Textual classifications • CODECS: Online Database and e-Resources for Celtic Studies

Medieval Irish translation of the De decollatione Johannis Baptistae, a section in the Legenda aurea concerning the conception of John the Baptist. The text is imperfect.

Gnímhradha in sheseadh lái láin

verse

63 st.

beg. Gnímhradha in sheseadh lái láin

Gwyrthyeu e Wynvydedic Veir

prose

A Middle Welsh collection of (up to) 28 miracles of the Virgin Mary.

Harrowing of Hell (Book of Cerne)

prose

Fragment of an apocryphal version of the Harrowing of Hell preserved in the Book of Cerne. Possibly the earliest extant piece of Christian drama in Britain, It consists of what look like stage directions by a narrator and prayers by the righteous souls in hell and by Adam and Eve. The text breaks off in the middle of Eve’s speech.

Homilia de die iudicii

prose

How Samson slew the Gesteda

form undefined

NehemiahNehemiah

Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.

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Late Middle Irish tale in which Jewish traditions about Samson are combined with Greek traditions about the Trojans. Ferann na nGeisteda, the homeland of the pagan Gesteda in the tale, has been identified as a reference to the Land of Goshen in Egypt.

Imbu maccán cóic blíadnae

verse

48 st.

beg. Imbu maccán cóic blíadnae

Old Irish metrical version (48 qq) of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, which is preserved in a late manuscript (NLI MS G 50) only. It relates a number of deeds which Jesus is supposed to have performed as an infant, such as the creation of sparrows out of clay, his encounters with boys thwarting him, his revelations to the scholar Zacharias and various miracles. The Irish poem may have been based on an Old Latin version, which ultimately goes back to a Greek or Syriac text.

Irish anecdote on the best and worst nail in the Ark

prose

Irish legends of the finding of the Cross

prose

A series of Irish legends of the finding of the Cross.

Irish note on a wonder in Arabia on the day after Christ's birth

prose

An Irish apocryphal anecdote on the appearance of a rectangular ingot of gold (tinde cethur-uillech de ór) in Arabia on the day after Christ was born. An imperfect copy is found in a manuscript (Egerton 92) which formerly belonged to the Book of Fermoy. It may bear some relationship to an Irish tract on the 17 wonders which appeared on the night of Christ’s birth, a copy of which is found in the Book of Fermoy.

Irish note on the twelve apostles (Christus dub dond a folt)

prose

Medieval Irish note in prose on the personal appearances, chiefly hair and beards, of Christ and his apostles.

Irish treatise on the twelve apostles (genealogy, appearance, death)

prose

An Irish treatise on the Twelve Apostles, their genealogies, their personal appearances (chiefly hair and beards), their deaths and their burial places.

Irish version of the Somniale Danielis

prose

Irish prose tract on omens and visions of the night, deriving from a version of the Somniale Danielis, a popular medieval Latin handbook for interpreting dreams.

Is fisigh cidh dia ndernad Adham

prose

Irish text on the divisions of Adam

King David and the beggar (long version)

prose

King David and the beggar (short version)

prose

Latin apocalypse (Avranches MS 108)

prose

Fragment of a Latin apocalyptic text in which Christ is made to prophesy the end of the world as well as the coming of the Antichrist. It is found as a later, 10th-century marginal addition (partly erased) to a 9th-century manuscript, possibly from Mont St-Michel (Avranches, BM, MS 108). This text, in particular its description of the physical appearance of the Antichrist, has been cited for its close parallels to a number of Irish versions of the Antichrist legend.

Mé Éba ben Ádaim uill

verse

beg. Mé Éba ben Ádaim uill

Mírbuli gheni in t-shlainiceda

prose

An Irish prose account of the miracles which happened on the night Christ was born. The text provides a fuller account than the prose text on the same subject which occurs in Leabhar Breac and elsewhere.

Octo pondera unde factus est Adam

prose

Short early medieval Latin treatise about the creation of Adam, the nature of the eight (or seven) cosmic components of which his body was made, and the four letters of his name. It has often been suggested that it ultimately derives from a Greek text of 2 Enoch 30: 8-9, although a Greek dialogue text of the Ioca monachorum kind has also been suggested as a possible source.

Páis Andrias apstail

prose

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