- 1773-1774
Appended to the thesis and referred to in the introduction are four editions of the tale as it exists in later manuscripts and one self-standing version of "Feidhm as mo," a poem from the tale. These editions include a new edition of the tale as it appears in MS University College Dublin A25, as it appears in MS British Library Egerton 106, as it appears in MS British Library Egerton 150, and as it appears in MS Royal Irish Academy 24L20.
First, the thesis presents a history of scholarly criticism surrounding the tale and its inclusion within Tain Bo Cuailnge. Second, the thesis describes the various recensions of the tale and the manuscripts containing those recensions and offers a comparative chart for all versions of the tale. Third, the thesis examines the historical, mythological, onomastic and literary roots of Comrac Fir Diad by comparing it with similar episodes and tales in early Irish manuscripts in terms of character functions and by examining the relationship between the earliest extant manuscripts. Fourth, the thesis relates the tradition of the tale as it appears in the early recensions of Tain Bo Cuailnge and points out areas where an outside version of the tale has influenced "The Fer Diad Episode" in Tain Bo Cuailnge. Fifth, the thesis examines three, heretofore unexamined, later versions of Comrac Fir Diad from the sixteenth through the nineteenth centuries and their inclusion in the new context of the Cuchulainn saga of tales. Finally, the thesis suggests a number of areas for further scholarship concerning the tale, particularly in relation to its later versions.
A part of the ‘Cotton-Corpus legendary’ which covers feast-days for the months of October, November and December. The other parts of the legendary are to be found in London, British Library, MS Cotton Nero E i.
- s. xi2
Various transcripts, including one of Vita Ælfredi regis from what was London, British Library, MS Cotton Otho A xii (before the 1731 fire), created for Matthew Parker at a time when Parker had not yet added his interpolations to the exemplar.
- c. 1550 x 1574
A lost manuscript of Asser’s Life of King Alfred. Originally an independent manuscript and later part of what once constituted London, British Library, MS Cotton Otho A xii, it was destroyed by the Ashburnham House fire of 1731. Although the original is irretrievably lost, significant information about its character and contents can be gleaned from transcripts and descriptions written before the fire.
- c.1000
Extracts from London, British Library, MS Egerton 1782.
- 1749
- Aodh Ó Dálaigh
Transcript of the Latin text in the Welsh lawbook of London, British Library, MS Cotton Vespasian E xi.
- s. xv2
Latin text of Welsh law, which was known to lawyers active in Gwynedd during the 13th century. This text or a related one may have provided the basis for the Latin text in London, British Library, MS Cotton Vespasian E xi, which refers to matters relating to both Gwynedd and south-west Wales. It has been suggested that the Llyfr y Tŷ Gwyn text became known in Gwynedd through the agency of Cadwgan, bishop of Bangor (1215-1236) and abbot of Whitland before that.
