“A little remnant of the work of the ancients”: Book of Ballycummin
The Book of Ballycummin (RIA MS 23 N 10) is an extraordinarily important manuscript for many reasons, but it is particularly significant because it contains tales which are amongst the oldest surviving literature in Irish.
The Academy Library’s 4th Irish Manuscripts Conference took place on 7-8 March 2019. Twelve speakers delivered the outputs of new research on an old compilation (16th cent.), best known by its shelfmark, RIA MS 23 N 10. Containing tales which are among the oldest surviving literature in Irish as well as legal texts, poetry and wisdom literature from early medieval Ireland, the conference explored all aspects of the production, survival and significance of this book to which we have attributed the title ‘Book of Ballycummin’ reflecting the Roscommon townland in which it was compiled. We can expect further reassessment of this compilation as a result of revelatory and ongoing investigations of the manuscript structure and ordering of the texts, significant new insights on the poetic content and much more. Seventy delegates from Ireland and abroad engaged enthusiastically in the proceedings. We have no doubt that RIA MS 23 N 10’s story will not end here. The conference has thrown up a host of new questions and possibilities —RIA MS 23 N 10 will need another conference in the future!
To listen to the conference papers click here.
Thursday 7th March
1.45pm – 2pm: Welcome and opening remarks
2pm – 2.45pm: ‘RIA MS 23 N 10 and the transmissions of the Ulster Cycle of Tales’ – Ruairí Ó hUiginn
2.45pm – 3.30pm: “Though the hero was bloodied, he was not weak”: religious poetry and manuscript context’ – Elizabeth Boyle
4pm – 4.45pm: ‘Wisdom literature in RIA MS 23 N 10’ – Deborah Hayden
4.45pm – 5.30pm: ‘Legal texts in RIA MS 23 N 10’ – Liam Breatnach
Friday 8th March
9am – 9.45am: ‘The language of the Cín Dromma Snechtai texts’ – David Stifter
9.45am – 10.30am: “Feen-und Elfengeschichten” in Cín Dromma Snechtai’ – John Carey
11am – 11.45am: “A few trifling exceptions”: ignored texts in RIA MS 23 N 10′ – Chantal Kobel
11.45am – 12.30pm: ‘RIA MS 23 N 10 as a manuscript miscellany’ – Kevin Murray
12.30pm – 1.15pm: ‘The learned family of Ó Maoil Chonaire – the Connacht branch’ – Nollaig Ó Muraile
2.15pm – 3pm: ‘The manuscript in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries’ – Richard Sharpe
3pm – 3.45pm: “Queer” and “Grotesque”: RIA MS 23 N 10 and Irish orthography’ – Mícheál Hoyne
3.45pm – 4.30pm: ‘The Book of Ballycummin: books as objects in the sixteenth century’ – Karen Ralph
4.30pm: Closing remarks