FINN MAC CUMHAIL). In the earlier, the Ultonian, cycle the fig ures and the age in which they live are sharply drawn, and we can have no hesitation in assuming that the Thin represents in the main the state of Ireland at the beginning of the Christian era. Finn and his companions are more nebulous personages, and, although it is difficult to discover the actual starting-point of the legend, yet from the I 2th century onwards we are able to trace the development of the saga with some degree of certainty. Of the 134 pages contained in LU. only half-a-dozen deal with Finn as against 58 with Cuchulinn. Again in Urard MacCoisi's list of tales, which seems to go back to the i oth century, only two appear to deal with subjects taken from the Ossianic cycle. The vehicle of the older epic is prose, but this later cycle is clothed in ballad form. Of these ballads about a dozen, apart from poems in the Dindsenchus are preserved in LU., LL. and YBL., and none of these poems is probably much older than the I ith century. At the same time we do find a few prose tales, e.g., "Fotha catha Gauche" in LU., describing the death of Cumall, Finn's father, and in LL. and Rawlinson B 502, part of which Zimmer assigns to the 7th century, we have the first story in which Finn actually occurs. But it is remarkable that in no case do tales belonging to the Finn cycle contain any of the old "rhetorics" which occur in the oldest of the Ulster romances. By the 12th century the stories of the Fiann and their destruction at the battle of Gabra must have been fully developed, and from this time onward they appear gradually to have supplanted the Cuchulinn cycle in popular favour.
We have already stated that the form assumed by the stories connected with Finn in the earliest mss. is that of the ballad, and this continued down to the 18th century. But here again the Irish poets showed themselves incapable of rising from the ballad to the true epic in verse. The oldest composition of any length which deals with the Ossianic legends is the Acallam na Senorach or Colloquy of the Old Men, which is mainly preserved in three sth-century mss., the Book of Lismore, Laud 610 and Rawlinson 487. In this text we have the framework common to so much of the later Ossianic literature. Ossian and Cailte are represented as surviving the battle of Gabra and as living on until the time of Patrick. The inflated style to which the Irishman is so prone is seen at its worst in the i6th century Battle of Ventry, and we are treated to a nauseous heaping up of epithet upon epithet, e.g., we sometimes find as many as 27 adjectives accom panying a substantive running in alliterating sets of three.
Of greater literary interest are the later ballads connected with Finn and Ossian. Nutt has pointed out that there is a striking difference in spirit between the Acallam na Senorach and the 5th–i6th century poems. In the latter Ossian is represented as a "pagan, defiant and reckless, full of contempt and scorn for the howling clerics and their churlish low-bred deity," whilst Pat rick is a sour and stupid fanatic, harping with wearisome monot ony on the damnation of Finn and all his comrades. The earliest collection of these later Ossianic poems is that made in Scotland by James Macgregor, dean of Lismore, early in the 16th century. Two other published collections are the first half of Duanaire Finn and the Transactions of the Ossianic Society (1854-61). We further possess a number of prose romances, which in their present form date from the 16th to the century ; e.g., The Pursuit of Diarmaid and Grciinne, Finn and Grdinne, Death of Finn, The Clown in the Drab Coat, Pursuit of the Gala, Decair, The Enchanted Fort of the Quicken-tree, The Enchanted Cave of Ceis Corann, The Feast in the House of Conan.
At the present moment it is impossible to give a complete survey of the other branches of mediaeval Irish literature. The attention of scholars has been largely devoted to the publication of the sagas to the neglect of other portions of the wide field. An excellent survey of the subject is given by K. Meyer, Die Kultur der Gegenwart, i. xi. I, pp. 78-95 (Berlin-Leipzig, 1909).
As early as the Old Irish period nameless Irish poets were singing the praises of nature in a strain which sounds to our ears peculiarly modern, but it is, generally speaking, quite an accident if any of the delightful little lyrics entered in the margins or on blank spaces in the mss. have remained. There are exquisite nature poems ascribed to Finn, which have been collected into a pamphlet with English renderings by Kuno Meyer (under the title of "Four Old Irish Songs of Summer and Winter," 1903), and he has edited a native poem referred to the loth century in the form of a colloquy between Guaire of Aidne and his brother Marban. Another text full of passionate emotion and tender regret ascribed to the 9th century tells of the parting of a young poet and poetess, who after plighting their troth are separated for ever (Liadain and Curithir, ed. with trans. by K. Meyer, 1902). In the Old Woman of Beare (publ. K. Meyer, in Otia Mer seiana) an old courtesan laments her departed youth, comparing her life to the ebbing of the tide (I oth century).
Closely connected with the compositions of the official poets are the works of native topography. The Dindsenchus is a com pilation of etymologies of place names. But its chief value consists in the amount of legendary matter it contains, adduced in support of the etymologies given. A kindred compilation is the Coir Anmann (Fitness of Names), which does for personal names what the Dindsenchus does for geographical names.
people on the face of the globe have ever been more keenly interested in the past of their native country than the Irish. We may now describe briefly the historical works in prose which have come down to us. They may be divided into two classes, (I) works containing a connected narrative, (2) annals. Closely allied to these are the sagas dealing with the high kings. The earliest of these histories is the wars of the Gael and Gall (Cogad Gaedel re Gallaib), which gives an account of the Viking invasions of Ireland, the career of Brian Boroime and the overthrow of the Norsemen at the battle of Clontarf, obviously written by an eye-witness of the battle, or from materials sup plied by a person actually present. Caithreim Cellachdin Caisil treats of the conflicts between the Vikings and the Irish, and the Leabhar Oiris gives an account of Irish history from 979 to 1027. Another ancient work also partly preserved in LL. is the Book of Invasions (Leabhar Gabhdla). This deals with the five pre historic invasions of Ireland (see IRELAND: Early History) and the legendary history of the Milesians. Part I of O'Clery's recension was edited by Macalister and MacNeill (Dublin, n.d.). The Boroma or History of the Leinster Tribute contained in LL. belongs rather to romance. Another history is the Triumphs of Turlough O'Brian, written about the year 1459 by John MacCraith, a Munster historian. This inflated composition is an important source of information on Munster history from the landing of the Normans to the middle of the 14th century. A life of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, by Lughaidh O'Clery, and also a contemporary history of the Flight of the Earls, by Tadhg O'Cianan, have been published. See also Leabhar chlainne Suibhne (Walsh, 1920) and mcGuidir Fhearmanach (Dinneen, 1917). But the most celebrated Irish historian is certainly Geoffrey Keating (c. 1570-1646), who is at the same time the greatest master of Irish prose. He travelled up and down Ireland exam ining all the ancient records, and compiled a history of Ireland down to the Norman Conquest. Its value for the scholar lies in the fact that the author had access to many important sources of information now lost, and has preserved accounts of events independent of and differing from those contained in the Four Masters. In addition to the history and a number of poems, Keating is also the author of two theological works in Irish which are models of Irish prose.
From the writers of historical narrative we turn to the annalists, the most important sources of information with regard to Irish history. We may here mention the Synchronisms of Flann
Mainistrech. Apart from this work the earliest collection of annals which has come down to us is the compilation by Tiger nach O'Braein (d. 1088), abbot of Clonmacnoise. Tigernach, whose work is partly in Latin, partly in Irish, states that all Irish history previous to 305 B.C. is uncertain. The Annals of Innis fallen were perhaps compiled about 1215. The invaluable Annals of Ulster were compiled on Belle Isle on Upper Lough Erne by Cathal Maguire (d. 1498), and afterwards continued by two dif ferent writers down to 1604. The Annals of Loch Ce (near Boyle in Roscommon) were copied in 1588 and deal with Irish events from 1014 to 1636. The Annals of Connaught run from 1224 to 1562. The Chronicon Scotorum deals with Irish affairs down to 1135. The Annals of Boyle extend down to 1253. The Annals of Clonmacnoise, which come down to 1408, only exist in an English translation made by Connell MacGeoghegan in 1627. The most important of all these collections is the Annals of the Four Masters (so christened by Colgan), compiled in the Franciscan monastery of Donegal by Michael, Conary and Cucogry O'Clery and Ferfesa O'Mulconry. Michael O'Clery (1575-1643), the greatest of the four, was a lay brother in the order of St. Francis, and devoted his whole life to the history of Ireland. He col lected all the historical mss. he could find, and was encouraged in his undertaking by Fergal O'Gara, prince of Coolavin, who paid all expenses. The great work, which was begun in 1632 and finished in 1636, comes down to 1616. Nearly all the materials from which O'Clery drew his statements are now lost. Very im portant, are the lists of genealogies which occupy a great deal of space in the older mss. But by far the most important collection of all is that made by the last great shanachie Duald MacFirbis, compiled between 165o and 1666 in the college of St. Nicholas at Galway.
Religious Literature.—When we turn from secular to re ligious themes we find that Ireland is also possessed of a very extensive Christian literature, which is extremely valuable for the comparative study of mediaeval literature. One of the most important documents is the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick. The Leabhar Breac contains a quantity of religious tracts, most of which have been published. R. Atkinson issued a number of them under the title of Passions and Homilies from Leabhar Breac (1887). They do not however deal with the lives of any Irish saints. Stokes has published nine lives of Irish saints from the Book of Lismore. These lives also occur in the Leabhar Breac. Other lives of saints have been published by O'Grady in Silva Gadelica. Plummer published 17 lives in Irish and a volume of Latin lives. The longest life of St. Columba was compiled in 1536 at the command and with the help of Manus O'Donnell (0. Kelleher and Schopperle, Chicago, 1918).
An extraordinary production is Aisling Meic Conglinne, the Vision of Mac Conglinne, found in LB. and ascribed to the 12th century (ed. K. Meyer, 1892). The composition seems to be intended as a satire on the monks, and in particular as a travesty of mediaeval hagiology. Another famous satire, entitled "The Proceedings of the Great Bardic Institution," holds up the pro fessional bards and their extortionate methods to ridicule (see Transactions of the Ossianic Society, vol. v.).
Collections of pithy sayings in the form of proverbs and maxims must have been made at a very early period. Not the least remarkable are the so-called Triads, 9th century (publ. K. Meyer, 1906), which illustrate every statement with three examples. There are also two documents attributed to 1st-century personages, "The Testament of Morann MacM6in to his son Feradach," which is quoted as early as the 8th century, and "The Instructions of Ciachulinn to his foster-son Lugaid." K. Meyer has published Tecosca Cormaic or the Precepts of Cormac MacAirt to his son Cairpre (1909), and R. M. Smith the Senbriathra Zithaic (1928).
By the beginning of the Middle Irish period a good part of the cumbrous Old Irish verb-system had become obsolete, and texts which were at all faithfully copied had to be plentifully supplied with glosses. But even before this Cormac mac Cuillenain, the bishop-king of Cashel (d. 903), had compiled a glossary of archaic words containing much invaluable information. Later collections of archaic words are O'Mulconry's Glossary (13th century), the Lecan Glossary (15th century), which draws principally from the glosses in the Liber Hymnorum, O'Davoren's Glossary (16th century), drawn principally from the Brehon Laws, a 16th cen tury list of Latin and Irish names of plants employed in medicine, and O'Clery's Glossary (published at Louvain, 1643). BB. con tains a curious tract on Ogamic writing. An Irish treatise on grammar, called Uraicept na n-eces, the Poet's Primer, tradition ally ascribed to Cennfaelad and others, is contained in BB. and YBL. (Calder, 1917). The St. Gall glosses on Priscian contain Irish terms for all the nomenclature of the Latin grammarians, and show how extensive was the use made of Irish even in this department of learning.
Thurneysen has edited from BB., Laud 610 and TCD. ms. three treatises on metric which give an account of the countless metres practised by the filid. We have seen that there is some reason for believing that the primitive form of Irish verse was a kind of rhythmical alliterative prose as contained in the oldest versions of the sagas. The filid early became acquainted with the metres of the Latin church hymns, whence rhyme was introduced into Ireland. (This is the view of Thurneysen and Windisch. Others like Zeuss have maintained that rhyme was an invention of the Irish.) In any case the filid evolved an intricate system of rhymes for which it is difficult to find a parallel. The result of the complicated technique evolved in Ireland was an inclination to sacrifice sense to musical harmony. See K. Meyer, A Primer of Irish Metrics (19o9).