de Paor, Liam, ed. and trans. “Cogitosus’s Life of St. Brigid the
Virgin.” In Saint Patrick’s World, edited by Liam de Paor,
207–224. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1993.
Sharpe, Richard. Medieval Irish Saints’ Lives. Oxford: Claren-
don Press, 1991.
Stokes, Whitley, ed. and trans. “Life of Brigit.” In Lives of
the Saints from the Book of Lismore, edited and translated
by Whitley Stokes, 182–200. Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1890.
See alsoCogitosus; Colum Cille;
Hagiography and Martyrologies; Íte;
Kildare; Mo-Ninne; Nuns; Patrick;
Pre-Christian Ireland
BRITISH LIBRARY MANUSCRIPT
HARLEY 913
London British Library Manuscript Harley 913 is most
notable for containing, alongside material in Latin and
French, seventeen English poems that are the earliest
written examples of Hiberno-English, the English lan-
guage in Ireland.
The manuscript is of parchment, dates from circa
1330 and contains forty-eight items over sixty-four
folios. It is very small, measuring only 140 mm by
95 mm. The bulk of the manuscript appears to have been
written by a single scribe, the size of the handwriting
varying according to the demands of space available.
The codicology of the manuscript reveals a structure
of five “Booklets,” each complete in itself. Thirteen of
the English poems, distributed among other items, are
contained in Booklets two and three. Their titles are
almost all post-medieval in date: The Land of Cock-
aygne, Five Hateful Things, Satire, Song of Michael of
Kildare, Sarmun, Fifteen Signs before Judgment, Seven
Sins, Fall and Passion, Ten Commandments, Christ on
the Cross, Lollai, Song of the Times,andPiers of Ber-
mingham. Here one finds those poems with Kildare asso-
ciations, which have given the name “Kildare Poems” to
the poems as a whole. Four further poems, Elde, Erthe,
Nego, and Repentance of Love,are found among the items
of Booklets four and five. All but three of the poems are
unique to this manuscript: EldeandErthebelong to a
textual tradition outside Ireland; a (later) variation of
Lollaiis also found in England.
The manuscript shows signs of having been dis-
membered and assembled again incorrectly: Seven
Sinsbegins on folio 48 and continues on folio 22r;
Eldebegins on folio 54r and continues on folio 62r.
Evidence from London British Library Manuscript
Lansdowne 418, a collection of Irish material made by
Sir James Ware in 1608, indicates that eleven of its
items came from “a small old book” called the “Book
of Ross or Waterford”—known as “Harley 913”—in
which only six of the items are still to be found. The
other five, including a poem beginning “Yung men of
Waterford,” are no longer present, presumably lost
when the manuscript was disarranged.
The seventeen Hiberno-English poems are unique
linguistically. They are also unique among Middle
English poems in exhibiting signs of Irish influence
in their composition. The contents of the manuscript
as a whole—powerfully homiletic, with some satirical
pieces—suggest in their themes and images a strong
Franciscan connection. The manuscript contains a list
of Franciscan houses beginning with the provinces
of Ireland. Kildare and Waterford, mentioned in the
manuscript, had Franciscan houses, as had New Ross
(mentioned in a notable French poem “The Entrench-
ment of New Ross”). Friar Michael, who claims
authorship of one poem, says he is a “frere menour”
(141). The subject of another poem, Piers of Berming-
ham, was buried in the Franciscan Priory in Kildare
town. Also present are memorials of St. Francis and the
Franciscan order. The satirical material, including such
poems as The Land of Cockaygne, as well as Latin
pieces such as the Abbot of Gloucester’s Feastand
Missa de Potatoribus(Mass of the Drinkers), while
exposing mankind’s wrongdoings to laughter rather than
to homiletic censure, avoids any criticism of friars.
The manuscript’s small size, taken with its contents
and its well worn appearance, suggests that it was made
to be a travelling preacher’s “pocket-book.” Such small
books were produced in large numbers to meet the needs
of frairs. Studies of Franciscan manuscripts indicate that
Franciscans had a special liking for small portable books.
The early history of the manuscript can only be
surmised, and what is known of its later movements
contains significant gaps. Internal evidence suggests
that to materials from Kildare were added materials
from New Ross and finally from Waterford. The mate-
rials for the manuscript could have been assembled
and copied in Waterford, probably at the Franciscan
house. An inscription on folio 2 shows that in the
sixteenth century the manuscript was owned by George
Wyse, mayor (1561) and bailiff (1566) of Waterford.
Perhaps it came to the family when Sir William Wyse,
who was attached to the court of Henry VIII, acquired
property in Waterford at the dissolution of the monas-
teries. In 1608, Ware made his above-mentioned tran-
scriptions. In 1697, it was owned by John Moore,
bishop of Norwich (1691–1701), as mentioned by Ber-
nard in his Catalogus. In 1705, it was in the possession
of Thomas Tanner, bishop of St. Asaph, who allowed
George Hickes to print the Land of Cockaygnein his
Thesaurus. Subsequently it was owned by Robert Har-
ley, first earl of Oxford, with whose library it came to
the British Museum in 1754.
ANGELAM. LUCASBRIGIT (c. 452–c. 528)