The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-05-16
ANCIENT IRISH LITERATURE
DATES ITS ORIGIN BACK TWO
TIL " SAND YEARS-HAND-
WRITING IN OLD MANUSCRIPTS
REMARKABLE FOR BEAUTY
AND PERFECTION OF DETAIL.

NND PEnF En- IlON Or LIE TAIL.
In his recent work, Ancient Irish
Civilization" the well-known historian
OF Ireland, the late P. w. Joyce, l.. l..
d., gives an account of the existence
OF voluminous Irish literature at a
period when few countries possessed
any records whatever.
Printing was not invented till the
nfteenth century, and before that
time all books had to be written by
hand. According to extant native
records of Ireland to which DIR. Joyce
had had access, the art Of writing was
known to the Irish of the pagan per-
Tod and the Druids had books on.
law and other subjects long before
the time Of St. Patrick.
A Christian philosopher of the
fourth century named Ethicus has left
description of his many wanderings
called "Cosmography of the World"
or write-up of the world in which he
describes how he visited Ireland
about period which would be earlier
by one hundred years than the ar
rival of st. Patrick, and mentions
that he found there many books, re-
naming for some time in the country
examining them.
The pagan Irish books were writ
ten in the Irish language; but as to
the nature or shapes Of the letters, or
the form of the writing, on these
points there is no exact information,
since none of the old books remain.
The letters i'm these books (says DR..
joyce could hardly have been what
are known as the Ogham characters,
for these are too cumbrous for long
passages.
Ogham was species of writing,
the letters of which were formed by
combinations of short lines and points,
on and at both sides of a middle or
stem line.
Nearly all the Oghams hitherto
found are sepulchraI inscriptions, and
great numbers of monumental stones
are still preserved with Ogham in
scriptions cut on them, of which most
have been deciphered either partially
Or completely.
These are in very antique form
of the Irish language, and while many
were engraved in far distant pagan
ages, others belong to Christian
times.
Whatever characters the Irish may
have used in times of paganism they
learned the Roman letters from the
early Roman missionaries, and used
them, in writing their own language
during and after the time Of st. Pat
rick. These same letters, again, were
brought to Britain by the early Irish
missionaries, from whom the Anglo
Saxons learned them; SO that Eng
land received her first knowledge Of
the letters of the aphabet-as she
also received most of her Christianity
from Ireland.
In former times it was the custom
to call these letters by the term An
glo-Saxon; but we now know that the
present printed characteristic actual
letters now under the readers eye
were ultimately developed from those
old Irish Roman letters.
After the period of st. Patrick, since
everything seems to have been writ
ten down that was considered worth
preserving, manuscripts accumulated
in the course of time; these were
kept in monasteries and in the houses
of learned teachers, many were also
kept by private persons in their
libraries.
The commonest material used for
writing on was vellum or parchment
made from the skin of sheep, goats
or calves. To copy book was con-
sidered very meritorious work and
in the highest degree so il 1t was
part Of the Scriptures or of any other
book on sacred or devotional subjects.
Scribes or copyists were therefore
much honored.
The handwriting Of these old docu-
lnents is remarkable for its beauty,
it's plainness and it's perfect uniform
ity. Each scribe had, however, his
own characteristic form and style.
Most of the books thus copied re-
lated to Ireland, as will be described
presently, and the language was near
ly always Irish, except when the Ro-
man classics or the Scriptures were
copied, when Latin was used. When
the Danes appeared in the ninth CEN
tury, books were abundant and IRE
lands many books" was even way
If referring to superabundance
Tie Danes brought unfortunately
obstruction to some of the most IA
1noIs copies, especially those of re-
lig;ous character. The Anglo-Norman
Invasion was quite as destructive.
Nevertheless, says DR.. Joyce, there
ere many old Irish books left-like
tbs. famous Book of Leinster now in
f'::.inity College, Dublin.
Il is an immense work dating back
more than 750 years, it's characters
black with age, containing great
number of prose and verse accounts
of old Irish episodes, battles, sieges,
folk-tales of the far-distant ages.
Again there is the Book of the Dun
Cow over 800 years old mainly con-
sisting OF tales, adventures and trad1-
tons all in the Irish language. 1t is
kept in Dublin at the Royal Irish
Academy. Also the yellow Book OF
Lecan and the Book of Ballymote, not
80 old as the two just mentioned, but
of a similar character as to it's con-