Lebor Na HUidre - History

History

The manuscript is thought to be the work of three scribes, whose handwriting was distinguished by R. I. Best in 1912 and identified with the letters A, M and H. A and M are believed to be contemporary. A began the manuscript and wrote the opening pages of several of the texts, which were continued by M, who Best identified as Máel Muire mac Céilechair meic Cuinn na mBocht, based on matching the handwriting with two marginal probationes pennae or pen tests, in which the scribe wrote his name. A much later note elsewhere in the manuscript names Máel Muire as the person who "wrote and compiled this book from divers books". His killing at Clonmacnoise is recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters in 1106, giving us a latest possible date and location for the main body of the manuscript. Some time later, H (named for his addition of two homilies) added a number of new texts and passages, sometimes over erased portions of the original, sometimes on new leaves. Based on orthography and an English loanword, Gearóid Mac Eoin concludes that H wrote in the late 12th or early 13th century.

After the monastery of Clonmacnoise was broken up, the manuscript came into the possession of the O'Donnell clan of Donegal who held it until 1359, when it and the lost Leabhar Gearr were used to ransom members of the clan who had been taken prisoner by Cathal Óg O'Connor. Áed Ruad O'Donnell recovered the manuscript in 1470, and it remained in Donegal at least until 1631, when the compilation of the Annals of the Four Masters was completed. Its location is unknown until 1837, when it was part of a collection owned by Messrs. Hodges & Smith of College Green, Dublin, and was cited by George Petrie in an essay on the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill. The Hodges & Smith collection, 227 manuscripts in all, was purchased by the Royal Irish Academy in 1844.

Joseph O'Longan's lithographic facsimile of the manuscript was published by the RIA in 1870. A diplomatic edition by R. I. Best and Osborn Bergin, with the three hands distinguished by different typefaces, was published in 1929. Digital scans of the pages have been published on the web by ISOS (Irish Script on Screen).