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A Brigit bennach ar sét
verse
beg. A Brigit bennach ar sét
Mo Ling
Mo Ling
(d. 697)
Irish saint, abbot and patron saint of Tech Mo Ling (St Mullins, Co. Carlow) and reputed ‘bishop’ of Ferna (Ferns).

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(ascr.)

An Irish poem of prayer attributed to Mo Ling at the end of the Bóroma tract, in which Brigit and other saints are addressed.

Early Irishearly Irish verseprayers and hymns
A Brigit cuinnigh ar Críst an cobair
verse
5 st.
beg. A Brigit cuinnigh / ar Críst an cobair

An Irish poem of praise (5 qq) addressed to St Brigit in the life of St Mo Ling that is known as Genemain Moling ocus a bethu (‘The birth and life of Mo Ling’). According to that narrative, Mo Ling recited the poem as a prayer for protection before continuing on a perilous journey and did not encounter an ambush thereafter. It is one of two poems addressed to Brigit in the life, the other beginning A Brigit bennach ar sétt.

Irish languagevernacular Irish verseIrish religious literatureBrigit of Kildare
A Chrínóc cubaid do cheól
verse
11 st.
beg. A Chrínóc, cubaid do cheól
Ua Brolcháin (Máel Ísu)
Ua Brolcháin (Máel Ísu)
(d. (c.) 1086)
No short description available

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(ascr.)

Middle Irish lyrical poem addressed to a certain Crínóc (‘dear old little thing’, a hypocoristic form of crín). Crínóc is lovingly described as an old, judicious woman, who had lain with the speaker as well as other men yet who is without sin. James Carney was the first to suggest that she personifies an old psalm-book that the speaker had turned to since the age of seven, i.e. when he first received his religious education.

Middle IrishIrish lyrical verseIrish liturgical and devotional literatureearly Irish verseriddles and puzzlespsalters
A Dé dúlig, atat-teoch
verse
50 st.
beg. A Dé dúlig, atat-teoch
Airbertach mac Cosse Dobráin
Airbertach mac Cosse Dobráin
(d. 1016)
Irish poet; fer légind of Ros Ailithir (Rosscarbery, Co. Cork)

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Poem on the psalms and other religious matters.
Middle IrishIrish lyrical verseIrish prayers and hymnsearly Irish versePsalms
A Emain idnach óebind
verse
46 st.
beg. A Emain idnach óebind
Eochaid úa Flainn
Eochaid úa Flainn
(fl. c.936–1004, if he is Eochaid úa Flannucáin)
A medieval Irish poet to whom a number of Middle Irish poems, most of them in the Lebor gabála Érenn, have been attributed. His identification with Eochaid úa Flannucáin, a poet and historian who was guestmaster at Armagh, has gained favour over the years. In order not to pre-judge the matter, the two are distinguished in the present catalogue.

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(ascr.)

Middle Irish poem which is concerned with the origins of Emain Macha and is attested as a poem incorporated in recensions of Lebor gabála Érenn. While the Book of Leinster version seems to break off after 16 qq, the longer version which occurs in other recensions (46 qq) has a final quatrain which attributes the poem to Eochaid úa Flainn.

Middle Irishearly Irish verseEmain Macha ... Navan Fort
Acallam bec
prose
verse
A prosimetric narrative, related to Acallam na senórach, concerning the wanderings of Caílte and other survivors of the Fían at the time of Patrick’s advent in Ireland. While the dialogue between Patrick and a representative of Finn’s old fían is central to both Acallam na senórach and the later Agallamh na seanórach, the meeting between Patrick and Caílte occupies comparatively little space in this text.
Late Middle IrishEarly Modern IrishFinn Cycledialogue and question-and-answer literatureDialogue of the Elders
Dinnshenchas Érenn A, Dinnshenchas Érenn C
Dinnshenchas of Achall
verse
prose
beg. Achall ar aicce Temair
Cináed úa hArtacáin
Cináed úa hArtacáin
(d. 975)
Middle Irish poet.

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(ascr.)
Dinnshenchas poem mostly on Achall, i.e. the Hill of Skreen, Co. Meath, with prose on Duma nEirc and Duma nAichle. Both the poem and the prose text offer the story according to which Achall died of grief for her brother Erc, who was killed in vengeance for Cú Chulainn’s death, and was buried in the mound that would bear her name.
Middle IrishDinnshenchasUlster Cycledinnshenchasearly Irish verserevenge
Táin bó Cúailnge I, Táin bó Cúailnge II
Aided Úaland
prose
A series of episodes found in Táin bó Cúailnge (recensions I and II), in which the river Cronn and one or two other streams rise against the hosts of Connacht, hindering their progress and leading to the death of Úalu and the loss of many more warriors.
episodes in Táin bó CúailngeMedb of CrúachanÚaluGlais CruindClúain CarpatLía ÚalandCronn ... river
Armes Prydein
verse
beg. Dygogan awen dygobryssyn

An early Welsh prophetic poem which envisages a future in which the Welsh will join forces with other peoples of Britain and Ireland to resist and drive out the English.

Old Welshearly Welsh poetryliterature of political prophecyprophecies
Ars Ambianensis
Entry forthcoming. View incoming data.
prose
Anonymous grammatical treatise which shows affinities with other, Hiberno-Latin or insular grammars.
Latin languageHiberno-Latin literature and learning to c.1169: grammar
Assia ingen Neir (Irish tract)
prose
Irish tract on the origins of the names of the continents (Asia, Africa and Europe) and other aetiological lore.
Middle IrishIrish legendary history
Dinnshenchas Érenn C, In scél iar n-urd
Dinnshenchas of Áth nGabla
prose
verse
6 st.;10 st.
beg. Áth nGrencha, coímchlóifid ainm

Dinnshenchas of Áth nGabla (Áth nGrencha) and some other places. It is first attested as a poem (6qq) in the LL Táin and elaborated, using additional quatrains and prose, in one of the recensions of Dinnshenchas Érenn. 

Middle IrishDinnshenchasUlster Cycledinnshenchasearly Irish verseAurard mac Ainchinne
Ben romarbsat fir Gaba
verse
4 st.
beg. Ben romarbsat fir Gaba
Poem on the war fought by Benjamin’s tribe against other children of Israel (Judges 19-20).
early Irish verse
Bewnans Ke
verse
beg. Gorthyans thum arluth anef
Bewnans Ke is the most recently discovered text of the Middle Cornish corpus. The play consists of two parts which are divided by five missing folios. The first part relates the tale of St Kea and the heathen king Teudar trying to convert each other respectively to Christianity and paganism. Before the story can be concluded, the text breaks off and we find ourselves in a play about King Arhtur’s conflict with the emperor of Rome, Lucius Hiberius, and Mordred’s adultery with Guinevere.
Middle CornishMiddle Cornish dramahagiographiesKea
Book of Leinster dinnshenchas
Entry forthcoming. View incoming data.
prose
verse

In the Book of Leinster, not so much a self-contained collection as a group of prose and verse texts on dinnshenchas as well as other items of lore that do not necessarily fit the modern definition.

Middle Irishdinnshenchas
Brathir Fursu cóir a rad
verse
5 st.
beg. Brathir Fursu, cóir a rad
Brief Irish poem (5 qq) on Fursa and other saints supposed to have been the offspring of Brónach daughter of Miliuc.
Early Irishearly Irish verselists of saintsFursaBrónach
Bretha nemed dédenach
prose
verse
rosc
Old Irish tract on the law concerning poets, such as their privileges and their responsibilities, as well as various other matters, such as fosterage and surety.
early Irish legal texts
Breton proverb (Nep na ra mat…)
Entry forthcoming. View incoming data.
verse
beg. Nep na ra mat her da guel

A Middle Breton proverb which is attested in two 14th-century scribal colophons, one in Tours BM MS 576, the other, incomplete, in Bibliothèque de la Sorbonne MS 791.

Middle BretonBreton glosses
Bruidhean chaorthainn
prose
Late Gaelic prose romance in the form of a so-called bruidhean tale about Fionn mac Cumhaill and his men, perhaps composed in the 15th or 16th century. In the story, Fionn and a number of companions are entrapped in a sinister enchanted hostel or bruidhean by Míodhach (Midac), son of Colgán (Colga), king of Lochlann. Míodhach was taken up and reared by the Fían after his father was killed in an unsuccesful attempt to seize Irish territory, but on coming of age, plotted revenge and so invited Fionn to a feast at ‘The hostel of rowan’ on the Shannon. Once inside, Fionn and his men find themselves magically glued to their seats, awaiting death by decapitation, while Míodhach is making foreign allies. They chant a dord fían (a low kind of humming), which reveals their whereabouts to the remaining members of the Fían, including Oisín, Caoilte, Innse, and Diarmuid. A series of fights ensues in which the latter resist foreign attackers and kill Míodhach. Diarmuid slays the kings of Inis Tuile (Thule) and uses their blood to release Fionn and the other captured men from the spell of enchantment (although Conán Maol does not come away without being partially skinned alive). Finally, a great battle is fought and won over the ‘King of the world’, who is defeated and beheaded.
Early Modern Irishmiscellaneous textsRí an DomhainFinn mac Cumaill (Find úa Báiscni)Caílte mac RónáinOisín mac FinnOscar mac OisínDíarmait úa DuibneLochlannConán (Mael) mac MornaMídach mac ColgáinColgán ... king of LochlannInis Tuile
Cáin Adomnáin
prose
Adomnán
Adomnán
(fl. c.628–704)
Adomnán mac Rónáin was abbot of Iona (r. 679–704) and author of the Latin Life of St Columba and an account of the holy places of the Near East (De locis sanctis). He is credited with the proclamation of the Lex innocentium or Cáin Adomnáin at the Synod of Birr.

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(ascr.)

Old Irish legal-ecclesiastical text originating in a law which was promulgated at the 697 Synod of Birr (Co. Offaly) and was apparently drafted by Adomnán, abbot of Iona. The law sought to exempt women, children, clergy and other non-combatants from combat in warfare.

Old Irishearly Irish legal texts
Ceart Uí Néill
Entry forthcoming. View incoming data.
prose

Early Modern Irish prose tract which purports to delineate the dues and provisions that are owed to the Ó Néill lordship of Ulster from other kings of the province.

Early Modern IrishIrish political tracts asserting rights and obligations
Cenn ard Adaim étrocht rád
verse
3 st.
beg. Cenn ard Adaim, étrocht rád
Airbertach mac Cosse Dobráin
Airbertach mac Cosse Dobráin
(d. 1016)
Irish poet; fer légind of Ros Ailithir (Rosscarbery, Co. Cork)

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(ascr.)
Brief Middle Irish poem on the origin and composition of Adam’s head and other body parts (head from ‘the land of Garad’, belly from Laban/Lodain, etc.). The copy in MS Rawlinson B 502 occurs as part of a poem on the Psalter (beg. A Dé dúlig, atat-teoch) and is directly followed by an additional quatrain with an ascription to Airbertach mac Coisse (d. 1016), saying that he translated the poem from Latin into Irish.
Early Irishtranslations and adaptationsearly Irish verseapocryphal and pseudepigraphical literatureAdam
Commentary on the Amra Choluim Chille
Cetracha sacart a lín
verse
1 st.
beg. Cetracha sacart a lín
A scrap of early Irish verse (1q only) cited the beginning of the preface (remfhocul) to Amra Choluim Chille. While in LU it occurs in the upper margin of the first page of the preface, with no explicit relationship being made to the text, it is more fully integrated into the main body of narrative in other manuscripts. The stanza gives a list of churchmen, together with their numbers, which in the context of the prose preface, would seem to refer to those who travelled with Colum Cille at the time of the convention of Druim Cetta.
Early Irishlists of peopleearly Irish verseColum Cille
Chwedleu seith doethon Rufein
Entry forthcoming. View incoming data.
prose

Middle Welsh version of a popular narrative collection known as the ‘Seven sages of Rome’, versions of which circulated in Latin, Old French and other languages.

Middle Welshtranslations and adaptationsWelsh narrative literature
Cronica Hollandiae, Zeelandiae et Frisiae
prose
Hendrik of GoudaHendrik of Gouda
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.

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Early 16th-century chronicle of Holland, Zeeland, Frisia and other Dutch provinces, compiled by Hendrik of Gouda (Henricus Goude).
Latin languagemiscellaneous texts

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