| Book of Leinster | |
|---|---|
| Dublin, TCD, MS 1339 (olim MS H 2.18) | |
 f. 53 | |
| Also known as | Lebor Laignech (Modern IrishLeabhar Laighneach);Lebor na Nuachongbála |
| Type | Miscellany |
| Date | 12th century, second half |
| Place of origin | Terryglass (County Tipperary) and possibly Oughaval or Clonenagh (County Laois) |
| Language(s) | Old Irish,Middle Irish |
| Scribe | Áed Ua Crimthainn |
| Size | c. 13″ × 9″; 187 leaves |
| Condition | 45 leaves lost, according to manuscript note. |
| Previously kept | By the Ó Mhorda and Sir James Ware |
TheBook of Leinster (Middle Irish:Lebor Laignechpronounced[ˈl̠ʲeβəɾˈl̪aɣʲnʲəx],LL) is amedieval Irishmanuscript compiledc. 1160 and now kept inTrinity College Dublin. It was formerly known as theLebor na Nuachongbála ("Book of Nuachongbáil"), a monastic site known today asOughaval.
In 2023, Trinity College started an extensive restoration project to make the manuscript available for public viewing.[1]
Fragments of the book, such as theMartyrology of Tallaght, are in the collection ofUniversity College Dublin.[citation needed]
The manuscript is a composite work and more than one hand appears to have been responsible for its production. The principal compiler and scribe was probablyÁed Ua Crimthainn,[2][3] who was abbot of the monastery of Tír-Dá-Glas on the Shannon, nowTerryglass (County Tipperary), and the last abbot of that house for whom we have any record.[3] Internal evidence from the manuscript itself bears witness to Áed's involvement. His signature can be read on f. 32r (p. 313):Aed mac meic Crimthaind ro scrib in leborso 7 ra thinoil a llebraib imdaib ("Áed Húa Crimthaind wrote this book and collected it from many books"). In a letter copied by a later hand into a bottom margin (p. 288), the bishop of Kildare, Finn mac Gormáin (d. 1160), addresses him as a man of learning (fer léiginn) of the high-king ofLeth Moga, the coarb (comarbu lit. 'successor') ofColum mac Crimthainn, and the chief scholar (prímsenchaid) of Leinster. An alternative theory was that byEugene O'Curry, who suggested that Finn mac Gormáin transcribed or compiled the Book of Leinster for Áed.[3]
The manuscript was produced by Aéd and some of his pupils over a long period between 1151 and 1224.[3] Fromannals recorded in the manuscript we can say it was written between 1151 and 1201, with the bulk of the work probably completed in the 1160s. As Terryglass was burnt down in 1164, the manuscript must have been finalised in another scriptorium.[3] Suggested locations include Stradbally (Co. Laois) andClonenagh (County Laois), the home of Uí Chrimthainn (see below).[3]
Eugene O'Curry suggested that the manuscript may have been commissioned byDiarmait Mac Murchada (d. 1171), king of Leinster, who had a stronghold (dún) inDún Másc, near Oughaval (An Nuachongbáil). Dún Másc passed from Diarmait Mac Murchada toStrongbow, from Strongbow to his daughterIsabel, from Isabel to theMarshal Earls of Pembroke and from there, down several generations through their line. WhenMeiler fitz Henry established an Augustinian priory in County Laois, Oughaval was included in the lands granted to the priory.[citation needed]
Nothing certain is known of the manuscript's whereabouts in the next century or so after its completion, but in the 14th century, it came to light at Oughaval. It may have been kept in the vicarage in the intervening years.[citation needed]
The Book of Leinster owes its present name toJohn O'Donovan (d. 1861), who coined it on account of the strong associations of its textual contents with the province of Leinster, and toRobert Atkinson, who adopted it when he published the lithographicfacsimile edition.[3]
However, it is now commonly accepted that the manuscript was originally known as theLebor na Nuachongbála, which is the "Book of Noghoval", now Oughaval (County Laois), near Stradbally. This was established byR.I. Best, who observed that several short passages from the Book of Leinster are cited in an early 17th-century manuscript written bySir James Ware (d. 1666), found today under the shelfmark London, British Library, Add. MS 4821. These extracts are attributed to the "Book of Noghoval" and were written at a time when Ware stayed atBallina (Ballyna, County Kildare), enjoying the hospitality ofRory O'Moore. His family, the O'Moores (Ó Mhorda), had been lords of Noghoval since the early 15th century if not earlier, and it was probably with their help that he obtained access to the manuscript. The case for identification with the manuscript now known as the Book of Leinster is suggested by the connection of Rory's family to theUí Chrimthainn, coarbs of Terryglass: his grandfather had a mortgage on Clonenagh, the home of Uí Chrimthainn.[4]
Best's suggestion is corroborated by evidence from Dublin, Royal Irish Academy MS B. iv. 2, also of the early 17th century. AsRudolf Thurneysen noted, the scribe copied several texts from the Book of Leinster, identifying his source as the "Leabhar na h-Uachongbála", presumably forLeabhar na Nuachongbála ("Book of Noughaval").[5] Third, in the 14th century, the Book of Leinster was located atStradbally (County Laois), the place of a monastery known originally asNuachongbáil "of the new settlement" (Noughaval) and later as Oughaval.[6]
The manuscript has 187 leaves, each approximately 13 by 9 in (33 by 23 cm). A note in the manuscript suggests as many as 45 leaves have beenlost. The book, a wide-ranging compilation, is one of the most important sources of medievalIrish literature,genealogy andmythology, containing, among many others, texts such asLebor Gabála Érenn (the Book of Invasions), the most complete version ofTáin Bó Cuailnge (the Cattle Raid of Cooley), theMetrical Dindshenchas and an Irish translation/adaptation of theDe excidio Troiae Historia, and before its separation from the main volume, theMartyrology of Tallaght.[citation needed]
Adiplomatic edition was published by theDublin Institute for Advanced Studies in six volumes over a period of 29 years.[citation needed]
Following two years of extensive conservation, the Book of Leinster will be on display atTrinity College Dublin until August 2025.[1]