User:Kortneyklockenga/Lebor na hUidre

The manuscript known as Lebor na hUidre (English translation: Book of the Dun Cow) is the oldest extant written in Gaelic (Irish), and the texts included therein recount Irish history through an eschatological lens.[1] The Christian authors who contributed wrote about God’s intervention throughout the island’s history and attempted to understand His larger plan for Ireland.[2] The authors recognized paganism as a part of Irish history but emphasized God’s influence on the mortal, pagan world in order to situate the Christianization of Ireland within the wider context of the spread of Christianity across Western Europe.[3] Written in the 11th and 12th centuries, the inclusion of secular texts is also suggested to be politically motivated, as the scribes were writing in response to the sociopolitical issues that affected them during the time of production, such as the internecine familial strife amongst provinces, and the eventual external strife between the native population against the Danes and Norse.[4]

The manuscript’s various texts range from well-known legends of pre-Christian Ireland, to cautionary tales of Irish kings who rejected baptism and consequently received the punishment of God. In the case of the latter, often the pagan non-believer repented after a period in hell, or he benefited from divine intervention in the form of St. Patrick, or other clerics, who visited the king and urged him to convert or face damnation.[5] Such example of these stories would be Siaburcharpat Con Culaind.[6] Some of these texts were also written to establish false genealogy between contemporary kings and kings from the past, to assert royal inheritance of provinces.[7] Other stories sought to demonstrate the ultimate judgment of Christ.[8] In one such story (Scél Tuain meic Cairill), the descendants of the Sera Clan, who believed in God, enjoyed divine favor, while the pagan descendants of the Nemid Clan suffered both on earth and in hell.[9] The authors also borrowed from pagan traditions in allegories of Paradise and Hell, utilizing the pagan concept of the “Otherworld” to show that even supernatural beings preferred the adoption of a Christian order, such as Echtra Condla Chaím.[10] The manuscript also contains stories of other important figures in Irish history, pagan and Christian, like Sex Aetates Mundi.[11] Additionally, there are stories of Christian heroes who experienced challenging voyages to test their piety to show trusting in God’s plan was far more rewarding than giving in to earthly temptations (Immram Curaig Maíle Dúin[12] (although it is suggested the original was written in either the 8th or 9th century[13]), Aided Echach maic Maíreda[14], and Imram Brain meic Febail[15]).

Prior to the Norman invasion in the second half of the 11th century, Ireland maintained cultural and political autonomy while still taking influence from the Roman empire through trade, the adoption of Christianity, and by extension, Latin, because of their location outside the edge of its western border.[16] Although Ireland never came under foreign rule during this time, missionaries from the continent had introduced the indigenous Gaelic populations to Christianity beginning in the 5th century. Prior to Lebor na hUidre, Irish manuscripts were written mostly in Latin with minimal Old or Middle Irish vernacular. This changed during the 11th and 12th centuries once the Irish cleric authors of LU purposefully composed most of the manuscript’s text in the vernacular but still included some Latin; thereafter, numerous Irish manuscripts came to be authored mostly in Middle Irish, rather than Latin, such as the Book of Leinster and the Yellow Book of Lecan, due to the influence of LU.[17]

Given that Christianity was well integrated and accepted across Ireland by the eleventh and twelfth centuries, scholars have proposed one of the purposes of Lebor na hUidre was to legitimize the prestige of the powerful Irish families that ruled over different provinces across Ireland.[18] During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Irish noble class was composed of royal families. Scribes came from this class, both secular and religious (bards and monks), which was to the mutual benefit of all parties as scribes could grant importance to their families in Irish history, cementing their influence. Monasteries in which scribes lived and worked were protected by the families as a result. The monastery of Clonmacnoise, where Lebor na hUidre was authored, was located at the geographic and political center of Ireland, where the Shannon River and the east-west esker ridges left by retreating glaciers intersect.[19] This meant it was right on the border of the provinces of Connacht and Meath, not far from Leinster and Munster. Perhaps the founder of Clonmacnoise, St. Ciaran, built the monastery there intentionally, but in any case its strategic location placed the community at the center of political conflict.[20] As Ireland did not have a centralized government, powerful families controlled different provinces in Ireland, creating chiefdoms. During these internecine conflicts that were common during the 11th and 12th centuries, such as the Munster-Ulster War of 1090-1103, religious institutions, like Clonmacnoise, were targeted by other powerful families outside of Connacht, such as the O’Brien’s in 1092.[21]

At the time of this war, Clonmacnoise was in the O’Connor province, ruled by Rory O’Connor, the presumptive king of Connacht.[22] But after he was blinded and captured by the O’Flaherty’s, O’Brien saw it as a perfect opportunity to spread his influence within and beyond Connacht, as O’Connor’s powerful military and political power was what limited his conquests before.[23] This was a devastating blow to the O’Connor family, as rather than accepting submission, O’Brien replaced the O’Connor’s with a small family from southern Connacht to take over the province.[24] This also was damaging to the relationship between the O’Connor’s and the monks at Clonmacnoise, as the family and the monastery had long-lasting local ties to eachother.[25] As a result, Máel Muire (one of the scribes that authored LU, popularly known as “M”) began to gather material for the manuscript during these difficult times and proceeded to document it on vellum.[26] Such strife and violence between families and later, between the native population and invaders, such as the Danes and Norse, had been a constant feature of life since the monastery’s founding. Conflict resulted in ample destruction, but also, as shown by M, inspired some of the allegorical content within Lebor na hUidre.[27]

The authors of Lebor na hUidre, known as A, M, and H, were all monks who lived at Clonmacnoise, and their authorship has been identified based on the different intentions each brother had for the manuscript.[28] A is regarded as the original author, but M (later found to be Máel Muire, directly related to the mBocht family and son of Celechar Mugdornach, bishop of Clonmacoise who died in 1067[29]) was the scribe who dedicated the most time to LU.[30] H, although included as one of the authors, was more of an interpolator, and evidence has suggested that at least eight scribes could have operated under the guise of “H.”[31] Although M only completed three full stories in LU, he also finished two of the stories that A began, Fis Adamnan and Tain Bo Cualingne.[32] As it currently stands, A contributed to 12 percent of the manuscript, M wrote 60 percent, and H added an additional 28 percent to the overall content.[33] M and H altered A’s plans for the primary focus of LU, such as Christian hagiography, genealogy, and poetry, by including pre-Christian mythological and secular content, too.[34] But, although M and H were responsible for adding secular and pagan mythology in LU, they contributed more ecclesiastical texts than they did otherwise.[35] For example, the only three stories that were entirely authored by M, from start to finish, were Christian inspired.[36] Additionally, H was given their label because of their common use of homilies within the manuscript.[37] There are several indications that M traveled to different monasteries to work with other scribes, thanks to his familial and political connections, where he would have had access to manuscripts relevant to the aims of Lebor na hUidre, but it is assumed that the entire manuscript was completed at Clonmacnoise by Dr. Hans Oskamp, a former researcher of Celtic Studies at the Dublin Institute.[38]

[1] Gregory Toner, “History and Salvation in Lebor na hUidre,” Codices Hiberneses Eximii: Lebor na Huidre, no. 1 (2015): 131-153, Queen’s University Belfast.

[2] Toner, “History and Salvation in Lebor na hUidre,” 134.

[3] Toner, “History and Salvation in Lebor na hUidre,” 134.

[4] Eric Patterson, Old and New Gods in an Age of Uncertainty: Mixed Content Tales in Lebor na hUidre, (master’s thesis, John Carroll University, 2016), passim.

[5] Kim McCone, Pagan Past and Christian Present (Maynooth: Saggart, 1990), 79, 82, 149.

[6] Robin Flower, The Irish Tradition (Oxford: Oxford University Press,1947), 9.

[7] Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, “The literature of medieval Ireland, 800–1200: from the Vikings to the Normans,” in Ireland and Europe in the Twelfth Century, eds. Damien Bracken and Dagmar O Riain-Raedel (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2006), 48.

[8] Toner, “History and Salvation in Lebor na hUidre,” 139-144.

[9] Toner, “History and Salvation in Lebor na hUidre,” 135-139.

[10] Gregory Toner, “History and Salvation in Lebor na hUidre,” Codices Hiberneses Eximii: Lebor na Huidre, no. 1 (2015): 144-147, Queen’s University Belfast.

[11] Toner, “History and Salvation in Lebor na hUidre,” 134-135.

[12] Elva Johnston, “A Sailor on the Seas of Faith: The Individual and the Church in the Voyage of Máel Duin,” in European Encounters: Essays in Memory of Albert Lovett, eds. H.B. Clarke and J. Delvin (Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2003).

[13] Eric Patterson, Old and New Gods in an Age of Uncertainty: Mixed Content Tales in Lebor na hUidre, (master’s thesis, John Carroll University, 2016), 60.

[14] Toner, “History and Salvation in Lebor na hUidre,” 150-152.

[15] Toner, “History and Salvation in Lebor na hUidre,” 147-150.

[16] Patterson, Old and New Gods, 7.

[17] Patterson, Old and New Gods, 33.

[18] Patterson, Old and New Gods, 19-20.

[19] Patterson, Old and New Gods, 30.

[20] Edel Bhreathnach, Ireland in the Medieval World, AD 400-1000: Landscape, Kingship and Religion (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2014), 184.

[21] Eric Patterson, Old and New Gods in an Age of Uncertainty: Mixed Content Tales in Lebor na hUidre, (master’s thesis, John Carroll University, 2016), 12.

[22] Patterson, Old and New Gods, 12.

[23] Thomas D’Arcy McGee, A Popular History of Ireland: from the Earliest Period to the Emancipation of the Catholics Volume I (Dublin: D & J Sadlier and Company, 1863), 278.

[24] Patterson, Old and New Gods, 12.

[25] Patterson, Old and New Gods, 12.

[26] Patterson, Old and New Gods, 12.

[27] Patterson, Old and New Gods, 11.

[28] Michael Slavin, The Ancient Books of Ireland (Dublin: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2005), 2.

[29] H.P.A. Oskamp, “Notes on the History of Lebor na hUidre,” Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Section C: Archeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature, no. 65 (1966/1967): 117-118, Royal Irish Academy.

[30] Patterson, Old and New Gods, 46.

[31] Patterson, Old and New Gods, 44.

[32] Eric Patterson, Old and New Gods in an Age of Uncertainty: Mixed Content Tales in Lebor na hUidre, (master’s thesis, John Carroll University, 2016), 46.

[33] Donnchadh Ó Corráin, “Clerics, Lineage, and Literature,” (paper presented at Royal Irish Academy Conference: Lebor na hUidre, Dublin, 2013).

[34] Patterson, Old and New Gods, 46.

[35] Patterson, Old and New Gods, 46.

[36] Patterson, Old and New Gods, 46.

[37] Patterson, Old and New Gods, 44.

[38] Patterson, Old and New Gods, 49.