several documents in Irish concerning the doings of the O’Neills and O’Donnells at the close of the 16th century. A life of Hugh Roe O’Donnell, by Lughaidh O’Clery, has been published, and a contemporary history of the Flight of the Earls, by Tadhg O’Cianan, was being prepared in 1908. But the most celebrated Irish historian is certainly Geoffrey Keating (c. 1570–1646), who is at the same time the greatest master of Irish prose. Keating was a Munster priest educated in France, who drew down upon himself the displeasure of the English authorities and had to go into hiding. He travelled up and down Ireland examining all the ancient records, and compiled a history of Ireland down to the Norman Conquest. His work, entitled Forus Feasa ar Eirinn, was never published, but it circulated from end to end of Ireland in MS. Keating’s history is anything but critical. Its value for the scholar lies in the fact that the author had access to many important sources of information now lost, and has preserved accounts of events independent of and differing from those contained in the Four Masters. In addition to the history and a number of poems, Keating is also the author of two theological works in Irish, the Defence of the Mass (Eochairsgiath an Aifrinn) and a collection of sermons entitled the Three Shafts of Death (Trí biorghaoithe an Bháis), which are models of Irish prose.
From the writers of historical narrative we turn to the annalists, the most important sources of information with regard to Irish history. We have already mentioned the Synchronisms of Flann Mainistrech. Apart from this work the earliest collection of annals which has come down to us is the compilation by Tigernach O’Braein (d. 1088), abbot of Clonmacnoise. Tigernach, whose work is partly in Latin, partly in Irish, states that all Irish history previous to 305 B.C. is uncertain. No perfect copy is known of this work, but several fragments are in existence. The Annals of Innisfallen (a monastery on an island in the Lower Lake of Killarney), which are also in Latin and Irish, were perhaps compiled about 1215, though they may have begun two centuries earlier. The invaluable Annals of Ulster were compiled on Belle Isle on Upper Lough Erne by Cathal Maguire (d. 1498), and afterwards continued by two different writers down to 1604. This work, which deals with Irish affairs from A.D. 431, exists in several copies. The Annals of Loch Cé (near Boyle in Roscommon) were copied in 1588 and deal with Irish events from 1014 to 1636. The Annals of Connaught run from 1224 to 1562. The Chronicon Scotorum, one copy of which was transcribed about 1650 by the famous antiquary Duald MacFirbis, deals with Irish affairs down to 1135. The Annals of Boyle extend down to 1253. The Annals of Clonmacnoise, which come down to 1408, only exist in an English translation made by Connell MacGeoghegan in 1627. The most important of all these collections is the Annals of the Four Masters (so christened by Colgan), compiled in the Franciscan monastery of Donegal by Michael, Conary and Cucogry O’Clery and Ferfesa O’Mulconry. The O’Clerys were for a long period the hereditary ollams to the O’Donnells. Michael O’Clery (1575–1643), the greatest of the four, was a lay brother in the order of St Francis, and devoted his whole life to the history of Ireland. He collected all the historical MSS. he could find, and was encouraged in his undertaking by Fergal O’Gara, prince of Coolavin, who paid all expenses. The great work, which was begun in 1632 and finished in 1636, begins with the arrival in Ireland of Ceasair, granddaughter of Noah, and comes down to 1616. Nearly all the materials from which O’Clery drew his statements are now lost. O’Clery is also the author of a catalogue of the kings of Ireland, the genealogies of the Irish saints, and the Martyrology of Donegal and the Book of Invasions.
Of less interest, but every whit as important, are the lists of genealogies which occupy a great deal of space in LL., YBL. and BB., and two Trinity College, Dublin, MSS. (H. 3.18 and H. 2.4). But by far the most important collection of all is that made by the last great shanachie Duald MacFirbis, compiled between 1650 and 1666 in the college of St Nicholas at Galway. The only portions of any considerable length which have as yet been published deal with two Connaught tribes; viz. the Hy Fiachrach from Duald mac Firbis and the Hy Maine (O’Kellys), and a Munster tribe, the Corcalaidhe, both from YBL. Valuable information with regard to early Irish history is often contained in the prophecies or, as they are sometimes termed, Baile (raptures, visions), a notable example of which is Baile in Scáil (Vision of the Phantom).
When we turn from secular to religious themes we find that Ireland is also possessed of a very extensive Christian literature, which is extremely valuable for the comparative study of medieval literature. Apart from the martyrologies already mentioned in connexion with Oengus the Religious literature. Culdee, a number of lives of saints and other ecclesiastical literature have come down to us. One of the most important documents is the Tripartite Life of St Patrick, which cannot very well have been composed before the 10th or 11th century, as it is full of the extravagant miracles which occur in the later lives of saints. The work consists of three separate homilies, each complete in itself. A later version of the Tripartite Life was printed by Colgan in 1647. The Leabhar Breac contains a quantity of religious tracts, most of which have been published. R. Atkinson issued a number of them under the title of Passions and Homilies from Leabhar Breac (Dublin, 1887). These are not original Irish compilations, but translations from Latin lives of saints. Nor do they deal with the lives of any Irish saints. Stokes has published nine lives of Irish saints from the Book of Lismore, including Patrick, Brigit, Columba, Brendan, Findian (Clonard), Ciaran, Senan, Findchua and Mochua. They are written in the form of homilies preceded by short explanations of a text of scripture. These lives also occur in the Leabhar Breac. Other lives of saints have been published by O’Grady in Silva Gadelica. The longest life of St Columba was compiled in 1536 at the command of Manus O’Donnell. This tedious work is a specimen of hagiology at its worst. The Leabhar Breac further contains a number of legends, such as those on the childhood of Christ, and scattered through many MSS. are short anecdotes of saints which are very instructive.
But the most interesting Irish religious text is the Vision of Adamnan (preserved in LU.), which Stokes assigns to the 11th century. The soul of Adamnan is represented as leaving his body for a space to visit heaven and hell under the conduct of an angel. The whole treatment of the theme challenges comparison with Dante’s great poem, but the Irish composition contains many ideas peculiar to the land of its origin. Later specimens of this kind of literature tend to develop into grotesque buffoonery. We may mention the Vision of Fursae, the Vision of Tundale (Tnugdal), published by V. Friedel and K. Meyer (Paris, 1907), Laisrén’s Vision of Hell and the Vision of Merlino. A further vision attributed to Adamnan contains a stern denunciation of the Irish of the 11th century. Another form of religious composition, which was very popular in medieval Ireland, was the prophecy in verse, but scarcely any specimens have as yet been published. Kuno Meyer edited a tract on the Psalter in his Hibernica Minora from a 15th century Oxford MS., but he holds that the text goes back to 750. A number of collections of monastic rules both in prose and verse have been edited in Ériu, and the MSS. contain numerous prayers, litanies and religious poems.
In LU. are preserved two sermons, Scéla na esergi (Tidings of Resurrection) and Scéla lái brátha (Tidings of Doomsday); and a number of other homilies have been published, such as the “Two Sorrows of the Kingdom of Heaven,” “The Penance of Adam,” the “Ever-new Tongue,” and one on “Mortals’ Sins.” All the homilies contained in LB. have been published by R. Atkinson in his Legends and Homilies from Leabhar Breac (Dublin, 1887), and E. Hogan, The Irish Nennius (Dublin, 1895). The popular “Debate of the Body and the Soul” appears in Ireland in the form of a homily. A collection of maxims and a short moral treatise have been published by K. Meyer.
For the religious literature in general the reader may refer to O’Curry, Lectures on the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History (pp. 339-434), and G. Dottin, “Notes bibliographiques sur l’ancienne littérature chrétienne de l’Irlande,” in Revue d’histoire et de litterature religieuses, v. 162-167. See also Revue celtique, xi. 391-404. ib. xv. 79-91.
