or quasi-historical slant. The volume opens (fols.
1–13v, 16v–21v) with two slightly differing copies of
the B-version of Lebar Gabála Érenn (The Book of the
Taking of Ireland)—alternatively styled “Redaction 2”
andMíniugad—and it closes (264–311) with the
C-version—or “Redaction 3”—of the same work. The
genealogies of the saints of Ireland (34–51) are fol-
lowed (53–138v) by an important recension of the
medieval Irish secular genealogies, with some related
miscellaneous materials scattered throughout the vol-
ume (176–183, 213v, 215–229v). (Broadly similar ver-
sions of both the saints’ and secular genealogies may
be found in the other great north Connacht codex, the
Book of Ballymote.) Other important texts in the book
includeSex Aetates Mundi(22–26), the Lebor Bret-
nach(an Irish version of the Historia Brittonumby
Nennius; 139–145), Auraicept na nÉces(“The Poets’
Primer;” 151–162v), Cóir Anmann(“The Fitness of
Names;” 173–175), Lebor na Cert(“The Book of
Rights;” 194–202v), the Banshenchus(“History and
Genealogies of Famous Women;” 203–212), and Ver-
sion C of the Dinnsenchas(“Lore of Famous Places;”
231–263v). In addition, there are numerous shorter
prose texts as well as many poems—about twenty of
20 quatrains and upwards (one running to 305 qq,
another to 181). (Except in the genealogical portion of
the manuscript, most pages are laid out in double col-
umns of 51 lines each.)
TheBook of Lecanseems to have remained in the
hands of Clann Fhir Bhisigh until the early 17th century,
but by October 1612 had come into the hands of
HenryPerse, secretary to the Lord Deputy, Sir Arthur
Chichester. It later passed into the possession of the
scholarly James Ussher, Protestant archbishop of
Armagh, from whose library in Drogheda it was lent
in 1636 to Conall Mageoghegan of Lismoyny, County
Westmeath, translator of the Annals of Clonmacnoise.
Around this time it was also drawn upon as a source
by Brother Michéal Ó Cléirigh, and it may have been
in north Tipperary for a period after that. In 1640,
Ussher left Ireland for England, never to return, and
his library followed some time later. On his death in
1656, his daughter offered his valuable collection of
books and manuscripts for sale. The Cromwellian gov-
ernment, wishing to prevent it from going to foreign
purchasers, decided that it should return to Ireland, to
form the nucleus of the “second college” being planned
for Dublin. The latter proved abortive and, following
the Restoration, Charles II bestowed the collection on
Trinity College. There it was consulted in 1665 by
none other than Dubhaltach Mac Fhir Bhisigh, kinsman
of the compiler. It remained in TCD until the out-
break of the Williamite War in 1688. By 1702, it was
noted as being missing from Trinity College and the
following year it turned up in France. Some time
subsequent to that it came into the possession of the
Irish College in Paris. In 1787, through the intercession
of Colonel Charles Vallancey, the rector of the Irish
College, Abbé Charles Kearney, presented it to the
newly founded Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, where it
has remained ever since. (A small portion—ninefolios,
142–150—has been part of another manuscript— 1319
or H.2.17—in Trinity College, Dublin, since 1688.)
In1937, the Irish Manuscripts’ Commission issued a
facsimile edition of the manuscript, with a detailed
introduction by Kathleen Mulchrone.
NOLLAIGÓ MURAÍLE, IRISH AND CELTIC STUDIES,
QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY BELFASTReferences and Further Reading
The Book of Lecan: Leabhar Mór Mhic Fhir Bhisigh Leacain.
Collotype facsimile with introduction and indexes by
Kathleen Mulchrone. The Irish Manuscripts Commission,
Dublin, 1937.
MacSwiney of Mashanaglass, Marquis. “Notes on the history
of the Book of Lecan.” Proceedings of the Royal Irish Acad-
emy38 C (1928), 31–50.
Tomás Ó Concheanainn. “Scríobhaithe Leacáin Mhic Fhir
Bhisigh.” Celtica19 (1987), 141–75.
———. “Lebar Gabálain the Book of Lecan.” In “A Miracle
of Learning” – Studies in Manuscripts and Irish Learning:
Essays in honour of William O’Sullivan, edited by Toby
Barnard, Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, and Katharine Simms, 68–90.
Aldershot, etc.: Ashgate Publishing, 1998.
———. “A medieval Irish historiographer: Giolla Íosa Mac
Fhir Bhisigh”, in Seanchas: Studies in Early and Medieval
Irish Archaeology, History and Literature in Honour of
Francis J. Byrne(ed. Alfred P. Smyth), pp 387-95. Four
Courts Press, Dublin, 2000.
O’Donovan, John, ed. The Genealogies, Tribes and Customs of
Hy-Fiachrach, commonly called O’Dowda’s Country...
from the Book of Lecan,.. .and from the Genealogical
Manuscript of Duald Mac Firbis.. .Dublin: Irish Archae-
ological Society, 1844.
Ó Muraíle, Nollaig. The Celebrated Antiquary: Dubhaltach
Mac Fhirbhisigh (c. 1600–1671), His Lineage,Life and
Learning.Maynooth: An Sagart, 1996; revised reprint,
2002.
––––––, ed. Leabhar Mór na nGenealach: The Great Book of
Irish Genealogies, compiled (1645–66) by Dubhaltach Mac
Fhirbhisigh. 5 vols. Dublin: De Búrca, 2003–2004.
Walsh, Paul. “The great Book of Lecan.” In Irish Men of
Learning: Studies by Father Paul Walsh, edited by Colm
O Lochlainn), 102–88. Dublin: Three Candles Press,
1947.
––––––. “The Book of Lecan.” Journal of Galway Archaeolog-
ical and Historical Society18 (1939), 94–5 (Reprinted in
Irish Leaders and Learning Through the Ages: Paul Walsh—
Essays collected, edited and introduced by Nollaig Ó Muraíle,
499–501. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2003.LECAN, YELLOW BOOK OF
SeeGenealogy; Mac FirbhisighLECAN, BOOK OF