Texts
  1. Home
  2. Texts
  3. Agallamh na seanórach

Agallamh na seanórach

  • Early Modern Irish, Middle Irish
  • prosimetrum, prose, verse
  • Finn Cycle

A composite recension of the tale of the conversation (agallamh) between St Patrick and representatives of the old Fían, Oisín and Caílte.

The text comprises parts of Acallam na senórach, the whole of the Acallam bec and additional matter in prose and verse.(1)n. 1 Nessa Ní Shéaghdha, Agallamh na seanórach, vol. 1 (1942): xxxi. Whereas Caílte is Patrick's main interlocutor in the Acallam na senórach, this role is largely assumed by Oisín in the present text. Some 122 poems (2)n. 2 Nollaig Ó Muraíle, ‘Agallamh na seanórach’ in An fhiannaíocht... (1995): 104. For an index of initial lines of verse, see the edition by Nessa Ní Shéaghdha, Agallamh na seanórach (1942–1945). are cited in the text, including: 


Title
Agallamh na seanórach

Also referred to as An tAgallamh déanach ‘The late Agallamh’ (Ó Muraíle) or ‘The Reeves Agallamh’ (Flahive).

Author
Anonymous
Manuscripts
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 24 P 5 (93) = Reeves manuscript of the Agallamh na seanórach [s. xvii]
The primary manuscript. The text breaks off incomplete.
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS 23 L 22 (106) [s. xix]
An acephalous transcript by Samuel Bryson from RIA MS 24 P 5. Copy of pp. 135-470.

Fragments and excerpts, probably ultimately derived from RIA MS 24 P 5 above. NLI MSS G 124–126 are in the hand of Seón Mac Solaidh.

Dublin, National Library of Ireland, MS G 124 [s. xviii1]
Dublin, National Library of Ireland, MS G 125 [s. xviii1]
Selection of poetry.
Dublin, National Library of Ireland, MS G 126 [s. xviii1]
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, MS F v 2 (35) [s. xviii]
Language
  • Early Modern Irish Middle Irish
  • Middle Irish source material has been modernised.
Date
The compilation of this text has been dated to “probably ... the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century”.(3)n. 3 Ann Dooley • Harry Roe, Tales of the elders of Ireland (1999): xxxi.
Form
prosimetrum, prose, verse (primary)
Prosimetrum.
Textual relationships
Related: Acallam na senórachAcallam na senórach
Associated items
Dám thrír táncatar illeDám thrír táncatar illeCaoílte’s mischief-makingCaoílte’s mischief-makingTéighim ann do shúr na n-íathTéighim ann do shúr na n-íath

A poem found in Agallamh na seanórach, where it is attributed to Cáilte. The poem is largely a topographical catalogue of birds and beasts from all over Ireland, which are pairs of wild animals collected by Caílte as a ransom for Finn, who is imprisoned by Cormac mac Airt, king of Tara.

Classification

Finn Cycle
Finn Cycle
id. 578

...

Sources

Notes

1.
Nessa Ní Shéaghdha, Agallamh na seanórach, vol. 1 (1942): xxxi.
2.
Nollaig Ó Muraíle, ‘Agallamh na seanórach’ in An fhiannaíocht... (1995): 104. For an index of initial lines of verse, see the edition by Nessa Ní Shéaghdha, Agallamh na seanórach (1942–1945).
3.
Ann Dooley • Harry Roe, Tales of the elders of Ireland (1999): xxxi.

Primary sources

[ed.] Ní Shéaghdha, Nessa [ed.], Agallamh na seanórach, 3 vols, Leabhair ó Láimhsgríbhnibh, 7, 10, 15, Dublin, 1942–1945.
Edition based primarily on RIA MS 24 P 5. See individual volumes below.
[ed.] Ní Shéaghdha, Nessa [ed.], Agallamh na seanórach, 3 vols, vol. 1, Leabhair ó Láimhsgríbhnibh, 7, Dublin, 1942.
Corpas.ria.ie – Edition: <link>
[ed.] Ní Shéaghdha, Nessa [ed.], Agallamh na seanórach, 3 vols, vol. 2, Leabhair ó Láimhsgríbhnibh, 10, Dublin, 1942.
Corpas.ria.ie: <link>
[ed.] Ní Shéaghdha, Nessa [ed.], Agallamh na seanórach, 3 vols, vol. 3, Leabhair ó Láimhsgríbhnibh, 15, Dublin, 1945.
Corpas.ria.ie: <link>

Secondary sources (select)

Flahive, Joseph J., “Revisiting the Reeves Agallamh”, in: Kevin Murray, and Aidan Doyle (eds), In dialogue with the Agallamh: essays in honour of Seán Ó Coileáin, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2014. 164–184.
Arbuthnot, Sharon J., “On the name Oscar and two little-known episodes involving the fían”, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 51 (Summer, 2006): 67–81.
Ó Muraíle, Nollaig, “Agallamh na seanórach”, in: Pádraig Ó Fiannachta (ed.), An fhiannaíocht, 25, Maynooth: An Sagart, 1995. 96–127.
Hyde, Douglas, “The Reeves manuscript of the Agallamh na senorach”, Revue Celtique 38 (1920–1921): 289–295.
Internet Archive: <link> Internet Archive: <link>
web page identifiers
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
August 2012, last updated: September 2023
Retrieved from ‘https://codecs.vanhamel.nl/index.php?title=Agallamh_na_seanórach&oldid=296780’