Leabhar Branach
| Leabhar Branach | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Book of the O'Byrnes |
| Type | Compilation ofIrish poetry |
| Date | early 1600s |
| Place of origin | County Wicklow |
| Language(s) | Early Modern Irish |
| Dedicated to | O'Byrnes |
| Condition | Lost |
| Script | Irish minuscule |
TheLeabhar Branach(Irish pronunciation:[ˌl̠ʲəuɾˠˈbˠɾˠanˠəx]), also called the[Poem] Book of the O'Byrnesis anEarly Modern Irishanthologyof poetry collected in the early 17th century. It consists ofpoetryin praise of theO'Byrne family,who ruled a region known asGabhal Raghnaillin modernCounty Wicklow.[1][2][3]The poems were written between roughly 1550 and 1630, a time of turmoil in Ireland that saw theDesmond Rebellions,Nine Years' WarandO'Doherty's rebellion.[4][5]
According to scholarSeán Mac Airt,who published a print version in 1944, "theLeabhar Branach,apart from its linguistic value, is important in that it affords us some insight from an Irish standpoint into the life and fortunes of a sept borderingthe Pale,during an interesting if unhappy era of our history ".[6][4][7]
Contents[edit]
The poems were mostly written by poets of the McKeogh (Mac Eochaidh, Mac Eochadha) family.[8][9][10]Some are also byEochaidh Ó hÉoghusa.[11]
Several poems are dedicated toFiach McHugh O'Byrne(1534–1597).[12][13]His wife Rose O'Toole is described in one poem as "a blazing meteor, wine of grape, flower of women... She glows with the fire of youth. She is the life and death of heroes."[14]
Manuscripts[edit]
The original manuscript is lost. A copy was made by in 1622 byBrian Mac Giolla Phádraig.It is thanks to him that the poems survive as his copy was in turn copied by Hugh O'Daly; this manuscript is inTrinity College, Dublin,while a copy made by Michael O'Byrne in the 1720s is inHoughton Library,Harvard University.[15][16]
References[edit]
- ^"Leabhar Branach: The Book of the O'Byrnes".ainm.ie.
- ^Mac Airt, Seán (3 November 1944)."Leabhar Branach".Dublin Institute for the Advanced Studies – via Google Books.
- ^Ó Tuathail, Éamonn (1947)."Reviewed work:Leabhar Branach: The Book of the O'Byrnes,Seán Mac Airt ".Irish Historical Studies.5(19): 249–253.JSTOR30004866.
- ^ab"Leabhar Branach".17 May 2007.
- ^"The Byrnes and the O'Byrnes Vol. II".HouseOfLochar.com.The House of Lochar Publishers.
- ^"Leabhar Branach– CODECS: Online Database and e-Resources for Celtic Studies ".VanHamel.nl.
- ^"Leabhar Branach:The Book of the O'Byrnes– DIAS Shop ".
- ^"Fada cuirthear clú deise"(PDF).Bardic Poetry Database(in Middle Irish).
- ^Mac Airt, Seán (3 November 1944)."Leabhar Branach".Dublin Institute for the Advanced Studies – via Google Books.
- ^"Archivium Hibernicum: Or, Irish Historical Records".Irish University Press for the Catholic Record Society of Ireland. 3 November 1941 – via Google Books.
- ^Mac Airt, Seán, ed. (1944).Leabhar Branach: The Book of the O'Byrnes.Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. pp. xii.ISBN9781855000087.
- ^"Poetry and Politics: Reaction & continuity in Irish poetry, 1558–1625, Marc Caball (Cork University Press, £16.95) ISBN 1859181627".6 February 2013.
- ^Lethbridge, J. B. (3 November 2006).Edmund Spenser: New and Renewed Directions.Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press.ISBN9780838640661– via Google Books.
- ^Mac Eiteagáin, Darren."The Rise of Feagh McHugh O'Byrne in Gaelic Leinster".Homepage.Tinet.ie.
- ^Byrne-Rothwell, Daniel (3 November 2010).The Byrnes and the O'Byrnes.House of Lochar.ISBN9781904817048– via Google Books.
- ^@HarvardLibrary (17 March 2017)."One of the earliest surviving manuscript copies ofLeabhar Branach,or 'the Book of the O'Byrnes' from @HoughtonLib... "(Tweet) – viaTwitter.