Leabhar Branach Explained

Leabhar Branach
Also Known As:	Book of the O'Byrnes
Type:	Compilation of Irish poetry
Date:	early 1600s
Place Of Origin:	County Wicklow
Dedicated To:	O'Byrnes
Condition:	Lost
Script:	Irish minuscule

The Irish, Middle (900-1200);: Leabhar Branach (in Irish pronounced as /ˌl̠ʲəuɾˠ ˈbˠɾˠanˠəx/), also called the [Poem] Book of the O'Byrnes is an Early Modern Irish anthology of poetry collected in the early 17th century. It consists of poetry in praise of the O'Byrne family, who ruled a region known as Gabhal Raghnaill in modern County Wicklow.^{[1] [2] [3]} The poems were written between roughly 1550 and 1630, a time of turmoil in Ireland that saw the Desmond Rebellions, Nine Years' War and O'Doherty's rebellion.^{[4] [5]}

According to scholar Seán Mac Airt, who published a print version in 1944, "the Irish, Middle (900-1200);: Leabhar Branach, apart from its linguistic value, is important in that it affords us some insight from an Irish standpoint into the life and fortunes of a sept bordering the Pale, during an interesting if unhappy era of our history".^{[6] [4] [7]}

Contents

The poems were mostly written by poets of the McKeogh (Mac Eochaidh, Mac Eochadha) family.^{[8] [9] [10]} Some are also by Eochaidh Ó hÉoghusa.^[11]

Several poems are dedicated to Fiach McHugh O'Byrne (1534–1597).^{[12] [13]} His wife Rose O'Toole is described in one poem as "a blazing meteor, wine of grape, flower of women... She glows with the fire of youth. She is the life and death of heroes."^[14]

Manuscripts

The original manuscript is lost. A copy was made by in 1622 by Brian Mac Giolla Phádraig. It is thanks to him that the poems survive as his copy was in turn copied by Hugh O'Daly; this manuscript is in Trinity College, Dublin, while a copy made by Michael O'Byrne in the 1720s is in Houghton Library, Harvard University.^{[15] [16]}

Notes and References

1. Web site: Leabhar Branach: The Book of the O'Byrnes . ainm.ie.
2. Web site: Leabhar Branach . Seán . Mac Airt . 3 November 1944 . Dublin Institute for the Advanced Studies . Google Books.
3. Reviewed work: Leabhar Branach: The Book of the O'Byrnes, Seán Mac Airt . 30004866 . Ó Tuathail . Éamonn . Irish Historical Studies . 1947 . 5 . 19 . 249–253.
4. Web site: Leabhar Branach . 17 May 2007.
5. Web site: The Byrnes and the O'Byrnes Vol. II . The House of Lochar Publishers . HouseOfLochar.com.
6. Web site: Leabhar Branach – CODECS: Online Database and e-Resources for Celtic Studies . VanHamel.nl.
7. Web site: Leabhar Branach: The Book of the O'Byrnes – DIAS Shop.
8. Web site: Fada cuirthear clú deise . mga . Bardic Poetry Database.
9. Web site: Leabhar Branach . Seán . Mac Airt . 3 November 1944 . Dublin Institute for the Advanced Studies . Google Books.
10. Web site: Archivium Hibernicum: Or, Irish Historical Records . 3 November 1941 . Irish University Press for the Catholic Record Society of Ireland . Google Books.
11. Book: Leabhar Branach: The Book of the O'Byrnes . Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies . 1944 . 9781855000087 . Mac Airt . Seán . xii.
12. Web site: Poetry and Politics: Reaction & continuity in Irish poetry, 1558–1625, Marc Caball (Cork University Press, £16.95) ISBN 1859181627 . 6 February 2013.
13. Book: Lethbridge, J. B. . Edmund Spenser: New and Renewed Directions . 3 November 2006 . Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press . 9780838640661 . Google Books.
14. Web site: The Rise of Feagh McHugh O'Byrne in Gaelic Leinster . Darren . Mac Eiteagáin . Homepage.Tinet.ie.
15. Book: Byrne-Rothwell, Daniel . The Byrnes and the O'Byrnes . 3 November 2010 . House of Lochar . 9781904817048 . Google Books.
16. 842737382508154880 . HarvardLibrary . One of the earliest surviving manuscript copies of Leabhar Branach, or 'the Book of the O'Byrnes' from @HoughtonLib ... . 17 March 2017 . TweetCiteBot.