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Source: Wikiwand: Lebor Gabála Érenn

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"Lebor Gabála Érenn" (literally "The Book of the Taking of Ireland"), known in English as "The Book of Invasions," is a collection of poems and prose narratives in the Irish language intended to be a history of Ireland and the Irish from the creation of the world to the Middle Ages. There are a number of versions, the earliest of which was compiled by an anonymous writer in the 11th century. It synthesized narratives that had been developing over the foregoing centuries. The Lebor Gabála tells of Ireland being settled (or "taken") six times by six groups of people: the people of Cessair, the people of Partholón, the people of Nemed, the Fir Bolg, the Tuatha Dé Danann, and the Milesians. The first four groups are wiped out or forced to abandon the island, the fifth group represent Ireland's pagan gods, while the final group represent the Irish people (the Gaels). The "Lebor Gabála" was highly influential and was largely "accepted as conventional history by poets and scholars down until the 19th century." Today, scholars regard the "Lebor Gabála" as primarily myth rather than history, at least until the early medieval period is reached. It was inspired by other medieval Christian pseudo-histories and the story of the Exodus, but it also incorporates some of Ireland's native pagan mythology. Scholars believe the goal of its writers was to provide an epic origin story for the Irish, like that of the Israelites, which reconciled native myth with the Christian view of history. Mark Williams says it was "written in order to bridge the chasm between Christian world-chronology and the prehistory of Ireland." It is suggested, for example, that there are six "takings" to match the "Six Ages of the World." The "Lebor Gabála" usually is known in English as "The Book of Invasions"or "The Book of Conquests," and in Modern Irish as "Leabhar Gabhála Éireann" or "Leabhar Gabhála na hÉireann." Origin and purpose Purporting to be a history of Ireland and the Irish, a critical analysis by Thomas F. O'Rahilly claims the purpose of "Lebor Gabála Érenn" (hereinafter abbreviated as "LGE") was three-fold: "firstly to unite the population by obliterating the memory of previous and different ethnic groups, secondly to weaken the influence of pre-Christian pagan religions by converting their gods into mere mortals, and thirdly to manufacture pedigrees into which the various dynastic groups could conveniently be fitted" It is believed that the writers sought to provide the Irish with an epic written history comparable to that which the Israelites provided for themselves in the Old Testament. This history was meant to fit the Irish into the Christian world-chronology and trace them back to Adam. In doing so, it links them to events from the Old Testament and likens them to the Israelites. Thus we find the ancestors of the Irish enslaved in a foreign land, or fleeing into exile, or wandering in the wilderness, or sighting the "Promised Land" from afar. It also draws upon the pagan myths of Gaelic Ireland but reinterprets them in the light of Christian theology and historiography. Four Christian works in particular seem to have had a significant bearing on the formation of LGE: . St Augustine's "De Civitate Dei" ("The City of God"), (413–426 AD) . Orosius's "Historiae adversum paganos" ("Histories"), (417) . Eusebius's "Chronicon," translated into Latin by St Jerome as the "Temporum liber" (379) . Isidore of Seville's "Etymologiae" ("Etymologies"), or "Origines" ("Origins") (early 7th century) The pre-Christian elements, however, were never entirely effaced. One of the poems in LGE, for instance, recounts how goddesses from among the Tuatha Dé Danann took husbands from the Gaeil when they 'invaded' and "colonized" Ireland. Furthermore, the pattern of successive invasions that LGE preserves is reminiscent of Timagenes of Alexandria's account of the origins of the Gauls of continental Europe. Cited by the 4th-century historian Ammianus Marcellinus, Timagenes (1st century BC) describes how the ancestors of the Gauls were driven from their native lands in eastern Europe by a succession of wars and floods. Numerous fragments of Ireland's mythological history are scattered throughout the 7th and 8th centuries. In his "Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History," Eugene O'Curry, Professor of Irish History and Archaeology at the Catholic University of Ireland, discusses various genres of historical tales mentioned in the manuscripts: "The Tochomladh was an Immigration or arrival of a Colony; and under this name the coming of the several colonies of Parthalon of Nemedh, of the Firbolgs, the Tuatha Dé Danann, the Milesians, etc., into Erinn, are all described in separate tales. It is probably from the original records of these ancient stories that the early part of the various Books of Invasions has been compiled." The earliest extant account of the purported history of Ireland is to be found in the "Historia Brittonum," or "History of the Britons," written in Wales in the 9th century. This text gives two separate accounts of early Irish history. The first consists of a series of successive colonizations from Iberia by the pre-Gaelic peoples of Ireland, all of which found their way into LGE. The second recounts the origins of the Gaeil themselves, and tells how they in turn came to be the masters of the country and 'ancestors' of all the Irish. R. A. Stewart Macalister believes that the LGE was a conflation of two independent works: a "History of the Gaedil" (modeled after the history of the Israelites in the Old Testament), and an account of several pre-Gaelic settlements of Ireland (to the historicity of which Macalister gave very little credence). The latter was then inserted into the middle of the other work. Macalister theorized that the quasi-Biblical text had been a scholarly Latin work named "Liber Occupationis Hiberniae" ("The Book of the Taking of Ireland"). These two stories continued to be enriched and elaborated upon by Irish historian-poets throughout the 9th century. In the 10th and 11th centuries, several long historical poems were written that were later incorporated into the scheme of LGE. Most of thepoems on which the 11th-12th century version of LGE was based were written by the following four poets: . Eochaidh Ua Floinn (936–1004) from Armagh – Poems 30, 41, 53, 65, 98, 109, 111 . Flann Mainistrech mac Echthigrin (died 1056), lector and historian of Monasterboice Abbey – Poems ?42, 56, 67, ?82 . Tanaide (died c. 1075) – Poems 47, 54, 86 . Gilla Cómáin mac Gilla Samthainde (fl. 1072) – Poems 13, 96, 115 It was late in the 11th century that a single anonymous scholar appears to have brought together these and numerous other poems and fitted them into an elaborate prose framework – partly of his own composition and partly drawn from older, no longer extantsources (i.e., the "tochomlaidh" referred to above by O'Curry), paraphrasing and enlarging the verse. The result was the earliest version of LGE. It was written in Middle Irish, a form of Irish Gaelic used between 900 and 1200. Versions From the beginning, LGE proved to be an enormously popular and influential document, quickly acquiring canonical status. Older texts were altered to bring their narratives into closer accord with its version of history, and numerous new poems were writtenand inserted into it. Within a century of its compilation there existed a plethora of copies and revisions, with as many as 136 poems between them. Five recensions of LGE are now extant, surviving in more than a dozen medieval manuscripts: . First Redaction (R¹): preserved in "The Book of Leinster" (c. 1150) and "The Book of Fermoy" (1373). . Míniugud (Min): this recension is closely related to the Second Redaction. It is probably older than the surviving MSS of that redaction, though not older than the now lost exemplar on which those MSS were based. The surviving sources are suffixed to copies of the Second Redaction. . Second Redaction (R²): survives in no less than seven separate texts, the best known of which is "The Great Book of Lecan" (1418). . Third Redaction (R³): preserved in both "The Book of Ballymote" (1391) and "The Great Book of Lecan." . O'Clery's Redaction (K): written in 1631 by Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, a Franciscan scribe and one of the Four Masters. Unlike the earlier versions of LGE, this redaction is in Early Modern Irish but was admitted as an independent redaction by Macalister because there are indications that the author had access to sources which are no longer extant and which were not used by the compilers of the other four redactions. The work was compiled in the convent of Lisgool, near Enniskillen. O'Clery was assisted by Gillapatrick O'Luinin and Peregrine O'Clery (Michael O Clery's third cousin once removed, and one of the Four Masters). The following table summarizes the extant manuscripts that contain versions of LGE. Most of the abbreviations used are taken from R. A. S. Macalister's critical edition of the work (see references for details): Sigla Manuscript Location Redactions Notes A Stowe A.2.4 Royal Irish Academy R² A direct and poor copy of D B "The Book of Ballymote" Royal Irish Academy R³ B lost one folio after β, β¹ and β² were derived from it β H.2.4 Trinity College, Dublin R³ A transcript of B made in 1728 by Richard Tipper β¹ H.1.15 Trinity College, Dublin R³ A copy, made around 1745 by Tadgh Ó Neachtáin, of a lost transcript of B β² Stowe D.3.2 Royal Irish Academy R³ An anonymous copy of the same lost transcript of B D Stowe D.4.3 Royal Irish Academy R² E E.3.5. no. 2 Trinity College, Dublin R² F¹ "The Book of Fermoy" Royal Irish Academy R¹ F¹ and F² are parts of ...

"Lebor Gabála Érenn" (literally "The Book of the Taking of Ireland"), known in English as "The Book of Invasions," is a collection of poems and prose narratives in the Irish language intended to be a history of Ireland and the Irish from the creation of the world to the Middle Ages. There are a number of versions, the earliest of which was compiled by an anonymous writer in the 11th century. It synthesized narratives that had been developing over the foregoing centuries. The Lebor Gabála tells of Ireland being settled (or "taken") six times by six groups of people: the people of Cessair, the people of Partholón, the people of Nemed, the Fir Bolg, the Tuatha Dé Danann, and the Milesians. The first four groups are wiped out or forced to abandon the island, the fifth group represent Ireland's pagan gods, while the final group represent the Irish people (the Gaels).

The "Lebor Gabála" was highly influential and was largely "accepted as conventional history by poets and scholars down until the 19th century." Today, scholars regard the "Lebor Gabála" as primarily myth rather than history, at least until the early medieval period is reached. It was inspired by other medieval Christian pseudo-histories and the story of the Exodus, but it also incorporates some of Ireland's native pagan mythology. Scholars believe the goal of its writers was to provide an epic origin story for the Irish, like that of the Israelites, which reconciled native myth with the Christian view of history. Mark Williams says it was "written in order to bridge the chasm between Christian world-chronology and the prehistory of Ireland." It is suggested, for example, that there are six "takings" to match the "Six Ages of the World."

The "Lebor Gabála" usually is known in English as "The Book of Invasions"or "The Book of Conquests," and in Modern Irish as "Leabhar Gabhála Éireann" or "Leabhar Gabhála na hÉireann."

Origin and purpose
Purporting to be a history of Ireland and the Irish, a critical analysis by Thomas F. O'Rahilly claims the purpose of "Lebor Gabála Érenn" (hereinafter abbreviated as "LGE") was three-fold:

"firstly to unite the population by obliterating the memory of previous and different ethnic groups, secondly to weaken the influence of pre-Christian pagan religions by converting their gods into mere mortals, and thirdly to manufacture pedigrees into which the various dynastic groups could conveniently be fitted"

It is believed that the writers sought to provide the Irish with an epic written history comparable to that which the Israelites provided for themselves in the Old Testament. This history was meant to fit the Irish into the Christian world-chronology and trace them back to Adam. In doing so, it links them to events from the Old Testament and likens them to the Israelites. Thus we find the ancestors of the Irish enslaved in a foreign land, or fleeing into exile, or wandering in the wilderness, or sighting the "Promised Land" from afar. It also draws upon the pagan myths of Gaelic Ireland but reinterprets them in the light of Christian theology and historiography.

Four Christian works in particular seem to have had a significant bearing on the formation of LGE:

. St Augustine's "De Civitate Dei" ("The City of God"), (413–426 AD)
. Orosius's "Historiae adversum paganos" ("Histories"), (417)
. Eusebius's "Chronicon," translated into Latin by St Jerome as the "Temporum liber" (379)
. Isidore of Seville's "Etymologiae" ("Etymologies"), or "Origines" ("Origins") (early 7th century)

The pre-Christian elements, however, were never entirely effaced. One of the poems in LGE, for instance, recounts how goddesses from among the Tuatha Dé Danann took husbands from the Gaeil when they 'invaded' and "colonized" Ireland. Furthermore, the pattern of successive invasions that LGE preserves is reminiscent of Timagenes of Alexandria's account of the origins of the Gauls of continental Europe. Cited by the 4th-century historian Ammianus Marcellinus, Timagenes (1st century BC) describes how the ancestors of the Gauls were driven from their native lands in eastern Europe by a succession of wars and floods.

Numerous fragments of Ireland's mythological history are scattered throughout the 7th and 8th centuries. In his "Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History," Eugene O'Curry, Professor of Irish History and Archaeology at the Catholic University of Ireland, discusses various genres of historical tales mentioned in the manuscripts:

"The Tochomladh was an Immigration or arrival of a Colony; and under this name the coming of the several colonies of Parthalon of Nemedh, of the Firbolgs, the Tuatha Dé Danann, the Milesians, etc., into Erinn, are all described in separate tales. It is probably from the original records of these ancient stories that the early part of the various Books of Invasions has been compiled."

The earliest extant account of the purported history of Ireland is to be found in the "Historia Brittonum," or "History of the Britons," written in Wales in the 9th century. This text gives two separate accounts of early Irish history. The first consists of a series of successive colonizations from Iberia by the pre-Gaelic peoples of Ireland, all of which found their way into LGE. The second recounts the origins of the Gaeil themselves, and tells how they in turn came to be the masters of the country and 'ancestors' of all the Irish.

R. A. Stewart Macalister believes that the LGE was a conflation of two independent works: a "History of the Gaedil" (modeled after the history of the Israelites in the Old Testament), and an account of several pre-Gaelic settlements of Ireland (to the historicity of which Macalister gave very little credence). The latter was then inserted into the middle of the other work. Macalister theorized that the quasi-Biblical text had been a scholarly Latin work named "Liber Occupationis Hiberniae" ("The Book of the Taking of Ireland").

These two stories continued to be enriched and elaborated upon by Irish historian-poets throughout the 9th century. In the 10th and 11th centuries, several long historical poems were written that were later incorporated into the scheme of LGE. Most of thepoems on which the 11th-12th century version of LGE was based were written by the following four poets:

. Eochaidh Ua Floinn (936–1004) from Armagh – Poems 30, 41, 53, 65, 98, 109, 111
. Flann Mainistrech mac Echthigrin (died 1056), lector and historian of Monasterboice Abbey – Poems ?42, 56, 67, ?82
. Tanaide (died c. 1075) – Poems 47, 54, 86
. Gilla Cómáin mac Gilla Samthainde (fl. 1072) – Poems 13, 96, 115

It was late in the 11th century that a single anonymous scholar appears to have brought together these and numerous other poems and fitted them into an elaborate prose framework – partly of his own composition and partly drawn from older, no longer extantsources (i.e., the "tochomlaidh" referred to above by O'Curry), paraphrasing and enlarging the verse. The result was the earliest version of LGE. It was written in Middle Irish, a form of Irish Gaelic used between 900 and 1200.

Versions
From the beginning, LGE proved to be an enormously popular and influential document, quickly acquiring canonical status. Older texts were altered to bring their narratives into closer accord with its version of history, and numerous new poems were writtenand inserted into it. Within a century of its compilation there existed a plethora of copies and revisions, with as many as 136 poems between them. Five recensions of LGE are now extant, surviving in more than a dozen medieval manuscripts:

. First Redaction (R¹): preserved in "The Book of Leinster" (c. 1150) and "The Book of Fermoy" (1373).
. Míniugud (Min): this recension is closely related to the Second Redaction. It is probably older than the surviving MSS of that redaction, though not older than the now lost exemplar on which those MSS were based. The surviving sources are suffixed to copies of the Second Redaction.
. Second Redaction (R²): survives in no less than seven separate texts, the best known of which is "The Great Book of Lecan" (1418).
. Third Redaction (R³): preserved in both "The Book of Ballymote" (1391) and "The Great Book of Lecan."
. O'Clery's Redaction (K): written in 1631 by Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, a Franciscan scribe and one of the Four Masters. Unlike the earlier versions of LGE, this redaction is in Early Modern Irish but was admitted as an independent redaction by Macalister because there are indications that the author had access to sources which are no longer extant and which were not used by the compilers of the other four redactions. The work was compiled in the convent of Lisgool, near Enniskillen. O'Clery was assisted by Gillapatrick O'Luinin and Peregrine O'Clery (Michael O Clery's third cousin once removed, and one of the Four Masters).

The following table summarizes the extant manuscripts that contain versions of LGE. Most of the abbreviations used are taken from R. A. S. Macalister's critical edition of the work (see references for details):

Sigla Manuscript Location Redactions Notes

A Stowe A.2.4 Royal Irish Academy R² A direct and poor copy of D
B "The Book of Ballymote" Royal Irish Academy R³ B lost one folio after β, β¹ and β² were derived from it
β H.2.4 Trinity College, Dublin R³ A transcript of B made in 1728 by Richard Tipper
β¹ H.1.15 Trinity College, Dublin R³ A copy, made around 1745 by Tadgh Ó Neachtáin, of a lost transcript of B
β² Stowe D.3.2 Royal Irish Academy R³ An anonymous copy of the same lost transcript of B
D Stowe D.4.3 Royal Irish Academy R²
E E.3.5. no. 2 Trinity College, Dublin R²
F¹ "The Book of Fermoy" Royal Irish Academy R¹ F¹ and F² are parts of ...