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Pangur's Bookshelf


Book of dun cow


Alternate name

Lebor na hUidre

Date created
before 1106.

Place created
Monastery at Clonmacnois, Co. Offaly, Ireland.

Subject
A compilation of early Irish literature, including the oldest known version of the Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley). Also, poetry and tales of pre-Christian Ireland, including parts of the Ulster cycle, The Intoxication of the Ulsterman, the Story of Tuan, Eulogy of Columcille, The Courtship of Étaín, stories of the great Kings of Tara and the legendary Finn mac Cumhaill. Also, some sermons and Biblical references.

Physical description
34 cm x 24 cm, made of vellum. It is incomplete--67 leaves remain, 66 are lost. The manuscript is in poor condition and has undergone repair. Early efforts at restoration separated the folios; their exact order is still not known.

History
The Book of Dun Cow is the earliest known document entirely in Irish. It was compiled by a scribe at Clonmacnois named Mael Muire Mac Célechair before he was killed in an attack on the monastery in 1106. It is a copy of earlier written works which likely date back to the 7th c., although none exist now. It is written in a script called Irish miniscule with minimal decoration in red, yellow and purple.

The book takes its name from its connection to St. Ciaran, who founded the monastery at Clonmacnois in 548. As a youth, Ciaran's favorite dun-colored cow (named Odhar) followed him when he left home to study at Clonard, and provided milk for all at the monastery. Odhar's hide was later used to make sheets of vellum, upon which Ciaran copied the story of the Cattle Raid of Cooley. The Book of Dun Cow is a much later work but is closely associated with Clonmacnois and Ciaran.

Scribe
Three scribes created the Book of Dun Cow: Mael Muire Mac Célechair, another principal scribe and a later editor or compiler from the 13th c.

Currently housed
Royal Irish Academy, Dublin. 
www.ria.ie

Shelfmark
RIA MS 23 E 25

Can I see it?
The Book of Dun Cow is only exhibited on rare occasions. It was part of the RIA exhibit Treasures of the Royal Irish Academy Library: An Exhibition of Treasures Spanning 1,500 Years of Irish History, which ran February--June, 2010.

A digitized version is available here: http://www.isos.dias.ie/

Links
Royal Irish Academy: Book of Dun Cow

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Medieval scribes liked to add a personal touch to their work, sometimes writing notes in the margins or drawing funny pictures. Prayers and bits of poetry were common as were complaints about the working conditions or co-workers. The margins of an eighth century manuscript contain a little poem about the scribe's cat, named Pangur Ban. He writes: " I and Pangur Bán, my cat / 'Tis a like task we are at / Hunting mice is his delight / Hunting words I sit all night." Perhaps Mael Muire Mac Célechair (the principal scribe of the Book of Dun Cow) needed to test his ink supply when he wrote on page 55: "This is a trial of his pen here by Maelmuiri son of the son of Con."
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The story of the Cattle Raid of Cooley tells of the bitter struggle of Queen Medb and her husband Ailill to capture the great Brown Bull of Ulster. The mighty warrior Cúchulainn fought against Medb for the glory of Ulster, at one point taking on whole armies and slaying hundreds single-handedly. Cúchulainn is said to have had a monstrous appearance--"hideous and shapeless"--when he experienced rage-fueled episodes called ríastrads or "warp spasms". The description in the Táin says that if an apple fell from the sky it would be "spiked on a bristle of his hair as it stood up on his scalp with rage."
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Last updated: 8.24.2014      Contact: pangursbookshelf@gmail.com      © 2014. Pangur's Bookshelf

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