G 4

Fragment of the Yellow Book of Lecan

End of 14th cent. Vellum. 10ff. mainly 31.5 X 22.5 cms.

This fragment was formerly a constituent part of YBL (TCD H. 2. 16) and according to the columnar numeration of that codex follows the verso of cols. 957, 958 (Facsimile p. 215). The numeration 959-998, erased at one time to conceal the fragmentary nature of the manuscript has recently been restored in pencil. `The columnar numeration is clearly by Edward Lhuyd (1660-1709), the well-known antiquary, to whom the volume once belonged, according to J. H. Todd (Miscellany of Irish Archaeological Society I, pp. 112ff.). This can be verified by a comparison of the figures in TCD H.5.20 , a collection of papers in Lhuyd's autograph' (Bergin and Best, Tochmarc Étaí­ne, Ériu xii 136, n.2.).

All the items except the last two (cols. 997-8) are in the hand of Gilla Ísa mac Donnchaidh Móir mic Fhir Bhisigh (+ 1418), scribe of cols. 573-958 written in 1391 (Facs. Introd. p. 2). Mac Fir Bhisigh's handwriting is uneven here, being at times smaller and more compressed (e.g. cols. 987-990) than his freer hand elsewhere; the concluding poem in Tochmarc Étaí­ne III (col. 997) is, however, in a more elegant script. The last two items were written by one Aedh og (see cols. 997, 998 for scribal colophons). A clear feature of Aedh Óg's script is the open `a'.

Some passages, for example, cols. 964-6, 968, 991-2 etc., have been defaced by a later hand or hands. Extraneous entries and jottings are few and, with the exception of five (on cols. 963-4, 972, 981, 985, 998 and given below), are mainly illegible, particularly those on f.10v, presumably an outer leaf. Some of the hands of this extraneous matter appear also throughout the rest of YBL. A comparison with Charles O'Conor's hand on cols. 870, 946 shows that the chronological jottings on cols. 972, 981, given under col. 972 below, are his, which would indicated that this fragment of YBL had not been separated from the remainder of the book before 1770, the date of O'Conor's colophon on col. 870.

YBL, one of the many manuscripts acquired by Lhuyd during his visit to Ireland in 1700, was, after his death in 1709, amongst `the Irish part of his collection ... purchased by the fourth baronet, Sir Thomas Saunders Sebright, who died in 1736. He was succeeded by his elder son, who died in the same year, unm., and left the succession to the sixth baronet, Sir John, to whom this collection came by inheritance' (Notes and Queries, 5th Series IV 89). In a letter to Col. Vallancey, dated 15th August 1783, quoted in John O'Donovan's Irish Grammar 1845, p.lxxi, Edmund Burke writes `... I originally prevailed on Sir John Seabright to let me have his MSS. and ... I sent them by Dr. Leland to Dublin'. A note by Burke on col. 871 of the manuscript states `These last words written when the manuscript was sent to Ireland' and is followed by the date and his signature. This date is given by Atkinson (Facs. p. 2, col. b) as 1776, who writes (Facs. p. 3, col. a): `It does not appear how E. Burke could have said that it was in 1776 the MS. was sent to Ireland if Charles O'Conor had it in Dublin in 1770. There seems to be a mistake in date somewhere ...' Atkinson was in error in reading a `6' for an `0'. An examination of Burke's figures (e.g. TCD Ms. Miscellaneous Autographs 20-26) shows that we must read 1770.

At what date subsequent to 1770 and prior to 1786 - when the Sebright manuscripts were presented to the Library of TCD - the fragment became separated from the remainder of the book cannot now be ascertained. `The final part of this last section of H.2.16' (i.e. the present fragment) `was overlooked by Sir John Sebright when despatching the Lhuyd manuscripts to Dublin and as a result was sold with the main body of the Sebright manuscripts in 1807 ...' (Wm. O'Sullivan, Edward Lhuyd's Collection of Irish Manuscripts, Cymmrodorion Soceity's Publications, 1962, p. 65.) The British Museum Catalogues of English Book Sales 1676-1900, p. 119, confirms that the Sebright sale 1807 included Lhuyd manuscripts. It was probably at that sale that this fragment came into Richard Heber's possession. Subsequently Sir Thomas Phillipps acquired it as lot 941 (this number is pasted on the front cover) at a sale of the Heber collection in 1836, a collection so large that the books were disposed of in a series of sales lasting over three years. In the printed catalogue of Heber's collection (Bibliotheca Heberiana, 9-12, [1846]) the fragment is described as `A very ancient MS. in the Irish Language in double columns.' It became no. 8214 in the Phillipps collection with a somewhat similar description in Phillipp's catalogue.

The fragment is in good condition though some leaves are stained by age and exposure; the binding, in boards (which may be dated c.1838 from watermark on flyleaves), is now worn away at the spine. The vellum, uneven in texture and dimensions, is naturally defective and contains many holes without loss of text. There are, however, a few small holes and tears in those folios where the vellum is thin, and there is a consequent loss of a few words of text on the last folio. The writing, as in the remainder of the book, is arranged in double column, 52-3 lines to a page. The ruling, guided by marginal prickings, is partly by dry point, partly in brown. The ten folios form one gathering, the second and eighth, however, consisting of single leaves.

Apart from the marginal jottings by Charles O'Conor the following quatrain, now much faded, occurs on the upper margn of cols. 963-4 in a late unidentified hadn: Is me Diarmuid o Duimhne | cliabhain Cormaic go cuibhdhe | fiana Finn agim iarraigh | <misi fo diamhair Duirbri> (Printed G. Murphy from RIA C.3.2, Éigse vii 79). The words A domhnaigh on the lower margin of col. 985 are in a different hand. The last page contains scribblings and jottings which are now mainly illegible except for the following (col. 998): ar mbendachtain for anmain an ti | an ti duis graiff an per laitsin.

Cols.

959 Mesca Ulad. Beg. O da riachtadar Mic Milead Easpaine i nEirinn. Ends cen bai a mbiu. Finit. This ms. was used by J. Carmichael Watson in his edition (from LL and LU), Mesca Ulad, Med. and Mod. Irish Series xiii.

For a quatrain written on the upper margin cols. 963-4 in a later hand see introductory remarks above.

972 Caithréim Cellaig, entitled Caithreim Cellaig meic Eogain Bel ann so. Beg. Rí­ airrdirc agmar uasal ro gab airdrigi cuigid Connacht. Ends falam fas. F. as. A. n. ocht. Ed. K. Mulchrone from thisms., Caithréim Cellaig, Med. and Mod. Irish Series iv.

The following chronological jottings by Charles O'Conor (see introductory remarks above) appear on cols. 972, 981 respectively: Eoghan Bel ri Connacht do-cher a gcath Sligigh la huí­ Neill A.D. 540, dhá rí­gh Ereann o 658 go 665.

985 Tochmarc Étaí­ne, entitled Incipit do Thochmarc Edaine. Beg. Bai ri amra for Eirinn do T[h]uathaib De a c[h]enel. Ends ro loiscet la Manannan. F.i.n.i.d. For information regarding this and two following tales (cols. 990, 992) see Bergin and Best, Tochmarc Étaí­ne, Ériu xii 137, where these three distinct tales bearing the same title have been edited from this ms.

990 Tochmarc Étaí­ne, entitled Tochmarc Edaine and seo beos. Beg. Gabais Eochaidh Airium rigi nErenn. Ends a ndórigné co tainicsom. See preceding item col. 985 above.

992 Tochmarc Étaí­ne, entitled Tochmarc Etaine beos. Beg. Feachtas naili asraracht Eochaid Aiream ri Teamrach. Ends do baebaid Eochaid. Eochaid. See the two preceding items cols. 985, 990 above.

997 Anecdote of the birth of Bran and Sceólang. Beg. Uirne Uirbel ingen Taidg meic Nuadhot mathair Brain 7 Sceolaingi. Ends 7 Bran 7 Sce[o]lang. Finit. Ed. from this ms. with translation and commentary, J. R. Reinhard and V. E. Hull, Speculum xi 42-58; G. Murphy, Duan. Finn iii (ITS xliv) 103-106.

The following scribal colophon is written on the lower outer margin: Do indeosaind curab mé fen Aedh Og do scrí­b in scel sin acht minu beith olcus na litri.

998 Anecdote about how St. Patrick revived Lugaid son of Laegaire through the power of Michael the Archangel, told to explain the origin of the custom of `Michael's bit', entitled Senchus in mire Micil so. Beg. Araile fec[h]tus taineic Patraig co Temraig. Headed Aedh Og ro scrib. Ends 7 liagh Michil. Finit. Ed. Pokorny from Lis., Irish Texts i 43. See BM ii 475, 518.

The remainder of the column contains extraneous scribblings which, except for one (given in introductory remarks above), are now mainly illegible.