Library Lunchtime Lecture by Dr Ciarán Mac Murchaidh, DCU. The second lecture in our series on The Books of Knockninny: the Maguires and their manuscripts in the early eighteenth century.

Location: Academy House

Date: Wednesday 5 February, 2020

The Book of Knockninny was compiled in 1718 for Brian Mág Uidhir of Knockninny, Co. Fermanagh. It contains a selection of historical poems and prose texts and is now usually referred to as the Book of Knockninny. It was presented as a reworking of an older compilation that had been made in 1638 for Brian Mac Cú Chonnacht Mág Uidhir. The older manuscript had fallen into disrepair and Brian Mág Uidhir of Knockninny invited scholars to assemble manuscript sources at Knockninny so that scribes could produce a new Book of Knockninny in 1718.

The contents include Gabháltas na hÉireann, Réim Ríoghraidhe na hÉireann, Seanchas na Naomh nÉireannach, Cath Mhaighe Léana, Teagasc Rí Solmain, the Ó Cléirigh recension of the Leabhar Gabhála, and a variety of historical poems. It also contains poems from the early seventeenth-century poetic dispute known as Iomarbhagh na bhFileadh.

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