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Letter from Find, bishop of Kildare, to Áed Úa Crimthainn, abbot of Terryglass

Find Úa Gormáin (bishop of Kildare)
  • Middle Irish
  • prose
  • letters (correspondence), scribal additions
The text recognised by R. I. Best as “the earliest epistolary composition ... in the Irish language” is a scribal note to the text of Cath Maige Mucrama in the 12th-century Book of Leinster, where it occupies the bottom margin of the first page containing that tale. The correspondence is between two of its scribes or compilers: it is written or dictated by Find, bishop of Kildare, and addressed to Áed Úa Crimthainn, abbot and coarb of Terryglass. The letter adheres to the formal requirements of ars dictaminis (the rhetorical art of letter-writing), including such elements as an address, salutation, petition and valediction. Find asks for the writing of the tale (scél) to be completed and also requests the ‘poem-book (dúanaire) of Mac Lonáin’, probably referring to the poet Flann mac Lónáin (d. 891x918), “so that we may study the meanings (cíalla) of the poems that are in it”. William O'Sullivan has concluded that the hand continuing the tale of Cath Maige Mucrama on the next page of the manuscript (p. 289 = f. 207r) is a different one from that of p. 288 and so that one of Áed’s scribes must have taken over as requested.
First words (prose)
  • Betha ⁊ slainte o Find epscop (.i. Cilli Dara) do Aed mac Crimthainn do fir leigind ardrig Leithi Moga (.i. Nuadat) ...
Speaker/Addressee
Speaker: Find Úa Gormáin [bishop of Kildare]Find Úa Gormáin ... bishop of Kildare
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.
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Addressee: Áed Úa CrimthainnÁed Úa Crimthainn
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.
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Author
Find Úa Gormáin [bishop of Kildare]Find Úa Gormáin ... bishop of Kildare
Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.
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Manuscripts
Dublin, Trinity College, MS 1339 (H 2. 18) = Book of Leinster [s. xii2]
p. 288 (f. 206v)
The note is found in the bottom margin, just below two columns of text belonging to Cath Maige Mucrama
Language
  • Middle Irish
Date
mid-12th century
Form
prose (primary)
verse (secondary)
Textual relationships
Related: Cath Maige MucramaCath Maige Mucrama

Classification

letters and correspondence⟨varieties of text by function⟩
letters and correspondence
id. 27822
scribal additionsvarieties of text, partial documents
scribal additions
id. 27113

Here used as a broad term for any kind of paratextual item or addition made to a manuscript, in written, drawn or possibly stamped form, regardless of purpose, position (within the text, marginal or interlinear), the person responsible for adding it (scribes, owners, etc.), or the stage at which the addition was made. Note that the word ‘scribal’ is not necessarily meant to imply professional practices. Perhaps a a broader term like ‘scribal interventions’ is needed so that alterations, erasures and deletions can also be subsumed.

Sources

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

[ed.] Forste-Grupp, Sheryl L., “The earliest Irish personal letter”, Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium 15 (1995, 1998): 1–11.

Secondary sources (select)

Bhreathnach, Edel, “Two contributors to the Book of Leinster: Bishop Finn of Kildare and Gilla na Náem Úa Duinn”, in: Michael Richter, and Jean-Michel Picard (eds), Ogma: essays in Celtic studies in honour of Próinséas Ní Chatháin, Dublin: Four Courts, 2002. 105–111.
Forste-Grupp, Sheryl L., “The earliest Irish personal letter”, Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium 15 (1995, 1998): 1–11.
OʼSullivan, William, “Notes on the scripts and make-up of the Book of Leinster”, Celtica 7 (1966): 1–31.
Best, Richard Irvine, Osborn Bergin, and M. A. OʼBrien, The Book of Leinster, formerly Lebar na Núachongbála, vol. 1, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1954. 260 pp. + 4 pl.
CELT – edition (pp. 1-260): <link>
xvi
web page identifiers
Contributors
Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
June 2016, last updated: June 2023
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