The ''Book of the Dean of Lismore'' ( gd, Leabhar Deathan Lios Mòir) is a Scottish manuscript, compiled in eastern

Perthshire Perthshire ( locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the nort ...

in the first half of the 16th century. The chief compiler, after whom it is named, was James MacGregor (''Seumas MacGriogair''),

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

Fortingall Fortingall is a small village in highland Perthshire, Scotland, in Glen Lyon. Its nearest sizable neighbours are Aberfeldy and Kenmore. Its Gaelic name is ''Fartairchill'' (lit. "Escarpment Church"—i.e. "church at the foot of an escarpme ...

and titular Dean of Lismore Cathedral, although there are other probable scribes, including his brother Donnchadh''The Edinburgh Companion to the Gaelic Language'', Edinburgh University Press, 2010, p. 14 and William Drummond (Uileam Druimeanach),

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy ...

of Fortingall. It is unrelated to the similarly named ''

Book of Lismore The Book of Lismore, also known as the Book of Mac Carthaigh Riabhach, is a late fifteenth-century Gaelic manuscript that was created at Kilbrittain in County Cork, Ireland, for Fínghean Mac Carthaigh, Lord of Carbery (1478–1505). Defecti ...

'', an Irish manuscript from the early 15th century. The manuscript is primarily written in the " secretary hand" of Scotland, rather than the ''corra-litir'' style of hand-writing employed for written Gaelic in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. The

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and ...

is the same kind used to write the Lowland Scots variety of the Anglic languages, and was a common way of writing

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

in the

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Ren ...

. Although the principal part of the manuscript's contents are in Gaelic, the manuscript as a whole is multilingual, and there are a significant number of texts written in Scots and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

, including extracts from the Scots poets William Dunbar (d.1530) and Robert Henryson (d.1500), and there is a great deal of Gaelic-English

diglossia In linguistics, diglossia () is a situation in which two dialects or languages are used (in fairly strict compartmentalization) by a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety (labeled ...

throughout the manuscript. Many of the Gaelic texts are of Irish provenance, and in the case of

bardic poetry Bardic poetry is the writings produced by a class of poets trained in the bardic schools of Ireland and the Gaelic parts of Scotland, as they existed down to about the middle of the 17th century or, in Scotland, the early 18th century. Most of th ...

, Irish poems outnumber Scottish poems 44 to 21. The patrons of the manuscript appear to have been the Campbells of

Glen Orchy Glen Orchy ( gd, Gleann Urchaidh) is a glen in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It runs from Bridge of Orchy to Dalmally. Geography Glen Orchy is about 17 km or 11 miles long, and runs south-west from Bridge of Orchy () to Dalmally () fo ...

, and the manuscript itself includes some of the poetry of Duncan Campbell (''Donnchadh Caimbeul'') of Glen Orchy. The manuscript currently lies in the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in t ...

, as Adv.MS.72.1.37. A digital version of the manuscript is available to view online. It also is notable for containing poetry by at least four women. These include Aithbhreac Nighean Coirceadail (f. 1460), who wrote a lament for her husband, the constable of Castle Sween.J. T. Koch and A. Minard, ''The Celts: History, Life, and Culture'' (ABC-CLIO, 2012), , pp. 33–4. The same book also includes three poems by Iseabail Ní Mheic Cailéin, the daughter of Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll (died 1493). By far the most famous of the three poems is '' Éistibh, a Luchd an Tighe-se'', which Thomas Owen Clancy has described as, "a fairly obscene boast to the court circle on the size and potency of her household

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

penis A penis (plural ''penises'' or ''penes'' () is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation. Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males d ...

. The authenticity of the attribution to Iseabail has been questioned, but without substantial grounds."

Notes

References

* Meek, Donald E., "The Scots-Gaelic Scribes of Late Medieval Perthshire: An Overview of the Orthography and Contents of the Book of the Dean of Lismore", in Janet Hadley Williams (ed.), ''Stewart Style, 1513-1542: Essays on the Court of James V'', (East Linton, 1996), pp. 254–72

External links

Bibliography - Manuscript Source Index NLS
{{Authority control Scotland in the Late Middle Ages Scottish Gaelic literature Scottish literature Manuscripts in the National Library of Scotland Scottish manuscripts 16th-century manuscripts 16th century in Scotland History of Perth and Kinross British anthologies Irish poetry Scottish poetry Lismore, Scotland Medieval Scottish literature

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links