Lismore’s Historical Book Returns to Ireland After Centuries in British Hands | books

A 15th-century medieval manuscript, one of the “great books of Ireland,” returns home nearly 400 years after being captured from a site.

The Book of Lismore, which has been donated to University College Cork by the Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement, was compiled for Fínghin Mac Carthaigh, Lord of Carbery from 1478 to 1505. It consists of 198 large vellum folios containing some of the publications of medieval Irish literature. great masterpieces, including the lives of Irish saints, the only surviving Irish translation of Marco Polo’s travels and the adventures of the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill, or Finn MacCool.

The book was captured on a site at Kilbrittain Castle in Cork in the 1640s and delivered to the Earl of Cork at Lismore Castle. It was walled in in the 18th century and only rediscovered during renovation work in 1814. A century later, it was moved to Devonshire House in London and then to Chatsworth, the ancestral seat of the Dukes of Devonshire. It has been owned by the Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement, which owns the lands and properties of the Duchy of Devonshire, since its establishment in 1946.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin welcomed the return of “one of Ireland’s great books” and praised the generosity of the Duke of Devonshire, Peregrine Cavendish and his family.

“If it weren’t for the Duke and his predecessors in England and Ireland, the Book of Lismore might, like many other Gaelic manuscripts of its time, have been lost or remain undiscovered,” Martin said.

Cavendish said the trustees had been considering ways for The Book of Lismore to return to University College Cork since it was loaned to the institution for an exhibition in 2011. The book is being donated by the trustees “in recognition of academic and curatorial expertise. the university, and in recognition of a very long and fruitful association between the Cavendish family and the UCC ”, dating back to the establishment of the university in the 1840s.

“My family and I are delighted that this has been possible and we hope it will benefit many generations of students, scholars and visitors to the university,” said Cavendish.

UCC said the manuscript texts, which include translations of European works, show “an Ireland that was deeply engaged with contemporary European culture at the time.” He is planning to display the book in a public access gallery.