Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in Royal Irish Academy
1228
24 P 1
Devotional Prose
15th cent. Vellum. Ca. 10¼ × 7½. Ff. 36, now paginated in ink, or pencil, or both, 1-72. This pagination is very late, as it ignores the fact that the ms. wants some folios at the beginning, that chasms, owing to loss of one folio in each case, occur after pp. 2, 8, and that an indeterminate number of leaves have been lost after p. 12. The folios cut out after pp. 4, 10, 52, 66 appear to have been excised already before the ms. was written on. Scribe : Tadg Úa Rigbardain, who wrote the ms. in 1473 (see colophons transcribed in full infra, at pp. 14 b i., 52 b i.). The mss. 1226, 1227, supra, are the work of the same scribe. In addition to the defects already noticed, the pp. 9, 10 are mutilated by excision of a large piece of vellum. Pp. 11, 12 are crudely mended with thread. The margins are clipped throughout, and already before 1893 (see note dated 20.1.93 at end of ms.) ff. 33 seqq. had suffered from decay and damp. Lining is in brown. The capitals are of zoomorphic and foliated design, and are rubricated throughout. The practice seems to have been to outline the design in red before its execution in ink (see p. 51). The ink throughout is intensely black; the vellum itself varies in texture. The ms. is at present bound, and the composition of the gatherings cannot therefore be accurately stated here. There appear, however, to be four staves, which are probably constituted as follows :—pp. 1-12 (originally a quinion, but leaves are wanting after pp. 2, 4, 8, 10); 13-32; 33-52; 53-72 (possibly originally a sestion, the conjugates of pp. 57, 58, 71, 72 being excised). The loss of the leaves after pp. 2, 8 can be attributed to the fact that the conjugates of these missing leaves had been excised very early, leaving them singles. It will be seen from this tentative estimate that it is possible that an entire gathering is wanting at the beginning of the ms., and another after p. 12. No names of former owners appear, but p. 3, inf. marg., bears the inscription "Lanbey (?)." Bd. in half-vellum, rubricated edges. Beeves Collection, no. 811 (see label on spine). The "no. 2" on p. 1 is from Edward O'Reilly's sale catalogue, p. 53. Bought at the O'Reilly sale, November, 1830, by Robert MacAdam, for sixteen shillings (see flyleaf, note in MacAdam's hand).
The ms. is defective at the beginning, a considerable number of folios having been lost.
p.
1 a. Life of Mary. Acephalous, beg. here na crístaidhi ele ( = 1226, p. 62 a, l. 13). Chasms due to the loss of one folio occur after p. 2 (= 1226, pp. 64 a, 1. 11-65 b, 1. 13), and p. 8 (= 1226, pp. 71 b, 1. 7-73 a, 1. 17). A further chasm in pp. 9, 10, caused by leaf having been partly excised, can be supplied from 1226, p. 73 ff. Text ends p. 11 b i.
12 a. [Pseudo-Bonaventura, Meditationes Vitae Christi.] Section, beg. Hie in partes diuiditur liber iste (cf. 1226, p. 75 a), followed (p. 12 b m.) by the section beg. Tuic, a duine, curab ar trí hadbar no fuirm do taisben Crist he féin (cf. 1226, p. 75 b m.). There is a chasm owing to loss of leaves from ms. after p. 12, our text breaking off here at a point corresponding to 1226, p. 75 b i.
13 a m. Here resumes the text at a point just before the section of the Vita Christi, headed "Do eisergi Crist do eis a cesta annso do reir Bonauentura." Ends p. 14 b i. with scribal colophon: "Mili bliadan ~ eethri céd ~ tri bliadna .x. ~ tri .xx. int annalad in tan so." On p. 14, inf. marg., is a late calculation, 1732-1473 = 259.
15 a. Homily on the Virgin Mary, with quotations from St. Bernard and others. Beg. Ut dixit Bernardus in sermone [de] Maria Uirgine. Cf. 1226, p. 5 b m.
17 a. Homily on Repentance, with quotations from St. Ambrose and others. Beg. Briathra and andso ó Ambrosius ar na déraib. Cf. 1226, p. 38 a i.
17 a i. Irish version of Innocent [De Contemptu Mundi] . Beg. Deo Patri carisimo Petro. P. 48 a m. to end of column is in a smaller hand than rest of text. Text ends, p. 52 b i., with the words: mar derbus in lebar so re n-abarar Indocent ar dochraidhecht in chinedha daenna. For an account of text, see Flower, B.M. Cat., p. 533. Our scribe asks a prayer for the translator [Uilliam Mag Duibne, acc. to Eg. 1781, loc. cit.]. Ed. J. A. Geary, An Irish Version of Innocent III's "De Contemptu Mundi," Washington, 1931. Our text does not appear to have been known to the editor.
52 b i. Scribal colophon : " Tadg Ua Rigbardain qui scribsit ~ cach aen léighfius tabradh bendacht ara anmain ~ ar anam an tí ó fuair."
53 a. Passion of SS. Peter and Paul. Beg. Beati qui persecucionem patiuntur.
60 b m. Pais Parrthaloin. Beg. Luid Partholon apstal do forcetal isin India.
66 b i. Paiss Iacob (title in later hand). Beg. Luid Iacob apstal .i. mac Zepedei .i. brathair Eoin.
70 b m. Paiss Andrias. Beg. Dia mboi ingreim mor for na cristaigib. Ends imperfect, p. 72 b.