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Egerton MS 88

Record Id:
032-003464552
Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
032-003464552
MDARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100087742196.0x000001
LARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100165163970.0x000001
SLARK:
Format:
ISAD(G)
Reference (shelfmark):
Egerton MS 88
Title:
Irish legal and grammatical miscellany compiled by Domhnall O Duibhdábhoirenn
Scope & Content:

Contents:

A miscellany of legal and grammatical tracts, tales and a law glossary, compiled by Domhnall O Duibhdábhoirenn (Donall O'Davoren), who kept a law school in the district of Burren, County Clare. It was copied between 1564 and 1570 mainly by Domhnall and two scribes who both signed their names 'Maghnus' (see O'Sullivan, 'The Book of Domhnall O Duibhdabhoireann', p. 284).

A detailed catalogue description is provided in O'Grady and Flower, Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts, I, pp. 85-141.

ff. 2r-9v: Law tracts on injury, damage, compensation, evidence etc.

ff. 10r-15v: Irish prose romances and legends with rhapsodical verses or panegyrics.

ff. 16r-62v: Law tracts, including ecclesiastical law, contract law, fines, compensation and 'honour-price'.

ff. 63r-79v: Grammatical texts including the 'Poets' primer' and the Latin and Greek alphabets.

ff. 80-93: A legal glossary, imperfect at the end.

Included are three charters relating to Balimachil, near Waterford, in the time of King Edward I (reigned 1272-1307), and to Athboy, dated 9 Henry VI (1430-31).

Marginal notes and scribal commentary, including complaints about poor conditions in the law schools, are found throughout.

Part of this manuscript is now Copenhagen, Koningelige Bibliotek, Ny. Kongl. Saml. 261B.

Decoration:

Large initials in brown with penwork decoration, and highlighting in red and/or green (e.g., ff. 26r, 34r, 44v, 45r, 49r, 52v). A zoomorphic initial in brown with interlace (f. 65r). Large initials in brown, some with penwork decoration. Highlighting of letters in brown or green. Marginal drawings in ink of animals or faces. Some initials excised.

Collection Area:
Western Manuscripts
Hierarchy Tree:
[{ "id" : "032-003464552", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Egerton MS 88: Irish legal and grammatical miscellany compiled by Domhnall O Duibhdábhoirenn" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
Hierarchy Record Ids:
032-003464552
Is part of:
not applicable
Hierarchy:
032-003464552
Container:
not applicable
Record Type (Level):
Fonds
Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:
http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100165163970.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
Thumbnail:
Languages:
English.
Irish
Scripts:
Latin
Start Date:
1564
End Date:
1570
Date Range:
1564-1570
Era:
CE
Access:

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User Conditions:
Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 255 x 170 mm (text space: 215 x 155 mm).

Layout: Written in two columns or three (ff. 80-93).

Foliation: ff. i + 93 (f. i is a paper leaf with an affixed paper note, formerly in the oak box in which the manuscript is kept + unfoliated parchment and paper flyleaves + an unfoliated paper leaf after ff. 41, 56, 62, 71, 79).

Binding: Post-1600. Brown leather.

Custodial History:

Origin:

Ireland (County Clare).

Provenance:

The date, 1567, is inscribed on f. 12v.

Arthur Mahon (see O'Sullivan, 'The Book of Domhnall O Duibhdabhoireann').

James Hardiman (b. 1782, d. 1855), author and scholar: a note in his hand on f. 1r.

Bought by the British Museum in 1832 using the Bridgewater fund (£12,000 bequeathed in 1829 by Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater (b. 1756, d. 1829). Acquired as loose leaves which were arranged for binding by Eugene O'Curry (b. 1796, d. 1862), Irish philologist and antiquary: a note by Frederic Madden on f. 1r.

Information About Copies:

Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.

Select digital coverage available for this manuscript, see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.

Publications:

Catalogue of Additional Manuscripts 6666-10018; Catalogue of Egerton Manuscripts 1-606 (unpublished catalogue available in the British Library Manuscripts Reading Room), p. 102.

A Guide to the Exhibition of Some Part of the Egerton Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1929), no. 70.

List of Additions Made to the Collections in the British Museum in the Year 1832 (London: British Museum, 1834), p. 12.

Standish Hayes O'Grady and Robin Flower, Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in the British Museum, 3 vols (London: British Museum, 1926–1953), I, pp. 85-141.

D. A. Binchy (ed.), Corpus Iuris Hibernici, 6 vols (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1978), iv, pp. 1266–1531.

William O'Sullivan, 'The Book of Domhnall O Duibhdabhoireann, Provenance and Codicology', Celtica, 23 (1999), 276–99.

Liam Breatnach, A Companion to the Corpus Iuris Hibernici, Early Irish Law, 5 (Dublin: School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2005), p. 6.

Charlene M. Eska,'The Fragment of Medieval Irish Sanctuary Law on British Library MS Egerton 88,f. 35r', North American Journal of Celtic Studies, 4.2, (2020), 189-97,

Exhibitions:
Gaelic Ireland 1200 - 1600 AD, Galway City Museum, GalwayCity, 1 October 2019 - 26 January 2020
Material Type:
Archives and Manuscripts
Legal Status:
Not Public Record(s)
Notes:
O'Duibhdábhoireann book -- O'Duibhdábhoireann wooden box. Exhibited: Gaelic Ireland 1200 - 1600 AD, Galway City Museum, Galway City 1 October 2019 - 26 January 2020
Related Material:
The wooden box in which the manuscript was formerly kept is now Egerton MS 88/1.