INTRODUCTION 



The oldest extant version of the Cath Finntrdga, here printed for the 

 first time, is preserved in the Bodleian MS. RawHnson B 487, ff. i-ii, a 

 vellum quarto, dating from the fifteenth century. In a Hst of contents 

 bound up with the MS. this tale is called : Finleachi o Catasai Giganto- 

 machia Hibernice, vel potius Acta Finni mac Cooli (cum praeho de 

 Fintra). It is followed by the oldest copy of the Agallani na SefiSrach, 

 ff. 13-54. Bound up with these two texts are three pieces written on 

 paper, the first in Irish, the last two in Latin, which are thus enumerated 

 in the list of contents : Leges Ecclesiasticae Hibernice, fol. ^'^. Miscel- 

 lanea quaedam de rebus Hibernicis, fol. 68. Pars aliqua Chronici Henrici 

 Martiburgensis vicarii de Ballysraddan in diocesi Dubhniensi, fol. 76, 



Our text was written by a certain Finnlaech 6 Chathasaig (Finlay 

 0'Casey) who gives his name at the end ^, and states that he wrote 

 it for Sadb, the daughter of Tadg 6 Maille (Teague OMalley), in whose 

 praise some Irish verses, mutihited in the conclusion, are added. There 

 are two gaps in the MS., one between fif. 3 and 4, the other between 

 ff. 6 and 7, two leaves being missing in the first place, and one in the 

 second. 



There are fourteen paper copies of the Cath Finntrdga, all of them 

 of a later date, belonging to the eightecnth and nineteenth centuries. 

 They are enumerated by Jubainville, ^i".?^'/ d^nn Catalogne de la Littera- 

 tnre cpiqne dc l Irlande, pp. 67 and 68, who, however, omits to mention a 

 copy contained in the Edinburgh MS. Iviii. pp. 197-337, and writtcn in 

 '\']y^. I have seen all of these and collated one or two of them. They 

 all represent a different version of the tale from that contained in 

 Rawhnson, the most remarkablc difference being the insertion of the 

 list of the harbours of Erinn in the beginning, and the omission at the cnd 



' This colophon runs thus : Ama scribadh cT Fin7ilaech 6 Chathasaidh do tSaidhb 

 ingin Taidhg hi Mhaitle .i. sain nihna ar ghais 7 ar eineach 7 glieanninaighacht rt. 



