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A manuscript dating from the late 15th century, containing material from both the Irish tradition and contemporary European texts, has been donated to University College Cork.
The Book of Lismore consists of 198 large vellum folios and was created at Kilbrittain, Co Cork for Finghin Mac Carthaigh, Lord of Carbery (1478–1505). He became known as Leabhar Mhic Cárthaigh Riabhaigh.
The book begins with religious-themed material, primarily describing the lives of Irish saints and the apocryphal tales associated with them, before moving on to translated material: The History of the Lombards and the Conquests of Charlemagne.
The book also contains the only surviving Irish translation of Marco Polo’s travels, as well as accounts by Fionn MacCumhaill and Fianna, as told in the long saga known as Agallamh na Seanórach.
The Book of Lismore itself also has a fascinating history.
According to the UCC, evidence suggests that it was kept at Kilbrittain Castle in West Cork until the 1640s, when, after being captured in a siege, it was handed over to the Earl of Cork at Lismore Castle.
Walled in the following century, possibly for safekeeping, it was rediscovered, along with an 11th-century crozier, during renovation works on the castle in 1814.
In the 1860s it had been restored to its present state and remained in Lismore until 1914 when it was transferred to Devonshire House in London and from there to Chatsworth in Derbyshire, the ancestral seat of the Dukes of Devonshire.
The manuscript has been the property of the Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement since 1946.
In a statement, the Duke of Devonshire said his family hopes the book will benefit many generations of students, scholars and visitors to the university. The Book of Lismore will join more than 200 other Gaelic manuscripts in the UCC collection.
UCC will welcome the book back to Cork with a special virtual event at 11am today on its website.
The Book of Lismore will eventually be exhibited in a Gallery of Treasures that UCC plans to develop at its Boolean Library.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he was very happy to welcome one of Ireland’s great books to its home county, describing it as a cultural resource that will be appreciated and studied in Cork.
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