Texts
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Bamberg cryptogram
prose
Suadbar [Irish scholar]Suadbar ... Irish scholar
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Letter from Suadbar, one of four Irish scholars on the continent (the others being Caínchobrach, Fergus and Dominnach), to their teacher Colgu. It relates that when the group had been received at the court of Merfyn Frych (king of Gwynedd, r. 825-844), a cryptic message was left for them by an Irish scholar called Dubthach. To put the wisdom of the Irishmen to the test, it contained a cryptogram, the key to which involved substituting Greek numerals for Roman letters. Once deciphered, the message would read Mermin rex Conchn [sic] salutem (‘Merfyn the king greets Cyngen’, i.e. Cyngen ap Cadell, king of Powys). In a final note, an error in the form of Cyngen’s name (Conch(e)n, betraying Irish influence, for Concen) is pointed out.
Latin languageMerfyn FrychCyngen ap CadellFergus ... Irish scholar, fl. 9th centuryDominnach ... Irish scholarCaínchobrach ... Irish scholar, fl. 9th centuryDubthach ... cryptographer
De controversia Paschali (Cummian)
prose
CummianCummian
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Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.
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Latin language
De sollemnitatibus et sabbatis et neomeniis
prose
Jerome
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Jerome
(c.340s–420 (Prosper))
Church father, born in Dalmatia, and biblical scholar who translated the greater part of the Bible into Latin and whose labours led to the Vulgate version.
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A short Latin treatise on the Jewish observance of festivals and its relevance for the Paschal question. It comes in the form of an epistle or disputatio addressed by a certain peregrinus to an unspecified venerabilis papa, but lacks a subscription. In some manuscripts, it is ascribed to Jerome. There is evidence to suggest that it is, in fact, a Hiberno-Latin or Irish-influenced text of seventh-century date.
Latin language
Epistil Ísu
prose
Old Irish version of the Sunday Letter (Carta Dominica), a letter allegedly written by Christ insisting on strict Sunday observance. In the manuscripts it is commonly found together with another Old Irish text, Cáin Domnaig.
Late Old Irish
Epistola ad Capitulum Herefordense de libris a se scriptis (Gerald of Wales)
prose
Gerald of Wales
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Gerald of Wales
(c. 1146–1220 x 1223)
No short description available
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Latin language
Epistola Christi ad Abgarum
prose
Jesus
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Jesus
(fl. c.5 BC–30/33 AD)
Galileian Jewish religious leader whom Christians believe to be the incarnation of God on earth, the Saviour of mankind and Messiah (the Christ) through His death and resurrection.
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A Latin version of the apocryphal letter of Christ to Abgar (V), king of Edessa.
Latin languageconversionhealing
Epistolae deperditae fragmenta (Gildas)
prose
Gildas
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Gildas
(fl. 5th–6th century)
Author of De excidio et conquestu Britanniae
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Fragments from letters attributed to Gildas, including one identified as being a response to Finniau concerning monastic matters. These fragments have been preserved as a florilegium (7 fragments) and as quotations attested throughout the Collectio canonum Hibernensis and elsewhere.
Latin language
Letter from Aldhelm to Acircius
prose
verse
Aldhelm
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Aldhelm
(d. 709)
abbot of Malmesbury and later, bishop of Sherborne; known as an author of a number of elaborate Latin tracts in prose and in verse
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Lengthy letter by Aldhelm addressed to Acircius, i.e. Aldfrith, king of Northumbria. It consists of five parts: (I) the opening address to Acircius; (II) a treatise on the number seven; (III) a treatise on Latin metrics in a question-and-answer format, including (IV) the Aenigmata or Aldhelm's collection of riddles; and finally, (V) an epilogue.
Latin language
Letter from Aldhelm to Cellán
prose
Aldhelm
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Aldhelm
(d. 709)
abbot of Malmesbury and later, bishop of Sherborne; known as an author of a number of elaborate Latin tracts in prose and in verse
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Letter from Aldhelm in reply to Cellán (Lat. Cellanus), abbot of Perrona, Neustria (modern Péronne, Picardy). The form in which the text survives is as a quotation in Book V of William of Malmesbury's Gesta pontificum Anglorum, along with Cellán's letter.
Latin languageLetter
Letter from Aldhelm to Gereint
prose
Aldhelm
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Aldhelm
(d. 709)
abbot of Malmesbury and later, bishop of Sherborne; known as an author of a number of elaborate Latin tracts in prose and in verse
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Letter written by Aldhelm, then abbot of Malmesbury, to Gereint, king of Dumnonia, and to his sacerdotes.
Latin languageLetter
Letter from Aldhelm to Heahfrith
prose
Aldhelm
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Aldhelm
(d. 709)
abbot of Malmesbury and later, bishop of Sherborne; known as an author of a number of elaborate Latin tracts in prose and in verse
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A letter from Aldhelm to an Englishman named Heahfrith. It was written to dissuade him from studying in Ireland, preferring the new English learning represented by the teachings of Theodore and Hadrian to the state of learning in Ireland.
Latin languageLetter
Letter from Aldhelm to Wihtfrith
prose
Aldhelm
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Aldhelm
(d. 709)
abbot of Malmesbury and later, bishop of Sherborne; known as an author of a number of elaborate Latin tracts in prose and in verse
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A letter from Aldhelm to an English student named Wihtfrith. Wihtfrith intends to study in Ireland, but Aldhelm advises him against it. The form in which the text survives is as a quotation in Book V of William of Malmesbury's Gesta pontificum Anglorum.
Latin languageLetter
Letter from an anonymous student to Aldhelm
prose
Anonymous [student addressing Aldhelm]Anonymous ... student addressing Aldhelm
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A letter from an anonymous, presumably Irish, student to Aldhelm.
Hiberno-LatinLatin languageLetter
Letter from Cathwulf to Charlemagne
prose
CathwulfCathwulf
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Letter dated to c.775 written by an Anglo-Saxon scholar known as Cathwulf to Charlemagne.
Latin language
Letter from Cellán to Aldhelm
prose
Cellán of Péronne
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Cellán of Péronne
(d. 706)
Irish churchman, fourth abbot of St Fursa’s foundation in Péronne, Neustria, in what became Picardy, France. From William of Malmesbury, he is known to have corresponded with Aldhelm. He has been identified as the author of a number of Latin poems. The Lorsch annals give his obit under 706.
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Letter from Cellán (Lat. Cellanus), abbot of Perrona, Neustria (modern Péronne, Picardy), addressed to Aldhelm. The form in which the text, or part of it, survives is as a quotation in Book V of William of Malmesbury's Gesta pontificum Anglorum.
Hiberno-LatinLatin languageLetter
Letter from Colmán to Feradach
prose
ColmánColmán
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Entry reserved for but not yet available from the subject index.
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Letter from Colmán to Feradach
Hiberno-LatinLatin languageLetter
Letter from Columbanus to Pope Boniface
prose
Columbanus
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Columbanus
(fl. c.550–d. 615)
Irish peregrinus, scholar, abbot and monastic founder known chiefly for his activities in the kingdoms of Merovingian Gaul and Lombard Italy. His foundations included Luxeuil and Bobbio.
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Letter from Columbanus addressed to Pope Boniface IV and written in 613.
Latin language
Letter from Columbanus to Pope Gregory
prose
Columbanus
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Columbanus
(fl. c.550–d. 615)
Irish peregrinus, scholar, abbot and monastic founder known chiefly for his activities in the kingdoms of Merovingian Gaul and Lombard Italy. His foundations included Luxeuil and Bobbio.
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Latin language
Letter from Ermenrich of Ellwangen to Grimald
prose
Ermenrich of EllwangenErmenrich of Ellwangen
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A letter written c.850x854 by Ermenrich, monk of Ellwangen (later bishop of Passau), to Grimald, who was abbot of St. Gall and Weissenburg as well as archchaplain of Louis the German. Ermenrich devotes a section to the Life of St Gall and notes that he would have completed a metrical version had someone else not beaten him to it. The letter survives because Grimald had it included in a manuscript compiled for his use.
Latin languageGall
Letter from Find bishop of Kildare to Áed Úa Crimthainn
prose
Find Úa Gormáin [bishop of Kildare]Find Úa Gormáin ... bishop of Kildare
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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.
Middle Irishletters (correspondence)scribal additions
Letter of request for the Imago mundi
prose
Honorius Augustodunensis
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Honorius Augustodunensis
(fl. 1098–1140)
Honorius Augustodunensis is a medieval theologian and author, active between ca. 1190 and ca. 1140. He is also referred to as Honorius Inclusus or Honorius of Autun. He has written several works, including the Speculum ecclesiae, the Elucidarium, and the Imago mundi. Two of his works (the Elucidarium and the Imago mundi) have been translated into Middle Welsh.
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Mac Carthaig (Christianus)
See more (ascr.)Henricus [Imago mundi dedicatee]Henricus ... Imago mundi dedicatee
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Mac Carthaig (Christianus)
(d. 1148 × 1156)
Third abbot of St James of Regensburg, believed to have been a Munsterman of the Mac Carthaig family of Desmond.
See more (ascr.)Henricus [Imago mundi dedicatee]Henricus ... Imago mundi dedicatee
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A short letter addressed to the author of the Imago mundi, Honorius Augustodunensis, and prefixed to many copies of that work. It is a request for the work to be written, in which the author is asked to impart to him a small flash (scintillula) of knowledge by describing positionem orbis quasi in tabella. Another letter follows in which Honorius agrees to produce such a work and in effect, dedicates it to his addressee. In the manuscripts, the first letter is usually attributed to a certain Christianus, who is commonly identified with the Munsterman of that name who was third abbot of St James of Regensburg in Bavaria. In some early English copies, however, the same letter is attributed to a certain Henricus, whose identity cannot be established with certainty. It has been suggested that these different dedications might reflect different stages in the production of the Imago mundi; that to Henricus belonging to the time when Honorius was writing in England, that to Christianus when he completed the work in Regensburg.
Latin language
Letter of William Bodinar
prose
Bodinar (William)
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Bodinar (William)
(fl. 18th century)
William Bodinar (previously misread as Bodener), a fisherman of Mousehole, known today for a (partially) bilingual English-Cornish letter, dated 1776, which he wrote to the lawyer and antiquary Daines Barrington and bears witness to a remnant of the Cornish language.
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A short letter dated 3 July 1776 and written by fisherman William Bodinar to the antiquary Daines Barrington, who had apparently inquired after the state of the Cornish language. The letter is partly bilingual, providing 12 lines in Cornish, along with English renderings. Although he was not a native speaker, Bodinar relates that he was a boy when he learnt it (Me rig deskey Cornoack termen me vee mawe) from fishermen with whom he went out to sea and that he is still a competent speaker. He also observes that in his day, there are no more than four or five Cornish speakers in his town (Mousehole).
Late CornishEnglish language
Letter to Coroticus
prose
Saint Patrick
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Saint Patrick
(fl. 5th century)
No short description available
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Latin language
Letter to Coroticus (lost)
prose
Saint Patrick
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Saint Patrick
(fl. 5th century)
No short description available
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Earlier letter by St Patrick to Coroticus, alluded to in the Letter to Coroticus § 3.
Latin language
Synodus I S. Patricii
prose
A collecion of canons which are said to have been promulgated by Patrick and his suffragan bishops Auxilius and Iserninus. The text has been variously dated to Patrick's time, the 6th and 7th century.
Latin language
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