Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in the Royal Irish Academy
ANNALS OF CONNACHT
16th cent. Vellum. 11⅕ × 8; some folios smaller (see infra). Ff. 91. Miscellaneous documents (pp. 23, paper) of varying dimensions are now bound at the end of MS. (they lay loose in the MS. until 1935). These documents date from the 18th cent., and belonged to Charles O' Conor presumably. The vellum folios are numbered 1-90, one folio (between ff. 26, 27) having been skipped by the foliatior and chasms ignored (see infra). The MS. is the work of three scribes : I. Paitín [Ó Duibhgheannáin]. see ff. 17 (“is i mo tomtisi .i. Paitín”), 48 recto, 1. 4, who wrote ff. 1-61. II. Sean R[iabha]ch [O Duibhgheannáin], see ff. 66 verso, col. a (“Ego sum misdi me gan Dolp agum”), who wrote ff. 66, col. a-90 recto col. b. The name “Dolp” is an Ó Duibhgheannáin name (cf. C. iv. 3, supra, for Dolp, son of Paitín (mac Maoileachlainn Ó Duibhgheannáin). III, an unnamed scribe, who wrote ff. 62-66, col. a m., and possibly ff. 37 verso, col. b, 38, col. A, 43, col. a. Another hand (?) occurs on ff. 5, col. a, 7, col. b. A later addition occurs on fo. 90, col. b i. On fo. 62 verso occurs “Comortus uam re S,” which Charles O' Conor completes to read “Comortus uam re Seán ro sgribh sin sios.” On fo. 89 verso a hand which adds “a Burc” in the middle of col. a writes further “M[i]si Miolus O Maoilc[honaire?].” Ff. 72-82 are decayed at inferior inner margin. There are dark stains on ff. 34 verso, 37, 61 verso, 62, 63, 67 verso, 68, and lesser stains on other folios. Tiny holes appear to be burnt (by acid?) through fo. 90, and on the verso of this leaf is a reddish stain. A white stain (not mildew) stands on fo. 20. Ff. 35 (9⅕ × 8), 36 (6½ × 8) have been cut down or were originally smaller than the surrounding leaves; ff. 42, 43 are shorter than the rest. Ff. 49, 75, 76 seem to have been clipped. The inferior outer corner of fo. 68 has suffered mutilation, a section of vellum measuring 4½ × 2⅕ having been excised. Fo. 71 (neatly thonged in) is a mere slip of vellum originally blank of the verso; a later inscription has been carefully erased. Fo. 90 verso is blank, save for conclusion of section added fo. 90 recto, col. b i. There are chasms in the MS. after ff. 41, 43. The missing folios were probably conjugates. Owing to the fact that the MS. is bound, the composition of the gatherings cannot be detailed here; the normal gathering appears to be the quaternion. A leaf seems to be cut out after fo. 62. The vellum is thin and poor quality from fo. 78 to the end. The handwriting is in double column except at fo. 88 i., the ruling partly by dry point, partly in brown, with marginal prickings. There is great diversity in the number of lines to the page. The ink varies, eg., on ff. 33, 34-35 et passim. The fresh ink of ff. 62 seqq., 66, col, a i. seqq., may be noted here, as hands I, II, and III meet at these points. A passage on fo. 90 recto, col. b, and continued on the verso, is in inferior ink and rubbed and defaced. Ff. 86 seqq. are mounted on inferior paper, so placed as to obscure the text. Fo. 90 shows a crude repair carried out with thread. Bd. (1794, see watermark on flyleaves) in calf, blind-tooled; gilt-lettered on spine “ Irish Ms. No. IX, Ann. Connac. saec. XVI.” Stowe MS. (Ashburnham Collection), Press
I, no. 9. The MS. has been rebacked. The bookplate of “Charles O' Connor of Belanagare, 1753” (a former owner) stands inside back cover.
The principal marginalia in later hands are as follows : fo. 1 recto, “1741”; fo. 27 recto, “Mise Cathal Ua Conchabair . . . a mBaile Locha Baa a Magh Ai. 1749”; fo. 70 verso, “Cathal Ua Conchabair 1744.” O' Conor's hand occurs fo. 90 verso et passim, in various notes, additions to text (from other sources), e.g., fo. 55 verso, comments on chasms, e.g., fo. 43 verso; for his completion of an early margianl comment, see fo. 62 verso and Description, supra. On fo. 15 recto occurs the signature of a previous owner : “Dominick Digginan his old hand (?) and book and when he rite it he was [ ] and 3 skore (?) & he will be more , please God, 1727” (defaced by the use of a reagent). The entry in prominent position (single column) of Duibgeand mac Dubhthaigh Uí Dhuibhgheannáin's obit under the year 1542 (fo. 88 i.) suggests, in combination with the incidence of the Ó Duibhgheannáin name “Dolp” and the proof of later ownership, that these Annals of Connacht are the work of Ó Duibhgheannáin scribes. Are they actually the “Annals of the O' Duigenans of Kilronan,” which according to the Four Masters came down to the year 1563 (see infra)?
The entire MS. is occupied by the ANNALS OF CONNACHT (ANNALS OF THE O' DUIGENANS OF KILRONAN?) . Beg, fo. 1, (without superscription) Kalann Enair for Luan and covers the years 1224-1544 with a later addition, 1562, in different ink. Chasms occur after ff. 41, 43 and are probably due to the loss of two folios which were comjugates. The last lines of text on fo. 90 verso are rubbed and partly indecipherable. Ed. from this MS. by A.M. Freeman, Rev. Celt. 50, p. 1 seqq.
The historical papers (pp. 23, unnumbered, of varying dimensions) bound in with our MS. (see description) date from the 17-18th centt., and are in English, Latin, and Irish. They are mostly genealogical, concerned with the families of O' Conor and Mac Dermot. Included are the ascending and descending pedigrees of “Roderick MacDermott,” who sailed to Madrid from Galway in August, 1719; these pedigrees are drawn up and signed by “F. Gara,” and are the copies sent to Spain.