | HIBERNIAE | E. 3. | 20; at the bottom is af®xed a label: 4 TCD, MS 673 (F. 3. 19); annals of Clonmacnoise, running from Creation to Â Daladh in 1685; English (Irish, Latin); paper; i + 138 1408, copied by Tadhg O + i; seventeenth-century ink foliation, running 1±3, followed by a seventeenthcentury ink pagination, running 1±266; 319mm 6 200mm; very occasionally interlace decoration and display script are used; in good condition; detached seventeenth-century binding of plain parchment and leather over cardboard, on the spine of which is written in ink: F. 3. | 19. | Annals of Clon- | macnoise | F | 3 | 19; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 673


4.4 Civic documents

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TCD, MS 886 (I. 4. 11); account of the town of Galway with annals, running from 1485 to 1659, copied probably by Geoffrey Lynch in 1661; English; paper; i + 62 + i; modern pencil foliation; 159mm 6 100mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though the ®rst and last leaves are dirtied; nineteenthcentury binding of mushroom half leather, on the spine of which is stamped lengthways in gold: ACCOUNT OF GALWAY; beneath this is stamped in gold: I. 4. | II.; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 886 BL, MS Cotton Julius A. vii; a miscellany of manuscript materials, copied by various scribes from the thirteenth to ®fteenth centuries, and including the Chronica Regum Manniae et Insularum, which has entries dated between 1000 and 1374, and which was copied by one scribe, c. 1400; Latin (French); parchment; ii + 135 + iii; modern pencil foliation; f. 36: 182mm 6 135mm; the Chronica has plain red rubrication, and other items in the manuscript are rubricated either in red, blue or green; generally in good condition, though the right-hand edges of the leaves in the Chronica section have modern repairs; nineteenth-century binding of brown half leather, with the arms of the Cotton family stamped in gold on the front and back covers, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: CHRONICA | BONITHONIS. | CHRONICA | MANNIAE. | VERSUS NIGELLI | DE WIREKER, | ETC. | BRIT. MUS. | COTTON MS. | JULIUS A. VII.; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 20; and: G.3 BL, MS Royal 14 D.vi is the last of a set of ®ve manuscripts (BL, MSS Royal D.ii-vi) which between them contain the complete text of the Chroniques of Jean Froissart. They are handsome manuscripts, of Continental manufacture, and include several large miniatures in the Flemish style. On some leaves are depicted armorial bearings, possibly of the family of Molliens of Picardy. MS Royal 14 D.vi contains Book IV of the Chroniques, beginning with the triumphal entry of Queen Isabel into Paris, and ending with the death of Richard II and the deposition of Pope Benedict XIII. For the selection of this manuscript, see endnote 243 to the Chroniques, s.a. c. 2 February 1395, in section 5.4. BL, MS Royal 14 D.vi; copied by one scribe in the late ®fteenth century; French; parchment; iv + 390 + v (¯yleaves i-iii of paper, iv of parchment, and endleaves i-ii of parchment, iii-v of paper); modern pencil foliation; 419mm 6 324mm; decorated with large miniatures in the Flemish style, rubrication, and foliate borders inhabited by fauna and grotesques; in good condition; modern binding of brown half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: FROISSART | CHRONIQUES | DE FRANCE | ET D'ANGLETERRE | VOL. V | BRITISH | LIBRARY | ROYAL | MS. | 14 D. VI; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 7; and: g

4.4 Civic documents There are four places whose corporation documents yield evidence of interest to the Repertory: Cork, Dublin, Kilkenny and Youghal. Of these, Dublin by far outweighs the rest. The quantity of its surviving evidence testi®es as much to


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the relative security in which the Dublin City archive was kept as it does to the importance of music and dramatic ceremonial in the Dublin civic year. The archive of Kilkenny Corporation, had it been better cared for down the years, would have yielded copious evidence of the plays which Kilkenny hosted from at least the sixteenth century, but which are now known about mainly through the activity of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century antiquarians. It is to be suspected that some of those antiquarians may have been the indirect cause of the demise of the very documents whose contents, ironically enough, they sought to make better known. Had these documents survived, Kilkenny would have proved a serious rival to Dublin, to judge by the remnants still extant. Cork and the town of Youghal, co. Cork, yield much less evidence, though it would be rash to infer from what little there is that little went on there. Cork lost many of its corporation documents in its courthouse ®re of Good Friday, 1891. Youghal's archive, on the other hand, was the victim of neglect until only very recently: the seventeenth-century accounts of mayor Richard Gough, for example, which once contained records of payments to visiting players, now exist in a sorry fragmentary state; we know of their former value for the Repertory only from the editor of the ®rst earl of Cork's diaries, A. B. Grosart (see below). As it is, all that has survived of present concern here is one original account book of the seventeenth century. Cork Corporation One Cork document formerly containing material of interest was the Corporation Book, extant now only as R. Caul®eld, ed. The Council Book of Cork (Guildford, 1876). Its main contents were freedom admissions, corporation bye-laws, copies of letters and lists of corporation personnel. Dublin Corporation Most of the civic documents of Dublin which survive in original manuscripts are preserved in the Dublin City Archives (DCA), which hold documents relating to the municipal government of Dublin from the twelfth century on. (These archives are scheduled for relocation to the Dublin City Library in the near future.) One stray is BL, MS Additional 11687, described below. Another may be TCD, MS 543/2/14. This manuscript contains a mayoral roll and the earliest extant version, to the year 1534, of the Dublin Chronicle. Conceivably it was once a civic document; see its headnote below. The different document categories will be detailed more fully below in their headnotes. The Chain Book of Dublin The Chain Book of Dublin, possibly so named after a book chain by which it may once have been secured, served principally as a reference and memoranda document. It is evidently a composite book: ff. 1±14 contain entries of the sixteenth, seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries; ff. 15±23 entries dated 15 August 1365 ± 18 December 1674; ff. 24±9v a Latin liturgical calendar in a Textura book hand, probably of the ®fteenth century; ff. 30±55v the ®fteenthcentury `Prouisiones ordinate pro commune consilium Ciuitatis Dublinie', with


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some other items; ff. 58±64v the ®fteenth-century `Consuetudines fferie Dubliniensis', with some other items; and the remaining leaves contain similarly various material, including the ®fteenth-century `Custume to bene take for provost Murage & pavage' (ff. 66±7). The most important of its extant items which are of concern to the Repertory are the Corpus Christi pageant lists of 1498. The prescriptions for the pageant of St George's Day, formerly contained in the Chain Book, are now missing and survive only in the form of a seventeenth-century antiquarian transcription (see BL, MS Additional 4791 below). It is evident that the portion of the manuscript in which it was formerly contained had long been missing; in the 1820s, when William Monck Mason described the Chain Book (in NLI, MS 1585), he noted a `vast chasm' in its leaves. DCA, C1/2/1 (Chain Book of Dublin); copied by various scribes, 15 August 1365 (on palñographic grounds, the earliest hand, ff. 30±55v and 58±64, is s. xiv1) ± early eighteenth century; English (French, Latin); parchment; raised pastedown + ii + 69 + ii + raised pastedown; modern pencil foliation; 233mm 6 158mm; red and blue ¯ourishing is applied in some of the medieval sections; in fair condition, though some leaves are rubbed and faded; late seventeenth- or early eighteenth-century binding of dark brown leather on bevelled wooden boards, with modern repairs. The White Book of Dublin Amongst the civic archives may also be found the White Book of Dublin, a book which collects various documents and memoranda of interest to the corporation, and in which certain of the scribes who feature in the Chain Book may also be at work. Its earliest hands, like those in the Chain Book, date to the ®rst half of the fourteenth century, and its contents range in date approximately between that time and 1644. Its sole item of concern to the Repertory is its description of the franchise riding of 1603. DCA, C1/2/2 (White Book of Dublin); copied by various scribes from the early fourteenth century to 23 February 1644; Latin (English, French); parchment; iv + 111 + ii; modern ink foliation; f. 104: 287mm 6 205mm; rubrication in red and blue is applied in some of the earlier sections; generally in good condition, though there is some dirtying throughout and some leaves are discoloured in places by reagent; early nineteenth-century binding of white leather, with modern repairs, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: LIBER | ALBUS | CIVITATIS | DUBLINIE. The Franchise Rolls and Registers of the City of Dublin Admission to the franchises of Dublin conferred a coveted status, since free citizens enjoyed important trading privileges and the right to vote in municipal elections. Freedom could be conferred for any of ®ve main reasons during the period under review: admission might be by service, to anyone completing an apprenticeship in one of the city's trade guilds; by birth, to children of free citizens; by marriage, to sons-in-law of free citizens; by ®ne, to those wealthy enough to pay an agreed sum into the city treasury; and by special grace, to


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those who were for some reason being honoured, or to craftsmen not in one of the recognized guilds. Franchise rolls survive for 1225±50 and 1468±1512, and the franchise registers from 1576 to 1917. The Franchise Roll The late-medieval franchise roll of the city of Dublin which runs between 1468 and 1512 contains lists of names of those enfranchised during this period, memoranda, a copy of the 1489 con®rmation of a grant to the Corpus Christi guild (its original is in DCA, Miscellanea No. 20), as well as the copy of another Corpus Christi guild document for 1490, whose original no longer survives. DCA, Fr/Roll/2; copied by various scribes, 25 October 1468 ± 16 July 1512; Latin (English); parchment; 40; each membrane numbered in modern ink; mb. 2: 309mm wide; mb. 17: 520mm 6 343mm; mb. 30: 363mm 6 272mm; occasional elaborate ¯ourishing of initials appears (e.g., a crowned M on mb. 10); in good condition; membranes are stitched serially to form a continuous roll; preserved in a nineteenth-century wrapper of black leatherette, on the front of which, beneath the arms of the corporation, is stamped in gold: DUBLIN CORPORATION | RECORDS | MISCELLANEOUS ROLL | No. 6. | 1468 ± 1512. The Franchise Register The franchise register was compiled in the eighteenth century from earlier sources. One of these may have been the late-medieval franchise roll, which in its present state is defective after 1512 (see the description above). The register gathers together the names of people admitted to the franchises, arranging them in alphabetical sections according to surname (though surnames are not presented in strict alphabetical sequence within each section). The system of abbreviation which the register uses is explained in the endnotes to items selected from it for the Repertory. DCA, Fr/Reg/1; franchise admissions 1576±1696, copied by one main scribe in the early eighteenth century; English (Latin); paper; xii + 256 + ii; modern ink pagination; 449mm 6 169mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, apart from wear and tear on some leaves; early eighteenth-century binding of white leather, on the spine of which is af®xed a label: No. 1.; and beneath this another: 1576±1696 Dublin Assembly Rolls These rolls record the minutes of the Dublin Civic Assembly from 1447 to 1841. Their unit of record during the period under review was normally the quarterly meeting of the Assembly, at either Eastertide, Midsummer, Michaelmas or Christmastide. (Certain rolls are tightly sewn, and while every effort has been made to record their membrane lengths accurately, asterisked measurements are approximate.)


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Assembly Roll 1 DCA, MR/5/1; copied by various scribes, 19 January 1448 ± 17 July 1461; English (Latin); parchment; 13 membranes gathered at the head and sewn with modern string in a sheaf; each membrane is numbered in late seventeenthcentury ink; mb. 6: 510mm 6 286mm; mb. 8: 512mm 6 308mm; mb. 9: 597mm 6 277mm; a contemporary illustration of a cogg features in the left margin of mb. 8d, otherwise there is no signi®cant decoration; generally in good condition, but some membranes are badly worn or damaged at their bottom and/or along their edges; preserved in a nineteenth-century wrapper of black leatherette, on the front of which, beneath the arms of the corporation, is stamped in gold: DUBLIN CORPORATION | RECORDS | ASSEMBLY ROLL | No. 1. | 1448 ± 1461. Assembly Roll 2 DCA, MR/5/2; copied by various scribes, 2 October 1461 ± 22 July 1485; English (Latin); parchment; 14 membranes gathered at the head and sewn with modern string in a sheaf; each membrane is numbered in late seventeenthcentury ink; mb. 4: 536mm 6 265mm; mb. 6: 542mm 6 297mm; some marginal pen sketches appear, and occasional litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, apart from the deleterious use of reagent on some membranes and staining; preserved in a nineteenth-century wrapper of black leatherette, on the front of which, beneath the arms of the corporation, is stamped in gold: DUBLIN CORPORATION | RECORDS | ASSEMBLY ROLL | No. 2. | 1461 ± 1485. Assembly Roll 3 DCA, MR/5/3; copied by various scribes, 30 September 1485 ± 19 July 1504; English (Latin); parchment; 12 membranes gathered at the head and sewn with modern string in a sheaf; each membrane is numbered in late seventeenthcentury ink; mb. 7: *415mm 6 245mm; mb. 12: 478mm 6 338mm; no decoration; some membranes are torn at their bottom, and several are stained at the edges; preserved in a nineteenth-century wrapper of black leatherette, on the front of which, beneath the arms of the corporation, is stamped in gold: DUBLIN CORPORATION | RECORDS | ASSEMBLY ROLL | No. 3. | 1485 ± 1504. Assembly Roll 6 DCA, MR/5/6; copied by various scribes, 27 October 1553 ± 21 April 1559; English (Latin); parchment; 12 membranes gathered at the head and sewn with a sixteenth-century parchment strip and with modern string in a sheaf; each membrane is numbered in late seventeenth-century ink; mb. 3: 738mm 6 214mm; mb. 6: 297mm 6 250mm; mb. 9: 565mm 6 212mm; mb. 10: 565mm 6 238mm; occasional use is made of litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, apart from reagent discolouration on some membranes and staining; preserved in a nineteenth-century wrapper of black leatherette, on the front of which, beneath the arms of the corporation, is stamped in gold: DUBLIN CORPORATION | RECORDS | ASSEMBLY ROLL | No. 6. | 1553 ± 1558. Assembly Roll 7 DCA, MR/5/7; copied by various scribes, 20 January 1559 ± 22 July 1575; English (Latin); parchment; 26 membranes (not entirely in chronological order)


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gathered at the head and sewn with a sixteenth-century parchment strip and with modern string in a sheaf; each membrane is numbered in late seventeenthcentury ink, with mb. 13 duplicated on two consecutive membranes; mb. 1: 770mm 6 292mm (extended to serve as an outer wrapper for the whole by the addition of an extra section of parchment, 327mm 6 292mm); mb. 3: 575mm 6 263mm; mb. 9: *513mm 6 245mm; mb. 10: *427mm 6 258mm; mb. 12: *510mm 6 245mm; mb. 13: *560mm 6 255mm; mb. 15: 620mm 6 237mm; mb. 18: 685mm 6 270mm; mb. 23: 507mm 6 277mm; 24: 650mm 6 250mm; mb. 25: 554mm 6 250mm; occasional strapwork and litterae notabiliores are used; generally in good condition, apart from reagent discolouration on some membranes and staining; preserved in a nineteenth-century wrapper of black leatherette, on the front of which, beneath the arms of the corporation, is stamped in gold: DUBLIN CORPORATION | RECORDS | ASSEMBLY ROLL | No. 7. | 1559 ± 1575. Assembly Roll 8 DCA, MR/5/8; copied by various scribes, 21 October 1575 ± 17 July 1579; English (Latin); parchment; 19 membranes gathered at the head and sewn with a sixteenth-century parchment strip and with modern string in a sheaf; each membrane is numbered in late-seventeenth century ink; mb. 1: 570mm 6 293mm (originally extended to serve as an outer wrapper for the whole by the addition of an extra section of parchment, 284mm 6 367mm; now detached); mb. 9: 555mm 6 305mm; occasional litterae notabiliores are used; generally in good condition, apart from extensive reagent discolouration on some membranes; preserved in a nineteenth-century wrapper of black leatherette, on the front of which, beneath the arms of the corporation, is stamped in gold: DUBLIN CORPORATION | RECORDS | ASSEMBLY ROLL | No. 8. | 1575 ± 1579. Assembly Roll 9 DCA, MR/5/9; copied by various scribes, 23 October 1579 ± 19 July 1594; English (Latin); parchment; 75 membranes (not entirely in chronological order), plus an unnumbered outer wrapper (708mm 6 316mm), gathered at the head and sewn with a sixteenth-century parchment strip and with modern string in a sheaf; each membrane is numbered in late seventeenth-century ink (the numeration skips from mb. 28 to mb. 30, and mbs 38 and 65 are detached but in their proper place), except for the outer membrane which serves as a wrapper, and to whose foot a lengthening section of parchment, 395mm 6 312mm, now detached, had once been sewn; mb. 4: *500mm 6 317mm; mb. 12: 395mm 6 300mm; mb. 14: 425mm 6 280mm; mb. 16: 355mm 6 236mm; mb. 18: 434mm 6 268mm; mb. 20: 453mm 6 256mm; mb. 26: 312mm 6 232mm; mb. 27: 365mm 6 210mm; mb. 42: 508mm 6 244mm; mb. 49: 522mm 6 260mm; mb. 50: 302mm 6 258mm; mb. 58: 462mm 6 293mm; mb. 61: 398mm 6 257mm; mb. 63: 469mm 6 287mm; mb. 68: 518mm 6 266mm; some litterae notabiliores feature, and some entries are rubricated in late seventeenth-century ink in the left margins of some membranes; generally in good condition, but there is extensive reagent discolouration on many membranes; preserved in a nineteenth-century wrapper of black leatherette, on the front of which, beneath the arms of the corporation, is stamped in gold: DUBLIN CORPORATION | RECORDS | ASSEMBLY ROLL | No. 9. | 1579 ± 1594.


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Assembly Roll 10 DCA, MR/5/10; copied by various scribes, 11 October 1594 ± 17 July 1607; English (Latin); parchment; 77 membranes (not entirely in chronological order), plus an unnumbered chamois leather outer wrapper (533mm 6 315mm), gathered at the head and sewn with modern string in a sheaf; each membrane is numbered in late seventeenth-century ink (and mb. 69 precedes mb. 68); mb. 4: 557mm 6 319mm; mb. 11: 521mm 6 255mm; mb. 12: 440mm 6 252mm; mb. 17: *595mm 6 277, mb. 32: 660mm 6 328mm; mb. 35: 448mm 6 296mm; mb. 38: 590mm 6 294mm; mb. 52: 625mm 6 309mm; mb. 55: 600mm 6 306mm; mb. 56: 439mm 6 303mm; mb. 58: 465mm 6 320mm; mb. 59: 573mm 6 303mm; mb. 63: 584mm 6 315mm; mb. 70: 490mm 6 297mm; mb. 71: 455mm 6 296mm; some entries are rubricated in late seventeenthcentury ink in the left margins of some membranes; some litterae notabiliores appear; generally in good condition, apart from extensive reagent discolouration on some membranes; preserved in a nineteenth-century wrapper of black leatherette, on the front of which, beneath the arms of the corporation, is stamped in gold: DUBLIN CORPORATION | RECORDS | ASSEMBLY ROLL | No. 10. | 1594±1607. Assembly Roll 11 DCA, MR/5/11; copied by various scribes, 16 October 1607 ± 21 January 1624; English (Latin); parchment; 86 membranes (not entirely in chronological order) loosely gathered at the head and sewn with modern string in a sheaf; each membrane is numbered in late seventeenth-century ink (mb. 83 precedes mb. 82, and the numeration skips from mb. 10 to mb. 12), including the outer membrane which serves as a wrapper, and to whose foot are attatched two conjoined lengthening sections of parchment, 790mm and 530mm long respectively; mb. 2: 540mm 6 278mm; mb. 5: 530mm 6 275mm; mb. 22: 485mm 6 260mm; mb. 30: 405mm 6 260mm; mb. 39: 544mm 6 266mm; mb. 41: 555mm 6 263mm; mb. 42: 575mm 6 265mm; mb. 44: 398mm 6 262mm; mb. 50: 580mm 6 269mm; mb. 57: 545mm 6 277mm; mb. 64: 533mm 6 292mm; mb. 66: 493mm 6 299mm; mb. 67: 487mm 301mm; mb. 71: 476mm 6 298mm; mb. 83: 649mm 6 280mm; no decoration; in good condition; preserved in a nineteenth-century wrapper of black leatherette, on the front of which, beneath the arms of the corporation, is stamped in gold: DUBLIN CORPORATION | RECORDS | ASSEMBLY ROLL | No. 11. | 1607 ± 1624. Assembly Roll 12 DCA, MR/5/12; copied by various scribes, 29 April 1625 ± 26 January 1649; English (Latin); parchment; 120 membranes (not entirely in chronological order) gathered at the head and loosely sewn with modern string in a sheaf, with two conjoined sections of parchment, 440mm and 540mm in length respectively, serving as a wrapper to the whole, detached from the roll itself; each membrane is numbered in late seventeenth-century ink (and modern pencil), with one blank unnumbered membrane acting as a wrapper (following mb. 119), and two conjoined sections of parchment, now detached from the roll itself, serve as an additional wrapper; mb. 1: 625mm 6 308mm; mb. 20: 619mm 6 290mm; mb. 36: 558mm 6 285mm; mb. 41: 542mm 6 280mm; mb. 45: 509mm 6 283mm; mb. 61: 526mm 6 288mm; mb. 78: 553mm 6 310mm; mb. 86: 556mm 6 310mm; some litterae notabiliores feature; in good condition;


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preserved in a nineteenth-century wrapper of black leatherette, on the front of which, beneath the arms of the corporation, is stamped in gold: DUBLIN CORPORATION | RECORDS | ASSEMBLY ROLL | No. 12. | 1625 ± 1648. The Friday Book of Dublin Corporation In the second half of the sixteenth century, Dublin's twenty-four aldermen started to hold weekly meetings amongst themselves to expedite city business. They became in effect a standing committee of the corporation. The Friday Book contains the minutes of their proceedings and decisions. DCA, MR/17; copied by various scribes, 1567±1611; English; paper; 129; seventeenth-century ink foliation; 298mm 6 195mm; no decoration; in good condition; preserved in a contemporary wrapper of plain parchment. The Treasurer's Book No earlier document quite comparable to the Treasurer's Book of the city of Dublin survives from any other corporation in Ireland. The Book contains various sets of accounts bearing on the ®nances of the civic administration from 1541 onwards. Included among its accounts are ones for the city treasurers, city bailiffs (who, after the Act of Incorporation in 1548, were elevated to sheriffs), administrators of the revenues of the disolved monastery of All Hallows, masters of the city works, receivers of the rents of the church of St George and wardens of the Trinity guild. DCA, MR/35 (Treasurer's Book); copied by various scribes, 4 November 1541 ± 29 September 1613; English; paper; xii + 397 + v; modern ink pagination, normally omitted from leaves that are blank; 370mm 6 255mm; occasional use is made of display script and litterae notabiliores, and strapwork, occasionally with anthropomorphic ornament, is applied in the earlier leaves; generally in good condition, though the outer edges of some leaves, badly damaged by damp and later repaired with paper strengthenings, have lost some text; nineteenth-century binding of brown reversed leather, on the front of which is stamped in gold on a red panel: BOOK OF ACCOUNTS. | OF THE | CORPORATION OF THE CITY OF DUBLIN. | FROM 1541 TO 1613 INCLUSIVE.; and on the spine of which is stamped in gold on a red panel: TREASURER'S ACCOUNTS | 1541 TO 1613; below this is af®xed a label: 372. Recognizance Book of the Tholsel Court The Recognizance Book of the Tholsel Court contains recognizances acknowledged in the Tholsel Court before John Forster, mayor of Dublin (1589±90), and the Sheriffs Mathew Handcok and Thomas Browne. DCA, C1/J/3/1; copied by one main scribe, 1 October 1589 ± 28 September 1590; English (Latin); paper; 27; modern pencil pagination; 308mm 6 205mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, but some leaves are heavily soiled; an unbound booklet, preserved in a modern Manila folder, on the front cover


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of which is af®xed a label: C1/J/3/1 | THOLSELL COURT: | Recognizance Book | 1 Oct 1589 ± | 28 Sept 1590 The Libri querelarum The Libri querelarum record law suits prosecuted by Dublin citizens and heard before the mayor. Four of these books have items of present interest, and date to the ®rst half of the seventeenth century. DCA, C1/J/2/2; copied by one main scribe, 1 October 1629 ± 28 June 1630; Latin (English); paper; 73; modern pencil pagination; 296mm 6 189mm; no decoration; in fair condition, but heavy soiling obscures some leaves; preserved in a seventeenth-century wrapper of plain parchment, on the front cover of which, now barely legible, appears the following in display script: Liber querelarum tent' coram h. . .j maior ciuitatis Dublin h. . .j DCA, C1/J/2/3; copied by one main scribe, 1 October 1629 ± 25 September 1630; Latin (English); paper; 32; modern pencil pagination; 301mm 6 200mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, but soiling obscures some leaves; preserved in a seventeenth-century wrapper of plain parchment, on the front cover of which appears the following in display script: Liber querelarum tent' coram Carolo forster et Iacobo Watson vic com' ciuitatis Dublin Incipient primo Octobris 1629 DCA, C1/J/2/4; copied by one main scribe, 1 October 1637 ± 21 August 1638; Latin (English); paper; 124; modern pencil pagination; 291mm 6 191mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, but soiling obscures some leaves; preserved in a seventeenth-century wrapper of plain parchment, on the front cover of which appears the following in display script: Liber querelarum tent' coram Iacobo Watson Maiore Ciuitathisj Dublin Phillippo Watson et Willielmo Bladen vicecom' eiusdem Incipient primo die Octobris Anno domini 1637. BL, MS Additional 11687; copied by various scribes, 1 October 1638 ± 28 September 1639; Latin (English); paper; iv + 155 + iii; modern pencil foliation; 310mm 6 197mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, but a little soiled at the edges of some leaves; modern binding of brown half leather, and stamped on the spine in gold: PLEAS IN THE | SHERIFFS COURT, | DUBLIN, | ETC. | 1638±1639. | MUS. BRIT. | JURE EMPT. | 11,687 | PLUT. | CXLV. F.; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 145; and: F.5 The Dublin Chronicle Various redactions of a set of annals which is referred to here as the Dublin Chronicle exist in several manuscripts, but TCD, MS 543/2/14 is the earliest extant (others germane to the Repertory will appear below). Its presentation in the form of a roll suggests that it may have originated in a Dublin centre in which record keeping in rotular form was customary. This consideration, weighed with the nature of the roll's contents (on one side, a list of the bailiffs and mayors of Dublin, and on the other, the Dublin Chronicle), may indicate


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that that centre may have been none other than the of®ce of the Recorder of Dublin. How the manuscript may subsequently have strayed to the archive of Trinity College is not known. TCD, MS 543/2/14; annals and a list of corporation of®cials, dated between 1413 and 1534, copied by two scribes, one scribe copying the annals on the membrane dorses, the other the list of of®cials on their obverses, in the sixteenth century; English; parchment; 3; unnumbered; mb. [2]: 669mm 6 170mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, but extensive wear with consequent loss of ink obscures parts of mbs [1] and [3]; membranes are stitched serially to form a continuous roll; preserved in a modern paper roll on which is written in pencil: 543/2/14 Kilkenny Corporation As previously noted, the holdings of Kilkenny Corporation, once of major importance for the history of drama and its related activities in Ireland, have suffered unfortunate losses over the years. It seems to have been an eighteenthand nineteenth-century habit to loan out corporation documents to interested individuals, and evidently this occurred without careful supervision. A recent casualty of such neglect has been the Liber Secundus, a document dealing mainly with the corporation's affairs in the early 1540s. Though still extant in the mid-nineteenth century, it has now disappeared (portions of it surviving in a partial transcription made in the seventeenth century in DCL, MS 105 contain nothing of present relevance). Another document, the Red Book of Kilkenny, which would have been an important source for present purposes, had vanished much earlier. A summary transcription was made of it c. 1747 by the Kilkenny alderman and corporation treasurer William Colles, and it was this, now also lost, that the nineteenth-century antiquarian J. G. A. Prim consulted when he wrote his article Òlden Popular Pastimes in Kilkenny', noted below. (The original Red Book had already disappeared by Prim's day.) It is not clear whether the plea for the return of corporation documents that Prim made in his article `Missing Records. No. II. Muniments of the Corporation of Kilkenny' (Transactions of the Kilkenny Archñological Society 1 (1849±51), 427±32) bore any fruit (see ibid., p. 431). At any rate, there are signs that even after that date, the nonchalance attending the way the corporation archives were kept was never quite entirely banished. Another major loss has been most of the sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century bills of expenditure and payment chits collected by the corporation. The account books prepared from them have similarly almost entirely vanished, apart from a fragment in NLI, MS 3302 (see below). In the late nineteenth century the Town Clerk, Patrick Watters, still had access to many of these bills and chits when he wrote his articles `Notes of Particulars' and `Note of Entries' cited below. Today just a few items, perhaps tellingly ones which Watters did not publish, survive in the Kilkenny Tholsel from this former mass. The migratory tendencies of the corporation archives are also witnessed by the straying of some of them into the custody of Kilkenny Castle. From here they were eventually acquired by the National Library of Ireland in the 1930s when the Ormond muniments were purchased (see NLI, MS 3302 below, evidently a fragment of what once must


4.4 Civic documents

83

have been a much larger corporation account book). There seems to have been some association between castle and corporation book keepers (for example, John Shee, steward of the Butler household between 1630±33, also seems to have served on Kilkenny Corporation; see NLI, MS 2549 under section 4.10 Households below). This may partly explain the archival drift. The documents described here will be presented ®rst as they survive in their Dublin repository (the National Library of Ireland), then in the Kilkenny Tholsel, and ®nally in their printed form, arranged chronologically by year of publication. NLI, MS 3302; copied by one scribe, 29 September 1596 ± 24 September 1600; English; paper; ¦ (one singleton plus a quire of 6); unnumbered (and probably taken from some larger compilation of accounts); 305mm 6 200mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though part of the singleton is missing and what remains is damp stained; unbound, and preserved in a modern Manila envelope, on the front of which is printed in black: IRISH MSS. COMMISSION. ± ORMOND DEEDS NLI, MS 11048 (item 2); copied by one scribe (apart from subscribed signatures), 4 June 1597; English; paper; single sheet; 222mm 6 201mm; no decoration; in good condition; unbound, and preserved with ten other items in a modern blue Manila folder, on the front cover of which is written in ink: Orders for payment | by Mayor of Kilkenny | 11 items | 1595±97. | MS 11, 048 (2) NLI, MS 11048 (item 6); copied by one scribe (apart from subscribed signatures), 11 December 1632; English; paper; single sheet; 151mm 6 193mm; no decoration; in good condition; unbound, and preserved with six other items in a modern blue Manila folder, on the front cover of which is written in ink: Orders for payment by the | Mayor of Kilkenny, receipts | etc. ¦ items | 1621, 1632±33 | MS 11, 048 (6)

Liber Primus Kilkenniensis The Liber Primus Kilkenniensis is the oldest of the corporation's documents, and compares with Dublin's Chain Book in nature and probably also in fuction. It contains fair copies of documents of concern to the corporation, such as oaths of corporation of®cials, memoranda and corporation bye-laws. KCA, CR/1/D (Liber Primus Kilkenniensis); copied by various scribes in hands dateable between the mid-fourteenth and the sixteenth century (dated entries run between 1223 and 1586); parchment; Latin (English, French); i + 87 + i; various inconsistently applied foliation and pagination systems, the most satisfactory of which being a sixteenth-century foliation, running between ff. 35 and 77; 234mm 6 171mm; rubrication is applied in certain of the fourteenth-century sections, some litterae notabiliores are used and some pen sketches appear in the margins; generally in good condition, though there are a few tears, and rust and gall stains; medieval binding of white leather on wooden boards, the front board being of oak (possibly re-cycled from an earlier, fourteenth-century?, binding, to which it formerly served as a back board) and the back board of ®fteenth-century beech, which retains a fragment


84

4. The Documents

of the fastening thong, and a washer and rivet (for the lost fastening stud); the binding has modern repairs and the Book is preserved in a modern box.

Corporation Book of the Irishtown The Irishtown of Kilkenny, a settlement around the medieval cathedral of St Canice and to the east of the city walls of the Hightown, had during the period under review its own administration of Portrieve, burgesses and commons. While the corporation of the Hightown lost most of its later sixteenth-century administrative documents, the Irishtown has retained one item from this period, the Corporation Book of the Irishtown. It contains for the most part bye-laws for the regulation of the Irishtown's affairs, statutory prices for victuals, lists of administrative personnel and admissions of freemen. KCA, CR/F 1; copied by various scribes, 1537±1661; paper; English (Latin); 122 + i; seventeenth-century ink foliation; f. 27: 285mm 6 190mm; no decoration; in fair condition, though some leaves are badly torn and stained; seventeenth-century binding of white skin over cardboard, loosened and with its spine missing, on the front cover of which is af®xed a label (various other modern annotations on the front cover are not noticed here): No. 14 | `Book of Irishtown' | Corporation | (1). CR/F 1 KCA, CR/J 4; copied by one main scribe, December 1579 ± 1580; English; paper; bifolium; unnumbered; 308mm 6 210mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though there is a little tearing along the right edge; unbound, and preserved with twelve other items in a modern blue Manila folder, on the front of which is written in ink: J 1±4 KCA, CR/J 11; copied probably by Arthur Shee, c. 8 August 1584; English; paper; single sheet; 310mm 6 210mm; no decoration; in good condition; unbound, and preserved with four other items in a modern blue Manila folder, on the front of which is written in ink: J 10±14 KCA, CR/J 13; copied by one scribe (apart from the additions noted in the Repertory), ¦ June 1585; English; paper; single sheet; 213mm 6 202mm; no decoration; in good condition; unbound, and preserved with four other items in a modern blue Manila folder, on the front of which is written in ink: J 10±14 KCA, CR/J 15; copied by one main scribe in 1586; English; paper; single sheet; 308mm 6 205mm; no decoration; in good condition; unbound, and preserved with ®ve other items in a modern blue Manila folder, on the front of which is written in ink: J 15±21 KCA, CR/K 13; copied by one scribe (apart from the additions noted in the Repertory), 20 September 1603; English; paper; bifolium; unnumbered; 305mm 6 197mm; no decoration; in good condition; unbound, and preserved with six other items in a modern blue Manila folder, on the front of which is written in ink: K 11±17 J. G. A. Prim, Àncient Civic Enactments for Restraining Gossiping and Feasting', Transactions of the Kilkenny Archñological Society 1 (1849±51),


4.4 Civic documents

85

436±41 (later incorporated as the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, volume 1). J. G. A. Prim, Òlden Popular Pastimes in Kilkenny', Proceedings and Transactions of the Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archñological Society 2 (1852±3), 319±35 (later incorporated as the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, volume 2). J. G. A. Prim, `Documents connected with the City of Kilkenny Militia in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries', Proceedings and Transactions of the Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archñological Society 3 (1854±5), 231±74 (later incorporated as the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, volume 3). J. G. A. Prim, `The Corporation Insignia and Olden Civic State of Kilkenny', Journal of the Royal Historical and Archñological Association of Ireland, 4th Series, 1 (1870±1), 280±305 (later incorporated as the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, volume 11). P. Watters, `Notes of Particulars extracted from the Kilkenny Corporation Records relating to the Miracle Plays as performed there from the year 1580 to the year 1639', Journal of the Royal Historical and Archñological Association of Ireland, 4th Series, 6 (1883±4), 238±42 (later incorporated as the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, volume 16). P. Watters, `Note of Entries in the Corporation Records, Kilkenny, relative to a Visit of Lord Viscount Wentworth to Kilkenny in the year 1637', Journal of the Royal Historical and Archñological Association of Ireland, 4th Series, 6 (1883±4), 242±9 (later incorporated as the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, volume 16). Youghal Corporation Two Youghal Corporation documents concern the Repertory: one is still extant, the other is now fragmentary and its pertinent Repertory item survives only in a reference in a modern publication. The ®rst Youghal document, the Corporation Book of Youghal, contains a very wide range of materials bearing on civic administration. These include lists of elected corporation personnel, bye-laws, names of transgressors against those bye-laws, hundred court rulings, copies of letters, rates for victuals and commodities, freedom admissions, jury presentments and proclamations. The pertinent item from the second document is now extant only in A. B. Grosart, ed. The Lismore Papers (First Series), viz. Autobiographical Notes, Remembrances and Diaries of Sir Richard Boyle, First and `Great' Earl of Cork, 5 vols (London, 1886), I, xix; formerly it existed among the seventeenth-century accounts of Mayor Richard Gough. These are now in a very badly damaged condition, and the item is no longer extant. CAI, U 138; copied by various scribes, 2 February 1610 ± 11 January 1659; English (Latin); paper; ii + 548 + iii; the ®rst portion of the manuscript is foliated in seventeenth-century ink, which is visible from 11±808, while the second portion of the manuscript is foliated in modern pencil, running 1±308; 340mm 6 215mm; no decoration; in good condition; seventeenth-century


86

4. The Documents

binding of brown reversed leather, on the front cover of which is stamped in gold: *FOhLjIO* | *A* A. B. Grosart, ed. The Lismore Papers (First Series), viz. Autobiographical Notes, Remembrances and Diaries of Sir Richard Boyle, First and `Great' Earl of Cork, 5 vols (London, 1886), I, xix. 4.5 Guild documents Though several towns in Ireland supported guilds, only those of Dublin yield material of concern to the Repertory. This is doubtless partly due to the fact that the guilds of Dublin, archival losses notwithstanding, still remain the island's best attested. A system of guilds was ®rst of®cially licensed for Dublin in 1192 by Prince John, though it is very likely that an informal guild arrangement was already in place before the licence was granted. As well as its trade and craft guilds, Dublin had at least eleven religious guilds by the late Middle Ages, plus two military guilds founded in the ®fteenth century in response to attacks on the Pale by Irish enemies. The guild merchant, operating possibly from as early as 1190, was the parent guild. As time went by, trades guilds broke away from it and acquired autonomous guild structures and status. The ®rst offshoot of the guild merchant, in 1418, was the tailors guild. Some of Dublin's guild documents were destroyed in 1922 with the ®ring of the Four Courts; the vagaries of history did away with others. The only original guild documents still extant which are of present concern are those of the barber-surgeons held in TCD and those of the carpenters, millers, heliers and masons held in DCL. An important transcription was made by William Monck Mason of the now lost original records of the tailors guild (the J. T. Gilbert transcription in DCL, MS 80 hitherto consulted by theatre historians is demonstrably a copy of the Monck Mason transcription and therefore of no independent value). In sum, then, evidence of interest to the Repertory survives from only three Dublin trades guilds, apart from a few items from the guild merchant. The activity of the religious guild of St George is evidenced by documents either now preserved or formerly extant in DCA. These documents have been noticed above under Dublin Corporation. Roll of the Dublin Guild Merchant As already noted, the guild merchant, operating possibly from as early as 1190, was the parent guild. During the early thirteenth century, merchants from British and Continental towns who traded in Dublin became its members. The guild had apparently split into three before 1275, for between then and 1330, there is evidence of three distinct merchant guilds having operated in Dublin, one for Irish merchants, another for English merchants and a third for merchants `from across the sea' (see The Thirty-Sixth Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland (Dublin, 1904), p. 29; the original Pipe Roll of 4 Edward I (1275±6) containing this evidence was destroyed in 1922). The Guild Merchant Roll, c. 1190±1264, is the city's earliest surviving guild muniment. It enrols the names of guild members.


4.5 Guild documents

87

DCA, GR1/1 (Roll of the Dublin Guild Merchant); copied by various scribes, c. 1190±1264; Latin (English); parchment; 40; each membrane is numbered in modern ink; mb. 7: 515mm 6 220mm; mb. 8: 642mm 6 218mm; mb. 11: 403mm 6 205mm; mb. 12: 458mm 6 201mm; mb. 13: 218mm 6 195mm; mb. 32: 527mm 6 214mm; rubrication is used on some membranes; generally in good condition except for mb. 13 which is shattered; kept in ®ve separate sections, comprising mbs 1±6, 7±9, 10±12, 13±26 and 28±40; each section is preserved in tissue paper, on which is ®xed a label, the sections excerpted for the Repertory having labels which read respectively as follows: ROLL OF THE DUBLIN GUILD MERCHANT | MEMBRANES NOS. 1 to 6 inclusive; ROLL OF THE DUBLIN GUILD MERCHANT | Membranes no. 7 to 9 inclusive; ROLL OF THE DUBLIN GUILD MERCHANT | Membranes nos. 10 to 12 inclusive; ROLL OF THE DUBLIN GUILD MERCHANT | Membranes nos. 13 (shattered) to 26. | Former PROI ref no: D. Corp. 1/2; ROLL OF THE DUBLIN GUILD MERCHANT | Membrane No. 28±40 | FORMER PROI REF. NO. D. Corp. 1/3 Guild Book of the Carpenters, Millers, Heliers and Masons The guild of the carpenters, millers, heliers and masons was founded in 1508 by royal charter, though the guild already existed before this date, when it met at St Martin's Chapel in St Werburgh's Church. Its chantry was in the Lady Chapel of St Thomas's Abbey. Its medieval guild hall was in St Audoen's Lane (on the site of the present day St Audoen's Park). By 1565 this hall must have been demolished, for in that year the guild leased a room in the ®rst guild hall of the tailors, in Winetavern Street. After 1593 it was meeting in Blakeney's Inns, in the parish of St Audoen. The patron saint of the guild was the Blessed Virgin Mary. Its Guild Book, its earliest surviving muniment, contains records of the masters and wardens for various years, lists of guild members, minutes, memoranda, accounts, receipts and guild admissions. DCL, Gilbert Collection, MS 209; copied by various scribes, 1512±66; English (Latin); paper; viii + 90 + ix (counting those modern interleaves on which are pasted smaller dockets from the original accounts, as well as original leaves torn out and extant only as stubs); p. 33: 296mm 6 200mm; p. 153: 308mm 6 205mm; modern pencil pagination (the manuscript originally had several more leaves, as an earlier pagination running to 205 witnesses); no decoration; in fair condition, though some leaves are torn out and extant only as stubs, and all leaves have been mounted on guards and some repaired with paper reinforcement; nineteenth-century binding of black leather, on the front cover of which is af®xed a label: 209; and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: DUBLIN | GILD | BOOK | TEMP. | HENRY VIII | MS. Guild Book of the Barber-Surgeons The guild of the barber-surgeons was founded by royal charter in 1446. Its chantry was in St Mary Magdalene's Chapel in the Hospital of St John without the New Gate. After the Reformation, the guild worshipped in a chapel in Christ Church Cathedral. Its patron saint was St Mary Magdalene. The Guild


88

4. The Documents

Book which is its earliest surviving muniment contains the oaths of the guild master, wardens and brothers as used in 1535, enrolments of guild members and apprentices, accounts and ®nes. TCD, MS 1447 (item 6); copied by various scribes between 1535 and 1607; English; parchment and paper; 48; modern pencil foliation; 263mm 6 221mm; some rubrication is applied in the opening parchment leaves and strapwork is added to some litterae notabiliores; in good condition; sixteenth-century binding of white leather on oak boards. Account Book of the Tailors Guild The tailors guild was founded by royal charter in 1418. Its chantry was in the Lady Chapel in the church of St John the Evangelist, Fishamble Street. In the ®rst half of the sixteenth century its guild hall was in Winetavern Street on ground belonging to St Thomas's Abbey. In 1583, a new guild hall was built in Back Lane. The guild's patron saint was St John the Baptist. The original account book is now lost, and survives only in an antiquarian transcription. BL, MS Egerton 1765; antiquarian transcriptions of materials from the thirteenth to the nineteenth centuries, including the charter of the guild merchant, and the tailors guild accounts, copied by William Monck Mason in the early nineteenth century; English (Latin); paper; iii + 204 + iii; modern pencil foliation; 332mm 6 207mm; no decoration; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of green half leather, and on the front and back covers of which are stamped in gold the arms of the Egertons, earls of Bridgewater, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: CITY | OF | DUBLIN | CORPORATION | RECORDS | MUS. BRIT. | BIBL. | EGERTON. | 1765. | PLUT. | DXX. H.; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 462; and: D.5 4.6 Administrative documents The documents gathered here are secular instruments of administration, and comprise a mixed bag. First are arranged deeds. Deeds, which normally hold little promise for the Repertory, occasionally contain names or professions that are of interest. Next are noticed the Justiciary Rolls, all now extant only in calendar form since the Four Courts explosion and ®re of 1922. They similarly contain the occasional personal name or profession of interest, and include an important early fourteenth-century account of the alleged misconduct of an Irish harper (see section 5.4 under co. Cork, s.a. 1315). From the Justiciary Rolls has also been included the account of the early fourteenth-century wrestling match at Naas, co. Kildare. Next come the ®ants and Patent Rolls. The ®ants, a valuable source, once contained many references to professional minstrels, many of them native Irish, as did also the Patent Rolls on which the ®ants were normally enrolled. The same fate befell both document classes in 1922. One of the English Patent Rolls which contains an item of Irish interest is described following the Irish ones. Then come various state documents, such as


4.6 Administrative documents

89

the Irish Council Books. Finally are arranged miscellaneous administrative documents. The practice adopted for describing the Irish State Papers (see below) is also used for one of the manuscripts included here under Administrative documents (Bodl., MS Carte 176). In this case, only the material on which the Repertory item is written is speci®ed. Its date is given, followed by the earliest and latest dates of the contents of the whole volume in square brackets. Measurements refer only to item(s) within a particular volume which are of concern to the Repertory, and so similarly the number of scribes identi®ed, the use of decoration, the condition of the document and the notice of the languages used. Deeds NLI, MS D 250; copied by one scribe, 5 December 1274; Latin; parchment, with a seal attached; 128mm 6 200mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, but there is some tearing of the parchment where the deed has been folded; on the dorse in a later hand is written: a deed made by Piers ®lius Phillip to John de le Barre of messuage & a crofte in Knoctophor'; preserved in a modern Manila envelope, on the front of which is printed: IRISH MSS. COMMISSION. ± ORMOND DEEDS.; also on the envelope, inside the circular stamp of the National Library of Ireland is written in modern ink the shelfmark: D | 250 NLI, MS D 287; copied by one scribe, 18 February 1278; Latin; parchment, with remnants of a seal attached; 70mm 6 200mm; no decoration; in good condition; preserved in a modern Manila envelope, on the front of which is printed: IRISH MSS. COMMISSION. ± ORMOND DEEDS.; also on the envelope, inside the circular stamp of the National Library of Ireland, is written in modern ink the shelfmark: D | 287 NLI, MS D 397; copied by one scribe, 2 May 1293; Latin; parchment; 116mm 6 229mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, but there is some tearing of the parchment where the deed has been folded, and its seal is missing; on the dorse in another hand is written: Corans Ballychaunegan; also on the dorse and stamped in red: KILKENNY CASTLE MUNIMENTS; preserved in a modern Manila envelope, on the front of which is printed: IRISH MSS. COMMISSION. ± ORMOND DEEDS.; also on the envelope, inside the circular stamp of the National Library of Ireland is written in modern ink the shelfmark: D | 397 NLI, MS D 440; copied by one scribe, c. 1300; Latin; parchment; 144mm 6 211mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, but there is some tearing of the parchment where the deed has been folded, and its seal is missing; on the dorse in another hand is written: Ballynegeraghe mora que vocatur Reyke iuxta Balligeragh; also on the dorse and stamped in red: KILKENNY CASTLE MUNIMENTS; preserved in a modern Manila envelope, on the front of which is printed : IRISH MSS. COMMISSION. ± ORMOND DEEDS.; also on the envelope, inside the circular stamp of the National Library of Ireland is written in modern ink the shelfmark: D | 440 NLI, MS D 1380; copied by one scribe, c. 1399; Latin; parchment; 94mm 6


90

4. The Documents

212mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, but there is a little staining by damp, some tearing, and the seal is missing; on the dorse in another hand is written: Cnoctoghre vacua placea; also on the dorse and stamped in red: KILKENNY CASTLE MUNIMENTS; preserved in a Manila envelope, on the front of which is printed: IRISH MSS. COMMISSION. ± ORMOND DEEDS.; also on the envelope, inside the circular stamp of the National Library of Ireland is written in modern ink the shelfmark: D | 1380 NLI, MS D 15803; copied by one scribe, 23 February 1403; Latin; parchment; indented single sheet, 127mm 6 225mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though the ink is a little faded in places, and the seal is missing; preserved in a modern Manila envelope, on the front of which is written in blue ink: (1403 Feb 23) D 15, 803 359 Justiciary Rolls The Justiciary Rolls, which contained accounts of cases heard before the Irish Justiciar, were destroyed in the Four Courts ®re of 1922. Calendar notices alone survive. Repertory items are found in the unpublished translated transcription described below (NA, MS 2/448/2, envelope KB 2/7) and in the following editions, arranged chronologically by year of publication: J. Mills, ed. Calendar of the Justiciary Rolls or Proceedings in the Court of the Justiciar of Ireland preserved in the Public Record Of®ce of Ireland. XXIII to XXXI Years of Edward I. (Dublin, 1905); J. Mills, ed. Calendar of the Justiciary Rolls or Proceedings in the Court of the Justiciar of Ireland preserved in the Public Record Of®ce of Ireland. Edward I. Part 2. XXXIII to XXXV Years (London, 1914); H. Wood and A. E. Langman, Calendar of the Justiciary Rolls or Proceedings in the Court of the Justiciar of Ireland I to VII Years of Edward II, rev. M. C. Grif®th (Dublin, ?1956). NA, MS 2/448/2, envelope KB 2/7; late nineteenth-century translation and transcription by Henry Wood of the Irish Justiciary Rolls, 13 August 1314 ± 10 March 1316; paper; English (Latin); 63; modern red ink foliation; 331mm 6 204mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though the ®rst leaf is dirty; preserved as loose leaves in a modern grey Manila envelope, on the front cover of which is af®xed a label: NATIONAL ARCHIVES | Mss calendar of | JUSTICIARY ROLL | 8 & 9 Ed II: | PLEA ROLL No 109 | KB 2/7; and kept with seven other items in a cardboard box, on the side of which is af®xed a label: NATIONAL ARCHIVES | Calendar of Plea Roll | Plea Roll. 106±119. | KB 2/5 ± KB 2/12; beneath this is af®xed a label: 2/448/2 Fiants The ®ants, lost also in 1922, were warrants addressed to the Irish Chancery for grants made under the Great Seal. They were normally entered onto the Patent Rolls. Repertory items are found in the following editions, arranged chronologically by year of publication: Calendar (Dublin, no date, but between 1810± 30); The Eighth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland (Dublin, 1876); The Ninth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland (Dublin, 1877); The Eleventh Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public



91

Records in Ireland (Dublin, 1879); The Twelfth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland (Dublin, 1880); The Thirteenth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland (Dublin, 1881); The Fifteenth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland (Dublin, 1883); The Sixteenth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland (Dublin, 1884); The Seventeenth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland (Dublin, 1885); The Eighteenth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland (Dublin, 1886) Patent Rolls The Irish Patent Rolls, lost like the Justiciary Rolls and ®ants in 1922, survive now also only in calendar form. Repertory items are found in the following editions, arranged chronologically by year of publication: E. Tresham, ed. Rotulorum patentum et clausorum cancellariae Hiberniae calendarium (Dublin, 1828); J. Morrin, ed. Calendar of the Patent and Close Rolls of Chancery in Ireland of the Reigns of Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, 2 vols. (Dublin and London, 1861±2). There is one English Patent Roll which contains an item of interest to the present collection. PRO, C. 66/379; copied by one scribe, 1 December 1407 ± 15 October 1408; Latin (English); parchment; 31; post-medieval ink numeration; mb. 7: 890mm 6 282mm; occasional litterae notabiliores are employed; in good condition; membranes are stitched serially to form a continuous roll; mb. 1 is extended by the addition of a medieval parchment membrane (with modern strengthening), 570mm 6 282mm, and this is further extended by the addition of a piece of modern cloth, 462mm 6 302mm, to form a wrapper to the whole; af®xed to the modern brown cloth extension is a tab: REFERENCE. | C. | 66 | 379 | REPAIRING DEPARTMENT. | 28. 4. 65 | Wt. 52954 State documents The various state documents noticed here are arranged alphabetically according to the place of their repository in the order: Dublin, London, Maidstone and Oxford. NA, MS 2/447/16; antiquarian transcription copied in 1869 by John P. Prendergast of Sir Henry Wallop's A giornal for entrie of the daylie and ordinary actes of the council and matters of state from 1 March 1581 to 29 January 1586; paper; English; iii + 147 + iv; notionally foliated from the ®rst leaf bearing text (the title page); 374mm 6 225mm; no decoration, apart from the use of black letter, and a little rubrication, on the title page; generally in good condition, but some leaves are reinforced with tissue; nineteenth-century binding of brown half leather, on the front cover of which is stamped in gold within a red panel: CALENDAR | OF | COUNCIL BOOK | A.D. ± 1581. ± 1586.; and on the spine of which is printed lengthways in black: CALENDAR OF COUNCIL BOOK A.D. 1581 ± 1586.; at the top of the spine is af®xed a label: Public Record Of®ce


92

4. The Documents

| 1.a. | 52 | 151 | IRELAND; preserved with another item in a modern blue cardboard box, with a label on the side: 2/447/16 NLI, MS 8014 (i); Sir John Perrot's letter to the Justices of the Peace concerning the government of Ireland, copied by one scribe, 18 December 1584; English; paper; unnumbered bifolium; 311mm 6 198mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, if a little stained; unbound, and preserved with thirteen other items in a modern Manila folder, on the front of which, within the circular stamp of the National Library of Ireland, is written in modern ink the shelfmark: MS | 8014 | (i); the folder comprising MS 8014 (i) is preserved together with various others, as well as with the folders comprising MS 8013, in a tin box. NLI, MS 8065 (item 4); copied by one main scribe, 21 July 1576; English; paper; 6; sixteenth-century ink foliation, running 154 to 159 (which suggests that this item once comprised part of a much larger compilation); 310mm 6 210mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though the edges of leaves are strengthened with paper reinforcement; unbound, and preserved in a modern Manila folder, on the front of which, within the circular stamp of the National Library of Ireland, is written in modern ink the shelfmark: 8065/ 1±4; and beneath this is a handwritten description of the four items that comprise MS 8065. BL, MS Additional 1742; material of household and heraldic interest dating approximately between 1568 and the beginning of the reign of James I, copied by one scribe in the early seventeenth century; English; paper; i + 47 + i; modern pencil foliation; 305mm 6 201mm; strapwork is frequently used on litterae notabiliores, and there is some display script; generally in good condition, though leaves have been mounted on guards; nineteenth-century binding of brown half leather, on the front and back covers of which are stamped in gold the arms of the Sloane family, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: BRIT. | MUS. | SLOANE | 1742.; lengthways above this: DESCRIPTION | OF IRELAND; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 91; and: g12 BL, MS Harley 697; copied by various scribes, 20 August 1601 ± 11 March 1622; English (Latin); paper (a parchment tab, which derives from a medieval Latin manuscript, is af®xed to the ®rst endleaf); ii + 209 + iv; modern pencil foliation; 421mm 6 281mm; occasional strapwork is used on litterae notabiliores, and a pen drawing of Elizabeth I features on f. 1; generally in good condition, though some leaves are a little stained; nineteenth-century binding of maroon half leather, on the front cover of which is stamped in gold the arms of the Harleys, earls of Oxford, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: COUNCIL BOOK | OF | MUNSTER | 1601±1621. | BRIT. MUS. | HARLEY | 697.; at the top of the spine is af®xed a label: 49; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label now torn and illegible. KAO, U 1475 014/43; copied by one scribe c. 1604; English; paper; 2; unnumbered; 300mm 6 210mm; no decoration; in good condition; preserved with twenty-four other items (014/21±44) in a modern Manila folder. Bodl., MS Carte 176; depositions, copied by one scribe, c. 1636 [1 May 1430 ± 28 June 1650]; English; paper; i + 221 + i; modern pencil foliation; f. 11: 339mm



93

6 290mm; no decoration; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: CARTE | PAPERS | DOCUMENTS | RELATING TO IRELAND | 1390 ± 1650 | 176

Miscellaneous administrative documents The codex preserved as Dublin, King's Inns Library, MS 38 and known more familiarly as the Black Book of King's Inns, is the earliest surviving muniment of the King's Inns in Dublin. Its varied contents include lists of members and sets of accounts, amongst the latter of which appears the item excerpted for the Repertory. Dublin, King's Inns Library, MS 38 (Black Book of King's Inns); copied by various scribes, 1607±1730; English (Latin); paper; ii + 360 + i; eighteenthcentury ink foliation; 358mm 6 225mm; no decoration; in good condition; eighteenth-century binding of black leather, on the front cover of which is af®xed a label: 38; and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: BLACK | BOOK For many years NLI, MS 9596 was in the possession of the Burnells, an established Old English family of the Pale. It is a late ®fteenth-century codex of theological material, mainly in Latin, and including items such as a treatise on the Decalogue, a set of alphabetically arranged topics, sermons and sermon themata. Many leaves were left blank between its items, and on these were subsequently inserted in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries several other items. Some of these are personal memoranda made by Burnell family members. The item of present concern, entered in a hand probably dating to some time between the Dissolution of the Monasteries (1536) and the reign of Edward VI (1547±53), is a land-gavel of Drogheda, co. Louth. NLI, MS 9596; theological miscellany with later items, copied by various scribes from the late ®fteenth to the late seventeenth century; Latin (English); parchment; i + 144 + i (the ¯y- and endleaves are raised pastedowns of an early binding); modern pencil foliation; 236mm 6 159mm; rubrication employed in the medieval sections; in fair condition, but several leaves are excised, some are torn and others are a little dirty; binding lost, but traces of wood grain and other indications on the pastedowns suggest it formerly had a standard medieval binding of leather covered wooden boards, fastened with a single clasp. TCD, Mun/V/5/I, contains the ®rst extant register of the College. TCD, Mun/V/5/I; copied by various scribes chie¯y in the seventeenth century, with a few eighteenth- and nineteenth-century additions, and whose principal contents date between 1626 and 23 July 1660; English (Latin); paper; ii + 127 + ii; seventeenth-century ink pagination; 353mm 6 225mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, apart from three leaves torn away down their centre before p. 73; seventeenth-century binding of brown leather, the front and back covers of which are detached, and on whose spine is stamped in gold: GENERAL | REGISTRY | FROM | 1626


94

4. The Documents 4.7 Ecclesiastical documents

Assembled here (in the diocesan order Armagh, Dublin and Ossory) are documents concerned with internal ecclesiastical administration. As in many another document class, so in this one Dublin emerges as the part of Ireland most substantially represented, and furthermore within Dublin, the documents of the cathedral church of the Holy Trinity, commonly known as Christ Church, are the most extensive. As a class, the ecclesiastical documents include chapter act books, deeds, leases, parish poor relief levies, proctors' accounts, registers, synodal constitutions and visitation articles. Except for the visitation articles, which need no introduction and which are noted later under Early printed books, each of these categories will be more fully introduced below. Items are arranged chronologically within each category. ARMAGH Registers of Primate John Swayne The registers of John Swayne, archbishop of Armagh from 2 February 1418 to 27 March 1439, form only a part, if an important one, of the documents gathered in PRONI, DIO 4/2/3. This volume comprises four main sections. The ®rst includes notices of appointments, grants, court proceedings and ordinations; the second contains many documents relating to the Council of Constance, 1414±18; the third (and largest) section, in which is to be found the item of interest to the Repertory, contains materials dating mainly between 1426 and 1440; and the last section includes documents concerning government in Ireland, dating mainly between 1435 and 1450. PRONI, DIO 4/2/3; a compilation of booklets containing materials dated between c. 1218 to 1450, copied by various scribes in the ®fteenth century; Latin (French, English); paper and parchment (leaves 319 and 320 are of parchment); vi + 332 + vi; four imperfect early ink foliation systems appear, plus one imperfect modern pencil foliation, and hence a notional foliation has been adopted here, beginning counting at the ®rst leaf containing text, which is that following immediately on after ¯yleaf vi; f. [55]: 295mm 6 213mm; ff. [151]-[152]: 300mm 6 210mm; litterae notabiliores are occasionally used; in fair condition, though some leaves are damaged by damp and/or tearing, especially at their edges; seventeenth-century binding of brown reversed leather, bearing traces of two green fabric fastening thongs, and on the back cover of which are the remains of a modern Manila dust jacket, in the bottom left-hand corner of which is af®xed a label: Public Record Of®ce of Northern Ireland | 2/6 | DIO 4/2/3 | Accession; on the exposed spine is af®xed a label: Swayns | Original Register | hfjrom | 1400 to 1439 | vide fair Copy; beneath this on the spine is written in ink, much faded: Swaynes | Original | Reg


4.7 Ecclesiastical documents

95

DUBLIN Chapter Act Book of Christ Church Cathedral As its title suggests, this Chapter Act Book is a collection of decisions passed by the Christ Church chapter for the regulation of internal cathedral affairs. RCB, C/6/1/7/2; copied by various scribes between 1634 and 1670; English (Latin); paper; iii + 180 + iii; seventeenth-century ink foliation; 381mm 6 233mm; no decoration; in good condition; late seventeenth- or early eighteenthcentury binding of brown reversed leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: CHAPTER | ACTS | FROM | 1634 | TO | 1670.; and at the bottom is written in white ink: c.6 | 1.7.2 Deeds Items of interest to the Repertory are to be found in deeds relating to two of Dublin's religious institutions, Christ Church and the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem. The deeds of Christ Church were in the main casualties of the Four Courts explosion and ®re of 1922. Some survive in the eighteenth-century antiquarian transcription called the Registrum Novum, a manuscript kept at the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin, though not the two deeds of present concern, which were noticed in The Twenty-third Report of the Deputy Keeper, detailed below. The Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem had a house in Dublin at Kilmainham, from which survives the Registrum de Kilmainham, now preserved as Bodl., MS Rawlinson B. 501. It contains a register of the Order's enfeoffments, grants of corrodies, accounts of chapter acts and of various other administrative instruments pertaining to the Order. The Twenty-third Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland (Dublin, 1891), pp. 83 and 87. Bodl., MS Rawlinson B. 501; a cartulary of the Order of St John of Jerusalem at Kilmainham in Dublin, containing documents dated between 1321 and 1349, copied mainly by one scribe early in the second half of the fourteenth century, with a few other documents copied less formally by various scribes at about the same time; Latin; parchment; ii + 116 + ii; postmedieval ink foliation, superseded from f. 80 to the end in modern pencil; 274mm 6 190mm; rubrication in red, green and blue is applied in places, and the lobes of some litterae notabiliores are in®lled with human faces; generally in good condition, though some leaves towards the end have been stained; seventeenth-century binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is written in white ink: 501; beneath this are af®xed respectively the labels: Rawlinson; and: 501 Leases In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Christ Church gathered together records of certain of its property leases. The book described here is a fair copy


96

4. The Documents

record of them (a late seventeenth-century list of contents is written on the ¯yand endleaves). RCB, C/6/1/26/1; mainly leases concerning Christ Church property, copied by various scribes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; English (Latin); paper; iii + 111 + iii; late seventeenth-century ink foliation; f. 26: 302mm 6 195mm; strapwork is occasionally applied to litterae notabiliores throughout; generally good condition, though there is some soiling and staining, and certain leaves have torn edges; seventeenth-century binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: LEASE | OF | CHRIST | CHURC; above this is written in white ink: c.6 | 1.26| 1 Parish Poor Relief Levies The St Werburgh's Parish Poor Relief Levies were raised by the church on residents within its parish. The sums gathered were to be employed for relief of the poor. RCB, P. 326/27/3/28; copied by two scribes, 25 April 1641 ± 10 April 1642; English; paper; 13; unnumbered; 305mm 6 201mm; no decoration; in good condition; on the front paper cover of this document has been written in modern pencil: Easter 1641 | P. 326/27/3/28; preserved in a modern Manila folder on which is written in pencil: P. 326. 27. 3 | 26±28 RCB, P. 328/5/1; copied by various scribes, 4 May 1595 ± 1657; English; paper; 173; seventeenth-century ink pagination; 288mm 6 195mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though the opening and closing leaves are very damaged and damp has faded the earlier leaves; lacking its binding, and now preserved in a blue folder, on the spine of which is written in ink: P. | 328 | 5.1 Proctor's Accounts Early sets of proctor's accounts survive from three places in Dublin: from Christ Church; rather less substantially from St Patrick's Cathedral; and also from the parish church of St Werburgh's. They will be described here in that order. All are held at the RCB, apart from one item, TCD, MS 575 (E. 3. 21), described below. Some of the Christ Church proctor's accounts kept in RCB, C/6/1/26/3, are extant in two forms: either both the draft copy of a particular set of accounts, plus the fair copy later made from them, survive, as in the case of items 6, ¦ and 16 below, or, failing that, either the draft copy alone survives, as in the case of item 11 below, or the fair copy alone, as in the case of items 2, 26 and 27 below. (Where both draft and fair copies survive, the draft is the one described.) It might be noted that item 26 really forms part of item 25, for both items together comprise the accounts of William Carville, proctor respectively for 29 September 1636 ± 29 September 1637 (item 25) and for 29 September 1637 ± 29 September 1638 (item 26). Proctors generally seem to have served for a two-year term during this period. The proctor's accounts of Peter Lewis preserved in TCD, MS 575 (E. 3. 21) are probably holograph. Only two documents containing proctor's accounts of St Patrick's Cathedral



97

are known to exist. Relative to those of Christ Church, St Patrick's Cathedral muniments have evidently suffered much neglect down the years, though given the cathedral's chequered history, especially in the sixteenth century when it was for a while suppressed, this is not surprising. The accounts of the proctors (or churchwardens) of St Werburgh's, extant from the late ®fteenth century, contain evidence of Easter Sepulchre ceremonies having taken place in the church at least from that date. P. 326/27/1/9 below is probably a journal made preparatory to writing up of a fair copy for auditing, and is now fragmentary. That fair copy is itself probably represented by P. 326/ 27/1/10 below. It is also in a very fragmentary state. Christ Church Cathedral RCB, C/6/1/26/3 (item 2); copied probably by John Mos, proctor, 1542; English; paper; 10; unnumbered; 290mm 6 161mm; no decoration; in fair condition, but there is much damage to the upper part of each leaf, and the ®rst and last leaves are detached; seventeenth-century binding of dark brown leather (the leather cover of the spine is parting from the spine proper), on the front cover of which is stamped in gold: CHRIST CHURCH DUBLIN; and on the parting spine cover of which is stamped in gold: PROCTORS | ACCOMPTS; above this at the top of the spine is written in white ink: C.6 | 1.26. | 3 RCB, C/6/1/26/3 (item 6); copied probably by Mr Richardson, proctor, 29 September 1594 ± 29 September 1595; English; paper; 13; sixteenth-century ink foliation, running 2±14, with [5] unnumbered and one leaf, presumably once foliated 12, excised between 11 and 13; 382mm 6 135mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, but there is some damage along the top edges of leaves and a little staining; binding as (item 2) above. RCB, C/6/1/26/3 (item 7); since the handwriting is similar to that of (item 6) above, (item 7) was probably also copied by Mr Richardson, proctor, 29 September 1595 ± 28 September 1596; English; paper; 7; sixteenth-century ink foliation, but only visible on ff. 1 and 4; 323mm 6 213mm; no decoration; in fair condition but stained, with a V-shaped tear in the top middle of the ®rst ®ve leaves, and the whole quire has parted from the binding; binding as (item 2) above. RCB, C/6/1/26/3 (item 11); copied probably by Edward Hill, proctor, 29 September 1616 ± 29 September 1617; English; paper; 4; unnumbered; 388mm 6 145mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though there is some dirtying and tearing of the paper along fold lines; binding as (item 2) above. RCB, C/6/1/26/3 (item 16); copied probably by John Bradley, chancellor and proctor, 29 September 1629 ± 29 September 1630; English; paper; 5; unnumbered; 306mm 6 198mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though there is some dirtying; binding as (item 2) above. RCB, C/6/1/26/3 (item 26); copied probably by William Carville, proctor, 29 September 1637 ± 29 September 1638; English; paper; 2; unnumbered; 288mm 6 182mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, but there is some dirtying throughout; binding as (item 2) above.


98

4. The Documents

RCB, C/6/1/26/3 (item 27); copied probably by Henry Dilson, proctor, 15 April 1638 ± 14 April 1639; English; paper; 8; unnumbered; 315mm 6 214mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, but there is much dirtying on the outer leaf of f. [1]; binding as (item 2) above. TCD, MS 575 (E. 3. 21); copied by three principal scribes, chief of whom was probably Peter Lewis, proctor of Christ Church, 2 October 1564 ± 22 October 1565; English (Latin); paper; ii + 101 + ii; modern pencil foliation, applied only to leaves containing text; f. 38: 308mm 6 202mm; very occasional litterae notabiliores feature; in fair condition, but several leaves are extensively stained and rubbed; seventeenth-century binding of white skin on cardboard, on the spine of which is written lengthways in black ink: Book of Xt. Church; above which is written in the same black ink: hEj | 3. | 21.; and above which is written in modern pencil: E | 3 | 21; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 575 St Patrick's Cathedral RCB, C/2/(106), provisional shelfmark; copied probably by John Andowe, proctor, 24 June 1509 ± 24 June 1510; Latin; parchment; 2 membranes; unnumbered; mb 1: 798mm 6 302mm; occasional litterae notabiliores feature; generally in good condition, but there is some wearing of the ink at the right of the membrane; preserved in tissue paper. RCB, C/2/(107), provisional shelfmark; copied by one scribe, probably either Gilbert Corey or Nicholas Miaghe, proctors, 1555; Latin; parchment; 2 membranes; unnumbered; mb. [1]: 665mm 6 240mm; mb. [2]: 445mm 6 230mm; written on one side; no decoration; in fair condition, but there is considerable soiling; membranes are stitched serially to form a continuous roll, and traces of stitching at the top of the ®rst membrane indicate that these two membranes are a fragment of a longer document; wrapped in tissue and preserved in modern Manila paper. St Werburgh's Church RCB, P. 326/27/1/1; accounts copied by one scribe, 22 April 1481 ± 18 April 1484; English; paper; 4; unnumbered; 414mm 6 225mm; no decoration; in good condition; preserved in a modern Manila folder, on the front cover of which is written in pencil: P. 326.27.1.1±2 RCB, P. 326/27/1/2; accounts of Nicholas Lawless and Richard White, copied by one scribe, 18 October 1484 ± 29 September 1485; English; paper; 3 [a bifolium, folded a second time and stitched down the resulting gutter]; unnumbered; 293mm 6 116mm; no decoration; in good condition; preserved in a modern Manila folder, on the front cover of which is written in pencil: P. 326.27.1.1±2 RCB, P. 326/27/1/4; accounts of Thomas Ashe and James Clynton, copied by two or possibly three scribes, May(?) 1494 ± May(?) 1495 and May(?) 1495 ± May(?) 1496; English; paper; 10; unnumbered; 298mm 6 210mm; no decoration; in good condition; preserved in a modern Manila folder, on the front cover of which is written in pencil: P. 326.27.1.4



99

RCB, P. 326/27/1/5; accounts of John Green and Thomas Say, copied by one scribe, 1 May 1496 ± 1 May 1497; English; paper; 5; unnumbered; 288mm 6 225mm; no decoration; in good condition; preserved in a modern Manila folder, on the front cover of which is written in pencil: P. 326.27.1.5 RCB, P. 326/27/1/6; accounts of Thomas Ashe and Piers Carpenter, copied by two scribes, 1 May 1498 ± 1 May 1499; English; paper; 10; unnumbered; 206mm 6 139mm; no decoration; in good condition; preserved in a modern Manila folder, on the front cover of which is written in pencil: P. 326.27.1.6±7 RCB, P. 326/27/1/8; accounts of Patrick Daly and Philip White, copied by three or possibly four scribes, 9 June 1510 ± 3 August 1511, 1 August 1512 ± 9 October 1513, and 23 December 1514 ± 6 May 1515; English; paper; 11; unnumbered; 289mm 6 224mm; no decoration; in good condition; preserved in a modern Manila folder, on the front cover of which is written in pencil: P. 326.27.1.8 RCB, P. 326/27/1/9; copied by one scribe, c. 1515±20; English; paper; 7; unnumbered; 311mm 6 216mm; no decoration; in good condition; preserved in a modern Manila folder, on the front cover of which is written in pencil: P. 326.27.1.9 RCB, P. 326/27/1/10; copied by one scribe, c. 1515±20; English; paper; 2; unnumbered; 320mm 6 215mm; no decoration; in a very fragmentary state; preserved in a modern Manila folder, on the front cover of which is written in pencil: P. 326.27.1.10 Registers It was a common practice of religious houses to enter fair copies of wills, charters, agreements and the like into a register (compare the Registrum de Kilmainham described above). The White Book of Christ Church is another such example. RCB, C/6/1.2 (White Book of Christ Church); materials mainly concerning Christ Church and dating from the thirteenth century to 13 February 1586, copied by various scribes from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries; Latin (English); parchment; i + 78 + i; sixteenth- or seventeenth-century ink foliation; 282mm 6 193mm; rubrication is applied to some litterae notabiliores throughout the sections copied in the ®fteenth century; generally in good condition, though opening and concluding leaves are stained and rubbed; seventeenthcentury binding of brown leather on wooden boards, on the back cover of which are the remains of a metal fastening clasp. Synodal constitutions There are two groups of synodal constitutions containing items of interest for the Repertory. Although listed under synodal consititutions, for such indeed is the nature of the entry that appears in the Repertory, the manuscript known as the Crede Mihi contains much more than this: it also includes fair copies of legal documents, papal letters, themata for visitation sermons, and other matter


100

4. The Documents

largely pertinent to the administration of the see of Dublin and Glendalough from the twelfth to the thirteenth centuries. How Durham, Dean and Chapter Muniments, Misc. Ch. 5822 arrived in Durham is not known. This roll contains the Constitutions of Archbishop Thomas Minot, promulgated in Kilkenny for the Dublin diocese. RCB, Dublin Diocesan Records, D 6/1 (Crede Mihi); copied by various scribes, though mainly by one who was working 1279±83; Latin; parchment; 58; modern pencil foliation; 270mm 6 193mm; occasional ¯ourishing is applied to litterae notabiliores, some anthropomorphic grotesques feature and in the latter part of the manuscript, rubrication is added in blue and red; generally in good condition, but there is occasional staining and dirtying; preserved in a medieval wrapper of plain parchment, on the front cover of which is written in a later hand in ink: Crede Mihi | No 54 Durham, Dean and Chapter Muniments, Misc. Ch. 5822; copied by one scribe in the later fourteenth century; Latin; parchment; ¦ membranes; later fourteenth-century ink numeration on membranes 3 to 6; mb. 4: 570mm 6 232mm; no rubrication, but there is occasional penwork in®lling of some of the principal text capitals, and a human face on mb. [7]; generally in good condition, but part of the head of mb. [1] is torn away, and there is a little fading and staining; preserved together with Durham, Dean and Chapter Muniments, Misc. Ch. 5821±5835 in a modern box. OSSORY The Red Book of Ossory The Red Book of Ossory contains for the most part fair copies of documents relating to the diocese of Ossory, synodal decrees, statutes, papal bulls, the French proverbs of Nicholas Bozon, and the famous cantilenae and contrafacta attributed to the fourteenth-century bishop of Ossory, Richard Ledrede (though some are in fact derived from Walter of Wimbourne's Marie Carmina). The Red Book is better known to students of Middle English poetry for the opening snatches of secular songs which preface the religious cantilenae and contrafacta, probably in order to indicate the tunes to which they were to be sung. RCB, D/11/1/1 (Red Book of Ossory); twelfth- to sixteenth-century materials, mainly pertinent to the diocese of Ossory, copied by various scribes from c. 1360 to the sixteenth century; Latin (English, French); parchment; iv + 80 (the last leaf is a raised pastedown); seventeenth- or eighteenth-century ink foliation; f. 5: 298mm 6 215mm; f. 70: 302mm 6 217mm; Textura or display script is occasionally used on some litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, though there is some rubbing and staining in places, and some text is faded; medieval binding of reversed sheepskin (once coloured red but whose colour, except for on the insides of the covers, has now worn off) on oak boards, with modern repairs.


4.8 Antiquarian compilations

101

4.8 Antiquarian compilations There are two major collections of early antiquarian documents of relevance to the Repertory, and manuscripts belonging to these collections have been assembled together for description, excepting only those more appropriately accommodated under one or other of the headings into which the Repertory documents have otherwise been classi®ed. The antiquarians in question were Sir George Carew and Sir James Ware. After the Carew and Ware Collections are thirdly noticed Miscellaneous compilations (section 4.9 below). Cumulatively considerable, these latter compilations nevertheless represent projects of antiquarian compilation far less ambitious than those of Carew and Ware. Manuscripts are presented alphabetically by repository within each of the three collection subheadings. The Carew Collections Sir George Carew (1555±1629) had a long association with Ireland. Educated at Broadgates Hall (later Pembroke College), Oxford, he soon after went into military service. In 1575, he served as a volunteer in the army in Ireland under Sir Henry Sidney (see below under section 4.10 Households). Carew became captain of the garrison in Leighlin, co. Carlow, for a few months in 1576 during his brother's absence from the post. He was subsequently made lieutenantgovernor of co. Carlow and vice-constable of Leighlin Castle in the same year. By 1583, he had become sheriff of Carlow. His friend Sir John Perrot (see below under section 4.10 Households), the Lord Deputy, knighted him in 1586. Later that year, he left for London, where he briefed Elizabeth I's advisers about the problems encountered in governing Ireland. He returned as master of the Irish ordnance in 1588, and held this post until 1592 when he was appointed lieutenant-general of the ordnance in England. In 1599, the political unrest in Ireland required his expertise, and in 1600 he was made president of Munster (a post he held until September 1603). He was active in the Battle of Kinsale in 1601. He retired from Ireland in 1603 after Elizabeth's death, to return only once in 1610 in order to report on the condition of the country with a view to the plantation of Ulster. He died in 1629, and is buried in the parish church of Stratford-on-Avon. Carew's strenuous military career did not preclude his antiquarian interests, and he counted among his friends William Camden, Sir Robert Cotton and Sir Thomas Bodley. Carew was particularly interested in Irish history. His papers inspired the account of the Irish revolt of 1599±1602 published in 1635 after his death by Sir Thomas Stafford (reputedly Carew's illegitimate son), under the title Pacata Hibernia (see section 5.4 under Garryduff, co. Tipperary, s.a. 1601). Carew had bequeathed Stafford his books and manuscripts. From Stafford they passed to Archbishop Laud, and from Laud many passed to Lambeth Palace Library, where they remain. A few others of concern to the Repertory are preserved in the Bodleian Library (see Oxford, MS University College 103 above and Bodl., MS Laud Misc. 613 below). LPL, MS 603 (Carew Papers); miscellaneous documents concerning state affairs in Ireland from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries, copied by


102

4. The Documents

various scribes in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries; English (Latin); paper; xxvi + 180 + xi (¯yleaves iii-xii, paginated in modern pencil 1±21, odd numbers only, and ¯yleaves xiii-xxvi, paginated in modern perncil 1±25, odd numbers only, and which include a table of contents); seventeenth-century ink foliation; f. 25: 300mm 6 205mm; f. 168: 301mm 6 206mm; strapwork is sometimes applied to litterae notabiliores and there is some display script; generally in good condition, with most documents mounted on guards; nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, whose front and back covers are stamped with the arms of the Carew family in gold, and surmounted by the letter: D; and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: CAREW | MSS. | COD. | CAREW | 603 LPL, MS 607 (Carew Papers); miscellaneous documents concerning state affairs in Ireland from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries, copied by various scribes in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries; English (Irish, Latin); paper; x + 254 + ii (¯yleaves iii-x, foliated in modern pencil 1±8, include a table of contents); seventeenth-century ink foliation; f. 131: 225mm x172mm; display script occasionally features; generally in good condition, though some letters are faded or otherwise damaged at the edges of leaves, and most documents are mounted on guards; nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, whose front and back covers are stamped with the arms of the Carew family in gold, and on whose spine is stamped in gold: CAREW | MSS. | COD. | CAREW. | 607 LPL, MS 612 (Carew Papers); miscellaneous documents concerning state affairs in Ireland during the government of Sir William Russell, 24 June 1594 ± 26 May 1597, copied principally by one scribe in the early seventeenth century; English (Latin); paper; vii + 117 + lxiv (¯yleaves iv-vii include a table of contents); seventeenth-century ink foliation; 348mm 6 228mm; no decoration; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, whose front and back covers are stamped with the arms of the Carew family in gold, and surmounted by the letters: HH; and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: BIBL. | LAMBETH. | CAREW | MSS. | COD. | CAREW. | 612. LPL, MS 614 (Carew Papers); miscellaneous documents concerning Irish history and state affairs from the twelfth to the seventeenth centuries, copied by various scribes in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries; English (Latin); paper; xi + 294 + vi (¯yleaves iii-xi, foliated in modern pencil 1±9, include a table of contents); modern pencil foliation; f. 230: 294mm 6 198mm; f. 260: 293mm x195mm; strapwork and display script are occasionally used; generally in good condition, with documents mounted on guards; nineteenthcentury binding of brown leather, whose front and back covers are stamped with the arms of the Carew family in gold, and surmounted by the letter: L; and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: CAREW | MSS. | COD. | CAREW. | 614 LPL, MS 616 (Carew Papers); miscellaneous documents concerning state affairs in Ireland from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries, copied by various scribes in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries; English (Latin); paper; xv + 604 + ii (¯yleaves iv-xv, imperfectly foliated in modern pencil, include a table of contents); seventeenth-century ink foliation; f. 64: 318mm 6



103

215mm; strapwork and display script are occasionally used; generally in good condition, with documents mounted on guards; nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, whose front and back covers are stamped with the arms of the Carew family in gold, and surmounted by the letters: LL; and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: BIBL. | LAMBETH. | CAREW. | MSS. | COD. | CAREW. | 616. LPL, MS 621 (Carew Papers); miscellaneous documents concerning ecclesiastical and state affairs in Ireland from the sixth to the seventeenth centuries, copied by various scribes but chie¯y by the same scribe as copied MS 612 above in the early seventeenth century; English (Irish, Latin); paper; viii + 185 + ii; modern pencil foliation, running 1±12, followed by a seventeenth-century ink foliation, running 1±172; 340mm 6 225mm; display script is occasionally used; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, whose front and back covers are stamped with the arms of the Carew family in gold, and surmounted by the letters: NNN; and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: BIBL. | LAMBETH. | CAREW | MSS. | COD. | CAREW. | 621. The Book of Howth The Book of Howth is the name by which the sixteenth-century parchment codex, LPL, MS 623 is more familiarly known. It was formerly kept amongst the archives of Dublin Castle, but somehow migrated from there into the hands of Sir George Carew. It principally contains chronicle matter for Irish history, drawn from various sources, from early times until the sixteenth century. LPL, MS 623 (Carew Papers); copied by various scribes in the sixteenth century; English (Latin, French); parchment; xxv + 199 + ii; modern pencil foliation, running 1±21, is applied to ¯yleaves iv-xxv, and is followed by two sixteenth-century ink foliations, the ®rst one, running 1±22, followed by a single unfoliated leaf, and then the second, running 1±178; 268mm 6 202mm; display script occasionally features; in good condition; modern binding of brown leather, whose front and back covers are stamped with the arms of the Carew family in gold, and surmounted by the letter: P; and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: CAREW | MSS. | COD. | CAREW | 623 LPL, MS 627 (Carew Papers); miscellaneous documents concerning state affairs in Ireland from 4 November 1584 to 30 January 1596, copied by various scribes in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries; English; paper; ii + 253 + ii; modern pencil foliation; 283mm 6 205mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, with documents mounted on guards; nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, whose front and back covers are stamped with the arms of the Carew family in gold, and surmounted by the letter: S; and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: BIBL. | LAMBETH. | CAREW | MSS. | COD. | CAREW. | 627. LPL, MS 629 (Carew Papers); miscellaneous documents concerning state affairs in Ireland from 29 September 1602 to 5 November 1611, copied by various scribes (some material is printed) in the early seventeenth century; English; paper; xviii + 214 + i (¯yleaves iv-xviii, foliated in modern pencil 1±15, include a table of contents); seventeenth-century ink foliation (a modern pencil


104

4. The Documents

foliation is coextensive with the early one, but is intermittently applied); f. 31: 302mm 6 195mm; display script occasionally features; generally in good condition, with documents mounted on guards; nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, whose front and back covers are stamped with the arms of the Carew family in gold, and surmounted by the letters: TT; and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: BIBL. | LAMBETH. | CAREW | MSS. | COD. | CAREW. | 629. Bodl., MS Laud Misc. 613; miscellaneous historical materials concerning Ireland from the twelfth century to 23 July 1599, copied mainly by Sir George Carew c. 1615±17; Latin (English, French); paper; ii + 168 + ii; early seventeenth-century ink pagination, running 1±322, completed in modern pencil, running 323±42; 335mm 6 228mm; no decoration; in good condition; seventeenth-century binding of brown leather with modern repairs to the spine, with traces of two former green fabric fastening thongs on the front and back covers, and whose front and back covers are stamped with the arms of the Carew family in gold, and surmounted by the letter: I; and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: I; beneath this are af®xed three labels: h. . .j | F | 98.; Laud; 613 The Ware Collections Sir James Ware (1594±1666) left an important collection of manuscripts containing transcriptions of documents, or originals (or both) which were for the greater part pertinent to Irish history. Ware's father had come to Ireland as secretary to Sir William Fitzwilliam (on whom see below under section 4.10 Households). Ware entered Trinity College Dublin in 1610 and graduated with an MA in 1616. While there, James Ussher encouraged his antiquarian interests. Ware also became acquainted with Irish men of letters, including An Dubhaltach Mac Firbhisigh (²1670), who translated Irish materials for him. Ware was knighted in 1629, and in 1632 he succeeded to the of®ce of auditorgeneral formerly held by his father. Later he attached himself to Sir Thomas Wentworth, ®rst earl of Strafford (1593±1641), to whom in 1639 he dedicated his De Scriptoribus Hiberniñ. (Wentworth was by this time Lord Deputy.) Ware's career was chequered during the Commonwealth, and from 1651 until the Restoration he lived in London, where he befriended several English antiquarians. In 1660 he returned to Dublin, living in the old family house in Castle Street. He died in 1666, and was buried in St Werburgh's Church. His books and manuscripts, in many cases added to and annotated by his son Robert, were purchased by Henry, second earl of Clarendon, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in 1686. From Clarendon, the Ware manuscripts were dispersed, chie¯y to the British Library, and some to the Bodleian Library in Oxford. The manuscript in Armagh Public Library, a history of Dublin compiled and probably copied by Robert Ware from his father's papers, opens the description of the Ware manuscripts given here. Armagh, Abbey Street, Public Library of Armagh; no shelfmark; copied by Robert Ware, c. 1678; English (Latin); paper; viii + 157 (counting interleaved paper slips, some of which are in Sir James Ware's hand) + xxxii; seventeenthcentury ink pagination, running 1±252, completed in modern pencil, running



105

253±302; 325mm 6 200mm; no decoration; in good condition; seventeenthcentury binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: HISTORY | ANTIQUTIE | OF | DUBLIN | MSS. | BY | ROB: WARE | 1678. BL, MS Additional 4784; materials concerning Irish history, from about the ®fth to the seventeenth centuries, compiled (and partly copied) by Sir James Ware, and copied also by various other scribes, including Robert Ware, in the seventeenth century; Latin (English, Irish); paper; iv + 255 + x; modern pencil foliation; f. 93: 301mm 6 200mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, with quires mounted on guards; modern binding of red half leather (inside whose front cover is pasted the Ware arms in gold, taken from a previous, seventeenth-century binding), and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: CLARENDON | MSS | PRESENTED BY | REV. J. MILLES | BRITISH LIBRARY | ADDITIONAL MS. | 4784; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 687; and: D.1 BL, MS Additional 4791; materials concerning Irish history, from about the fourth to the seventeenth centuries, compiled (and partly copied) by Sir James Ware, and copied also by various other scribes, including Robert Ware, in the seventeenth century; Latin (English, Irish); paper; iv + 210 + iv; modern pencil foliation; 300mm 6 194mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of red half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: CLARENDON | MSS. | VOL. XLIV | BRITISH | LIBRARY | ADDITIONAL | MS. | 4791; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 169; and: d BL, MS Additional 4792; materials concerning Irish history, including a portion of the Annals of Loch CeÂ, from about the sixth to the seventeenth centuries, compiled (and partly copied) by Sir James Ware, and copied also by various other scribes, including Robert Ware, between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries; English (Irish, Latin); paper and parchment; vii + 288 + vi; modern pencil foliation; f. 30: 259mm 6 191mm; f. 138: 279mm 6 186mm; rubrication is applied in certain sections, and some litterae notabiliores feature; generally in good condition, with some leaves mounted on guards; modern binding of red half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: CLARENDON | MSS. | PRESENTED | BY | REV. J. MILLES | BRITISH | LIBRARY | ADDITIONAL | MS. | 4792; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 684; and: C BL, MS Additional 4796; materials concerning Irish history, from prehistory to the seventeenth century, compiled (and partly copied) by Sir James Ware, and copied also by various other scribes, in the seventeenth century; Latin (English, Irish); paper; iv + 158 + iii; modern pencil foliation; 187mm 6 150mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, with quires mounted on guards; modern binding of brown half leather (inside whose front cover is pasted the Ware arms in gold, taken from a previous, seventeenth-century binding), and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: COLLECTANEA | DE | REBUS | HIBERNICIS | PRESENTED | BY J. MILLES. | BRIT. MUS. | ADDITIONAL | MS. | 4796; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 168; and: H.1


106

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BL, MS Additional 4799; materials concerning Irish history, from about the seventh to the seventeenth centuries, copied by various scribes, including An Dubhaltach Mac Firbhisigh, for Sir James Ware, in the seventeenth century; English (Greek, Latin); paper; iii + 74 + vii; modern pencil foliation; f. 55: 308mm 6 194mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of red half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: CLARENDON | MSS. | PRESENTED | BY | REV. J. MILLES | BRIT. MUS. | ADDITIONAL | MS. | 4799; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 170; and: E Bodl., MS Rawlinson B. 484; historical notes and materials, copied by various scribes between about the ninth and seventeenth centuries, the hand of the item excerpted for the Repertory being that of Sir James Ware, writing 9 July 1664; English (Latin, French); paper and parchment; 147; seventeenth-century ink foliation, running 1±84, completed by a modern pencil foliation, running 85± 89, and which begins after a gap of 54 unnumbered leaves; f. 68: 215mm 6 155mm; some rubrication is applied in the medieval parchment sections; generally in good condition, but certain of the paper leaves are partially torn, and certain of the parchment ones are stained; seventeenth-century binding of brown leather, on the front and back covers of which are stamped the arms of the Ware family in gold, and with a modern repaired spine, on which is stamped in gold: MS. | Rawl. | B. 484 Bodl., MS Rawlinson B. 496; miscellaneous annals and historical extracts, including the Repertory item, the Clynn annals, running from prehistory to 1349, copied chie¯y by Sir James Ware, with some additions by Robert Ware, in the seventeenth century; Latin; paper; iii + 89 + iii; seventeenth-century ink foliation; 298mm 6 223mm; no decoration; in good condition; seventeenthcentury binding of plain parchment, at the top of whose spine is written in ink: 496; and at the bottom of which are af®xed the labels: hRajwlinson; and: 496 Bodl., MS Rawlinson B. 498; fair copies of deeds and instruments pertinent to the Hospital of St John the Baptist without the New Gate, Dublin, copied by two main scribes in the third quarter of the fourteenth century, with various additions in other hands until 1486; Latin (English); parchment (a paper deed is interleaved between ff. 19±20); iv + 219 (not counting any deeds stitched later to leaves) + iii; modern pencil foliation; f. 118: 282mm 6 188mm; headings to deeds in the earlier part of the manuscript are rubricated; generally in good condition, though ¯y- and endleaves are a little stained; seventeenth-century binding of brown leather, on the front and back covers of which are stamped the arms of the Ware family in gold, and at the top of whose spine is written in white ink: 498; and at the bottom of which is af®xed a label: hRawlinjson

4.9 Miscellaneous compilations NLI, MS 104; materials dated between 1319 and 1743 relating mainly to the church of St Werburgh in Dublin, copied by John Lyon, archbishop of Dublin, in the eighteenth century; English; paper; 29; unnumbered (the foliation


4.9 Miscellaneous compilations

107

adopted in the Repertory begins counting at the very ®rst leaf of the manuscript); 200mm 6 160mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though the recto of the ®rst leaf and the verso of the last are strengthened with paper; nineteenth-century binding of brown cardboard, whose front and back covers are detached, whose spine is badly damaged, and on whose front cover is stamped in ink: MS. | 104 NA, 2/469/10 (item 93); the third part of item 93 contains the pertinent Repertory item, a nineteenth-century antiquarian copy by J. G. A. Prim of a will, 30 April 1627; English; paper; 19; the third part has a modern ink pagination; 324mm 6 203mm; no decoration; in good condition; contained in a bundle with thirteen other items, and all in a modern Manila envelope, stamped on the front in ink: IRISH MSS. COMMISSION. ± ORMOND DEEDS.; the envelope is preserved with others in a modern cardboard box. NA, 2/469/10 (item 112); nineteenth-century antiquarian copy by J. G. A. Prim of a will, 31 December 1604; English; paper; 46; modern ink pagination; 316mm 6 203mm; no decoration; in good condition; contained in a bundle with ®ve other items, and all in a modern Manila envelope, stamped on the front in ink: IRISH MSS. COMMISSION. ± ORMOND DEEDS.; the envelope is preserved with others in a modern cardboard box. RIA, MS 12 E 2; antiquarian compilation copied by Charles Haliday in the mid-nineteenth century of various documents, chie¯y relating to Dublin, dating from the medieval period to the mid-eighteenth century; English (French, Irish, Latin, Norse); paper; i + 227 + i; contemporary ink pagination; 222mm 6 189mm; no decoration; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of black half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: M.S. | HISTORICAL | NOTES. | CITY. PORT. | AND | HARBOUR OF | DUBLIN. | II. | CHAS. HALIDAY; at the bottom is af®xed a label: 12 | E | 2 TCD, MS 591 (E. 3. 28); antiquarian compilation copied by various scribes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the pertinent Repertory item (the Dublin Chronicle, ff. 1±28v, covering the years 1408±1566), copied by one scribe in the second half of the sixteenth century; English (Latin, Irish, Greek); paper; ii + 84 + ii; modern pencil foliation; f. 7: 305mm 6 205mm; f. 14: 305 x 207mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though some fraying around the edges of leaves has obliterated portions of text; seventeenth-century binding of white leather, on the spine of which is written in ink: E. | 3. | 28; and lengthways beneath this: Mayors and Sheriffs of Dub: &c.; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 591 TCD, MS 772 (E. 4. 11); antiquarian compilation copied by various scribes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; Latin (English, Greek); paper; iii + 65 + iii; modern pencil foliation; 208mm 6 145mm; no decoration; in good condition; eighteenth- or nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is stamped lengthways in gold: USHER'S MEMOIRS OF IRELAND &c.; and beneath this: E. 4 | II. TCD, MS 786 (D. 3. 16); antiquarian compilation, including Sir Parr Lane's News from the Holy Isle and Peter Finglas's Breviat, copied by various scribes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the pertinent Repertory items, ff.


108

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146 and 224, copied in the seventeenth century; Latin (English, Irish, Greek, Hebrew); paper; 229; modern pencil foliation; f. 146: 210mm 6 163mm; f. 224: 210mm 6 156mm; no decoration; there is some damage and wear to opening and concluding leaves; seventeenth-century plain parchment wrapper, on the spine of which is written in ink: 786 | D | 3 | 16 | Corbes; and on the front cover of which is af®xed a label: 786 TCD, MS 842 (F. 3. 16); antiquarian compilation mainly of ®fteenth- and sixteenth-century materials, copied by various scribes in the ®rst half of the seventeenth century; English (Latin, French); paper; ii + 256 + ii; seventeenth-century ink foliation, adjusted later to a modern pencil foliation which omits blank leaves; 312mm 6 197mm; no decoration; in good condition; seventeenth-century binding of plain parchment, with a loosened spine on which is written lengthways in ink: Historical Collections; above this is written in the same ink: Class: F. | Tab: 3. | No. 16. BL, MS Additional 4763; letters and documents concerning Irish history, from about the ®fth century to 1680, and copied by various scribes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; English (Latin); paper; iii + 509 + iii; modern foliation alternating between ink and pencil (1±337 ink, 338±82 pencil, 383±464 ink, 465±96 pencil, 497±508 ink, 509 pencil); f. 183: 287mm 6 190mm; f. 451: 300mm 6 195mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, with leaves mounted on guards; nineteenth-century binding of maroon half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: COLLECTIONS | RELATING | TO | IRELAND. | PRESENTED | BY THE | REV. DR. MILLES. | BRIT. MUS. | ADDITIONAL | MS. | 4763.; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 168; and: K.6 4.10 Households Household documents are grouped here under the name of the family to which they pertain, in alphabetical order. These families are: Boyle, Butler, Devereux, Fitzwilliam, Perrot and Sidney. The documents are for the most part sets of accounts, and in the case of the Boyle family also include the diaries of Sir Richard Boyle, ®rst earl of Cork. (It might be noted that the contents of this family archive are distributed between two repositories, CHL in Derbyshire and the NLI, Dublin.) Boyle Sir Richard Boyle (1566±1643) was born in Canterbury and entered Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in 1583. After spending some time in London at the Middle Temple and then a short period serving as clerk to Sir Richard Manwood, chief baron of the exchequer, he came to Ireland in 1588, where he seems to have made a point of acquainting himself with in¯uential people. He was brie¯y imprisoned in 1592 by Sir William Fitzwilliam (on whom see below) on an embezzlement charge. In 1595, he married his ®rst wife, a Limerick heiress who died in child birth. A rebellion in Munster left him destitute, and he also managed to fall foul of Sir Henry Wallop, treasurer of


4.10 Households

109

Ireland. However, he successfully defended himself against Wallop's accusations before the court of Star Chamber in London, and also drew attention to Wallop's own malpractices. Wallop was succeeded at once by Sir George Carew, and soon after this through Carew's in¯uence Boyle was appointed clerk of the council of Munster. Carew, who was also lord president of Munster, advanced Boyle's interests generally. He chose him to relate the victory over the Irish rebels at Kinsale to Elizabeth I in December of 1601. Boyle purchased at a bargain price from Sir Walter Raleigh fertile lands in cos. Cork, Waterford and Tipperary, and he managed these with great skill. He was created a knight in 1603, and in this year he also married his second wife. Various high of®ces followed, culminating in his creation on 6 October 1620 as Viscount Dungarvan and ®rst earl of Cork. Though ®nancially checked at several turns by Sir Thomas Wentworth, against whom Boyle quietly but strenuously intrigued, he went in due course as a witness to Wentworth's trial in London in 1641. Shortly after his return, the 1641 rebellion broke out, and he took arms against the rebels with his sons. He died on 15 September 1643, and is buried in St Mary's Church, Youghal, co. Cork. The materials described here, apart from Boyle's diaries, are accounts and estate papers prepared by various of his stewards. CHL, Lismore Papers, Volume 1 (items 136 and 160); item 136 was copied by Thomas Jarie for 10 June 1605, and item 160 by John Robins for 20 March 1606 [1396 ± 20 March 1606]; English; paper; item 136 is a bifolium, endorsed: To Jarie his Accompt of 70li sr; item 160 is also a bifolium, endorsed: Robins Accompt of xxxiiijli dd 20 martij 1605; modern pencil foliation; item 136: 305mm 6 202mm; item 160: 405mm 6 155mm; no decoration; in good condition; Volume 1 is in two parts, each bound in a modern brown binder, and both preserved in a box. CHL, Lismore Papers, Volume 8 (items 55 and 107); both items were copied by the same scribe, probably Abraham Bates, for 11 June and 10 August 1617 respectively [4 April 1617 ± 23 March 1618]; English; paper; item 55 is a single sheet, endorsed: 17 Junij 1617 Abrahams accompt at the sittinge h.jab' Corcke this xxjth of June 1617; item 107 is also a single sheet, endorsed: 25 Augusti 1617 Abrahams accompt of my Chardges to the Assizes of Corck; unnumbered; item 55: 314mm 6 206mm; item 107: 315mm 6 204mm; no decoration; in good condition; Volume 8 comprises 208 unbound items, each item numbered in red and arranged in chronological order, and preserved in a cardboard box. CHL, Lismore Papers, Volume 9 (item 80); item 80 was probably copied by Robert Mintrems, 8 October 1618 [25 March 1618 ± 10 March 1619]; English; paper; bifolium, endorsed: 8.t October 1618 Robert Mintrems eReceiptf accompte for Receiptes and disbursement at the Sessions at Bandon Bridge; unnumbered; 307mm 6 204mm; no decoration; in good condition; Volume 9 comprises 187 unbound items, each item numbered in red and arranged in chronological order, and preserved in a cardboard box. CHL, Lismore Papers, Volume 14 (item 1); item 1 was copied by Thomas Farmer, 25 March 1623 [25 March 1623 ± 24 March 1624]; English; paper; bifolium, endorsed: xxvo Marcij 1623 A bill of my disbursments, with the remayn of moneys yet in my Custodie. delivered vp to your Lordship the daie


110

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and year above written. Th ffarmer./; unnumbered; 302mm 6 206mm; no decoration; in fair condition but the ink is faint, and there is some tearing along crease lines; Volume 14 comprises 339 unbound items, each item numbered in red and arranged in chronological order, and preserved in a cardboard box. CHL, Lismore Papers, Volume 19 (item 105); item 105 was probably copied by John Walley, as part of his weekly accounts and disbursements from 29 September 1630 to 27 January 1639 [29 September 1630 ± 24 March 1639]; English; paper; 18; unnumbered; 350mm 6 234mm; no decoration; in fair condition, but there is some staining and a little tearing; Volume 19 comprises 133 unbound items, each item numbered in red and arranged in chronological order, and preserved in a cardboard box. CHL, Lismore Papers, Volume 25; diary written by Sir Richard Boyle, and bearing dates between 24 March 1577 and 23 December 1623; English; paper; iii + 176 + ii; seventeenth-century ink pagination; 336mm 6 222mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, but leaves towards the end are repaired with lisse and the very last leaves are fragmentary; preserved in a nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: EARL | OF | CORK'S | JOURNAL CHL, Lismore Papers, Volume 26; diary written by Sir Richard Boyle, and bearing dates between 20 May 1573 and 1 January 1634; English; paper; i + 188 + i; seventeenth-century ink pagination; 350mm 6 230mm; no decoration; in good condition; preserved in an eighteenth-century binding of plain parchment, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: E. OF CORK'S | MSS. | JOURNALS. | VOL. | 2. CHL, Lismore Papers, Volume 27; diary written by Sir Richard Boyle, and bearing dates between 1 January 1634 and 29 September 1643; English; paper; i + 197 + viii; seventeenth-century ink pagination, running 1±391 (odd pages only), and completed in modern pencil, running 393±7; 342mm 6 243mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though the opening and ®nal leaves are repaired with lisse; preserved in an eighteenth-century binding of plain parchment, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: E. OF CORK | MSS. | JOURNAL | VOL. | 3. NLI, MSS 6240 and 6243 (twin manuscripts); both copied by John Walley, 25 March 1639 ± 28 September 1641; English; paper; MS 6240: 177; MS 6243: 194; unnumbered; 380mm 6 250mm; no decoration; in good condition; seventeenth-century bindings of plain parchment over cardboard, originally held shut (to judge by fragments on MS 6234) by two green fabric fastening thongs, now missing; in a seventeenth-century hand on the front cover of MS 6240 is written in ink: The Booke of accounptes [the date 1639 appears, and the monogram IW appears twice]; on the spine of MS 6240 is written in modern ink: MS 6240 [underneath which is af®xed a seventeenth-century label: 1639]; in a seventeenth-century hand on the front cover of MS 6243 is written in ink: The Booke of acounptes concerninge Lif®nen fordge and the slittinge milne [the date 1639 appears, and the monograms RC and BW]; on the spine of MS 6243 is written in modern ink: MS 6243


4.10 Households

111

NLI, MS 6895; copied mainly by one scribe, possibly Thomas Jarie, 24 June 1604 ± 30 September 1610; English; paper; 48; seventeenth-century ink pagination on even pages only; 348mm 6 239mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though the outer leaves are stained and damaged; fragments of a seventeenth-century paper cover, detached, are extant front and back; preserved in a modern blue Manila folder, on the front of which is written in ink: MS 6895 NLI, MS 6897; copied mainly by John Walley, with a few entries in the hand of Sir Richard Boyle, 29 September 1626 ± 28 September 1632; English; paper; 325 + i (detached); unnumbered (the foliation adopted in the Repertory begins counting at the very ®rst leaf of the manuscript); 380mm 6 248mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though the binding is now detached; seventeenth-century binding of white skin over cardboard, on the front cover of which is written in a seventeenth-century hand in ink: A WEEKE BOOKE OF RECEIPTES AND DIhSBURSEMENjTES | R 1626 C; and on the spine of which is af®xed a label: 1626 | 1; beneath this is af®xed a label: Ms 6897 NLI, MS 6898; copied mainly by John Walley, 29 September 1631 ± 28 September 1636, with a memorandum, dated 12 May 1634, on f. [169v] in the hand of Sir Richard Boyle; English; paper; 333; unnumbered (the foliation adopted in the Repertory begins counting at the very ®rst leaf of the manuscript); 352mm 6 234mm; no decoration; in good condition; seventeenthcentury binding of brown leather on wooden boards, on the front cover of which is written in a seventeenth-century hand in ink: RICHARD EARLE OF CORKE; [various modern annotations on the front cover are not noticed here]; and on the spine of which is af®xed a label: 1631; beneath this is af®xed a label: 2 NLI, MS 6899; copied by John Walley, 29 September 1636 ± 24 March 1638; English; paper; 197; unnumbered (the foliation adopted in the Repertory begins counting at the very ®rst leaf of the manuscript); 378mm 6 252mm; no decoration; in good condition; seventeenth-century binding of white skin over cardboard, with traces of two green fabric fastening thongs, and on the front cover of which is written in a seventeenth-century hand in ink: RC | The Booke of accoumptes | concerninge the furnace and | fordge at killmaleo | No 29 | [the monogram BW. appears] | 1626; and on the spine of which is written in ink: MS. 6899; above this is af®xed a label: 3 NLI, MS 6900; copied by John Walley, 29 September 1641 ± 29 March 1645; English; paper; 181; unnumbered (the foliation adopted in the Repertory begins counting at the very ®rst leaf of the manuscript); 436mm 6 324mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though the binding is loose and scuffed; seventeenth-century binding of white skin over cardboard, with traces of two green fabric fastening thongs, and on the front cover of which is written in a seventeenth-century hand in ink: RC | No 29; and on the spine of which is written in ink: MS 6900; beneath this is af®xed lengthways a label: 1642


112

4. The Documents

Butler The Butler household accounts and inventories described here (apart from the Red Book of Ormond, described under a heading of its own) coincide with the last years of Walter Butler (1569±1633), eleventh earl of Ormond. On his father's death and before he was yet one year old, Walter Butler was placed under the guardianship of his uncle Thomas Butler, tenth earl of Ormond. In 1599, he led a portion of his uncle's army, defeating Redmond Bourke at Ormond, and on another occasion driving him from his castle of Drehednefarney. In 1600, Owen Grane and the O'Mores entered Kilkenny, and burnt his uncle's house at Bowlike. Butler fell upon them and recovered much of what they had plundered. He succeeded to the earldom of Ormond and Ossory on the death of his uncle in 1614, but the succession was successfully contested by Sir Richard Preston (later sixteenth earl of Desmond) before James I. Butler refused to recognize James's award, and was consequently committed to the Fleet prison in 1617, where he remained until 1625, when a large part of his estate was restored to him (the 1630 inventory of the earl of Desmond's chattels in Kilkenny Castle which is contained in NLI, MS 2552, described below, witnesses to this temporary acquisition of the castle and other Ormond estates by the earls of Desmond). Butler lived for a short while afterwards in his grandson's house in Drury Lane in London, but returned to Ireland, where he died at Carrick on 24 February 1633. He is buried in Kilkenny. The Red Book of Ormond The Red Book of Ormond is essentially a terrier and cartulary pertaining to the Butler-Ormonds, and is the oldest Irish family register of its kind extant. It also contains records of quitclaims, grants and covenants. NLI, MS 2530; documents from the twelfth century (27 December 1192) onwards, mainly of Ormond concern, copied by one main scribe in the fourteenth century, and with some additions by various others in the ®fteenth and sixteenth centuries (the latest date is 20 August 1547); Latin (English); parchment; iv + 55 + iv; modern ink foliation; 280mm 6 198mm; no decoration; in fair condition, but the leaves have been shrivelled by ®re, and are mounted in frames; nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: RENTALIA | ET | CARTULARIUM | TERRARUM | PRáNOBILIS | FAMILIá | LE BOTILLER, | POSTEA COMITUM | ORMONDIá, | IN HIBERNIA. NLI, MS 2549; copied probably by John Shee, 25 February 1630 ± 26 January 1633; English; paper; iv + 36 + xii; modern pencil foliation; 400mm 6 165mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, but there is some slight damage at the top right-hand corner of leaves, some leaves are strengthened with lisse and some damp mottled; eighteenth- or nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is stamped lengthways in gold: HOUSEHOLD ACCOUNTS 1629. ± 1632. NLI, MS 2552; copied by various scribes, 6 March 1628 ± 12 May 1652; English; paper; iii + 24 + vii; modern pencil foliation; f. 9: 570mm 6 210mm;


4.10 Households

113

no decoration; generally in good condition, though some leaves are strengthened with paper reinforcements; eighteenth- or nineteenth-century binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is stamped lengthways in gold: INVENTORIES. 1628. ± 1652. | VOL. I; added in modern ink between: INVENTORIES. 1628. ± 1652.; and: VOL. I; is: Ms. 2552 Devereux Sir Walter Devereux (1541±1576), ®rst earl of Essex and second Viscount Hereford, was raised on his family's estate in Wales. He came to court on Elizabeth I's accession, and performed various military services for her in England. In 1573, he undertook to colonize Ulster as a private adventurer and to bring it under English control, having been granted in return territory in co. Antrim on favourable terms. (A year earlier, a somewhat similar grant had been made to Sir Thomas Smith for the colonization of the Ards, co. Down, a project which had met with no success.) Part of Devereux's expedition left England in 1573, but storms scattered his ships and he landed himself with dif®culty at Carrickfergus. His attempts to secure the region, like Sir Thomas Smith's before him, foundered; his soldiers were fractious and the Lord Deputy, Sir William Fitzwilliam (on whom see below), who had never approved Devereux's plans, refused aid. Devereux appealed to the queen, who ordered Fitzwilliam to assist. When early in 1574 Devereux called upon Fitzwilliam, the latter sent only a perfunctory band of Palesmen, and these deserted. With disease and famine rife in his Carrickfergus base, Devereux escaped to the Pale in 1574 with what remained of his army. Fitzwilliam asked him to visit Gerald FitzJames FitzGerald, fourteenth earl of Desmond, in June of that year on a fact-®nding mission to see if Desmond's designs could be ascertained. After this embassy, Devereux turned to Ulster once again. In October he invited one of his Irish enemies, Mac Phelim, to a conference in Belfast, and at the banquet laid on for the occasion had Mac Phelim, his wife and his brother, seized and sent to Dublin where they were subsequently executed. Elizabeth's Ulster policy vacillated, however, and in May 1575, she ®nally wrote to Devereux telling him that his enterprise was at an end. When in November 1575 the Lord Deputy Sir Henry Sidney (on whom see below) visited the region that Devereux had endeavoured to plant, he found it quite uninhabited. Devereux retired to his Welsh estate the same November, yet he still pressed on with his un®nished Irish business. He was appointed earl marshal of Ireland by Elizabeth in 1576, and after selling some of his estate to pay off debts, he returned to Dublin in July of that year. However, stricken by dysentry, he died on 22 September 1576, and lies buried at Carmarthen. PRO, SP 65/9; copied by one scribe, 1 May ± 31 October 1575; English; paper; iv + 140 + iv; stamped ink foliation; 419mm 6 287mm; display script and strapwork are sometimes used on litterae notabiliores; in good condition; sixteenth-century binding of plain parchment, with traces of two red and white fabric fastening thongs, and on the front cover of which is written in display script, embellished with strapwork (incipit): The prouince | of vllester within | The Realme of | Ireland | The chargies of | of the Quenes Maiestie in | That prouince and the like | of the Earle of Essex Lorde | generall there . . . ; also


114

4. The Documents

on the front cover is af®xed a label: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY Fitzwilliam Sir William Fitzwilliam (1526±99) had formed a link with Ireland already by 1547, when he leased some land there. He was made vice-treasurer and treasurer at wars in Ireland, a post he held from 24 July 1559 to 1 April 1573. He was also elected MP for co. Carlow in 1559. During absences of Sir Thomas Radcliffe, third earl of Sussex and Lord Deputy of Ireland, between 1560 and 1562, Fitzwilliam was appointed Lord Justice by Elizabeth I. Throughout the 1560s he made several visits to England, but returned to Ireland early in 1571, and was appointed Lord Justice again at the beginning of April on the departure of his brother-in-law, the Lord Deputy Sir Henry Sidney (on whom see below). Fitzwilliam came himself to be appointed Lord Deputy and took the oath in January 1572. The of®ce was a costly one, nor was he in the best of health. He campaigned successfully in 1574 against Gerald FitzJames FitzGerald, fourteenth earl of Desmond, obliging him to submit at Cork in September of the same year. Nevertheless, Lady Fitzwilliam, concerned for her husband's health, went to England in 1575 to secure his recall. Her entreaties were heeded, and Sir Henry Sidney returned as Lord Deputy on 12 September 1575. After that, Fitzwilliam remained in England for twelve years, but on 17 February 1588 he was for a second time appointed Lord Deputy, and returned to Dublin on 23 June 1588 (the previous Lord Deputy, Sir John Perrot, had just vacated of®ce; on whom see below). Fitzwilliam's quarrel during this period with Sir Richard Bingham, lord president of Connacht, intrudes into the Repertory (see section 5.4 under Galway, s.a. 1589). Bingham had been charged with extreme harshness in the conduct of his presidency, so Fitzwilliam went out to pacify the region and enquire into Bingham's conduct. Bingham protested his innocence of the charges alleged against him, and he prevailed, causing Fitzwilliam to be reprimanded by Elizabeth. After some six years in of®ce as Lord Deputy, Fitzwilliam returned very sick to England in 1594, and died at Milton in 1599. All the documents except one (NRO, MS Fitzwilliam Irish 55) are sets of household accounts prepared during his second sojourn as Lord Deputy of Ireland. The one exception, again household accounts, belongs to the end of the period of his ®rst appointment to the of®ce of Lord Deputy. Though the documents span the better part of twenty years, all were prepared by the same household steward, Alexander Westlake. NRO, MS Fitzwilliam Irish 30; copied probably by Alexander Westlake, 19 April 1590 ± 4 April 1591; English; parchment (wrapper) and paper (sheets); wrapper + 34 sheets gathered at the head and sewn with string in a sheaf; unnumbered; *505mm 6 305mm; strapwork is applied to some opening litterae notabiliores; in fair condition, but in places sheets have been gnawed, especially around the bottom edges; preserved in a contemporary parchment wrapper, on which is written in a sixteenth-century hand in display script with strapwork: Irelande Thaccompt of Alexander Westlake; also in modern pencil: 30 | 1590


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NRO, MS Fitzwilliam Irish 31; copied probably by Alexander Westlake, 5 April ± 2 October 1591; English; parchment (wrapper) and paper (sheets); wrapper + 21 (wrapper added to 21); sheets gathered at the head and sewn with string in a sheaf; unnumbered; 400mm 6 303mm; strapwork is applied to some opening litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, if a little stained; preserved in a contemporary parchment wrapper, on which is written in a sixteenth-century hand: Thof®ce of ye Stewarde of Thoushould to the Right honorable ye Lord Deputy of Irelande Thaccompte of Alexander Westelake Esquire . . . for half a yeare wantinge vj dayes begining the vth. of Aprell 1591 and endinge the seconde of October following Anno 1591; also in modern pencil: 31 NRO, MS Fitzwilliam Irish 32; copied probably by Alexander Westlake, 28 November ± 25 December 1591; English; parchment (wrapper) and paper (sheets); wrapper + 14 (wrapper added to 14); sheets gathered at the head and sewn with string in a sheaf; unnumbered; 393mm 6 271mm; strapwork is applied to some opening litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, though the wrapper is damaged; preserved in a contemporary parchment wrapper, on which is written in modern pencil: Nov ± Dec | 1591 | 32 NRO, MS Fitzwilliam Irish 33; copied probably by Alexander Westlake, 26 December 1591 ± 22 January 1592; English; parchment (wrapper) and paper (sheets); wrapper + 10 (wrapper added to 10); sheets gathered at the head and sewn with string in a sheaf; unnumbered; 390mm 6 300mm; strapwork is applied to some opening litterae notabiliores; in good condition; preserved in a contemporary parchment wrapper, on which is written in a sixteenth-century hand: Thof®ce of the Stewarde of Houshoulde to the Right honorable the Lord Deputy of Irelande Thaccompte of Alexander Westelake Esquire . . . for one Monthe Conteynynge xxviij Dayes begining ye xxvjth of December 1591 and endinge the xxijth of January Ffollhowingje Anno 1591; also in modern pencil: 33 NRO, MS Fitzwilliam Irish 34; copied probably by Alexander Westlake, 23 January ± 19 February 1592; English; parchment (wrapper) and paper (sheets); wrapper + 11 (wrapper added to 11); sheets gathered at the head and sewn with string in a sheaf; unnumbered; 380mm 6 270mm; strapwork is applied to some opening litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, though there is some staining; preserved in a contemporary parchment wrapper, on which is written in a sixteenth-century hand: Thof®ce of the Stewarde of Houshoulde to the Right honorable the Lord Deputy of Ireland Thaccompte of Alexander Westelake Esquire . . . for one Moneth Conteyninge xxviij dayes begining ye xxhiijj of January 1591 and endinge the xix th of Ffebruary followinge Anno 1591; also in modern pencil: 34 34 | Jan ± Feb | 1591 [2] NRO, MS Fitzwilliam Irish 35; copied probably by Alexander Westlake, 20 February ± 18 March 1592; English; paper; 9; sheets gathered at the head and sewn with string in a sheaf; unnumbered; 405mm 6 303mm; strapwork is applied to some opening litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, though there is some dirtying; on the dorse of the ninth sheet is written in modern pencil: Feb ± March | 1591 (2) | 35


116

4. The Documents

NRO, MS Fitzwilliam Irish 36; copied probably by Alexander Westlake, 18 February ± 17 March 1593; English; paper; 10; sheets gathered at the head and sewn with string in a sheaf; unnumbered; 405mm 6 285mm; strapwork is applied to some opening litterae notabiliores; in good condition; on the dorse of the tenth sheet is written in modern pencil: Feb ± March | 1592 [3] | 36 NRO, MS Fitzwilliam Irish 37; copied probably by Alexander Westlake, 19 March ± 15 April 1593; English; paper; 12; sheets gathered at the head and sewn with string in a sheaf; unnumbered; 409mm 6 301mm; display script is used for litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, though the bottom edges are a little frayed; on the dorse of the twelfth sheet is written in modern pencil: Mar. 91 (2) ± Apr 1592 | 37 NRO, MS Fitzwilliam Irish 38; copied probably by Alexander Westlake, 11 June ± 8 July 1592; English; parchment (wrapper) and paper (sheets); wrapper + 11 (wrapper added to 11); sheets gathered at the head and sewn with string in a sheaf; unnumbered; 398mm 6 303mm; strapwork is applied to some opening litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, though there is some dirtying; preserved in a contemporary parchment wrapper, on which is written in a sixteenth-century hand: Thof®ce of the Stewarde of Houshoulde to the Right honorable the Lord Deputy of Irelande Thaccompte of Alexander Westelake Esquire . . . for one whole Monethe Conteyninge xxviij Dayes begining the vjth of June and endinge the viijth of July nexte followinge Anno 1592; also in modern pencil: 38 NRO, MS Fitzwilliam Irish 41; copied probably by Alexander Westlake, 1 ± 28 October 1592; English; parchment (wrapper) and paper (sheets); wrapper + 10 (wrapper added to 10); sheets gathered at the head and sewn with string in a sheaf; unnumbered; *410mm 6 305mm; strapwork is applied to some opening litterae notabiliores and on wrapper; generally in good condition, but in places the wrapper and some sheets have been gnawed; preserved in a contemporary parchment wrapper, on which is written in a sixteenth-century hand: Thof®ce of the Steward of Houshoulde hto thej Right honohrable thej Lord Dephuty ofj Ireland Thaccompte of Alexander Westelake Esquire . . . for one whole Monethe Conteyninge xxviij Dayes begining ye ®rst of October and endinge the xxviijth of the same followinge Anno 1592; also in modern pencil: 41 41 NRO, MS Fitzwilliam Irish 42; copied probably by Alexander Westlake, 3 October ± 27 November 1591; English; parchment (wrapper) and paper (sheets); wrapper + 12 (wrapper added to 12); sheets gathered at the head and sewn with string in a sheaf; unnumbered; 390mm 6 290mm; strapwork is applied to some opening litterae notabiliores; in good condition; preserved in a contemporary parchment wrapper, on which is written in a sixteenth-century hand: Thof®ce of ye Stewarde of Houshould to the Right honorable ye Lord Deputy of Ireland Thaccompte of Alexander Westelake Esquire . . . for two monthes Conteyninge lvj Dayes begining ye iijde of October 1591 and endinge the xxvijth of November followinge Anno 159h2j; also in modern pencil: 42 NRO, MS Fitzwilliam Irish 44; copied probably by Alexander Westlake, 5 August ± 1 September 1593; English; parchment (wrapper) and paper


4.10 Households

117

(sheets); wrapper + 11 (wrapper added to 11); sheets gathered at the head and sewn with string in a sheaf; unnumbered; 390mm 6 270mm; strapwork is applied to some opening litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, though some pieces are missing from the left edge of some sheets; preserved in a contemporary parchment wrapper, on which is written in a sixteenth-century hand: Thof®ce of the Stewarde of hHoujshoulde to the hRightj honorable the hLordj Deputy of Irelande Thaccompte of Alexander Westelake Esquire . . . for one monethe conteyninge xxviij dayes begining the vth of Auguste 1593 and endinge the ®rste of September 1593 nexte followinge Anno Domini 1593; also in modern pencil: 44 | 1593 NRO, MS Fitzwilliam Irish 45; copied probably by Alexander Westlake, 12 May ± 8 June 1594; English; fragments of parchment (wrapper) and paper (sheets); fragmentary wrapper + 8 (wrapper fragments on 8); sheets gathered at the head and sewn with string in a sheaf; unnumbered; 410mm 6 300mm; strapwork is applied to some opening litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, apart from the fragmentary wrapper; on the dorse of sheet [8] is written in modern pencil: 45 | 1594 NRO, MS Fitzwilliam Irish 55; copied probably by Alexander Westlake, 1 January 1574 ± 31 December 1575 (a memorandum about hostings to the north of Ireland, inserted before the ®rst leaf and uncounted here, bears dates between 12 September 1560 and September 1561); English; paper and parchment; i + 86 + ii (last endleaf is of medieval parchment); unnumbered; 290mm 6 200mm; strapwork is applied to some opening litterae notabiliores; in good condition; contemporary binding of parchment over cardboard covers, on the front cover of which is written in a sixteenth-century hand: A booke of Ordenarye payments Perrot Sir John Perrot (1527?-1592), reputedly the bastard son of Henry VIII, was educated at St David's in Wales. He was presented at court, ®rst to Henry VIII and then after Henry's death to Edward VI, who knighted him at his coronation. For a short time in the reign of Mary he was committed to the Fleet prison for sheltering heretics. On his release he served under the earl of Pembroke in France. He was chosen to be one of the bearers of the canopy of state at the coronation of Elizabeth I. During the ®rst years of the new queen's reign, his time was divided between attendance at court and his Pembrokeshire estate. After the rebellion in Ireland of the captain of the Desmond FitzGeralds, James Fitzmaurice FitzGerald, in 1568, Elizabeth decided to establish a presidential government in Munster, and Perrot was offered the post in 1570. He arrived in Dublin in 1571, took his oath before Sir Henry Sidney (on whom see below), proceeded to Cork, and subsequently to Kilmallock, recently burned by Fitzmaurice. He encouraged the fugitive inhabitants there to return and fortify their town. He waged various campaigns in Munster against Fitzmaurice, who eventually submitted, if temporarily, and accepted a pardon. Perrot returned to England and Wales in July 1573. His next major involvement in Irish affairs came in 1584 when he was appointed Lord Deputy. He again undertook extensive campaigns,


118

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this time mainly in Ulster. But his relations with certain of the power-brokers of the English administration in Ireland were stormy, and sowed the seeds of his eventual downfall. Sir William Fitzwilliam was appointed to succeed Perrot as Lord Deputy on 17 February 1588, arriving in Ireland later that year. Perrot surrendered the sword of state to him on 30 June 1588, and returned to England. Treason charges had been preferred against him, and he died in London a prisoner in the Tower in 1592. The surviving Perrot household documents of concern to the Repertory are a set of accounts dating from the period of his incumbency as Lord Deputy, and a description of the composition of his household, dating c. 1584±5. PRO, SP 63/119 (item 32.II.); copied by one scribe, ?24 September 1585 [2±30 September 1585]; English; paper; i + 185 + i; modern ink foliation; 551mm 6 165mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in black: IRELAND. | ELIZABETH. | 1585. | SEPTEMBER.; above this are af®xed the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 119; above this is af®xed a label: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY Bodl., MS Add. C. 39; miscellaneous documents concerning domestic and state matters in Ireland, copied by one scribe, c. 1570±87; English (Latin); paper; 70; modern pencil foliation; 301mm 6 206mm; rubrication features occasionally, as well as some strapwork and display script on litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, though approximately 100 leaves have been excised between ff. 69 and 70; seventeenth-century binding of brown leather, originally fastened with three green fabric thongs, only traces of which remain, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: MS. | Add. C. | 39 Sidney Sir Henry Sidney (1529±86) spent his boyhood at court, where he was much in the company of the young Prince Edward. On Edward's accession in 1547, Sidney was made a gentleman of the privy chamber. He was knighted in 1550, and married the following year. He went to France in 1551 (as did Sir John Perrot) to assist in the negotiations for the marriage of Edward VI with the daughter of Henry II. On Mary's proclamation as queen in 1553, he promptly tendered her his loyalty, and so escaped the fate that befell many members of his wife's family. In 1554 he went to Spain to seek rati®cation of the marriage articles drawn up between Mary and the Spanish King Philip, and later that year, all the grants made to him by Edward VI were con®rmed in recognition of his service. (King Philip even stood as godfather to Sidney's eldest and more famous son, Philip.) Sidney accompanied Sir Thomas Radcliffe, third earl of Sussex, to Dublin in 1556 in the capacity of vice-treasurer and member of the Irish Council after Sussex had been appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland, and he followed Sussex on various Ulster campaigns. During an absence of Sussex in England, Sidney was appointed Lord Justice, and surendered the sword of state to Sussex again on his return. However, upon Mary's death in 1558, Sidney was once more entrusted with the sword, and con®rmed in his of®ce by Elizabeth I on her accession later the same year. Sussex returned to Ireland in 1559 and Sidney, who had in the meanwhile been appointed lord president of the Welsh


4.10 Households

119

Marches, surrendered his vice-treasurership to his brother-in-law Sir William Fitzwilliam and left for home. He ®xed his Welsh residence at Ludlow Castle, but contrived to spend much time at court. He was engaged on various diplomatic missions from 1562, but came back to Ireland late in 1565 as Lord Deputy. A progress through Waterford, Youghal, Limerick, Galway and Athlone promptly followed, and after that a visit to Ulster. Upon returning to Dublin, he had the castle rebuilt. Early in October 1567, he went back to the court in London, but was at ®rst coolly received and his policies in Ireland criticized. He retired for a while to his family seat at Penshurst, but by the spring of 1568, he had reinstated himself at court again, and was once more appointed Lord Deputy. He landed at Carrickfergus on 6 September, and formally received the sword of state on 28 October. Late in 1568, he visited Kilkenny and Waterford. The summer of 1569 saw him on campaigns in the south, and passing through Kilkenny again on two occasions. But Sidney had become disaffected by the attention that Elizabeth I was giving to the complaints made against him by Sir Thomas Butler, tenth earl of Ormond, and he left Dublin for England again on 25 March 1571, having seen Sir John Perrot installed as president of Munster and having left his brother-in-law Sir William Fitzwilliam in charge. Once more Sidney divided his time between Wales and the London court, but in due course was for the third time appointed Lord Deputy. He landed near Dublin on 14 September 1575, and received the sword from Fitzwilliam in Drogheda, on account of a plague which was then raging in Dublin. He set out at once to pacify Ulster, now in some chaos after the failed attempts at colonization by Sir Thomas Smith and the ®rst earl of Essex, Sir Walter Devereux. Having achieved a temporary peace, he returned to Dublin, but promptly set out again for Kilkenny, where he was courteously entertained by Ormond. From there he went to Waterford, to Cork (where he spent Christmas) and then on to Limerick, where he was received with pomp on 4 February 1576. He left Limerick later that month, passed through Athlone, and was back in Dublin by mid April 1576. At Christmastide in 1577, he was in Kilkenny, negotiating terms of agreement between the earl of Desmond and the current president of Munster. But Elizabeth was ®nding Sidney's administration too expensive, and his letter of recall arrived on 23 April 1578. He put his affairs in Ireland in order and surrendered the sword in September of the same year. Eventually he retired to Ludlow Castle, where he died on 5 May 1586. His body was removed for burial at Penshurst on Elizabeth I's orders. The documents surveyed here are mainly from his household accounts, and those that can be dated with con®dence fall largely within the earlier periods of Sidney's Irish administration. KAO, U 1475 018; copied probably by Robert Holdiche, in a formal bookkeeping hand, 5 April 1556 ± 29 September 1559; English; paper; 27; modern pencil foliation; 580mm 6 403mm; strapwork is employed on some litterae notabiliores throughout; in good condition; preserved in a modern Manila binding. KAO, U 1475 021; copied probably by Robert Holdiche, in a formal bookkeeping hand, 1557±8; English; paper; 13; unnumbered; 210mm 6 300mm; no decoration; in good condition; preserved with four other items in a modern Manila folder, on the front cover of which is written in pencil: 1560


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4. The Documents

KAO, U 1475 025/1; copied probably by Robert Holdiche, in a formal bookkeeping hand, 19 July 1556 ± 1 January 1558; English; paper; 220 + i (thirteenth-century parchment endleaf); unnumbered, the notional foliation ascribed here counted from the very ®rst (blank) page with which the manuscript begins; 285mm 6 223mm; no decoration; in good condition; preserved in a sixteenth-century parchment binding, reinforced with three leather thongs across the spine. KAO, U 1475 027/3; copied by one scribe, with `Rewarde' notices written in the formal book-keeping hand of Robert Holdiche opposite some entries in the lefthand margin, 25 April ± 18 July 1559; English; paper; 11; unnumbered; 305mm 6 208mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, but a vertical tear runs from the top to the middle of each leaf; preserved with three other items in a modern Manila folder, on the front of which is written in ink: U 1475 027/1±4 KAO, U 1475 028/1; copied probably by Arkenval (also Arkinvald) Perken, ?1556 ± 30 August 1559 (accounts directed to Robert Holdiche, and signed by A. Sydney); English; paper; 7; unnumbered; 310mm 6 220mm; no decoration; in good condition; stitched loosely at the head in a sheaf; preserved with twenty-nine other items in a modern Manila folder, on the front cover of which is written in ink: U 1475 028/1±30 KAO, U 1475 028/14; copied by one scribe, the same as was responsible for U 1475 028/19 below, and who was conceivably Robert Holdiche, though here writing less formally (accounts directed to Robert Holdiche, and signed by A. Sydney), possibly between 1556 and 1558; English; paper; 3; unnumbered; 310mm 6 210mm; no decoration; in good condition; bifolium with inserted singleton; preserved with twenty-nine other items in a modern Manila folder, on the front cover of which is written in ink: U 1475 028/1±30 KAO, U 1475 028/19; copied by one scribe, the same as was responsible for U 1475 028/14 above, and who was conceivably Robert Holdiche, though here writing less formally (accounts directed to Robert Holdiche), and bearing various dates from 23 September in either 1556, 1557 or 1558; English; paper; 2; unnumbered; 302mm 6 210mm; no decoration; in good condition; bifolium; preserved with twenty-nine other items in a modern Manila folder, on the front cover of which is written in ink: U 1475 028/1±30 KAO, U 1475 028/44; copied by one scribe, either c. 4 April 1558±9, 1566±7 or 1569±70 (accounts directed to Robert Holdiche); English; paper; 1; unnumbered; 315mm 6 210mm; no decoration; in good condition; single sheet; preserved with sixty-®ve other items in a modern Manila folder, on the front cover of which is written in ink: U 1475 028/31±92 KAO, U 1475 028/47; copied by one scribe, possibly between May 1556 and March 1557 or between July 1557 and 30 August 1559 (accounts directed to Robert Holdiche); English; paper; 1; unnumbered; 200mm 6 172mm; no decoration; in good condition; single sheet; preserved with sixty-®ve other items in a modern Manila folder, on the front cover of which is written in ink: U 1475 028/31±92 KAO, U 1475 028/57; copied by one scribe, probably between either May 1556 and March 1557 or July 1557 and 30 August 1559 (accounts directed to Robert


4.11 Irish State Papers

121

Holdiche); English; paper; 1; unnumbered; 308mm 6 212mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, but there is a little staining; single sheet; preserved with sixty-®ve other items in a modern Manila folder, on the front cover of which is written in ink: U 1475 028/31±92 KAO, U 1475 031; copied by one scribe, February 1565 ± 29 September 1568; English; paper; i + 105 + i; sixteenth-century ink foliation; 280mm 6 378mm; strapwork is applied to some litterae notabiliores; in good condition; preserved in a sixteenth-century parchment binding with traces of two green fabric fastening thongs, and on the front cover of which is written in ink in a sixteenth-century hand: A book of Accompts of housholde In Irelande from August 1566 vntyll September 1568 KAO, U 1475 034; copied by various scribes, ?29 September 1567 ± 29 September 1570; English; paper; i + 144 + i; unnumbered; 430mm 6 310mm; strapwork is applied to some litterae notabiliores throughout; in good condition; preserved in a modern Manila binding, on the front cover of which is written in pencil: U 1475 | 034 4.11 Irish State Papers The documents preserved in the Irish State Papers comprise a miscellaneous collection which traverses various aspects of the government and administration of Ireland. The documents include, inter alia, letters, tracts, legal instruments and accounts. Rather than distribute their descriptions between the different subject categories under which they might technically be classed, it has seemed preferable to keep them together and to treat them as a repository, with one sole exception: the household accounts of Sir Walter Devereux, ®rst earl of Essex and second Viscount Hereford, which have been described under Households (section 4.10 above). In presenting each description, the date of the particular Repertory item is given, followed by the earliest and latest dates of the contents of the whole volume in square brackets. The material on which a Repertory item is written is speci®ed, not the materials of the entire volume. Measurements similarly refer only to Repertory items within a particular volume, as do likewise the number of scribes at work, the language(s) employed, the decoration used and the condition of the document(s). Unless otherwise stated, documents in Irish State Paper volumes may be assumed to have been mounted on guards. PRO, SP 60/3 (item 18); copied by one scribe, 28 April 1536 [2 January ± 24 November 1536]; English; paper; i + 206 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; f. 33: 213mm 6 304mm; no decoration; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of green half leather, on the front cover of which is stamped in ink: PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE; and on the spine of which is stamped in ink: IRELAND. | HEN. VIII. | 1536; above this are af®xed the labels: S.P.; and: 60; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 3 PRO, SP 60/4 (item 32); copied by one scribe, July 1537 [24 January ± 31 July 1537]; English; paper; i + 188 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; 305mm 6 206mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though mottled by damp;


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4. The Documents

nineteenth-century binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in black: IRELAND. | HEN. VIII. | 1537. | JAN. ± JULY; above this are af®xed the labels: hS.jP.; and: 60; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY PRO, SP 60/9 (item 41.I.); copied by one scribe, ¦ August 1540 [2 January ± 30 December 1540]; English; paper; i + 275 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; 304mm 6 215mm; no decoration; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in black: IRELAND. | HEN. VIII. | 1540.; above this are af®xed the labels: S.P.; and: 60; at the bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; and: No. 9 PRO, SP 61/2 (item 18); copied by one scribe, 12 July 1541 [12 July 1541 ± 10 December 1550]; English; paper; ii + 201 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; 303mm 6 209mm; a little display script is used; in good condition; modern binding of green cloth, the front and back covers of which are detached, and on the spine of which is stamped in black: IRELAND. | EDWARD VI. | 1549 | & | 1550. | S. P. O. | 1861.; above this are af®xed the labels: S.P.; and: 61; at the bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; and: 2 PRO, SP 63/3 (item 67); copied by one scribe, ?5 May 1561 [13 January ± 30 May 1561]; English; paper; ii + 210 + ii; modern stamped ink foliation; f. 176: 305mm 6 209mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though the second leaf of the document is a little torn at the edge along what was an original crease line; modern binding of green cloth, on the spine of which is stamped on a green leather panel in gold: IRELAND | ELIZABETH | 1561 | JAN-MAY; above this are af®xed the labels: S.P.; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 3 PRO, SP 63/9 (items 74 and 76); each item is copied by one scribe, item 74, ?17 December 1563 and item 76, 20 December 1563 [8 September ± 31 December 1563]; English; paper; iii + 184 + iv (endleaf i is a bound-in modern letter and memorandum); modern stamped ink foliation; a little display script is used in item 74; f. 157: 303mm 6 208mm; f. 162: 305mm 6 206mm; in good condition; modern binding of green cloth, on the spine of which is stamped on a green leather panel in gold: IRELAND | ELIZABETH | 1563 | SEP ± DEC; above this are af®xed the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 9 PRO, SP 63/13 (item 18); copied by one scribe, 3 January 1565 [1 April ± 30 June 1565]; English; paper; iv + 200 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; 304mm 6 214mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of green cloth, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRELAND | ELIZABETH | 1565 | APR ± JUNE; above this are af®xed the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 13 PRO, SP 63/40 (item 52.I.); copied by one scribe, with various signatures, 25 May 1573 [3 April ± 29 May 1573]; English; paper; i + 207 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; 305mm 6 212mm; display script occasionally features; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of green half leather, on the



123

spine of which is stamped in black: IRELAND. | ELIZABETH. | 1573. | APRIL. ± MAY.; above this are af®xed the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 40 PRO, SP 63/54 (item 17); copied by one scribe, with the signature of Sir Henry Sidney, 15 December 1575 [6 ± 29 December 1575]; English; paper; i + 128 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; 303mm 6 209mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in black: IRELAND | ELIZABETH. | 1575. | DECEMBER.; above this are af®xed two labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; and: 54 PRO, SP 63/55 (item 19); copied by one scribe, with the signature of Sir Henry Sidney, c. 27 February 1576 [5 January ± 30 June 1576]; English; paper; i + 192 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; 303mm 6 207mm; display script is sometimes used for personal and place-names; in good condition; nineteenthcentury binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in black: IRELAND | ELIZABETH. | 1576. | JAN. ± JUNE. ; above this are af®xed the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; and: 55 PRO, SP 63/68 (item 23); copied by one scribe, with various signatures, 9 August 1579 [2 ± 31 August 1579]; English; paper; i + 127 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; 298mm 6 206mm; no decoration; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in black: IRELAND. | ELIZABETH. | 1579. | AUGUST.; above this are af®xed the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 68 PRO, SP 63/104 (item 24); copied by one scribe, 20 August 1583 [4 August ± 28 September 1583]; English; paper; i + 240 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; 291mm 6 204mm; no decoration; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in black: IRELAND. | ELIZABETH. | 1583. | AUG. ± SEPT.; above this are af®xed the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 104 PRO, SP 63/137 (item 10.XII.); copied by one scribe, 14 October 1588 [1 ± 31 October 1588]; English; paper; i + 215 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; 296mm 6 203mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in black: IRELAND. | ELIZABETH. | 1588. | OCTOBER.; above this are af®xed the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; and: 137 PRO, SP 63/143 (item 12); copied by one scribe, with the signature of Sir William Fitzwilliam, 9 April 1589 [1 ± 30 April 1589]; English; paper; ii + 177 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; 308mm 6 206mm; no decoration; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in black: IRELAND. | ELIZABETH. | 1589. | APRIL.; above this are af®xed the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY


124

4. The Documents

PRO, SP 63/144 (items 4 and 56); each item is copied by one (and not the same) scribe, 6 May 1589 and 4 May 1589 respectively [3 ± 31 May 1589]; English; paper; i + 255 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; f. 8: 308mm 6 204mm; f. 88: 298mm 6 223mm; no decoration; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in black: IRELAND. | ELIZABETH. | 1589. | MAY.; above this are af®xed the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; and: 144 PRO, SP 63/146 (item 7.I.); copied by one scribe, who wrote both formal and informal varieties of script, with various signatures, 9 Augugst 1589 [1 August ± 30 September 1589]; English; paper; i + 211 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; 312mm 6 209mm; no decoration; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in black: IRELAND. | ELIZABETH. | 1589. | AUG. ± SEPT.; above this are af®xed the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; and: 146 PRO, SP 63/148 (item 39); copied by one scribe, with the signature of Sir Richard Bingham, November 1589 [3 ± 29 November 1589]; English; paper; i + 170 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; 335mm 6 225mm; no decoration; in fair condition, though the item is stained and its right edge damaged; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in black: IRELAND. | ELIZABETH. | 1589. | NOVEMBER.; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: SP; and: 63; and: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 148 PRO, SP 63/149 (an unnumbered item between items 64 and 65); copied by one principal scribe, and bearing dates between March 1573 and 20 January 1589 [3 ± 29 December 1589]; English; parchment; i + 258 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; 703mm 6 508mm; strapwork is occasionally applied to litterae notabiliores; generally in good condition, though f. 216 has lost a little text along the crease folds in the parchment; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in black: IRELAND. | ELIZABETH. | 1589. | DECEMBER.; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; and: 149 PRO, SP 63/151 (items 76 and 96); item 76 is copied by one scribe, and item 96 probably by John Ball, 18 April 1590 and April (or later) 1590 respectively [1 March ± 30 April 1590]; English (Latin); paper; i + 260 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; f. 209: 303mm 6 199mm; f. 259: 297mm 6 197mm; no decoration; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in black: IRELAND. | ELIZABETH. | 1590. | MAR. ± APRIL.; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; and: 151 PRO, SP 63/155 (item 35); copied by one scribe, with the signature of Donoghe O Connor Sligo, November 1590 [2 October ± 30 November 1590]; English; paper; i + 86 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; 281mm 6 202mm; no



125

decoration; in good condition; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in black: IRELANhDj | ELIZABEThHj | 1590. | OCT ± NOV.; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; and: 155 PRO, SP 63/159 (item 13); copied by one scribe, with the signature of John Bingham, 16 July 1591 [26 July ± 31 August 1591]; English; paper; i + 129 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; 287mm 6 204mm; no decoration; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in black: IRELAND. | ELIZABETH. | 1591. | JULY ± AUG.; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; and: 159 PRO, SP 63/161 (item 24); copied by one scribe, November 1591 [1 November ± 30 December 1591]; English; paper; i + 168 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; 302mm 6 214mm; no decoration; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in black: IRELAND | ELIZABETH. | 1591. | NOV. ± DEC.; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; and: 161 PRO, SP 63/163 (item 68.I.); copied probably by Richard Sheregold, with various signatures, 18 March 1592 [2 January ± 31 March 1592]; English (Latin); paper; i + 150 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; 304mm 6 209mm; no decoration; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in black: IRELAND | ELIZABETH | 1592. | JAN ± MARCH.; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; and: 163 PRO, SP 63/180 (item 6.II.); copied by one scribe, 29 September 1594 ± 29 September 1595 [1±30 June 1595]; English (Latin); paper; ii + 199 + ii; modern stamped ink foliation; 304mm 6 199mm; a little display script is used; in good condition; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRELAND | ELIZABETH | VOL | 180; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: S.P.; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 180 PRO, SP 63/181 (item 71); copied by one scribe, end of July 1595 [1±31 July 1595]; English; paper; ii + 220 + ii; modern stamped ink foliation; 299mm 6 192mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRELAND | ELIZABETH | VOL | 181; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; and: 181 PRO, SP 63/186 (item 11); copied by one scribe, 10 January 1596 [1 January ± 29 February 1596]; English; paper; i + 315 + ii; modern stamped ink foliation; 312mm 6 218mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of green


126

4. The Documents

half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRELAND | ELIZABETH | VOL | 186; above this is af®xed the label: SP 63; at the bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; and: 186 PRO, SP 63/191 (item 8.I.); copied by one scribe, ?6 July 1596 [2 ± 31 July 1596]; English; paper; ii + 285 + ii; modern stamped ink foliation; 298mm 6 196mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRELAND | ELIZABETH | VOL. | 191; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; and: 191 PRO, SP 63/198 (item 24); copied by one scribe, 18 March 1597 [1 March ± 30 April 1597]; English; paper; ii + 383 + ii; modern stamped ink foliation; 295mm 6 200mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRELAND | ELIZABETH | VOL | 198; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; and: 198 PRO, SP 63/200 (item 83.I.); copied by one scribe, 9 August 1597 [1 July ± 30 September 1597]; English; paper; ii + 367 + ii; modern stamped ink foliation; 303mm 6 197mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRELAND | ELIZABETH | VOL. | 200; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 200; between: IRELAND | ELIZABETH; is af®xed a label: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY PRO, SP 63/202/Part 1 (items 45 and 73); item 45 copied by one scribe, with the signature of W [= William?] Paule, and item 73 by one scribe, with a signature, 2 February 1598 and 28 March 1598 respectively [3 January ± 29 March 1598]; English; paper; ii + 317 + ii; modern stamped ink foliation; f. 126: 303mm 6 205mm; f. 243: 302mm 6 197mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRELAND | ELIZABETH | VOL. | 202 | PT. 1; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 202 | Part 1; between: IRELAND | ELIZABETH; is af®xed a label: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY PRO, SP 63/207/Part 4 (item 109.ii.); copied by one scribe, August 1600 [1 July ± 31 August 1600]; English; paper; i + 311 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; 304mm 6 205mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRELAND | ELIZABETH | VOL. | 207 | PT. 4; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 207 | Part 4; between: IRELAND | ELIZABETH; is af®xed a label: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY PRO, SP 63/208/Part 1 (item 9); copied by one scribe, with the signature of Meyler Magrath, archbishop of Cashel, 15 January 1601 [4 January ± 31 March 1601]; English; paper; ii + 333 + ii; modern stamped ink foliation; f. 19: 306mm



127

6 204mm; no decoration; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRELAND | ELIZABETH | VOL. | 208 | PT. 1; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 208; between: IRELAND | ELIZABETH; is af®xed a label: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY PRO, SP 63/209/Part 2 (items 210 and 213A); each item is copied by one (and not the same) scribe, November 1601 and 2 December 1601 respectively [1 October ± 27 December 1601]; English; paper; 453; modern stamped ink foliation; f. 243: 297mm 6 204mm; f. 250: 293mm 6 208mm; no decoration; in good condition; unbound and preserved in a cardboard box, on which are respectively the labels: SP; 63; Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; 209; Part 2 The materials gathered in PRO, SP 63/214, make this particular volume of the Irish State Papers an unusual one. Many of them seem to be the work of Meredith Hanmer (on whom see endnote 115 to How a bullock is to be divided, before 1604, in section 5.2), and relate to Irish history, especially to Waterford. Possibly Hanmer was intending to write a history of this city. The dated documents in Hanmer's compilation run from 23 October 1511 to 1599, but in fact it covers a longer period, reporting matter from the twelfth century on. PRO, SP 63/214 (items 38, 39, 42 and 43); each item is probably copied by Meredith Hanmer, before 1604 [c. twelfth century ± 1599]; English; paper; ii + 320 + ii; modern stamped ink foliation; f. 221: 290mm 6 193mm; f. 223: 171mm 6 190mm; f. 231: 299mm 6 198mm; f. 256: 298mm 6 196mm; f. 271: 303mm 6 189mm; no decoration; in fair condition, though each item is damaged and fragile; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRELAND. | ELIZABETH, | VOL. | 214.; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; and: 214 PRO, SP 63/215 (item 52); copied by one scribe, 5 May 1603 [24 March ± 31 December 1603]; English; paper; i + 300 + i; modern stamped ink foliation; 298mm 6 203mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRELAND | 1603. | STATE PAPER OFFICE; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 215; above this is written within a gold circle in ink: 215 PRO, SP 63/217 (item 13); copied probably by Richard Bourke, fourth earl of Clanricarde, 26 February 1605 [4 January ± 16 December 1605]; English; paper; i + 280 + ii; modern stamped ink foliation; 323mm 6 221mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of green half leather whose covers are detached, and on whose front cover is af®xed a label: Produce | on | SPECIAL | INSTRUCTION | ONLY; and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRELAND | 1605. | STATE PAPER OFFICE; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: S.P.; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 217; above this is written within a gold circle in ink: 217


128

4. The Documents

PRO, SP 63/230; copied in its entirety by two main scribes, between ¦ April and 14 December 1609 [29 September 1608 ± 14 December 1609]; Latin (English); paper; ii + 221 + ii; modern stamped ink foliation; f. 208: 289mm 6 195mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRELAND | 1610. | STATE PAPER OFFICE; at the top of the spine is af®xed a label: S.P. | 63; and between: 1610.; and: STATE PAPER OFFICE; is af®xed a label: 230; above this within a gold circle is af®xed a label: 230 PRO, SP 63/231 (item 43); copied probably by Sir Arthur Chichester, 29 May 1611 [1 January ± 26 December 1611]; English; paper; i + 301 + ii; modern stamped ink foliation; 284mm 6 196mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of green half leather whose covers are detached, and the top half of whose spine is missing; on the spine is stamped in gold: STATE PAPER OFFICE; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 231; above this is written within a gold circle in ink: 231 PRO, SP 63/253 (item 72); copied by one scribe, 14 October 1632 [13 January ± 17 December 1632]; English; paper; ii + 274 + ii; modern stamped ink foliation; 305mm 6 212mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRELAND | CHARLES I | VOL.; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 253 PRO, SP 63/255 (item 13); copied probably by Thomas Richardson, 9 February 1635 [10 January 1635 ± 31 December 1636]; English; paper; ii + 389 + ii; modern stamped ink foliation; 306mm 6 200mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRELAND | CHARLES I | VOL.; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 255 PRO, SP 63/256 (item 48); copied probably by Sir Thomas Wentworth, 21 August 1637 [7 January 1637 ± 29 December 1638]; English; paper; ii + 319 + ii; modern stamped ink foliation; 282mm 6 194mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRELAND | CHARLES I | VOL.; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 256 PRO, SP 63/345 (item 50); copied by one scribe, 8 May 1661 [January 1661 ± 31 December 1663]; English; paper; ii + 323 + ii; modern stamped ink foliation; 235mm 6 226mm; display script is occasionally used; in good condition; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: IRELAND | CHARLES II | VOL. | 345; above this are af®xed respectively the labels: SP; and: 63; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: 345 PRO, MS C. 66/2995; copied by one scribe, 8 May 1661; English (Latin); parchment; 38; unnumbered; mb. [1]: 635mm 6 257mm; some litterae notabiliores feature; in good condition; membranes are stitched serially to form a continuous roll; on the outer membrane is af®xed a label: C | 66 | 2995 | REPAIRING DEPARTMENT


4.12 Letter collections

129

4.12 Letter collections The presentation of descriptions of items found in Letter collections follows that adopted for items in the Irish State Papers (and for one of the items listed under Administrative documents). A Letter collections item is dated, and this date followed by the earliest and latest dates of the contents of the whole volume in square brackets. Measurements refer only to Repertory items, as do the number of scribes identi®ed, the use of decoration, the condition of the document and the notice of the languages used. Dublin, National Library of Ireland (NLI) NLI, MS 2303; letter of Richard Rothe to Viscount Falkland, 13 September 1628 [6 June 1628 ± 7 February 1631]; English; paper; vi + 177 + vi; modern stamped ink pagination; p. 71: 312mm 6 205mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though sometimes there is damage along the crease lines where the letters were once folded; ®ne, nineteenth-century binding of blue leather, on the front and back covers of which are stamped in gold the arms of the dukes of Ormond, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold at the top the same arms, beneath which: ORMONDE MSS | VOL. 3. | LETTERS & PAPERS. | FROM | 9 JUNE 1628 | TO | ¦ FEBRUARY 1630±31; at the bottom is af®xed a label: MS 2303 London, British Library (BL) BL, MS Lansdowne 92; letter of John Denham to Sir James Ley, 7 February 1612 [February 1611 ± 15 July 1612]; English; paper; xi + 211 + x; modern pencil foliation; f. 143: 301mm 6 195mm; f. 145: 278mm 6 177mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of brown half leather, and on the front and back covers of which is stamped in gold the arms of the Marquis of Lansdowne, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: HICKES | PAPERS. | 1610±1612. | BRIT. MUS. | LANSDOWNE | MS. | 92.; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 75; and: d Oxford, Bodleian Library (Bodl.) Bodl., MS Carte 61; letters, that on f. 294 copied by two scribes and signed by Sir Arthur Chichester, Lord Deputy, 31 January 1607, and that on f. 346 copied and signed by William Ravenscroft, 8 March 1607 [3 May 1585 ± 8 October 1613]; English; paper; ii + 529 + ii; modern pencil foliation; f. 294: 308mm 6 200mm; f. 346: 305mm 6 200mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though right-hand margins have suffered some damage; nineteenth-century binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: CARTE PAPERS | 1585 ± 1615 | IRELAND | 61


130

4. The Documents

San Marino, California, Huntington Library (HL) HL, HA 15057; letter of Sir Robert Jacob to Sir John Davys, 16 January 1609; English, paper; bifolium; unnumbered; 306mm 6 200mm; no decoration; in good condition; details of the binding not supplied. Shef®eld, Shef®eld City Archives (SCA) SCA, WWM Str. P 7; letter of Sir Thomas Wentworth to Archbishop William Laud, 10 July 1637 [November 1636 ± May 1639]; English; paper; iii + 191 + iii; part paginated, part foliated, in near-contemporary ink; p. 39: 430mm 6 290mm; no decoration; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of white cardboard. 4.13 Early printed books Twenty-nine early printed books of concern to the Repertory are listed below. (This ®gure excludes the 1644 playbill Titvs, or the Palme of Christian Covrage, which is detailed under Post-1642 documents, section 7.2.) Their title pages are given in chronological order according to their year of publication, even where the item of interest in a particular book is to be dated earlier than the year of the book's publication. STC and Wing numbers are given after each entry wherever appropriate. POLYDORI VERGILII | VRBINATIS ANGLICAE HISTO | RIAE LIBRI XXVI. | SIMON GRYNAEVS LECTORI. | Anglia Bistonio semper gens inclyta Marte, | Quanta, quibusq; animis nongentos mille per annos | Gesserit, imperium ®rmans adamante reuincto, | Intulerit quoties uicinis gentibus arma, | Seu procul eiecit populantem ®nibus hostem, | Seu domuit sñuos immania colla tyrannos, | Maxima magnanimuÃm POLYDORVS facta uirorum | PrñclareÁ latia primus canit omnia bucca. | [device ± a tree, to the left of which: PALMA; and to the right of which: BEB.] | Indices rerum singularum copiosos & usui | egregio futuros, adiecimus. | Cum gratia & priuilegio Cñsareo. | BASILEAE, APVD IO. BEBELIVM | ANNO M. D. XXXIIII. The vocacyon | of IohaÅ Bale to the | bishoprick of Ossorie in Ire | laÅde his persecuioÅs in ye same /& | ®nall delyueraunce. | [device ± to the left, demure man attended by horse, to the right, menacing man with snarling dog] | The English ChristiaÅ / The Irishe Papist. | } God hath deliuered me from the snare of the | hunter / & froÅ ye noysome pestileÅce. Psal. xcj. | } If I must nedes reioyse / I wil reioyse | of myne in®rmytees. ij. Cor. xj. [All printed in black letter.] 1577. | THE | Firste volume of the | Chronicles of England, Scot- | lande, and Irelande. | CONTEYNING, | The description and Chronicles of England, from the | ®rst inhabiting vnto the congquest. | The description and Chronicles of Scotland, from the | ®rst originall of the Scotes nation, till the yeare | of our Lorde .1571. | The description and Chronicles of Yrelande, likewise | from the ®rste originall of that Nation, vntill the | yeare .1547. | Faithfully gathered and


4.13 Early printed books

131

set forth, by | Raphaell Holinshed. | AT LONDON, | Imprinted for George Bishop. | God saue the Queene. STC: 13568a [`The description . . . .1547.' printed in black letter.] } In this volume are con- | tained all the Statutes from the tenthe yere | of king Henrie the sixt, to the xiiii. yere of our | moste gracious and soueraygne lady Queen | Elyzabeth, made and established in her highnes | Realme of Irelande | [device ± a quartered shield, surmounted by crown to either side of which is written: E; R; the whole within the garter: : HONI : SOIT. QVI : MAL :: Y : PENSE ::] STC: 14129, published in 1572 by Tottle. [`moste gracious and soueraygne lady Queen | Elyzabeth, made and established in her highnes | Realme of Irelande' printed in black letter.] The Image of Irelande, | with a discouerie of VVoodkarne, wher- | in is moste liuely expressed, the Na= | ture, and qualitie of the saied wilde Irishe Wood= | karne, their notable aptnesse, celeritie, and pronesse | to Rebellion, and by waie of argumente is manife= | sted their originall, and ofspryng, their descent and | Pedigree: Also their habite and apparell, is there | plainly showne. The execrable life, and miserable | death of Rorie Roge, that famous Archtraitour to | God and the Croune (otherwise called Rorie Oge) | is likewise discribed. Lastlie the commyng in of | Thyrlaghe Leonaghe the greate Oneale of Ire= | lande, with the effecte of his submission, to the right | honourable Sir Henry Sidney (Lorde Deputie of | the saied lande) is thereto adioyned. Made and deui= | sed by Iohn Derricke, Anno 1578, and now pu= | blished and set forthe by the saied authour | this present yere of our Lorde | 1581, for pleasure and | delight of the well | disposed rea= | der. | Imprinted at London by | John Daie. | 1581. STC: 6734 [All printed in black letter, except for the italics, personal names and dates, including Ànno 1578'.] PAVLI IOVII NOVO ± | COMENSIS EPISCOPI NVCERINI | REGIONVM ET INSVLARVM | atque Locorum: | DESCRIPTIONES: | videlicet | BRITANNIAE, | SCOTIAE, | HYBERNIAE, | ORCHADVM, | Item | MOSCOVIAE ET LARII LACVS, | VIBVS (VT EIVS OMNIA SCRIPTA A HOC POSTRE- | mo volumine complecteremur) de Piscibus Romanis libellum | vereÁ aureum adiunximus. | BASILEá, | [rule] | Anno Salutis humanñ, M.D.LXXVIII. HIERONY- | MI CARDANI ME= | DIOLANENSIS MEDICI, | DE RERVM VARIETATE, LI- | BRI XVII. Iam denuoÁ ab in numeris | mendis summa cura ac studio repur- | gati, & pristino nito- | ri restituti. | ADIECTVS EST CAPITVM, RE- | rum & sententiarum notatu dignissima- | rum INDEX utilissimus. | [device ± a hand emerging from a cloud and striking a rock with a hammer.] | Cum Gratia & Priuilegio. Cñs. Maiesti. | BASILEá, | PER SEBASTIANVM | HENRICPETRI. [This is the title page of the second edition by S. H. Peter, of 1581; the ®rst edition, also by him, was issued in 1557.] RICHARDI | Stanihursti Dubliniensis | DE REBUS | IN HIBERNIA | GESTIS, LIBRI | QVATTVOR, | Ad carissimum suum fratrem, clarissimumqÂue virum, | P. PLVNKETVM, Dominum Baronem Dunsaniñ. | Accessit his


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4. The Documents

libris Hibernicarum rerum Appendix, ex | SILVESTRO GIRALDO CAMBRENSI | peruetusto scriptore collecta; | Cum eiusdem STANIHVRSTI adnotationibus. | Omnia nunc primuÁm in lucem edita. | LVGDVNI BATAVORUM. | Ex of®cina Christophori Plantini. | M.D. LXXXIIII. THE | SECOND VOLUME | OF THE PRINCIPAL NA- | VIGATIONS, VOYAGES, TRAF- | ®ques and Discoueries of the English Nation, made by | Sea or ouer-land, to the South and South-east parts of the | World, at any time within the compasse of these 1600. yeres: | Diuided into two seuerall parts: | Whereof the ®rst containeth the personall trauels, &c. | of the English, through and within the Streight of Gibraltar, to Al- | ger, Tunis, and Tripolis in Barbary, to Alexandria and Cairo in AEgypt, to the Isles | of Sicilia, Zante, Candia, Rhodus, Cyprus, and Chio, to the Citie of Constantinople, to diuers parts of Asia minor, to Syria and Armenia, to Ierusalem, and other places in Iudña; As also to A- | rabia, downe the Riuer of Euphrates, to Babylon and Balsara, and so throught the Per- | sian gulph to Ormuz, Chaul, Goa, and to many Islands adioyning vpon the | South parts of Asia; And likewise from Goa to Cambaia, and to all the | dominions of Zelabdim Echebar the great Mogor, to the mighty | Riuer of Ganges, to Bengala, Aracan, Bacola, and Chon- | deri, to Pegu, to Iamahai in the kingdome of Si- | am, and almost to the very fron- | tiers of China. | The Second comprehendeth the Voyages, Traf®cks, &c. | of the English Nation, made without the Streight of Gibral- | tar, to the Islands of the AcËores, of Porto Santo, Madera, and the Canaries, | to the kingdomes of Barbary, to the Isles of Capo Verde, to the Riuers of Senega, Gam- | bra, Madrabumba, and Sierra Leona, to the coast of Guinea and Benin, to the Isles | of S. ThomeÂ and Santa Helena, to the parts about the Cape Buona Espe- | ranza, to Quitangone neere Mozambique, to the Isles of Comoro and | Zanzibar, to the citie of Goa, beyond Cape Comori, to the Isles | of Nicubar, Gomes Polo, and Pulo Pinaom, to the maine land of Malacca, and to the king- | dome of Iunsalaon. | By RICHARD HACKLVYT Preacher, and sometime Stu- | dent of ChristChurch in Oxford. | Imprinted at London by George Bishop, | Ralph Newbery, and Robert Barker. | ANNO 1599. STC: 12626a BRITANNIA, | SIVE | FLORENTISSIMORVM | REGNORVM ANGLIá, | SCOTIá, HIBERNIá, ET | Insularum adiacentium ex intima antiquitate | Chorographica descriptio: | Nunc postremoÁ recognita, plurimis locis magna accessione | adaucta, & Tabulis Chorographicis | illustrata. | GVILIELMO CAMDENO Aucthore. | LONDINI, | Impensis GEORGII BISHOP & | IOANNIS NORTON. | M.DC.VII. STC: 4508 A | New. Description | OF IRELAND: | Wherein is describes the dispositi- | on of the Irish whereunto they | are inclined. | No lesse admirable to be perused then credible | to be beleeued: neither vnpro®table nor vnplea- | sant to bee read and vnderstood, by those wor- | thy Cittizens of London that be now | vndertakers in Ireland: | By Barnabe Rich, Gent: | Malui me diuitem esse, quam vocari | [device ± ¯ower encircled by motto: HEB DDIM HEB DDIEV] | Printed at London for Thomas Adams. | 1610. STC: 20992



133

A | CATHOLICKE | CONFERENCE BE- | TVVEENE SYR TADY Mac. | Mareall a popish priest of VVaterforde, and | Patricke Plaine a young student in Trinity | Colledge by Dublin in Ireland. | Where in is deliuered the certayne ma- | ner of execution that was vsed vpon a po- | pish Bishop, and a popish Priest, that for seueral | matters of Treason were executed at | Dublin the ®rst of February, now | last past. 1611. | Strange to be related, credible to be beleeued, and pleasant | to bee perused. | By Barnabe Rych, Gent. Seruant to the Kinges most | excellent Maiestie. | Malui me diuitem esse quam vocari. | LONDON | Printed for Thomas Adams. | 1612. STC: 20981 CERTAINE | PIECES OF THIS | AGE PARABOLIZ'D. | viz. Duellum Britannicum. | Regalis Iustitia Jacobi. | Aquignispicium. | Antidotum Cecillianum. | By THOMAS SCOT | Gentleman. | [rule] | Scire tuum nihil est. | [rule] | [foliate cartouche] | [rule] | LONDON | Printed by Edward Grif®n for Francis Constable, and | are to be sold at his shop at the signe of the | white Lyon in Paules Church| yard. 1616. STC: 21870 [This is the second enlarged edition; STC: 21869 is the ®rst.] HISTORIá | CATHOLICá IBERNIá COM= | PENDIVM. | DOMINO PHILIPPO AVSTRIACO IIII. | Hispaniarum, Indiarum, aliorum regnorum, atque mul | tarum ditionum regi Catholico, monarchñque | potentissimo dicatum. | AD. Philippo Osulleuano Bearro Iberno. | [coat of arms] | Cum facultate S. Inquisitionis, Ordinarij, & Regis. | [rule] | Vlyssippone excusum aÁ Petro Crasbeeckio regio | typographo anno Domini 1621. THE | STATVTES | OF IRELAND, | BEGINNING THE THIRD | yere of K. Edward the second, | and continuing vntill the end of the Parlia- | ment, begunne in the eleuenth yeare of the | reign of our most gratious Soueraigne | Lord King IAMES, and ended in the | thirteenth yeare of his raigne | of England, Fraunce, and | IRELAND. | NEWLY PERVSED AND | EXAMINED WITH THE PAR- | liament Rolls; and diuerse Statutes | imprinted in this Booke, which | were not formerly printed | in the olde booke. | Anno Dom. M.DC.XXI | DVBLIN, | Printed by the Societie of STA- | TIONERS, Printers to the | Kings most excellent | MAIESTIE. | Cum Priuilegio Regiñ Maiestatis. STC: 14130 THE | IRISH HVBBVB, | OR, | THE ENGLISH | HVE AND CRIE | BREIFELY PVRSVING | the base conditions, and most notorious | offences of this vile, vaine, and | wicked AGE. | No lesse smarting then tickling. | A merriment whereby to make the wise to laugh, | and fooles to be angry. | [rule] | By BARNABY RICH Gentleman, and Seruant to the | Kings most excellent Maiestie. | Mounted aloft vpon the worlds great Stage. | I stand to note the follies of this Age. | Malui me diuitem esse quam vocari. | [rule] | LONDON, | Printed by Aug: Mathewes, for Iohn Marriot, and are to be | sold at his shop in Saint Dunstons-Churchyard | in Fleet-street. 1622. STC: 20989 PACATA HIBERNIA. | IRELAND | APPEASED AND | REDVCED. | OR, | AN HISTORIE OF THE LATE | Warres of IRELAND, especially within the Province | of MOVNSTER, vnder the Government of Sir George Carew, |


134

4. The Documents

Knight, then Lord President of that Province, and afterwards | Lord CAREVV of CLOPTON, and Earle | of TOTNES, &c. | Wherein the Siedge of Kinsale, the Defeat of the | Earle of TYRONE, and his Armie; The Expulsion and | sending home of Don Iuan de Aguila, the Spanish Generall, | with his Forces; and many other remarkable passages | of that time are related. | Illustrated with Seventeene severall MAPPES, for the | better understanding of the Storie. | IuVENAL. SAT. 10. | Bellorum Exuviñ, truncis af®xa trophñis | Lorica, & fractaÃ de Casside buccula pendens, | Humanis majora bonis creduntur:- | [device ± winged skull, resting on a bone crossed by a scythe, and surmounted by an hourglass; beneath device is motto: NON PLVS] | LONDON, | Printed by AVG: MATHEVVES for ROBERT MILBOVRNE, | at the Signe of the Greyhound in Pauls | Church-yard. 1633. STC: 23132 THE | HISTORIE | OF | IRELAND, | COLLECTED | BY THREE LEARNED AVTHORS | Viz. | MEREDITH HANMER | Doctor in Divinitie: | EDMVND CAMPION | sometime Fellow of St Johns | Colledge in Oxford: | and | EDMVND SPENSER | Esq. | DVBLIN, | Printed by the Societie of Stationers, Printers to the | Kings most Excellent Majestie. 1633. STC: 25067a CONSTITUTIONS, | AND | Canons Ecclesiastical, | Treated upon by The | Archbishops and Bishops, | And the rest of the | Clergy of IRELAND; | And Agreed upon by the | KING'S Majesties Licence | In their Synod Begun and Holden at | Dublin, Anno Domini 1634. And in | the Year of the Reign of our Soveraign | Lord Charles, by the Grace of God | King of Great Brittain, France and | Ireland the Tenth. | [rule] | Dublin, Printed by Andrew Crook and Samuel Helsham; And are to | be Sold by Samuel Helsham at the Colledge-Arms in Castle-street. STC: 14264 THE | ROYALL | MASTER; | As it was Acted in the new | Theater in Dublin: | AND | Before the Right Honorable the Lord | Deputie of Ireland, in the Castle. | Written by IAMES SHIRLEY. | ± Fas extera quñrere regna. | LONDON, | Printed by T. Cotes, and are to be sold by Iohn Crooke, and Richard | Serger, at the Grayhound in Pauls Church-yard. 1638. STC: 22454 ARTICLES | TO BE INQVIRED | of by the Church-wardens and | Questmen of every Parish in | the Lord Primates Visitation | Metropoliticall. | [rule] | [device] | [rule] | DVBLIN, | Imprinted by the Society of Stationers, Prin= | ters to the Kings most excellent | Majestie. 1638. STC: 14265.9 ARTICLES | TO BE | Inquired of by the | CHVRCH-WARDENS | and QUESTMEN of every Parish, in | the ordinary Visitation of the Right Reverend | Father in God GEORGE by divine | Providence Lord Bishop of | CLOYNE. | [rule] | [device] | [rule] | DVBLIN, | Imprinted by the Society of Stationers, Prin= | ters to the Kings most excellent | Majestie. 1639. STC: 14265.7



135

St. PATRICK | FOR | IRELAND. | The ®rst Part. | Written by James Shirley. | LONDON, | Printed by J. Raworth, for R. Whitaker. 1640. STC: 22455 Landgartha. | A Tragie-Comedy, as it was presen- | ted in the new Theater in Dublin, | with good applause, being | an Ancient story, | Written by H. B. | HORAT. | Hunc socci cepere pedem, grandesq; cothurni. | Printed at Dublin Anno 1641. Wing: 5751 NARCISSVS, | OR, | The Self-Lover. | By JAMES SHIRLEY. | Hñc olim ± | LONDON, | Printed for Humphrey Moseley, and | are to be sold at his shop, at the | Signe of the Princes Armes in | St. Pauls Church-yard. | MDCXLVI. Wing: 3480 POEMS &c. | By | JAMES SHIRLEY. | Sine aliquaÃ dementiaÃ nullus Phoebus. | LONDON, | Printed for Humphrey Moseley, and are to be | sold at his shop at the signe of the Princes | Armes in St. Pauls Church-yard. | 1646. Wing: 3481 LES | VOYAGES | ET | OBSERVATIONS | DV SIEVR | DE LA | BOVLLAYE- | LE-GOUZ | GENTIL-HOMME ANGEVIN, | OuÁ sont deÂcrites les Religions, Gouuernemens, & situations | des Estats & Royaumes d'Italie, Grece, Natolie, Syrie, | Palestine, Karamenie, KaldeÂe, Assyrie, grand Mogol, | Bijapour, Indes Orientales des Portugais, Arabie, Egy- | pte, Hollande, grande Bretagne, Irlande, Dannemark, | Pologne, Isles & autres lieux d'Europe, Asie & Affrique, | ouÁ il a seÂjourneÂ, le tout enrichy de Figures; Et | DedieÂ aÁ l'Eminentissime Cardinal Capponi. | [device] | A PARIS, | Chez GERVAIS CLOVSIER au Palais, sur les degrez de la Saincte Chapelle. | [rule] | M. DC. LIII | AVEC PRIVILEGE DV ROY. RERUM | HIBERNICARUM | ANNALES, | Regnantibus HENRICO VII. HENRICO VIII | EDWARDO VI. & MARIA. | Ab anno scil. Domini MCCCCLXXXV, ad annum | MDLVIII. | Per JACOBUM WARáUM | Equitem Auratum. | DVBLINII, | Typis & Impensis JOHANNIS CROOK, | Typographi Regii. | MDCLXIV. Wing: 847aA A | COLLECTION | OF ALL THE | STATUTES | Now in Use in the | Kingdom of Ireland; | WITH | NOTES in the MARGIN: | AND | A Continuation of the Statutes made in the Reign of the late | King Charles the First, of ever blessed Memory: | And likewise the Acts of Settlement and Explanation, with the rest of the | Acts made in the Reign of His Majesty that now is, CHARLES the | Second, by the Grace of God, of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, King, to | the Dissolution of the Parliament, the Seventh of August, 1666. | AS ALSO | A Necessary TABLE or Kalendar to the Whole Work, | Expressing in Titles the principal Matter therein contained, for | the Ease and Advantage of the READER. | DVBLIN, | Printed by Bejamin Tooke, Printer to the King's Most | Excellent Majesty. An. Dom. M.DC.LXXVIII. | Cum Gratia & Privilegio Regiñ Majestatis. Wing: 356


136

4. The Documents 4.14 Miscellaneous manuscripts

Each of these will be introduced by a short preface. Belfast, Public Record Of®ce of Northern Ireland (PRONI) A preface by Sir Thomas Phillips (²1636) introduces the collection of fair copies of London Company documents that is now preserved as PRONI, T. 510/2. It also contains maps of northern plantation towns. (For further information on Phillips, see endnote 193 to Coleraine, s.a. 1628, in section 5.4.) PRONI, T. 510/2; documents dated between 1610 and 1629, copied mainly by three scribes, one of whom is chief, in the seventeenth century; English; paper; viii + 152 + ii; modern pencil pagination, running 1±10, immediately followed by a seventeenth-century ink pagination, running 1±148 and continued in modern pencil, running 149±57, and with p. 157 coinciding with the start of a ®nal, seventeenth-century ink foliation, running 1±45; 365mm 6 241mm; no decoration; modern binding of mauve cloth, on the front cover of which is af®xed a label: PUBLIC RECORD | OFFICE (N.I) | TRANSCRIPT | CLASS (2) | No. 510 Brussels, BibliotheÁque royale Albert Ier (BR) The Codex Salmanticensis contains an important compilation of Latin vitae of Irish saints. It migrated from Ireland and came to rest in Salamanca's Irish College, founded in 1592. From here it derives its name. It was eventually acquired by the BibliotheÁque royale Albert Ier in Brussels. BR, MS 7672±4 (Codex Salmanticensis); saints' lives, copied by at least three scribes in the late fourteenth century, possibly at Clogher, co. Tyrone; parchment; Latin (Irish); ii + 175 + iii; various foliation systems, the most adequate being one of the two seventeenth-century systems, in (red) ink; f. 89: 328mm 6 228mm; f. 173: 237mm 6 231mm; some rubrication in red and blue is applied to capitals, and occasional zoomorphic ornament features; generally in good condition, though the parchment varies in quality; seventeenth-century binding of pigskin on wooden boards, on the spine of which is written in ink: MS SALMATICh. . .j de SS. Hiberh. . .j Dublin, Jesuit Archives, 36 Lower Leeson Street The Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu (the Generalate Archive of the Society of Jesus in Rome) is believed to hold one manuscript of present concern, the account of Fr William St Leger of the Jesuit mission in Ireland (with the heading incipit: `Missio Societatis Jesu in Hibernia ab initio ad vsque annum salutis 1655tum'). However, it has not proved possible to locate the original in the Generalate Archive, and so a late nineteenth- or early twentiethcentury transcription made by the Irish Jesuit John McErlean (1870±1950), and preserved in Dublin, Jesuit Archives, 36 Lower Leeson Street, has been consulted instead. St Leger's account covers the years 1641±50 and 1655±62.


4.14 Miscellaneous manuscripts

137

Dublin, Jesuit Archives, no shelfmark; the `Missio Societatis Jesu in Hibernia ab initio ad vsque annum salutis 1655tum' by Fr William St Leger, copied by Fr John McErlean in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century; paper; Latin; 42; modern pencil pagination; 264mm 6 207mm; no decoration; in good condition; four unbound paper quires, the ®rst three of twelve leaves, the fourth of six, preserved with another, less satisfactory, transcript of the `Missio' in a contemporary cardboard folder, on the front of which is a label bearing the following pencil inscription in McErlean's hand (later additions in ink are ignored): Hist Prov Hib | Missio Soc. Iesu | ab initio ad 1655±62 | auctore | P. Gul. Salignero Dublin, Marsh's Library In 1699, Narcissus Marsh, archbishop of Dublin, established next to St Patrick's Cathedral the library that still bears his name. Apart from possessing one of the two extant manuscripts containing the Latin liturgical Visitatio Sepulcri play from Dublin, Marsh's Library also holds two manuscripts containing the Latin vitae of saints. One of these is another important collection comparable to that of the Codex Salmanticensis, the famous Codex Kilkenniensis, MS Z 3.1.5, and the other, MS Z 4.5.5, principally contains the most complete known version of the vita of St Kentigern (see Appendix 6.10 (vii) ). Dublin, Marsh's Library, MS Z 3.1.5 (Codex Kilkenniensis); the vitae of Irish saints, copied by one main scribe in the mid-®fteenth century; Latin (Irish); parchment; ii + 122 + i; early seventeenth-century ink foliation, running 33± 158; 354mm 6 244mm (the width does not include parchment tabs let out from the sides of several leaves throughout the manuscript); rubrication is applied throughout, and litterae notabiliores are frequently touched in red; generally in good condition, but extensive staining and dirtying discolour the ®rst and last outer leaves (the latter is also about a third of the size of the others), and several quires have parted from the binding; seventeenth-century binding of brown reversed leather, on the spine of which is af®xed a label: Z 3. | 1. | 5 Dublin, Marsh's Library, MS Z 4.5.5; the vitae of SS Serf and Kentigern, copied by one scribe in the ®rst half of the thirteenth century; parchment; Latin; i + 62 + i; modern pencil foliation; 196mm 6 151mm; rubrication is applied to litterae notabiliores in red or in green, and they may be ¯ourished either in red or in green, depending upon what contrasting colour is chosen for the littera notabilior itself; generally in good condition, though there there is some soiling; seventeenth-century binding of brown leather, on whose partially damaged spine are af®xed respectively the labels: Z4. | 5. | 5; and: MS. | 264 Dublin, Royal Irish Academy (RIA) It is not known for certain who wrote the history of Kerry that RIA, MS 24 K 43 contains, though possibly its author was one Father O'Sullivan, active in the mid-eighteenth century.


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4. The Documents

RIA, MS 24 K 43; a history of Kerry, copied by one scribe c. 1750; English (Irish); paper; iii + 35 + iii; eighteenth-century ink pagination; 185mm 6 145mm; no decoration; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of brown half leather, on the front cover of which is af®xed a label: 24 | K | 43; and on spine of which is stamped lengthways in gold: hHIjSTORY OF KERRY. O'GORMAN MSS.; at the bottom is af®xed a label: 24 | K | 43 The History of Ireland in RIA, MS 1135 (24 G 15) is in fact an early manuscript version of Meredith Hanmer's work of the same name ®rst published in 1633 (on Hanmer, see The Historie of the Kingdome of Ireland, s.a. 1591±1604, endnote 113). RIA, MS 1135 (24 G 15); materials from prehistory to 1602, copied by one main scribe (with the initials J. H.) some time in the ®rst half of the seventeenth century; English (Irish, Latin); paper; iii + 243 + i; seventeenth-century ink pagination; 330mm 6 205mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though the earlier leaf edges are damp stained; nineteenth-century binding of brown half leather, much damaged, and on whose spine is stamped in gold: HhISTORYj | OF | IhRjELANhDj Dublin, Trinity College (TCD) A miscellany of matter largely concerning Ireland is to be found in TCD, MS 581 (E. 3. 18). It includes such items as a copy of Patrick Finglas's Breviat of the getting of Ireland, accounts of the journeys in Ireland undertaken by Sir William Russell, by Sir Thomas Radcliffe, earl of Sussex and by Sir Henry Sidney, plus chronicles, genealogies, historical tracts and letters. TCD, MS 581 (E. 3. 18); antiquarian collection copied by various scribes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (including the progresses of Sir Henry Sidney, ff. 94±7v, between 14 February 1567 and 22 November 1568, copied by one scribe in the later sixteenth century); Latin (English); paper; ii + 110 + ii; modern pencil foliation; f. 94: 310mm 6 205mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though fraying around the edges of some leaves has partially obliterated text; seventeenth-century binding of white leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: C:E | T:3 | No. 18; and lengthways beneath this: Modus tenendi Parli: &c.; at the bottom is af®xed a label: 581 London, British Library (BL) Only the ®rst item in this composite manuscript falls within the chronological range of the Repertory, and is an account of a journey through Ireland undertaken by Sir Robert Devereux in 1599. On Sir Robert Devereux, see section 5.4 under Clonmel?, s.a. 1599, and endnote 191. BL, MS Additional 12562; miscellaneous documents dated between April 1599 and the nineteenth century, copied by various scribes from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries; English; paper; v + 15 + ix; modern pencil foliation; 303mm 6 203mm; no decoration; in good condition; modern binding of brown half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: VARIOUS | PAPERS. | MUS. BRIT. | PRESENTED | BY | SEVERAL | PERSONS | 12, 271. | 12, 562.



139

| 14, 059. | PLUT. | CXXXIII.G; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 133; and: G. 10 The Topographia Hiberniae of Giraldus Cambrensis, a description of Ireland which he wrote c. 1185, survives in several manuscripts. It underwent various redactions. For the life of Giraldus and for the selection of BL, MS Arundel 14, see endnote 63 to the Topographia Hiberniae, s.a. c. 1185, in section 5.2. BL, MS Arundel 14; the Topographia Hiberniae, copied by one scribe in the ®rst half of the thirteenth century; Latin; parchment; v + 32 + ix (endleaves i-v derive from a liturgical manuscript containing plainchant notation); modern pencil foliation; 265mm 6 192mm; rubrication is generally applied to headings, and litterae notabiliores may be rubricated in red or in green and ¯ourished either in red or in green, depending on which contrasting colour was selected for the littera notabilior; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of brown half leather, on the front cover of which is stamped in gold the arms of the earls of Arundel, and on the spine of which is stamped lengthways in gold: ARUNDEL | 14. | BRIT. MUS. | GIRALDI CAMBRENSIS. | TOPOGRAPHIA | HIBERNIá, ETC.; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 163; and: c.6 The mendicant miscellany preserved in BL, MS Harley 913, a manuscript well known to students of Middle English verse, may originally have been compiled in Waterford (though some of its texts have Kildare af®liations). It contains religious and secular matter in English, French and Latin. BL, MS Harley 913; possibly all copied by the same scribe c. 1330; English (French, Latin); parchment; i + 64 + xiii; modern ink foliation; 140mm 6 93mm; rubricated in blue and red; generally in good condition, though some leaves are stained and faded, and quires are mounted on guards; nineteenthcentury binding of brown leather, on the front cover of which is stamped in gold the arms of the Harleys, earls of Oxford, and on the spine of which is stamped in gold: ANCIENT | ENGLISH | POEMS, | ETC. | BRIT. MUS. | HARLEY | 913.; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 693; and: A.5 John Dymmok's À treatice of Ireland', as BL, MS Harley 1291, f. 2 calls it, was evidently copied some time shortly after 9 September 1599, when the journal of the events that it narrates ends. It belongs to a genre of works in English during this period intended to introduce Ireland and matters of Irish interest to English readers. Of Dymmok's life very little is known (see further section 5.4 under Kilkenny, s.a. 1599, and endnote 557). BL, MS Harley 1291; copied chie¯y by one scribe some time shortly after 9 September 1599; English; paper; ii + 43 + xxxi; modern pencil foliation; 207mm 6 155mm; display script occasionally features; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of maroon half leather, on the front cover of which is stamped in gold the arms of the Harleys, earls of Oxford, and on the spine of which is stamped lengthways in gold: HARLEY | 1291. | BRIT. MUS. | J. DYMMOK. | TREATISE ON IRELAND.; at the top and bottom of the spine are af®xed respectively the labels: 69; and: B.3


140

4. The Documents

The miscellany contained in BL, MS Stowe 180 includes papers relating to state, ecclesiastical, local and other affairs in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, followed by various eighteenth-century poems. BL, MS Stowe 180; copied by various scribes from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries; English (French, Latin); paper and parchment; i + 229 + ii; modern pencil foliation; f. 41: 309mm 6 194mm; no decoration features in the section of the manuscript which is of present concern, though ¯ourishing is occasionally used elsewhere on litterae notabiliores; in good condition; modern binding of green half leather, on the spine of which is stamped in gold: POLITICAL | PAPERS, | ETC., | XVI-XVIII CENTT. | BRIT. MUS. | STOWE | 180.; at the top of the spine is af®xed a label: 576 Oxford, Bodleian Library (Bodl.) MSS Aubrey ¦ and 8 are both working miscellanies, compiled (and partly copied) by John Aubrey from materials which together constituted his Brief Lives, a collection of biographies of various sixteenth- and seventeenth-century notables. On Aubrey's life, see under section 7.2 in the Post-1642 documents, s.a. c. 1680. Bodl., MS Aubrey 7; sixteenth- and seventeenth-century biographical data, copied by various scribes, though mainly by John Aubrey, c. 1690; English (Latin); paper (f. 13 parchment); ii + 20 + i; modern pencil foliation; f. 20: 291mm 6 172mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though the edges of some of the earlier leaves have been repaired with lisse; nineteenthcentury binding of brown half leather, on the spine of which is stamped lengthways in gold: MS. AUBREY. 7. LIVES. PART II. Bodl., MS Aubrey 8; sixteenth- and seventeenth-century biographical data, copied by various scribes, though mainly by John Aubrey, c. 1681; English; paper (®rst leaf parchment); i + 109 + i; modern pencil foliation (this foliation is not added to pieces of paper subsequently attached to certain leaves); f. 44: 295mm 6 185mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though the lisse used to strengthen the outer edges of some leaves is cracked and ¯aking; nineteenth-century binding of brown half leather, on the spine of which is stamped lengthways in gold: MS. AUBREY. 8 LIVES. PART III. The poet Edmund Spenser was resident in Ireland from c. 1577, and wrote his View of the Present State of Ireland in 1596 while on one of his short visits to England (for further biographical details, see section 5.2 under View of the Present State of Ireland, s.a. 1596 and endnote 118). Bodl., MS Rawlinson B. 478; Edmund Spenser's View of the Present State of Ireland, copied by one scribe c. 1600; English; paper; iii + 113; 199mm 6 158mm; in good condition; no decoration; seventeenth-century ink foliation; contemporary wrapper of plain parchment, with traces of two green fabric fastening thongs front on the back, and on the spine of which is af®xed a label: hRawlinjson; beneath this is af®xed a label: 478 Like the Codex Salmanticensis and the Codex Kilkenniensis (on both of which see above), Bodl., MS Rawlinson B. 505 (the Codex Insulensis) contains an



141

important set of vitae of Irish saints. It is reckoned to be a direct copy of MS Rawlinson B. 485, and is probably to be associated with AughuistõÂn MaÂg RaÂidhõÂn (1350±²1405), canon of Saints' Island on Lough Ree, co. Longford, a few miles from Kilkenny West, co. Westmeath, where MS Rawlinson B. 485 was made. Bodl., MS Rawlinson B. 505 (Codex Insulensis); a Latin vita of St Patrick, other Â engusso (`Martyrology of Oengus'), copied Latin vitae and the Old Irish FeÂlire O chie¯y by three scribes, the second of whom, the copyist of the saints' lives, was Â Duibhidhir, who worked probably late in the fourteenth one Mattheus O century; Latin (Irish); parchment; modern pencil foliation; i + 220; 375mm 6 256mm; rubrication in red and blue features in the Latin section, with occasional historiated capitals and ¯ourishing, and in the Irish section, there is rubrication in red, green, mauve and yellow, with some zoomorphic interlace; generally in good condition, though some leaves are a little stained by damp; seventeenth-century binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is written at the top in white ink: 505; and at the bottom of which are af®xed two labels: hRawlinjson; and: hB.j 505 One work only is contained in Bodl., MS Tanner 444: the Descriptio itineris Capitanei Iosiae Bodley in Lecaliam, written by Sir Josias Bodley in 1602 and narrating his expedition to Lecale in co. Down. On Bodley's life, see section 5.4 under Lecale, s.a. 1602 and endnote 624. Bodl., MS Tanner 444; Josias Bodley's Itinerary into Lecale, copied by one main scribe early in the seventeenth century; Latin; paper; iii + 8 + iii; modern pencil foliation; 250mm 6 190mm; some display script features; in good condition; nineteenth-century binding of brown half leather, on the spine of which is stamped lengthways in gold: JOSIAS BODLEY; beneath this is stamped in gold: TANN. | 444. The miscellany contained in Bodl., MS Tanner 458 is mainly of Irish interest. It includes amongst other things transcriptions of Archbishop Ussher's works, Sir Parr Lane's Character of the Irish, Italian matter concerning the origin and growth of papal power, matter concerning Scotland and Holland, sermons and some of the letters of Bishop William Bedell. On Sir Parr Lane, see section 5.1 under Character of the Irish, early seventeenth century, and endnote 43. Bodl., MS Tanner 458; copied by various scribes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; Latin (English, Italian, French); paper; i + 266 + ii; modern pencil foliation; 243mm 6 185mm; no decoration; in good condition; seventeenth-century binding of brown leather, on the spine of which is written in white ink: 458; at the bottom of the spine is af®xed a label: Tanner Oxford, Corpus Christi College The manuscript of the fourth part of Fynes Moryson's Itinerary in Ireland is preserved in Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 94. On Fynes Moryson, see section 5.2 under the Itinerary of Fynes Moryson, c. 1613, and endnote 135. Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 94; copied by three or four scribes, one of whom was Fynes Moryson, in the ®rst quarter of the seventeenth century;


142

4. The Documents

English (Latin); paper; i + 344 + i; sixteenth-century ink foliation; 345mm 6 218mm; no decoration; generally in good condition, though some leaves are a little faded, and the spine is slightly damaged at the top and bottom; early seventeenth-century binding of brown reversed leather, originally fastened with two thongs, now missing, and on the spine of which are af®xed two labels: E. | 4. | 1.; and: MS. | C.C.C. | C. 94 Oxford, Exeter College A unique, anonymous tract on the government of Ireland and the character of its people is preserved in Oxford, Exeter College, MS 154 (item 2). It is undated, but the hand of its copyist belongs to the ®rst quarter of the seventeenth century. Given that Elizabeth I is referred to as being deceased, the tract must have been composed sometime after 1603 (and various references to `the late rebellion,' probably meaning the Siege of Kinsale, suggest that the events of in 1601 were still fresh in mind). In fact, other internal references make it clear that the tract was composed between 1607 and 1625. Oxford, Exeter College, MS 154 (item 2); copied by one scribe in the ®rst quarter of the seventeenth century (but after 1603); English (Latin); paper; 142; modern pencil foliation; 327mm 6 204mm; no decoration; in good condition; early seventeenth-century binding of white parchment, fastened with two green fabric thongs on both front and back covers, and at the top of whose spine is written in ink: Marches | of Wales; beneath this in a later ink: CLIV; and beneath this are af®xed two labels: 14; and: 77 Paris The author of the De Praesulibus Hibernie, John Lynch, was born in Galway in 1599 or 1600. He was educated by the Jesuits in France, and ordained priest by Richard Arthur, bishop of Limerick, in 1625. In c. 1630 he was appointed archdeacon of Tuam, and on the surrender of Galway to Commonwealth forces in 1652 he ¯ed to France where he spent the rest of his life, dying there some time before 1674. His De Praesulibus Hibernie, a work heavily dependent on the De Praesulibus Hibernie Commentarius of Sir James Ware, was written in 1672, and is an account of the Roman Catholic bishops and archbishops of Ireland from the earliest times until his day. The Mazarine manuscript formerly belonged to the Oratoire de Saint-Magloire, whose superior, Fr. Louis Abel de Sainte-Marthe, had urged Lynch to undertake the work. The Paris copy is evidently the work of a French scribe, and conceivably copied from Lynch's holograph. Paris, BibliotheÁque Mazarine, MS 1869; annals of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Ireland from the earliest times until the seventeenth century, copied probably by a French scribe in the late seventeenth century; Latin; paper; iii + 636 + iii; seventeenth-century ink pagination; 296mm 6 183mm; no decoration; in good condition; seventeenth-century binding of plain parchment, on the spine of which is written in ink: HISTORIA | RELIGIONIS CATHOLICá | IN HIBERNIA; beneath this is af®xed a label: H | 2871



143

Rome The collections of the Barberini Library in Rome now form part of the Vatican Library. MS Barberini Latini 2466 was offered as a presentation copy by Peter Lombard to Pope Clement VIII in 1600. He laid out its title page in a manner reminiscent of printed books of the time, and indeed his work, the De Hibernia Insula Commentarius, came to be printed in 1632 under the title De Regno Hiberniñ Sanctorum Insula Commentarius. Here, the title page and a description of the manuscript will be given, followed by the title page of the 1632 edition; the excerpt in the Repertory is necessarily taken from the holograph manuscript. DE | HIBERNIA INSULA | COMMENTARIUS STROLMATICUS | ROMAE | CONSCRIPTUS, ET OBLATUS | SANCTISSIMO PATRI ET D. N. | CLEMENTI PAPAE OCTAVO, | ANNO SANCTO SECULARI | MDC. | A | Petro Lombardo Hiberno, Atrium & Sacrñ Theo: | logiñ Doctore, ac nuper Professore in Univer: | sitate Lovaniensi; nunc veroÁ pro eadem | commissario ad sedem | Apostolicam | Indicem capitum huius voluminis require | in eius ®ne folio 160 Rome, Vatican Library, MS Barberini Latini 2466; Peter Lombard, De Hibernia Insula Commentarius, copied by the author c. 1600; Latin; paper; v + 161 + iii; seventeenth-century ink foliation; 265mm 6 195mm; no decoration; in good condition; seventeenth-century binding of plain parchment, on the front cover of which is stamped in gold the coat of arms of the Vatican, and at the top of the spine of which is written in ink: 102 | 257; beneath this is af®xed a label: Barb. lat. | 2466; at the bottom of the spine is written in ink: XXXII DE | REGNO | HIBERNIá | Sanctorum Insula | COMMENTARIVS, | Authore Illustriss. ac Reuerendiss. Domino | D. PETRO LOMBARDO Hiberno, | Archiepiscopo Ardmachano, totius eiusdem Regni | Primate, olim in Alma Vniuersitate Louaniensi | S. Theol. Doctore, & quondam Prñposito | Ecclesiñ Cathedralis Cameracensis, &c. | [device ± IHS in a sun] | LOVANII, | Apud Viduam STEPH. MARTINI. 1632. Thurles (co. Tipperary) St Patrick's College, Thurles, holds the unique manuscript of the Triumphalia Chronologica de Coenobio Monasterii Sanctae Crucis Sacri Ordinis Cisterciensis in Hibernia, a work written by Malachy Hartry, OCist., in 1640. On Hartry, see section 5.4 under Ballychalatan, s.a. 1623, and endnote 156. St Patrick's College, Thurles, no shelfmark; the Triumphalia Chronologica de Coenobio Monasterii Sanctae Crucis Sacri Ordinis Cisterciensis in Hibernia by Malachy Hartry, followed by the Synopsis Nonnullorum Sanctorum Illustriumque Hibernorum Monachorum Cisterciensium (written 7 August 1649), both copied by one mid-seventeenth century scribe, with various later eighteenth-century additions; Latin (English); parchment; 50; eighteenth- or nineteenth-century ink foliation; f. 20: 293mm 6 216mm; extensive illumination and rubrication, with strapwork added to several litterae notabiliores; in poor condition, with much staining and rubbing, and many leaves repaired


144

4. The Documents

with lisse; unbound in quires and singletons, and preserved in a modern brown leather satchel. Uppsala University Library (UUL) On Philip O'Sullivan Beare, the author of the Zoilomastix whose manuscript is described below, see section 5.2 under the Historiñ Catholicñ Iberniñ Compendium, s.a. c. 1584, and endnote 107. On the Zoilomastix itself, see section 5.2 under the Zoilomastix, s.a. 1625, and endnote 139. UUL, MS H248; the Zoilomastix, copied by Philip O'Sullivan Beare, c. 1625, with various later additions in his own hand; Latin (Irish); paper; iii + 353 + iii; modern pencil foliation; f. 133: 214mm 6 154mm; f. 134: 216mm 6 155mm; no decoration; in good condition; seventeenth-century binding of plain parchment, at the top of whose spine is written: 8; and 44; and on the spine of which is written in ink: Manuscripto d'Istoria d h. . .j. Wiltshire Record Of®ce (WRO) On the life of John Clavell (1601±43), the author of the extract taken from the manuscript described below, see the headnote to Appendix 6.5. WRO, MS 865/502 (item 2); miscellaneous notebook, including poems, recipes, epitaphs, elegies and draft letters, copied by John Clavell at various times between c. 1620±40; English; paper; 45; modern pencil pagination, odd numbers only, running 1 to 89; text written from pp. 1±37 (pp. [38]-39 are blank) and also written from the back, upside down, from pp. [88]-[40]; 295mm 6 200mm; no decoration; in fair condition, but there is some fading throughout, and p. 89 is detached; six unbound gatherings, sewn together with leather thongs, and in modern pencil on p. 89 is written: Clavell | 2d wife Isabel | Fitzgerald d. of | E. of Kildare; on the front cover is written: 865/502 p. 1; and preserved in a bundle with two other items. 4.15 Miscellaneous books These are listed here in chronological order according to their year of publication. W. Edmundson, A Journal of the Life, Travels, Sufferings, and Labours of Love in the Work of the Ministry, of that Worthy Elder, and Faithful Servant of Jesus Christ, William Edmundson (London, 1715). Memoirs of the Right Honourable The Marquis of Clanricarde, Lord Deputy General of Ireland (London, 1722). W. R. Chetwood, A General History of the Stage (Dublin, 1749). T. Wilkes, A General View of the Stage (London, 1759). W. Harris, The History and Antiquities of the City of Dublin (Dublin, 1766). C. Vallancey, Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis, 6 vols (Dublin, 1770±1804).


4.15 Miscellaneous books

145

J. Ferrar, The History of Limerick (Limerick, 1787). R. Hitchcock, An Historical View of the Irish Stage, 2 vols (Dublin, 1788). State Papers. King Henry the Eighth. Part III. 2 vols (London, 1834). John d'Alton, The History of the County of Dublin (Dublin, 1838). J. C. Erck, A Repertory of the Inrolments on the Patent Rolls of Chancery in Ireland, Vol. 1, Parts I-II (Dublin, 1846±52). H. F. Hore and J. Graves, The Social State of the Southern and Eastern Counties of Ireland in the Sixteenth Century (Dublin, 1870). G. Hall, An Historical Account of the Plantation in Ulster (Belfast, 1877). A. B. Grosart, ed. The Lismore Papers (First Series), viz. Autobiographical Notes, Remembrances and Diaries of Sir Richard Boyle, First and `Great' Earl of Cork, 5 vols (London, 1886). G. E. Bentley, The Jacobean and Caroline Stage, 7 vols (Oxford, 1941±68).

d:/1¯etcher/chap5.3d ± 3/10/0 ± 8:51 ± b&b/ab/sh

5 The Records

5.1 Not precisely localized or dated Old Irish CoÂrus Iubaile 1 TCD: MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 20, p. 644 col. a ... Os na fogradhaibh ®led .i. tamhan drisican obhlaire. cumal doÂib .¦rl±. . . . ...

5

5

p. 644 col. b ... CeÂ heÂ in gradh ®led is comoÂr eneclann riana uirned a ngradh ¦ iarna uirneth ni hannsa in drisic ¦ teiscin .i. in tinnscetlaid .i. is cutruma a eneclann in tan is tinnscetlaid ¦ in tan is drisiuc .i. in tan is gradh ¦ deismerecht air. eneclann teiscin is cuma fri drisic .i. uair is eÂ in drisic feÂin sin. ... Old Irish LaÂnellach Tigi RõÂch ¦ Ruirech 2 NLI: MS G 7, col. 29 ... Arsesatar druth sceo eter dan dib condelbrae .i. for lar airtherach in tigi Arsesatar ailti airdnemthi aurchoilli .i. co nemthesib ¦ aire ¦ forseoirecht Arsesatar cornaire araith cuslennaich airthiur . . . ... Line 2 druth] read druith; sceo] possibly a word missing after sceo; dan dib] read in di; 3 ailti airdnemthi] possibly read aili dairnemthi.

Old Irish Law tract concerning mouth crimes 3 BL: MS Egerton 90, f. 12 col. a ... Cin beil do ithe meirle .¦ munadh1 ¦ maidhem. 1 .i. na crosan. ...


5. The Records: 5.1

147

Old Irish Tecosca Cormaic 4 RIA: MS 132 (23 D 2), p. 8 ... A ui cuinn acorpmaic ar cairpre caidet Adha fhlatha |p. 9| fhlatha & cuirmthighi ni hannsa ar corbmhac costudj im deghfhlaith lasamhna do lochrand . . . soichlige do daÂilemnaibh dianlam ag fodhail fochraibi ag timthirecht tigerna do charthain mesrugud senma sceluccad ngoirit gnuisi faoilid failti fri daÂma taoi fri comhod coicerta mbindi. At ied sin adhae ¯atha & cormthighi ar corbmac fri cairpre. p. 22 ... A ui cvind acorbmic ar cairbre cia mesam frisambia coindelg duit ni hannsa fer con ainbli cainti . . . ...

5

10

Line 6 coicerta] read coicetla.

Old Irish Â tgid 5 Bretha E TCD: MS 1433 (E. 3. 5), Part 1, p. 37 col. b ... bla clesamnaig cles .i. Slan donti eam nas na go clis in nairdi no na hubla clis in nairdi Masa clesa neamaicbeile iat is ®ach ®ancluichi indtu i laithrind ¦ ®ach cola cluiche indtu a .uii.arlaithrind Masa clesa aicbeile iat is ®ach cola cluichi indtu cid gah laithrind cid a .uii.arlaithrind. IS ed is clesa aicbeili ann cach cles arnabia rind no faebur. IS ed is clesa nemaicbeile ann cach clesarna bia rind na faebur. IS ed is laithrind and a tuitim ime ima cuaird i baile i mbi. IS ed is .uii.arlaithrind and andul uad imach i ciana. ... p. 44 col. b ... Ma robenad barr ameoir o bun na hingne otha aduban suas de coirpdiri ¦ eneclann fo truma na cneidi no ma roferad fuiligud air ac buain a ingni de is eiric fuiligthe do and Mas oduban suas robenad de a ingu eiric bainbeime ann ¦ ingu eiti don timpanach ar son aithgena masade dobenad. ... . . . eiric giunta co lomad a ciabaib na crosan ¦ na scoloc ¦ na ningen mñl ¦ i cathair a ruisc ¦ a ®ndfad a malach no caithir no fesoc no a nulcha na fear . . . ... Line 6 arnabia] read ara mbia.

Old Irish Di Astud Chirt ¦ Dligid 6 TCD: MS 1433 (E. 3. 5), Part 2, p. 14 col. b ... Cisne .iii. mic nagaibead urtechta ¯atha la FeÂniu ...

5

10

15


148 5

5. The Records: 5.1

mac cumaili.1 mac muc saide.2 mac biride.3 ... 1 .i. dhaire 2.i. ingen daerfuidre a mathair K mac ingene in sencleithi 3.i. bancainte ... Old Irish Uraicecht Becc 7 RIA: MS 536 (23 P 12; Book of Ballymote), p. 342 col. b

5

10

15

20

25

. . . Fichi ®r en®r acun drisiuc .x. sceoil agin taman .uii. sceoil agin oblairi. . . . IN aidmneach drisiucin ¦ in teisclemneach tamain ¦ in buaibleorach oblairi ¦ desmirecht seo aran aidmnig ndriusiucan. A ben uil isin cuili in tabraid biad do duine in tabrai dam aben ban saill loim ¦ aran. Ata form meni tuga biad im dorn. berat theneach aben ban is indisfet dom deaan ¦ desmirecht so arin tuiscleimnig tamuin Taili in mbairgin ¦ blog don blonaig moir. maith du mathair ¦ tatair taile in mblathaig ina deoig ¦ desmiricht seo din arin mbuaibleoraig obloiri. Do neoch rangamar do mnaib albanach is erennach isi in mñl mairgindach isi in cairgindach remendach ... p. 347 col. b ... Cruit .i. cruit ar timpan sin K cruit uirri bodein is e ñndan ciuil indsein .i. is e ñndaÂn oir®ded dliges sairi .i. dliges eneclainn ceni mteid la hordain .i. gengu rab imaille re huasal acht a beth ar aigidh a ñnur sairi boairech tuise do .i. eneclann in boairi tuisi do .i. tuisech na mboaireach .i. in boairi is ferr da fuilet cetra ba na eneclainn . . . ... p. 348 col. a ... aes ciuil .i. cronanaig ¦ air®did .i. fedanaig oilcena .i. uili cena .i. monaig .i. bid ar monaib a neach isna hñnaigib ocus araid .i. doniad in arugecht .i. in indus cedna na gilli urraith luamain .i. luamairet na hetair 7 comail .i. doniad in cerd comaind 7 daime .i. marbaid na sitcaire 7 creccoire .i. doniad crecad glas arna roscaib 7 cleasamnaig .i. cuirid na goo clis a nairde 7 fuirseoire .i. donia in fuirseoracht asa mbelaib 7 bruigedoire . doniad in bruigedoracht asa tonaib 7 fodana olceana .i. drochdana uili cena is a hincaib oga mbiad .i. is a hincaib an caich aga mbi siat ata eneclann doib is as direnaiter .i. is as sin erniter eneclann doib nis ta saire cena fo leith. ... Line 23 donia] read doniad; 24 bruigedoire . doniad] read bruigedoire .i. doniad.

Old Irish CoÂrus BeÂscnai 8 TCD: MS 1316 (H. 2. 15a), Volume 4, f. 29v col. a ... Fled domonda .i. ¯ed doberar do macaib bais ¦ droch dainib .i. do druthaib ¦ caintib ¦ oblairaib ¦ bruidiraib ¦ fuirseoraib ¦ merlechaib ¦ geintaib ¦ merdrechaib


5. The Records: 5.1

149

¦ drochdainaib arcena do neoch na tabair ar comain talmanda ¦ na tabair ar fhochric nemda is dilis iarum do deman in ¯ed sin ...

5

Line 2 domonda] over ®rst o is written: K e.

Old Irish Bretha CroÂlige 9 NLI: MS G 11, p. 445 ... Ata di mnai dec hi tuait aroscuile cain otrusa la FeÂniu. . . . be rinnuis1 . . . is focruic focrenaiter na mna so dia ®nib ni dingbail |p. 446| dingbaidter dibh. ... 1 .i. in ban®le no in bancainte Et cid fodera ni don be rinnais is e in fath ñir iar setaibh dligid darinne ¦ noca netirdibiginn a eneclainn im dvine ñr iar setaib do denumh p. 448 ... Ata .iii. hi tuaith folongaiter folug mboairec. ni tormaig ni fora notrus a mmiad nach a nemthes nach a ndliged1 nach a cendgelt drui dibergad cainte.2 AR is techtta la dia a ndinsed oldas a cumdac3 ... 1 .i. in cainte no in dibergac 2.i. in drisiuc 3An drui ¦ in cainte ¦ int airi echta tochus in bo airech uil acu and sin in tan ata log tincisin bo airech doibh . . . p. 450 ... Dlomthair a urcoillte ina otharliugu len ni licter fair hi teg druith1 na dasachtaig.2 na ecuind3 na docuinn4 na ñs necraite ni fertar cluichi fair hi tig . . . ni gairther gairm. ni grithaidter muca ni fertar scannail ni curtar ilach. na gair cocluiche.5 . . . ... 1 .i. co rath 2.i. fa tabarr in dlai fulla 3.i. int ecodnach bec K mer can rath 4.i. no dñ a codnaigetu in mer cen rat K in mac bec 5.i. golium cona clviche in tres bundsach . . .

5

10

15

20

Line 9 .iii.] read .iii.ar; 16 otharliugu] read otharligiu; licter] read leicter; 18 curtar] read cuirther.

Old Irish Di ChetharsÇlicht AthgabaÂla 10 BL: MS Egerton 88, f. 61 col. b ... Ni gaibter athgabail druith1 na dasachtaidh2 na oin3 na oinmiti4 na haimbil5 na at athgabail a cond bertai a cinta ¦ a raith 1 .i. co rath 2.i. fo dabarr an dlai fulla. 3.i. onan fir 4.i. femen 5.i. duine nabi bil urlabra ...

5


150

5. The Records: 5.1

Old Irish Di ChetharsÇlicht AthgabaÂla 11 BL: Harley 432, f. 6 col. a ... Nis gaibet ecuma airechta. na aurcuillte rath1 na ecoir nadma. na uais nairechta 1 .i. mug ¦ fuidir ¦ fulla. .i. bard ¦ lethcerd ¦ cainti. ... 5

10

f. 6 col. a ... IN fñndledach ¦ int urfocrach ¦ in bard ¦ in lethcerd ¦ in cainti ¦ in sui ri rigdamna ¦ in mac beoathar is gor Kcan indligthech nemurfaemad a toicheda nach a nemlecud do gabail na hathgabala im les nech .ii. |f. 6 col. b| no co tucat urrad marñn leo ma fogabait he ar comlog . . . ... ¦ frecra da nemdetin dligid acin bard ¦ acin lethcerd ¦ acin cainti . . . ...

15

f. 9 col. a ... im dingbail aurcuilte a reir lega ... .i. biada urcuillti . . . .i. na lecter fair i tech druith na cainti .i. arna rocuilli in lobur .i. mna ¦ con. ...

20

f. 9 col. d ... IM gaire ndruith1 im gaire mire2 1 .i. co rath .i. nesam in biad ¦ int etach ro caith®thea riu. 2.i. ben mer .i. gin rath. ...

25

30

f. 8 IM gaire ndruith im gaire mir ¦rl± . . . ... . . . Cuic bai smacht nemdenma gaire in druith co norbo ¦ co nobloirecht. is aire is bec in smacht Deich mbai smacht nemdenmha gaire cach mire is aire is mo smacht ina smacht in druth ar ni hair®digh . in mer ¦ ni bi ferann aici Muine roib orba no obloirecht acin druth is commor smacht a gaire risin mer cin rath ... f. 10v col. a ... Athgabail treisi sloiged ... f. 10v col. b ... im cinaid do mic do ingine do huai do mna fochraice do ®r taistil do murchurti do druith1 do oblaire2 . . .


5. The Records: 5.1

151

1

.i. co rath 2.i. fuirseoir ... Old Irish Di ChetharsÇlicht AthgabaÂla 12 TCD: MS 1336 (H. 3. 17), Volume 1, f. 16v col. a ... do druth .i. Masa druth ac rig a aonur Kcha nfuil urrunus don coirpdire don ®ne in tan sin IS ed is druth ac rig a ñnur ro gob do laimh beth for chintuibh aindisidhe IS ed is druth itir rig ¦ tuaith ann a coimedecht ac in rig ¦ nonchur gobh do laim beth fo chintuibh ...

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Old Irish On the forms of distraint 13 TCD: MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 13, p. 378 col. b ... A fuirech ifaichi cainte nofir nadfuilnget gruaidhi arni daimside dligiuth itir do duine. . . . ... Old Irish Heptads 14 Bodl.: MS Rawlinson B. 487, f. 57 col. b ... mac rindile . . . ... .i. mac inti rindes neach o oil in cainti . . . ... f. 58 col. b ... raith ar uais ¦ urguirt . . . ... .i. in lucht arar urguir dliged dul a rathaighis. .i. bard ¦ lethcerd ¦ cainti ¦ freacra da nemtarrachtain. ... f. 58v col. a ... eccosc namat. ... .i. namuitt uma ecosc .i. ni suil ni srub .uii.mad neneclainni inn .i. rocet cen chvibdus ... f. 60 col. b ... tech rindile . . .

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... .i. tech inti ñras o oil .i. in cainte. .i. do fein na .u. set ¦ a trian do ®r na hathgabala ¦ frecrad da nemtharrachtain sein K is frecrad do nemhdeittin do ara indlighthighe. . . . ... Old Irish Heptads 15 TCD: MS 1336 (H. 3. 17), Volume 1, f. 67v col. b ... . . . An druth co sundradach isi a aithne gacha nomadh briathur atbeir do fõÂr amuil ro bui conull clocuch meallach suirg ainm .ii. do ...

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f. 68v col. a ... IN druth isi a aithne co sunnraduch .i. gacha nomadh briathur adbeir do ®r amuil robui conull clocuch .i. meallach suirg ¦ boicmeall ainm .ii. do IN druth isi a aithne .i. magaeth immorro anud berur res ini do gni Ma druth immorro ni den ani adberur res uair tibet cini targair tur caididh cini craitur ... Line 9 den] read deni; tibet] ? read tibid; caididh] read cainidh.

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Old Irish Bretha im Fhuillema Gell 16 TCD: MS 1316 (H. 2. 15a), Volume 2, f. 15 col. b ... Techta fuillema gill cacha mna rindas1 la ma doroth is diles do suidiu aige ®ne caich dara ndichet cenn agell dorinnad. corofuigle diainchuib. tregabla set imtha dano techta fuillema gill cacha ®r rinnas rosuidiged ic comdire2 otha tigernbardd coruicce driscona isinunn fuillem diangellaib. 1

.i. in banbhard 2.i. rosuidhiged iad imcutrumus diri risin manbaird .i. tri leathuingi Old Irish Quotations from law tracts 17 TCD: MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 25, p. 874 ... Daernemid tra .i. fodana na graid si tuas ¦ comeneclainni iat ¦ na pipairedha ¦ na clesamnaigh ¦ na cornaireda ¦ na cuislennaig. . . . ... Old Irish MõÂadsÇlechta 18 TCD: MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 3, p. 15 col. a (blank)is lir togarmand techtaite miadlechta . . . oinmit midhlach reim riascaire sindach brothlaighe// ...


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p. 16 col. a ... Oinmit fer mitir im drochmnai e¦ onaf co ndentar megahr ¦ fonachtaide .i. fosgenigh ni dligh dire in fer sin ... Reimm dno .i. fuirseoir K druth nach fer dobeir remmad fo corp ¦ a enech ni dligh dire uair teit asa richt ar belvib sluagh ¦ sochaidhe// Riascaire .i. loingsech in sin arimgaib a chenel ¦ a fhine colith cain ¦ rechtge ¦ bidh o riasc do riasc K o sleib K riascaire .i. rathmaighe dñr do ¯aith ¦ eclais ni dliginn dire Sindach brothlaighe .i. bruar cach bidh do iter dilis ¦ indilis K cuma lais cidhbedh bruidhes K domeala ...

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p. 17 col. a ... Cainte fear ara rosar a biad tresin ainim aire// Line 1 (blank)is] read Cis.

Old Irish Epistle of Jesus 19 TCD: MS 1318 (H. 2. 16; Yellow Book of Lecan), col. 220 ... Druith ¦ cainti ¦ gobainn ni imtiagat ann. an dobertha doib isin tshollomain doberar doib aõÅg luain. ... Old Irish CrõÂth Gablach 20 TCD: MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 2, p. 6 col. b ... Co sernar tech rig. ... techti fri sudhi inõÂar. DaaÂma iar sudhiu. Eccis iar sudhib. Crutti iar sudhi. Cuslennaigh cornairi clesamnaigh an airtiur foitsi. ...

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Old Irish Uraicecht na RõÂar 21 TCD: MS 1432 (E. 3. 3), p. 17 col. b ... . . . Tamhan.1 ®che drect lais. leith sreapol adire ¦ nõÂ heola i feadhaibh ¦ canaidh fris. for cach amail as beir fenecus. nõÂronad roscadha randa. ®r for agad thamhain teisgleimnigh treabna ñireacta. 1

.i. creat chuaine ina ®led inso. ... Drisiuc leanaid ininichaibh caich .x. ndrechta lais. ¦ screapal |p. 18 col. a| adhiri. Obhlaire1.u. drecta lais. leathscreabal adire

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.i. fuirseoir gan dan ¦ dan do earbann. meabhraigheas. amail ita ata. form minatarrda biadh im dord dagian teÂgnach nocho chel is indisfead da drochsgel: . . . ... Line 2 sreapol] read screapol; 3 fris] ?read tres.

Old Irish Law tract concerning livestock and other topics 22 BL: MS Egerton 88, f. 3v col. a ... Cair cia laisin coir milcu. ni hannsa. la ¯aith. cair cia laisin coir oircne. ni hannsa. occbriugaid .¦ liaigh .¦ cruitire .¦ rigan. ...

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Old Irish Penitential commutations 23 Bodl.: MS Rawlinson B. 512, f. 42v col. a ... . . . Ar atat araile pecta dib ni dligat dilgud a peinne . . . |f. 42v col. b| . . . amal ronrogabsat ®ngala ¦ duine orcni ¦ duine taidi .¦ amal rogabsat diberga ¦ druidechta ¦ caintechta . . . ... Line 2 pecta] the letter v written above c in this word.

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Late Old Irish Frithfholaid rõÂg Caisil fria thuatha 24 TCD: MS 1318 (H. 2. 16; Yellow Book of Lecan), col. 339 ... Frithfolaidh caisil frisna deissib . . . Legai oÂ dail mugaide Cruitire o chorco che Cerda ¦ umaige o cerdaige Rechtaire for blicht o boindrige Dan ¦ eÂcsi o muscraige ... . . . Druith ¦ dorsaide o chorco modrad . . . ... Late Old Irish Bretha Nemed deÂidenach 25 TCD: MS 1317 (H. 2. 15b), p. 144 col. b ... Vrgart saighidh go nonbhar .i. lethcerd, bard, caÂinte, mac beoathar, deoradh, daormhanach, feirghnia, fer miodhbha, mbruigher, ¦ bothach. ...

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p. 147 col. a ... Abair a Neire co dimhed graÂdha ®leadh do ghraÂdhaibh tuaithe¡ Do-eimh Ruire rioghraidh. Do eimh saoi slogh. Do eimh ollamh tuath. . . . Do eimh Tamhan


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triar. Do eimh Obhlaire faithche. Do eimh bard loirge laÂr. Do eimh bard sgine sgiatha gaÂib; . . . ...

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p. 151 col. b ... Ocht ndaÂorbhaird ceÂdamus .i. CvÂlbard, SruÂbhard, bard loirge, drisioc, cromlvatha, Sirthe, Rionnaidhe, ¦ longbhaÂrd. ... p. 151 col. b ... . . . Cis baird beÂrda do ionchvibh airer aire, ¦ nach berdaid aire¡ beÂlaire oÂibheÂl. aras can ceird cvlbard, cenmoÂthaÂ bard srvÂibhe, svaill lais longbhard luindemh dhõÂobh drisivc, di thracht i lvaith lenus, labair sior Siortha, sloihnnj go reÂil Rionnaidhe, resgaibh logha lohngjbhaÂrd, lochtaibh feith fri daÂn gan dire dõÂh. . .j p. 152 col. a ... . . . Ro miodhair Neire nemhedh gach baÂird fri gradha feÂne; ®onnathar rioghbard, tighernbard. bo bhard. longbard, bard buaignech, bard bomma. tamhan drisivc. obhlaire. srvth do aill. la hollamhain in aonghradh gaibhther, . . . tamhan dian did loing baÂnshrotha bhaÂrd mbinn, miter fri hairigh tuõÂsi, . . . drisioc do-grinn go teoÂra certle comnadhma cidh echttar chriocha imdhearga, miodhchvÂarta tighe moir. ... p. 156 col. b ... . . . Suidhighthe drisiug aoinfher airshiuÂl ar bheulaibh foichlõÂ. Suidhighthe Dul dõÂbhech a aonar edir agus caindell: A Mhoraind.

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Line 12 opposite in right margin: daorbaird.

Late Old Irish Bretha Nemed deÂidenach 26 TCD: MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 24, p. 869 ... Ceist cit lir baird do chuissin .xui .i. ocht soerbaird ¦ ocht ndoerbairt na hocht ndoerbaird citus .i. culbaird iar cul bissen ¦ srubbrad .i. atber asa sruib hi sanaiss risinti dia ndena ingebad do a duain. Bard lorce .i. lorc ria hucht. Drissiuc .i. duiniu ger goirt Cromm luatha .i acoini huassin tenid. Sertiu .i. oblaire. Rinnid .i. rinne conaig. Lorgbard .i. snah.jthh.j ¦ delge connaig do gres ara dan. ... Line 6 Lorgbard] read Longbard; snah.jthh.j] an indistinct letter before and after -th-.

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Late Old Irish Advice to a prince 27 TCD: MS 1339 (H. 2. 18; Book of Leinster), f. 106v col. a ... Mac in chornaire fon corn . . . ... Mac in chruittiri foÂn cruitt issed nachassluitt moalle. ... Mac in timpanaig na teÂt isse abeÂs gabail gres glan. ... Mac ind fhiled cosin daÂn mac in druith allus glaÂm ngeÂr ... Late Old Irish The twelve names of the fool 28 TCD: MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 14, p. 423 col. a ... Tri druith ®l and ¦ da ainm decc ®l orro. in bobreith ¦ in bocmbell ¦ in mellach suirig an righ druth ¦ in rindinech ¦ in druth go rath se hanmanna sin ar in duth co rath. in caeptha ¦ in ®nelogh baeth ¦ gaeth ¦ in fer leth chuind .iiii.re hanmanna sin ar in fer leth cuind. in salach duth ¦ in mer gan rath da ainm sin ar in mer gan rath. ... Lines 3 and 5 duth] read druth.

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Late Old Irish Mo cosc duit, a Doidhin mic Nine 29 BL: MS Egerton 88, f. 40v col. a ... . . . ¦ ni bi raith friut eigis na bard na cainti arnat aorat dligud sgcheo inndligud .i. ar na haorait tuÂ ¦ tuÂ ar dligud ¦ iatsom ar inndligud. . . . ... ¦ ni bi raith friut bobre .i. epertaigh na mb[e]o. na buice .i. an ceo do buaic .i. in fer leth cuinn. na boicmell .i. fo a mbit na mill buic fo bragaid. ar ni tualaing incoiscet a cuimni. .i. nocha cuimnech iat um teagosc caich. |f. 40v col. b| ¦ inann in bobre ¦ in buicmeall ¦ in meallach suirig ¦ in righ dhruth ¦ in rinnainech ¦ in druth go rath .i. druth go rath sin. Inann in buicne ¦ in caoptha ¦ in ®neloighi baoth gaoth ¦ in fer leth cuinn. .i. fer leth cuinn sin. Inann in salach druth ¦ an mer gin rath ¦ mer gin rath. ... Late Old Irish Irish Triads 30 RIA: MS 967 (23 N 10), p. 10 col. b ... Tri mic . . . galgairt®de dala druth fursire oirce ...


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Late Old Irish Irish Triads 31 TCD: MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 4, p. 87 col. a ... Treidhe nemtighther crvit. goltraiges. gentraiges suantraiges. Flescach ¦ emnad ¦ cairched acon timpanach imarcraigh crvitirecht acon crvitire indiu na nagvidsin. Imfhocraibh timpanachta acon timpanvigh indiu na nagaidh sin. Late Old Irish Irish Triads 32 BL: Cotton Nero A. vii, f. 144 ... . . . A tri nemtiger croosan rig a oile righ a teighe righe a brond. Late Old Irish Do druÂthaibh ¦ meraibh ¦ daÂsachtaibh 33 BL: MS Egerton 88, f. 6v col. a ... In rindenach dno is eiside in meallach suirig is for ®ne bis a cin sidhe. In rig druth dno a cin side & a coland eric do gach at go K a cin for dot nurgair. hMjad orgain airrleach ro hoirg nech na bid neach donurgaire cia for fuich isuidiu is teachta gach druth in a cinta. ...

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Line 4 hMjad] M partially cut away by binder's knife; airrleach] read airrleachta; ro hoirg] read ro hoirr; for fuich] read fo ruich.

Late Old Irish Sanas Cormaic 34 TCD: MS 1318 (H. 2. 16; Yellow Book of Lecan), col. 18 . . . Cainte acaine .i. cainis .i. cu aris cend con for sin cainti arisin ann dan fris. ... col. 77 ... Remm nomen do fuirseoir fobith cach riastardñ dobeir for a agaid ...

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Middle Irish O'Davoren's Glossary 35 BL: MS Egerton 88, f. 85 col. a ... Dogrinn .i. tobac ut est drisic dogrinn co tri certle cum .i. toibgi in drisiuc cuma naidm fri tri certle is ®u screpal . . . ... f. 85v col. b ... Drisiuc .i. intõÂ is dris ar leatartaighi .¦ is cuÂ ar amainnsidhe K ar anble ...

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f. 89v col. b ... Lond .i. occal vt est luindum dib drisiuc .i. is eÂ is occal dib in drisiuc uair is he ollam na bairdne ... Long .i. dluighe vt est tamon dian loing ban srotha bard mbind .i. in tamon dlviges co hobond ®r srotha na bairdne binde ... f. 93 col. a ... Tamuin .i. borb vt est nitam mac nidom ferthamain .i. nidom ferr thamain nidom borb K nõÂ tamain fõÂr cin eolas ... Line 2 .i.1 ] read ut; 16 .i.1 ] read ut with superscript t in manuscript.

Middle Irish Later recension of Uraicecht Becc 36 TCD: MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 9, p. 178 col. b ... INt ollam cruitir ¦ timpanaidh .iiii. bai a neineclainn cechtarde dib ¦ ni ®l ni dia nasrothaib acht screpal a innracais masa indraic ¦ manib indraic nochan fuil nach nõÂ Middle Irish Verses on honori®c portions 37 NLI: MS G 3, f. 22v col. a ... An tairr dona trenferaibh in druim dona dranairibh in cend dona sgelaigibh in cen dona duanairibh 5

A cruachait do crosanaib ma cennaib coirigtir a nndelg dia ®adhaigibh a hairnõÂ dia heoinmidib : : ... Middle Irish FõÂachairecht 38 TCD: MS 1336 (H. 3. 17), Volume 6, f. 230v col. b ... . . . Madh gresa oclaic K caintidh ticc and is graacc gracc congair no as grob grob ¦ i lleith ad diaigh congair ¦ asa tecaid na gressa ...

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f. 231 ... Mad os dorus congair Cainti no gresa do lucht comaitechta righ tic ann ...


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Late Middle Irish CoÂir Anmann 39 TCD: MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 19, p. 590 col. a CaõÂnti .i. oÂnõÂ is cainis cuÂ ar cend con for caõÂnti ag amhustraigh. unde crithenbheÂl cainti. CrithinbeÂl .i. beÂl nachrither .i. ara neimhnighe ¦ ara theintemhlacht nambrõÂathar uÂadh ar is nemhnech brõÂgahthra indaÂna iter. K cridenbeÂl .i. a cridhe inabheÂl .i. aruÂn in abheÂlu ar nõÂ gheibed som iter for ruÂn dõÂa cluinedh. K critherbheÂl .i. beÂl nacrithir ar iseÂ ceÂt chaõÂnti dobhaõÂdh rõÂgh chainnell oÂtengaidh artuÂs eÂ. ... Late Middle Irish Dia mor dom imdeghail 40 RIA: MS 535 (23 P 2; Book of Lecan), p. 345 col. a ... Banchainti breitheamain buiden ger gataide gill anraid gelentech gu gloir cach gluin . ascebthar ñr ®ther cascebthar clñ ®ther trascebthar trñth®der uantenid truimm Uid trom leo in tachmosan bid truag atuar iscbail do ®ter dig®ter uan tenid h.jenid . mna drvtha deamnacda druith ¦ drochcante dñscor sluag di chuibsech in domain dein ... p. 345 col. b ... Crossana cruitir cliara ciuil cornairi cethirn cach cuanberla cach cheana adchid . dig®ter dil®ter adruin in duileaman do reir a duthrachta cach ina olc dib ...

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Early Modern Irish Fifteen Signs of Doomsday 41 Â i Mhaoilchonaire), f. 97 col. a BL: MS Additional 30512 (Leabhar U . . . Uch cuir®ter deÂinleith an uair sin na forimthigh ¦ na gobreathaig na cosnumhaigh ¦ na colaigh na drvithi ¦ na cainti ¦ na crosanaigh na heritegai ¦ na dibergaigh na merrligh ¦ na hetvrigai na goid na gloraig na cainti na banchainti na dimsaigh na craesaigh na fergaigh na dunmarthaig lucht ®ngaile ¦ mebla ¦ lucht gach vilc ele . . . ... Line 3 hetvrigai] read heÂtvridai; goid] read goÂich; 4 dunmarthaig] read dunmarbhthaig.

Early Modern Irish O'Mulconry's Glossary 42 TCD: MS 1318 (H. 2. 16; Yellow Book of Lecan), col. 94 ... . . . Cainti a cane .i. o choin ar is anble .¦ aursaire a ndan dib linaib. . . .

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col. 122 ... Taman .i. fograd ®led fo cosmvilis in tamain crand dia mbentar a barr sic ille cin manchaine ni dlig acht athgin. ... Early seventeenth century Character of the Irish 43 Bodl.: MS Tanner 458, f. 32v ... The Lords, & chief Gentlemen (excepting some few) have likewise their humors, whom Rimers, & Harpers make swell till they burst. . . . ... f. 35v

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. . . and let not their shadows be valued more than their bodies worth, for never yet was there Record to be found of any Irish Heroes but such as Rimers, & Harpers have obtruted to fancie. . . . ... Before c. 1640 Tiar taÂinig tuÂs na senma 44 The Book of The O'Conor Don, f. 15 ... A ta anivgh ag nioclas dall. ar chert ar chvmus nemhonn mõÂr cvradh cheoÂil na banbha. bvnadh eoÂil na healadhna ... Before c. 1640 A NioclaÂis, nocht an gclaÂirsigh 45 RIA: MS 203 (Stowe E v 5), p. 341 ... A nioclaÂis nocht an chlaÂirsech leÂig imtheacht don fhvaraÂn sin seinn ilcheoÂla naoidhe anos oÂ nimtheoÂbha m®abhras. ... Before c. 1640 Mo-chean d'altrom an oirbheirt 46 RIA: MS 3 (23 L 17), f. 154v ... DõÂol na nemhgha Nioclas dall. a dhiolsa an ccrvit gan chonchlann an dallsa dhisi idir. is isi dannsa an oir®digh ...


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Before 1645 Orpheus oÂg ainm Eoghain 47 RIA: MS 11 (Stowe E iv 3), p. 176 ... Orpheus oÂg ainm eoghain . laÂmh naÂch tais a tteÂidcheolaibh meoir sgaÂthbhrastiugh blaÂth binn . traÂth daÂ athbhaisdigh deÂirinn. ... Deacair ceol mar eÂ dfaõÂghil . ceol eoghain võÂ allvÂraÂin ...

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Before c. 1650 CõÂa an saoi le sinntear an chrvit 48 RIA: MS 308 (23 M 16), p. 97 CeeÂf[õÂa] an saoi le sinntear an chrvit, lea nõÂocKethfar nimh gach nvadh lvit, tre gho[r]radh gvith bhinn a claÂr, mur srvth linn f ehfoghar norgaÂn; ... p. 98 ... Tadh[a]g oÂ cobhthaicc crv[i]th corcra, branaÂn breÂagtha ban[n]trachta, vÂaithne iuÂil frithir gach foinn, crithir an chivil san choigilelf ; ...

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The text has been extensively corrected in another hand, at which time most of the punctuation noted here was added.

Before c. 1654 Â Eachach 49 Mo-chean d'Eoghan O TCD: MS 1382 (H. 5. 10), p. 49 Mo cheann deoghan o eachach do lean an seoladh srvthadh do lvÂith a mheoÂr ccaÂol ccleathach ar cheol tsreathach chaoÂmh chrutach ... p. 51 ... LeoÂghan saÂor go cceim ccalma meoghan feÂin nach faon meanma a ccomhdhail ndrvadh craoi ccorma s dval colbhadh ag saoi na seanma ...

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Before c. 1654 D'eÂis an daingin do radas-sa d'EÂireannchaibh 50 TCD: MS 1382 (H. 5. 10), p. 51 ... a eamvinn albnaigh admhaim feÂin gvr sibh ar cheill ar cneasdacht na seanma an treÂanfhear si Line 3 si] read sin.

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Before c. 1654 BruthghaÂir beannacht id bhaitheas anuas do ghnaÂth 51 TCD: MS 1382 (H. 5. 10), p. 52 ... Bruthghair beannacht ad bathcios anvas do ghnaÂth a chvid ghraidh ghlacas an creann crvit cvardach caidh le srvthaÂn seanma snasda go svadhach saÂmh an dubhaÂn alla do bhainis a clvasaibh chaÂich ... Before c. 1654 OileÂan CarruÂn lagluÂb lõÂomhtha leÂir 52 TCD: MS 1382 (H. 5. 10), p. 52 ... OileÂan carrunn laglub liomhtha leÂir foileim ainivÂil teacht dvinn sõÂnte leÂ brvith sheÂis taigivir fhraischivil chaoin ateÂad tug meÂ ag maochtnughadh feadh chvig noidhche ndeÂag 5.2 Not precisely localized but dated 513±34 Lebor Bretnach 53 RIA: MS 536 (23 P 12; Book of Ballymote), p. 208 col. a . . . Murcertach mac erca in tan sin i uail rig breatan ig foglaim gaiscidh iar na dichur a herinn ar na crossana do marbadh ¦ iar na dichor post a halbain ar marbadh a seanathar .i. loairnd rig alban . . .

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600 BoÂrama 54 TCD: MS 1339 (H. 2. 18; Book of Leinster), f. 212v col. b ... Ba handsin taÂnic glasdaÂm caÂinte meic rõÂg herend cona noÂnbor caÂinte imme. Diarraid airigthi barsna luchtairib. Atbert brandub ris in tuÂ feÂin dobeÂra beÂim naeoÂil dait [in] no in messi. ISs ed atbert in caÂinte tabairsiu ar se. Dorat immorro brandub in naeÂl sin coire ¦ dobert noÂi naisle doÂenbeÂimmum anõÂs. Atnaig in caÂinte. ica fheÂgad. dar brethir ar se bar in caÂinte nõÂ tidnacul |f. 213 col. a| mogad acht tidnacul rõÂg. . . . Ocus is andsin ro raÂid cummascach. Cia gabas in teg foraind. Messe ar brandub. Ba handsin atrubairt glasdaÂm caÂinte. na deÂntar


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emebulf fhormsa ar se uair ro chathius do bõÂad. Ni dinÇgentar ar brandub. Dring risin tech ar se ¦ linÇg dar feÂice in tige ¦ linÇg dar barr na lasrach immach. ¦ bid slaÂn duit uÂainne. Atchluiniu suÂt a chummascaig ar in caÂinte. Geib meÂtachsa immut ar in caõÂnte ¦ eirc immach. . . . ...

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626 MionannaÂla 55 BL: MS Egerton 1782, f. 58 . . . Ro bui dana druth ®achna meic baetaÂin ag cloistecht rissin comraÂd sin .¦ a chluas rissin tech. Ro attaigh iartain comgall comad hind aenfhecht foghabadsam bas .¦ atigerna issin chath .¦ amail rabui hi comaentaigh atigerna hifus issin traeghul combiadh himmaillõÂ fris hi ¯aithius nimiv. Ro raÂid comgall do dheÂna dia amlaid .¦ amail ataÂisiv hifus hic molad do thigernv biasv co honoÂrach hig cloistecht ra ceol mbinn muinntire nimiv hig molad micc muiri. . . . ...

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637 Cath Muighe Rath 56 TCD: MS 1318 (H. 2. 16; Yellow Book of Lecan), col. 292 . . . ¦ ro chodail congal iarsin reciuin fhogar na cusleann cõÂuil ¦ re forcad faidhemail fuasaidech ®r trvag na teÂd ¦ na timpaÂn ghatadall daigthib ¦ dformnadaib eand ¦ ingen na suÂad ga saÂr sheinm . . . ... 678±83 CaÂin Fhuithirbe 57 TCD: MS 1337 (H. 3. 18), Volume 10, p. 248 ... . . . etualaing .i. cainti. dibergaidh .i. tvilidghithi. . . . Escoman .i. cainte ¦ dibergaig . . . ... 721±2 Cath Almaine 58 BR: MS 5301±20, p. 5 RaÂ frithaighid iad iar ttain, ¦ ra baÂil don athair andearbadh maille, ¦ tainicc a ndeireadh oidhche do cum an taighe iraibhe an mac baÂ sine, ¦ ra bhaoõÂ acc cloisteacht frisin teach sin; as dõÂgaÂir tra, salach ra bhaÂs san taigh sin. RaÂ bhattur fuirseoiri, ¦ cainteadha ¦ eachlacha, ¦ obloÂiri, ¦ bachlaigh ag beceadhoig, ¦ acc buireadhaigh ann. Dream ag oÂl, ¦ dream na ccodladh, ¦ dream og sgeathraigh, dream occ cusleannaigh, dream oc featchuisigh. Timpanaigh ¦ crvithiri og seanmaimh; dream og imarbhaghadh ¦ oc reasbagaibh. Ad chuala Feargal amlaidh sin Âõad. agas tainig iar sin dinnsoiccidh an taighe dherrid i rabha an mac assoÂo, ¦ raÂ bhaoi ag cloisteacht risan teach sin, ¦ nõÂ chuala nach nõÂ ann acht |p. 6| acht atluccadh bvidhe do Dhia gach nõÂ fuarattar, ¦ cruitireacht ciuÂin bõÂnd, ¦ duana molta an coimdheadh ga ngabail, . . .

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p. 8 ... . . . DonnboÂ immorro mac baintreabtaighe eisidhe dferoibh rois, agasnõÂ deachaidh laÂ na aidhchi a taigh a mathar imach rõÂamh, ¦ nõÂ raibhe in eirinn uile budh |p. 9| budh caoõÂmhe, no budh ferr crvth, no delbh, no denamh inaÂs. Ni rabha ineirinn uile budh griubhdha, no budh segaine inaÂs, ¦ as uadh budh ferr rann espa, ¦ risgeÂla for domhon. aseÂ budh ferr do ghleÂs ech, ¦ do indsma slegh, ¦ d®ghe folt, ¦ budh fer riaichni na einech de quo dicitur. Aille macaibh Donnbo baidh, binne a laidhe luaidhid beoil, ... As andsin aspert fergall fria DonnboÂ; deÂna air®dedh dvÂin a DoinnboÂ, fo bith as tuÂ as deach air®didh fail ineirinn .i. i cvisigh, agas i cuislendoibh, ¦ icrvitibh, 7randaibh, 7raidsechoibh, 7rigsgelaibh eirenn, ¦ isin madinsi imbarach do beramne cath do laignib. Ac ar DonnboÂ nõÂ cumhgaimsi ar®dedh dhvitsi anocht, ¦ nimthaÂ aongniomh dibh sin vile do taidbhsin anocht, ¦ cipsi aÂirm irabhaisi amarach, ¦ imbeoÂsa do dheÂnsa air®dedh dvitsi. DeÂnadh immorro an rioghdrvth hua maighleÂine air®dedh dhvit anocht. Tugad hua maighleni chuca |p. 10| chuca iarttain. Ro gabhsaidhe og indisin cath ¦ comramha leithe Cuinn, ¦ laigen, o thoghail Tuama Tenbath .i. Deanda rõÂgh in ra marbhadh Cobhtach Caolbhregh, conigi anaimsirsin, ¦ nõÂ baÂ moÂr codalta do rinnedh leoÂ inaidhchi sin raÂ meÂd egla leo laigen, ¦ la meÂid na doininne .i. uair aidhche fheÂle ®nniain gaimhridh sin. ... Ra gabhadh annsain an druth hua maighleine, ¦ do radadh fair geim druith do dheÂnamh, ¦ do rigne, baÂ maÂr, ¦ baÂ binn an gheimsin, go mair geim ui Magleine oÂsin ale oc drvthaibh eirenn. Ra gadadh achenn [iarrain] iarttain dfergal, 7ra gadadh a cenn don drvÂth. Ra baoi mac alla gheimi an drvith sin aiKeefor go cenn tri la ¦ tri noidhche. As de asmberar geim ui maigleine og tafan na fer san monaidh. . . . 721±42 Bretha Nemed toõÂsech 59 BL: Cotton Nero A. vii, f. 135v . . . cia roich teisctiu teiscsleimim tuath o taman co fochluc . . . ...

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f. 138 ... . . . ni toipgither tresa tamun . . . ... f. 138v . . . Romorad mac fuirmid mainech a tincur o ollvm go hoblaire . . . ...

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f. 143 ... . . . suide ballorb bard dis i tigh enfer imuigh suide drisig aonar airshiul ar beluiuh fochlai suigidte dul dibech aonar iter bi .¦ coindill a moraind


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f. 143v ... A moraind a maine a mochta abuir frium co miter nert cach naosad nemedh ar is a nemtesaib doecclamar cach direch dana dligid imus forosnam dicedul do cenduib cedul nanomuin cethirriach cato cach suad sloinde lanlaidhe labru cin esbaid briugus can tesbaid neimither leath ceard. Air®diud coir comKeadfais cach lin i tig megrac [r] mid cuarta soindsce for coimgne co corus coibnes cata cana concana bairdne ... . . . beire dlighed driscon direch dligid dil cach cuma don abond dligid dilud cach ecuma na comallathar dliged dorenar aor a molad arasõÂreiu rosaid aor oldas an moladh ar dia ndamhad drisecc dliged ni dlig dire acht fogni feile do anble arisim ainble noccuib deirigh do tuaith do neoch do ainme ecc[e]oir . . . f. 144v ... Co dvl dorenur dligid dul diandliged dama do cach coir cuma ina mainbte main ar us dis dliges dul a tvaith toiscide Dvl dis aonar do drisecc de sin ni dlig drisec ni ina mainbte main Line 15 eadf of comKeadfais noted for insertion from right margin; 16 [r] subpuncted.

1137 Annales Hiberniñ 60 TCD: MS 574 (E. 3. 20), p. 153 ... Grif®th ab [b] Conan princeps Northwallie natus in hibernia ex muliere hibernica ®lia regis Eblanñ aliter Dublin. duxit secum ex hibernia lyras, tympanas cruttas cytharas Cytharizantes 1166 Annals of the Four Masters 61 RIA: MS 1220 (Stowe C iii 3), f. 566 (altered to 516) ... An dall vÂa conallta .i. giolla maire righ druÂth erenn deÂg do vÂibh brõÂvin acheneÂl ... 1168 Annals of the Four Masters 62 RIA: MS 1220 (Stowe C iii 3) , f. 568v (altered to 518v) ... AmhlaÂoibh mac Innaighneorach ard ollamh erenn i ccrvitirecht deÂcc c. 1185 Topographia Hiberniae 63 BL: MS Arundel 14, f. 20v col. a De Gentis istius |f. 20v col. b| in Musicis instrumentis peritia incomparabili. In musicis solum instrumentis commendabilem inuenio gentis istius diligentiam. In quibus pre omni natione quam uidimus incomparabiliter instructa est.

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Non enim in hiis sicut in britannicis quibus assueti sumus instrumentis tarda & morosa est modulatio. uerum uelox & preceps. suauis tamen & iocunda sonoritas. Mirum quod in tanta. tam precipiti digitorum rapacitate musica seruatur proportio. & arte per omnia indemni. Inter crispatos modulos organaÂque multipliciter intricaÂta. tam suaui uelocitate. tam dispari paritate. tam discordi concordia¡ consona redditur & completur melodia. Seu diatessaron. seu diapente corde concrepent. semper tamen aÂ .b. molli incipiund. & in idem redeunt. ut cuncta sub iocunde sonoritatis dulcedine compleantur. Tam subtiliter modulos intrant & exeunt. sicque sub obtuso grossioris corde sonitu gratilium tinnitus licentius ludunt. latentius delectant. lasciuiusque demulcent¡ ut pars artis maxima uideatur artem uelare. Tanquam si lateat prosit ferat ars deprensa pudorem. Hinc accidit ut ea que subtilius intuentibus & artis archana acute discernentibus internas & ineffabiles comparant animi delitias¡ ea non attendentibus sed quasi uidendo non uidentibus. & audiendo non intelligentibus¡ aures potius honerent quam delectent. & tanquam confuso inordinatoque strepitu inuitis auditoribus fastidia pariant tediosa. Nota de instrumentis hybernie. Wallie. & Scotie. Notandum uero quod Scotia & Wallia hec propagationis. illa commeationis & af®nitatis gratia. hyberniam in modulis emula imitari nituntur disciplina. Hybernia quidem tantum duobus utitur & delectatur instrumentis. cithara scilicet & timpano. Scotia tribus. cithara timpano. & choro. Wallia uero¡ cithara. tibiis. & choro. Eneis quoque utuntur cordis. non de corio factis. Multorum autem opinione hodie Scotia non tantum magistram equiparauit hyberniam¡ uerum etiam in musica peritia longe preualet & precellit. Unde & ibi quasi fontem artis iam requirunt. De commodis & effectibus Musice.

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. . . |f. 21 col. a| . . . Unde & animosis animositates. & religiosis pias fouet & promouet intentiones. Hinc accidit ud episcopi & abbates & sancti in hybernia uiri citharas circumferre. & in eis modulando¡ pie delectari consueuerint. Qua propter & sancti Keiuini cithara ab indigenis in reuerentia non modica. & pro reliquiis uirtuosis & magnis usque in hodiernum habetur. ... 1269 Annals of Connacht 64 RIA: MS 1219 (Stowe C iii 1), f. 20 col. a ... Aed hua ®nn sai senma ¦ airpitig mortuus est ... 1299 Justiciary Rolls 65 (27 July) (mb 29 obverse and dorse) ... Afterwards on Monday before the feast of S. Peter ad vincula, a. r. xxvii., came [Will. Fanyn] with his force, . . . Nich. son of John Warner Oroddy minstrel, . . . came into the demesne land of the Earl, and there slew Ric. Crispe


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an Englishman, and Adam Ogloerne an Irishman of the earl, and took David Ayleward an Englishman, and led him bound to the Garthe and detained him there in prison for three weeks, and robbed the betaghs {`tenant farmers'} of the Earl, of Clonlayr, Balylayn, and Rosmor, of goods to the value of 20l. and more. ...

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1357 Annals of the Four Masters 66 RIA: MS 687 (23 P 6), f. 108 ... Donnslebhe mac cerbhaill saÂormaighistir senma et airpheteach do budh ferr ina aimsir feÂn deÂcc ... 1360 Annals of Ulster 67 TCD: MS 1282 (H. 1. 8), f. 74 col. a ... Gilla na nñm o connmaidh ollam tuad muman e.i. re timpanachtf deg. ... Line 2 e.i. re timpanachtf ] insert from left margin.

1364 Annals of Ulster 68 TCD: MS 1282 (H. 1. 8), f. 74v col. a ... Bran o brain saõÂ timpanaigh dec ... 1379 Annals of the Four Masters 69 RIA: MS 687 (23 P 6), f. 124 ... Villiam mac an ghiolla caoich meic cerbaill dearscaightheach gaoideal i seinm do eÂcc 1399 Annals of the Four Masters 70 RIA: MS 687 (23 P 6), f. 138v ... Baothgalach mac aedhagain saoi choitcionn i ffeÂineachus ¦ in seinm ¦ fear tighe naidheadh nairdeirc ¦ Giolla na naomh mac concobhair meic aedagain ard ollamh i ffeÂineachus do eÂcc ...

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1405 Annals of Ulster 71 TCD: MS 1282 (H. 1. 8), f. 81v col. b (1 January) ... Kal. ianair .ua. fa. Anno domini .M.o cccco. uo. Gilla Dvibin mac Cruitin do eg in bliadhain si .i. ollam hui briain .i. sai re seinm ¦ re senchus ¦ re hoirrdercus Erenn. ... 1408 Patent Rolls 72 PRO: C. 66/379, mb ¦ ob (29 July) ... Willielmus Dodmore alias dictus Willielmus Blyndharpour qui in obsequio Regis in comitiua carissimi ®lij Regis Thome de lancastre Senescalli Anglie & locumtenentis Regis in terra sua hibernie super salua custodia eiusdem terre moratur habet litteras Regis de proteccione cum clausula volumus per vnum annum duraturum . . . ... 1433 Annals of Ulster 73 TCD: MS 1282 (H. 1. 8), f. 87v col. a ... Aedh hua corcrain .i. sai cruitire do eg in bliadhain si ... 1467 Annal fragment 74 Bodl.: MS University College 103, f. 54 ... . . . Mac meic i conmuig an tsleibe .i. murchad mac tomais, seindsear oittedh ereann re seinm ana aimsir dfagbail bais an bliadain sin. . . . ...

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1489 Annals of Ulster 75 TCD: MS 1282 (H. 1. 8), f. 103 col. a ... Athairne hua heoghasa dheg in bliadhan si .i. mac seaain hui Eoghusa .i. fer dana ¦ foghluinnti maith ¦ macamh onorach etir gallaibh ¦ ghaidhealaibh ¦ bud bhinn lamh ¦ bel ...


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1490 Annals of the Four Masters 76 RIA MS 687 (23 P 6), f. 238 ... Fionn va hanghlvinn primh thiompaÂnach erenn deÂcc ... 1496 Annals of Ulster 77 TCD: MS 1282 (H. 1. 8), f. 109v col. b ... Florinti hua CorcraÂn ¦ a bean dheg a caislen hui raighilligh .i. sai cruitire e¦ fhir thedf ¦ fer budh roibhind do bel ¦ do laim. ... 1497 Annals of Ulster 78 TCD: MS 1282 (H. 1. 8), f. 112v col. a ... Uilliam og mac uilliam mic gilla ruaidh .i. sai fhir thed dheg in bliadhain. ... Line 2 in bliadhain] probably read in bliadhain si.

1509±34 A breviat of the getting of Ireland 79 TCD: MS 842 (F. 3. 16), f. 30 ... Item that noe Irish mynistrells Rymouers, Shannaghes {`storytellers' < senchaidhe}, ne Bardes messengers come to desire anie goodes of anie man dwellinge |f. 30v| within the English pall {`Pale'} vpon payne of forefeiture of all their goodes, and their bodyes to be imprisoned at the Kings will/. ... 1520 Senchas Geraltach 80 RIA: MS 756 (23 E 26), p. 290 ... Mviris mac tomais mac Semus mac geroÂid, iarla ann 10. iarla .¦ faÂ poisit gin choimpraÂid an mviris sin .¦ fer is moÂ ar ar doirtedh na graÂsa ¯aÂithemhanta; . . . .¦ roÂ bho daÂigh lõÂon tabhartha tochair .¦ briste berna a mbõÂdh ina fhairiadh air aniomad .¦ nõÂ haroÂ mbeÂodhacht dvghdaÂrvibh .¦ dollamhnaibh. deÂigsibh. & d®lidhibh. deisrectoibh .¦ dobhloraib .¦ do lucht gacha ceirde ar chena . . . ... 1534 Ordinances for the Government of Ireland 81 ... Item, that no Yryshe mynstrels, rymours, shannaghes {`storytellers'

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