#and i did not skimp on details i mentioned i've lost like

[feijoaaas]

i just.. really fucking feel a massive need to own a tv so that it can be on in the background at all times and while i am on the computer or phone, so that my dopamine can get dopamine

y’know?

[margridarnauds]

hi! i was wondering if you knew- does the lebor gabala erenn have any known authors? or, at very least, is the person who compiled all the pieces in it known?

Sorry for how long this took! I'd say it's that time in the semester but...it's. Always that time in the semester. But, in my defense, this is the kind of question you don't skimp on, and it's one dear to my heart because I've actually been considering doing a small series called "mythmakers" on the different personalities behind some of the myths, mainly because (1) I feel like we get very comfortable, myself included, as treating these as sort of...floating stories that don't have an author, that they're all part of some consensus, when they were very much authored and (2) because I feel a certain debt to them, since they DID preserve the texts I love. I owe them for that, and so does every Celticist who's used a manuscript they copied down.

So, you've probably gotten tired of me saying this, but first off, we've got to ask ourselves "What IS Lebor Gabála Érenn?" And the answer is surprisingly complex. Because, on the surface, you could say "It's a pseudohistorical text written in the 11th century, one of the key parts of the collection of medieval Irish texts commonly if not anachronistically called 'The mythological Cycle', that details the history of the Irish people from the time of Noah to time of the historical Irish kings." And you wouldn't be WRONG. Not necessarily.

BUT: Here's the thing when we say that: We don't mention that it's divided into four recensions (I always want to say five, please feel free to give me a virtual bitchslap when I do, it's generally considered to be four) divided into sixteen individual manuscripts that are considered to substantially differ from one another, and multiple other copies. I believe I once read that just about every important scribe of the time would have had his own copy to use as a reference and, though I wouldn't want to be quoted on that, I certainly wouldn't be surprised.

Furthermore, there is substantial evidence supporting the existence of a "proto LGE" that didn't survive. We know that it showed up in Cín Dromma Snechtai, aka the Holy Grail of any expert in medieval Irish literature, which contained a number of early texts and might have dated back as far as the 8th century. (The latest possible dating is the 10th century, though, to my knowledge, the 8th century dating is generally viewed as being the correct one.) Even if we are to assume the latest dating for CDS, we know that some version of LGE was available to the anonymous writer of the Historia Brittonum, because he used it as a source and brought in the Irish invasions (notably NOT including the Tuatha Dé and Fir Bolg, even though a group similar to the Fir Bolg settle just off of Ireland in this account.) We know, therefore, that the TDD and the Fir Bolg were relatively late to the scheme (though we also know that the CDS version DID include, for example, the Fir Bolg's captivity in Greece, because one of the scribes of LGE mentions them stealing ships from the King of Greece in their escape.)

So, to recap: We have at least ONE pre-LGE LGE, then a gap of a period of time before our first surviving recension, in the 11th century (the oldest manuscript is 12th century, but the language is ~11th). Do I think that more were made in-between the time of Historia Brittonum and the 11th century? Absolutely. I can't see them NOT, given how important this was to them. I think that there was probably an increased *demand* after the 11th century, but I don't see any reason for a gap of as many as three hundred years. But, if these copies and recensions existed, they're lost. Just like CDS and whatever manuscript the author of Historia Brittonum was using. Like...again, I know this is something that I harp on about and harp on about, but...there's such a feeling of loss at times in this field. It's so sad sometimes looking back and just....imagining what the world could have looked like if things had been different, better. (And like, I want to emphasize, before I'm accused of getting teary eyed over manuscripts instead of people: It's never JUST the manuscripts. It's...it's everything. The manuscripts are just easier to conceptualize. Because I feel like if you try to wrap your head around EVERYTHING, all at once...you'll go a bit insane.) Like, there was this booming manuscript tradition, one of the richest in Europe at its time and so much is just. Gone. And there's so much we don't know and can't know and so much we still have to do because of all the years that we've spent playing catch up.

But. Happier stuff.

What I'm saying is, we can't know the individual name of the first person to compile the wonderful scrapbook of mythological material known as LGE together. That being said...we do know the names of at least some of the poets who wrote poetry for LGE, the poems being integrated into the text.

Eochaid Ua Floinn (936-1004) -

Flann Mainistrech mac Ethigrinn (died 1056)

Mael Muru Othna (died 887)

Tanaide (died 1075)

Gilla Cómáin mac Gilla Samthainde (alive in 1072)

Many of the most famous sections of the text actually come from one of these men -- such as, for example, the Death Tales of the Tuatha Dé (that was one by Flann, for the curious.)

You'll note that most of these poets were active in the mid-11th century -- their poetry wasn't written FOR LGE, but it was included by the anonymous compiler, and they were probably written about the time that it was compiled. And, to us, this seems very normal because it's the LGE we know, but sometimes I do think about what if we were creating a massive book all about the History of the World , and we decided to include Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Justin Beiber, and Billie Eilish songs. Not to say that they aren't GOOD, but like. You have to be damn confident that they would stand the test of time. (Of course...we know in LGE's case....they DID.)

Here are the known scribes, as noted by Mark Scowcroft in his groundbreaking study of LGE, Leabhar Gabala: The Growth of the Text:

Recension 1:

Aed mac Crimthainn, the Book of Leinster

Ádam Ó Cianáin, the Book of Fermoy (WONDERFUL clear handwriting, by the way.) James Carney wrote an article on his work back in 1969, 'The Ó Cianáin Miscellany'. An interesting man in what little we have left of him, it appears that he studied under another scribe, Seóan Mor Ó Dubhagán. On one manuscript that he was writing in, we see the inscription by another scribe, possibly another student, below a little cipher, signed "Gilla Patraig", that says "ni melladh meraighi so 7 ar Dhia re Adumh na foillseagheadh do duine eile e" (this is no crazy deception, and for God's sake don't let Adam show it to anyone else.) Which gives the wonderful image of two young students creating a secret code, possibly to pass notes to one another, and the other one KNOWING that the other one is just ITCHING to tell it to someone else. Students have always been students.

Recension 2:

Torna Ó Maoil-Chonaire, TCD MS E.3.5, no. 2 (died in 1532). His son, Seán, had a school of learning that is mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters as "the tutor of the men of Ireland in general in history and chronology, and who had all that were in Ireland learning that science under his tuition." Clearly, his father left a great legacy.

Ádam Ó Cuirnín, The Great Book of Lecan (written 1418). He was, apparently, an apprentice of Mac Fir Bhisigh, listed below, and, along with him and Murchad Riabach Ó Cuindlis, wrote the Banshenchus. (Along with others, of course, given that the Great Book of Lecan is...the GREAT Book of Lecan for a reason.)

Muirges mac Páidín Ua Maoil-Chonaire, RIA MS Stowe D.iv.3 (who died 1543 according to the Annals of the Four Masters)

Dubaltach mac Sémuis, NLI Philipps MS 10266

Luán mac Taidg, RIA MS 24.P.13 (written 1621)

Domhnall Ó Téinn, RIA MS 23.H.28 (18th century) He also transcribed, among others, Leabhar na Ceart (the Book of Rights, a legal tract) and the Annals of Innisfallen.

Seán or Diarmaid Ó Réagáin, British Library MS Addit. 18948 (written 1829-1835 -- yes, REALLY, that is NOT a typo -- you had manuscripts being created in Ireland up until the 19th century, there was an actual business for scribes who could read and copy manuscripts, though, as in the case here, they sometimes modernized the language.)

Recension 3:

Gilla Ísu Mac Fir Bhisigh, the Great Book of Lecan, 1417-1418. You might recognize the surname -- they were one of the most prominent scribal families of the time, particularly with regards to geneologies. His son, Tomás Cam, has been identified as the scribe of parts of the Yellow Book of Lecan, the Book of Lecan, and several others by Tomás Ó Concheanainn, and a member of the family, Dubhaltach mac Fhirbhisigh, wrote the absolutely massive work known as Leabhar na nGenealach, and was one of the last of the great scribal families alive in Ireland when he wrote it down in the mid 17th century.

Magnus Ó Dubhgennáin, the Book of Ballymote, written between 1384-1406

Richard Tipper, TCD MS H.2.4 (1728)

Tadhg Ó Neachtain, TCD MS H.1.15 (1745)

Aodh Ó Dálaigh, RIA MS Stowe D.iii.2 (1746). Part of a longstanding family of poets. Employed by Francis Stoughton Sullivan, a Fellow at Trinity College. Standish Hayes O'Grady would write, regarding his pen, that [O'Dalys' transcriptions] suggest that both his patron was very easily satisfied, and that ink was not the only fluid present on the scribal table."  OUCH. Still, as noted by Ní Shéaghdha in her article, "Irish scholars and scribes in eighteenth-century Dublin”, he was employed for 16 years, longer than some of his more brilliant, but feckless contemporaries and, along with LGE, he wrote down the poems in the Liber Hymnorum, which has become hopelessly faded over the years and is preserved in his transcription work.

One thing that Scowcroft points out, and that I'm going to parrot, is that these three 18th century manuscripts all contain sections that were lost in the earlier manuscripts and, again, not to keep going on about this, but that is another reminder of how *fragile* these texts are. If it weren't for these three guys writing well after the time we generally associate with the production of manuscripts was over...we wouldn't have whole sections of the work. And they knew what they were doing -- they were part of a circle that actively sought to preserve and transcribe as many manuscripts as possible and that are responsible for the preservation of many of the manuscripts that are currently still in existence.

LGE is...a magnificent text. Truly one of a kind among Irish manuscripts and....honestly pretty unique in a general European context as well. It's a contradictory, challenging scrapbook of a text, with hundreds of hands at least going into its creation (you saw the ones I just mentioned, but what about the scribes who took over when the others were having an off day? Their students? Their mentors? Their friends? It's not uncommon to see multiple hands in a manuscript, so you have to take that into account. What about the lost texts? All the copies?), every single one with his own ideas of how a text like this should look and with their own biases, life histories, and cultural contexts (when you consider that you're dealing with scribes from at least the 11th century to the 19th, over 800 very turbulent years.) Every single one of the poets I cited, even though they lived roughly contemporary to one another, also had their own thoughts on the texts they were writing, their own reasons for writing them down.

They often disagreed, VIGOROUSLY. They often insulted one another's scholarship. And yet....every single one of them, even and perhaps especially the ones who remain anonymous, including that anonymous 11th century compiler who put all the material from all these places together and put them into one manuscript, was part of something great. Because of their work, because of how beloved and respected this work was, it did something that so many didn't: Survive. LGE does not represent a single text so much as it represents a tradition, one that...to some extent, I consider myself a part of. If you ever get that book done, you'll be a part of it. Not in the way that they were, not in the same cultural context, but...we all love this material, enough to fight for it, enough to do what we can to preserve it in some way and carry it on. Whether we're working by candelight or a LCD monitor. I just hope that, if there's any sort of afterlife out there, they know that...even if some of them are only known by their names, and some of them didn't even get that...we haven't forgotten, and it wasn't in vain.