Leabhar Ua Maine | |
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Royal Irish Academy | |
Also known as | The Book of Hy-Many, Leabhar Uí Dubhagáin |
Type | Compilation of Irish legends |
Date | 1392–94 |
Place of origin | Uí Maine |
Language(s) | Middle Irish |
Scribe(s) | Ádhamh Cúisín, Faolán Mac an Ghabhann na Scéal |
Patron | Muircheartach mac Pilib Ó Ceallaigh |
Material | Vellum |
Size | 44cm x 27cm |
Format | Folio |
Script | Irish minuscule |
Leabhar Ua Maine (also Leabhar Uí Dubhagáin, The Book of Hy-Many and RIA MS D ii 1) is an Irish genealogical compilation, created c. 1392–94.
Previously known as Leabhar Uí Dubhagáin, after Seán Mór Ó Dubhagáin, d.1372 of the prominent family of historians and musicians in East Galway, it was later also known as the Book of the O'Kelly's, written at the behest of Muircertach Ó Ceallaigh (d. 1407), Bishop of Clonfert (1378–93) and then Archbishop of Tuam (1393–1407).
The book was written by ten scribes in Uí Maine before 1392 and sometime after 1394. There were ten scribes, eight of whom are anonymous. The principal scribe and overall compiler of the manuscript was Ádhamh Cúisín (fl. c.1400); the only other scribe known by name is Faolán Mac an Ghabhann na Scéal (d. 1423).
It is a massive, oversized vellum book written in Irish. It was property of the O'Kelly clan until 1757, when it was sold to William Betham In 1814, Betham proceeded to sell the manuscript to the Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. The Duke then donated the manuscript to the Royal Irish Academy in 1883, where it is currently housed.
The manuscript is a massive, oversized vellum book written in Irish, its contents are described by one of the scribes as bolg an tsolathair (a mixed bag of contents). It includes a series of metrical dindsenchas, An Banshenchas, Cormac's Glossary, Lebor na Cert, portions of Lebor Gabála, poems, genealogies and pedigrees.