370 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Of the Aedh Mac Crimthainn, for whom he wrote it, I have not been aLle to 

 ascertain anything more than what appears above; but he must have nourished 

 early in the twelfth century to be the tutor of Dermod MacMurroch, who, in con- 

 cert with O'Brien, had led the men of Leinster against the Danes of Waterford, so- 

 far back as the year 1137. 



That this book belonged either to Dermod Mac Murroch himself, or to some- 

 person who had him warmly at heart, will appear plainly from the following 

 memorandum, which is written in a strange but ancient hand, in the top margin of 

 folio 200, page a : — 



"[A muipe] Af mop- in 5111m t>o •pingnet) 111 h-epMiro nroiu .1. T1-1 ca- 

 LAirm A«5«fu. "OiApmAiD mAC T) 01111 cliAtiA IDic mupchA-OA, pi LAigen 

 Ajuf JAti, vo inriAjVbA •oo fepAib h-eperro [cAp\ in mtnp\ pyip.]* tic, uc a 

 cotrrom cro -oogen." 



" Virgin Mary ! it is a great deed that has been done in Erinn this day, 

 the kalends of August, viz.: Dermod, the son of Donnoch Mac Murroch, king 

 of Leinster, and of the Danes [of Dublin], to have been banished over the sea 

 eastward by the men of Erinn. Uch, uch, Lord ! what shall I do ? " f 



The hook consists, at present, of over four hundred pages of large folio vellum, 

 hut there are many leaves of the old pagination missing. 



To give anything like a satisfactory analysis of this book would take at least 

 one whole lecture. I cannot, therefore, within my present limited space, do more 

 than glance at its general character, and point, by name only, to a few of the many 

 important pieces preserved in it. 



It begins, as usual, with a Book of Invasions of Erinn, hut without the Book of 

 Genesis; after which the succession of the monarchs, to the year 1169, and the 

 succession and obituary of the provincial and other minor kings, etc. Then follow 

 specimens of ancient versification — poems on Tara, and an ancient plan and expla- 

 nation of the Teach Midchuarta, or Banqueting Hall of lhat ancient royal city. 

 (These poeirs and plan have been published by Dr. Petrie, in his paper on the 

 history of Tara, printed in the Transactions of the Boyal Irish Academy for 1839, 

 vol. xviii.) 



After these come poems on the wars of the Leinstermen, the Ulstermen, and 

 the Munstermen, in great numbers, many of them of the highest historic interest 

 and value ; and some prose pieces and small poems on Leinster, of great antiquity — 

 some of them, as I believe, certainly written by Dubthach, the great antiquarian 

 and poet, who was Saint Patrick's first convert at Tara. After these, a fine copy 

 of the history of the celebrated Battle of Ross na Biffh, on the Boyne, fought be- 

 tween the men of Leinster and Ulster, at the beginning of the Christian era. A 

 copy of the Mesca Uladh, or Inebriety of the Ultonians, imperfect at the end, hut 

 which can be made perfect by the fragment of it already mentioned in Leabhar na 

 h- TTidhre. A fine copy of the Origin of the Boromean Tribute, and the battles that 

 ensued down to its remission. A fragment of the " Battle of Cennabrat," in 

 Munster, with the defeat of Mac Con by Oilioll Oluim, Mac Con's flight into Scot- 

 land, his return afterwards with a large force of Scottish and British adventurers, 

 his landing in the Bay of Galway, and the ensuing battle of Magh Muchruimhe, 

 fought between him and his maternal uncle, Art, the monarch of Erinn, in which 

 battle the latter was defeated and killed, as well as the seven sons of Oilioll Oluim.. 



* [CAp 111 tump. fAip]. These words have been supplied in brackets by O'Curry, 

 and adopted by Dr. Todd, but they are not now visible in the original manuscript. 



t A.D. 1166. — Diarmaid Mac Murchada was banished over the sea, and his castle 

 of Fearna was demolished. 



A.D. 1167. — Diarmaid Mac Murchadha returned from England with a force of 

 Galls, and he took the kingdom [sovereignty] of Ui- Cendsealaigh. — Annals of the 

 Four Masters. 





