Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in Royal Irish Academy
1236
C iii 2
Amra Choluim Chille.
16th cent. Vellum. 10 × 7⅜. Ff. 13, numbered consecutively in pencil on recto, sup. marg. A pencilled pagination (ignored by the present cataloguer) stands on inferior margin. The foliation ignores the loss of a leaf which has been excised before fo. 1, the lacunae occurring after ff. 3, 6, 7, 10, and the misplacement of ff. 6, 7, which should precede fo. 1. The composition of the gatherings appears to be: ff. 1 (single leaf); 2-5; 6-7; 8-13. Fo. 6 is split through. Two small holes appear in fo. 13. The vellum is discoloured, ff. 11-13, and this defect would appear to be an original one, as scribe leaves fo. 13 v. blank, apparently on account of this defect in the vellum. The script is beautifully executed in a fine black ink, and unusual originality is shown in the composition of the page (see fo. 10 V.). The capitals have not been completed. Ruling is by dry-point, guided by marginal prickings. The name of the scribe and the date and provenance of the MS. is given explicitly in a colophon on fo. 12 v., col. b, which runs as follows:—“Orait don te ro scribh in leabur sa o thus co deiredh. A Cathair Meic Nechtain a farrad Ara na mBreo a tindscnad. ⁊ a forba a mBaile MeClandcada a farrad mo goisde .i. Domhnall Og Ma(d) Clanncada. Mise Forandan qui scribsit sin do fein ⁊ da gach aon darub toil do Dia. ⁊ is i ais in Domini .i. 2. bliadain .x. ⁊ dá .xx.it ⁊.u.c. ⁊ 0000 bliadna [= 1552] cus in Nodlaig so cugam, caoicis ria Samuin odie.” This unusually informative colophon is supported further by a series of marginal comments which are here quoted in full:
fo.
1 v. "Mo mallacht ar in memrum sin is maith do cuir se me ⁊ is mo do cuir in cailleach me ina sin ata ag iarraid orm ⁊ ar cach dul cuthaig [sa lo ⁊ dar lium] ni coir a mian do tabairt di ⁊ dar leosam is coir ⁊ masa coir tugaid ⁊ b’ecor taobad riu." The writing forms a pattern resembling the figure '8' and is difficult to decipher.
2 . "Ag si duit, a Forannain, ⁊ do mac-si o Ara na Caidh (?) ⁊ ni agat táinic Sca On Crisane (?) (.i. Dian suprascript) ⁊ ni duit do gellad eclais Hí." This is written in a careless and illegible manner by a second hand.
2 v. "Is tuirsech me triana fat co tic fis om findtiu cugam ⁊ ni can fatha damh gan fis agum in beo nó in marbh m'fithir ⁊ is morualach na ceir cid fadera ar Domnall Óg a Lis D. Berrna. Atu a farrad mo teside .i. G. ⁊ Ao."
3 i. "Is falc in día inníu ar in Gobhlan damh ⁊gan bh’fad ná mh'airdi do dommus agum."
3 v. A Dia, Aodhagáin, is olc do geibhther sinn ar Tuadhmugain gan nos caich do denam ria .i. eirghi ⁊ ar cul aid cogaidh do gabail umainn .i. in sgian ciar ⁊ caol na sdiall ⁊ tuag in merrain."
4 v. “Ní humdhai naí do beith ara, conn neo a séitchi ac sgál co dedhóil.”
5 v. "Sguirim bodesto ⁊ is sgithach mo cíb ⁊ i[s] sgithidhe me o machtnug[ad] in buil etadh ⁊ om mo tseis[i] do dul dá domhnus. A farrad Domhnaill Óig damh[ ]."
6 v. "Dar lium is inscribhtha cach ní da cluinim ⁊ co hairighthi Ua Briain do tabairt Iuach xx.it marg do tirnpan d’Ó Chundmaigh (?) ⁊ olcas a dil air. Aoine ria cingtigis anocht ⁊a Cathair Meic Nechtain dam a fochair ceile na mbred.”
7 . “Aidhci Feil Sin Seon anocht ⁊a Cathair Meic Nechtain damh ⁊is cian mai aniu ⁊amáirech gan .b. ⁊ is decair dul air Sin Seon ⁊ caidhchi Muire ⁊ dar lium is inscripta Diarmaid Og ag fagbail a da bu ndarti oc (?) ⁊ gan aithni a birt aige.
8 . "Dar lium is drochairle doroine Con all Mac Gilla .R. a seitchi do bath ⁊ a roibhe aige don tsaogal ⁊ e fein da mberthide air d'fágbail risin ris sin ar son sgail .i. [ ]. " This is again the second hand of fo. 2, margin.
9 . "A Dia is ait Ara na mBréo ag fastogha ceithirne ⁊ gimánach uaisle do denam ⁊ ata éad orm um ní da cluinim ⁊ ni hingnad sin. A mBaile MeClandchadha damh a farrad D. [Ó]."
9 v. "Is sgíthech mé tresin ris adcluinim .i. Donnchadh mac R. do bath."
10 v., superior margin. "In Dei nomen. Amen. In tiasg so d’Agallam in Dá Túar a mBaile MéClandcadh ⁊ dar liumsa ni beith gan opair a beith ag scélaighecht ⁊ ag scribneoracht."
Later marginal entries include: (fo. 1, inverted) “Thady [MacNamara?]’’ with a date “1723," which may not belong to this signature; (fo. 3) “Derm.” On fo. 10 is an entry in Charles O’Conor’s hand (unsigned). Bd. in calf, blind-tooled, gilt-lettered: “Irish MSS No. XIII. Vitae Antiquae S. Columbae lingua vetere Hibernica. Fragment.” Formerly in Stowe and Ashburnham Collections. Stowe Press No. 1/13. Ashburnham no. 878 (see spine).
A leaf has been excised before fo. 1.
fo.
1 . [Día Día dorrugus re tías inna gnúis.] Imperfect copy of “Amra Choluim Chille.” Leaves bound in wrong order. Beg. here (Preface) on fo. 6, Cethracha sangt a lín fithe espog mor a mbrigh (= YBL 72 b 4; ed. Stokes, The Bodleian Amra Choluimb Chille, Rev. Celt. xx, p. 38, 1. 18). There is a lacuna after fo. 6, and text proper beg. (acephalous) on fo. 7, ruan ran i. fir .i. dechned tosaig fil ann (= ed. Stokes, § 2, p. 150). There is a further lacuna after fo. 7, the missing text corresponding roughly to ed. Stokes, §§ 6-9. The text on ff. 1 seqq. is to be read after ff. 6, 7, and is then complete, with the exception of the gap occurring after fo. 3, which contained material corresponding roughly to ed. Stokes, §§ 47-105. Followed by a copy of the Prayer of St. Adamnan (ed. Bernard and Atkinson, Liber Hymnorum I, 184), the poem (fo. 10 b) Druim Ceta cede na naom, and the words: “F.i.n.i.t. Amen, don Amra.” A section on Find, which includes two poems, beg. Fuit, fuit | fuar anocht Magh leathan Luirc and Tanuig samh slan saor (ed. K. Meyer, Songs of Summer and Winter, from Rawl. B 502), is interpolated on fo. 10, col. a, concluding with the words: “Don logaimsir so sis do reir Lebair Glinn da Locha” (fo. 10, col. ai.). This version of the AMRA differs from the many other copies of the tract (see Stokes, Rev. Celt. xx, p. 30, for complete list), and the scholia are very much longer than in the other copies, with the exception of Egerton, 1782 (acc. to Stokes, loc. cit.).
10 v. AGALLAM IN DÁ TÚAR (see marginal note). Beg. Adnae mac Huithir do tuathaibh Ol nEcmacht. Ed. Stokes, Rev. Celt, xxvi, p. 4 ff., from LL, YBL, and Rawl. B. 502. There is a lacuna between ff. 10, 11 here, the missing text corresponding roughly to ed. Stokes, p. 14, 1. 7 (end of Preface), to p. 36 (no. 187). This is a heavily glossed copy of the text.
13 . The Triads of Ireland. Fragment. Beg. [C]end Eirenn Ard Macha. Ends fo. 13, col. b. Tri scenb Erenn, Tulach na nEspog, Achadh Dea, Damh mBuirigh (= ed. Meyer, R.I.A. Todd Lecture Series xiii, p. 14, no. 106).
13 v. blank, defaced.