Description and Compilation
Described by Eoin MacNeill "by far the largest and fullest body of Irish genealogical lore", it contains roughly twice as much material as found in the Book of Ballymote and the Book of Lecan. It preserves notes on families from all parts of Ireland, Gaelic Scotland, the pre-Gaelic, Viking and Old English peoples of Ireland. It features an eighteen page preface, nine 'books' or divisions and a seventy-four page Clar or general index in double columns. It consists of eight hundred and seventy one pages, 95% of which is in Mac Fhirbhisigh's handwriting. The remainder is in the hand of an unknown amanuensis, and incorporates some pages written in 1636 by Mícheál Ó Cléirigh.
Many questions concern Leabhar na nGenealach. In the words of Nollaig Ó Muraíle:
" ... who or what prompted Mac Fhirbhisigh to undertake the compilation of Leabhar na nGenealach? ... how much planning and organisation (such as the collection of source material) preceded the writing of the book ..? Did he, at any time during the compilation ... entertain hopes of seeing it printed ...? Unfortunately, we have very little in which to base even the most tentative of answers to these questions. We simply do not know ..."
Nor is it known how he supported himself in Galway, though he did commissions for the Poor Clares and John Lynch while there. O Muraile suggests that it was a work compiled in his spare time, in between possible tutorial work for the children of local families (see The Tribes of Galway). Unlike the Four Masters, he appears to have had neither patron nor sponsorship of any sort.
As to the question of why he wrote Leabhar na nGenealach, Mac Fhirbhisigh himself stated it was his intention to "... do mhórughadh glóire Dé agus do ghéunamh iúil do chách i ccoithchinne/to increase the glory of God and to give knowledge to everyone generally". Thus it appears to have been a labour of love, and as a strong defence of traditional Gaelic learning, though not uncritically so. That it seems to be a book written for all the peoples of Ireland is indicated by the following:
"Na slioinnte, iomorra, da suarraighe atáid, ní fuigfeam dar ndeóin éanghloinneadh aca gan a aireamh ó a cheap fén/of the surnames, moreover, however undistinguished they may be, we do not willing leave a single one of them without reckoning it from its own stock".
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