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 north, ...

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 pref ...

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 escarpmen ...

and titular

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

Lismore Cathedral St. Moluag's Cathedral is located on the Scottish island of Lismore just off the coast of Oban. As a congregation of the Church of Scotland, which is Presbyterian, the present-day parish church of 1749 stands on the site of the choir of the ab ...

, 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 w ...

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). Defective ...

'', an Irish manuscript from the early 15th century. The manuscript is primarily written in the "

secretary hand Secretary hand is a style of European handwriting developed in the early sixteenth century that remained common in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries for writing English, German, Welsh and Gaelic. History Predominating before the dominance ...

" of Scotland, rather than the ''corra-litir'' style of hand-writing employed for written Gaelic in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

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 ...

. 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 mos ...

is the same kind used to write the Lowland Scots variety of the

Anglic languages The Anglo-Frisian languages are the Anglic (English, Scots, and Yola) and Frisian varieties of the West Germanic languages. The Anglo-Frisian languages are distinct from other West Germanic languages due to several sound changes: besides the ...

, 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 Periodization, 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 Eur ...

. 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 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 the power of the ...

, including extracts from the Scots poets

William Dunbar William Dunbar (born 1459 or 1460 – died by 1530) was a Scottish makar, or court poet, active in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. He was closely associated with the court of King James IV and produced a large body of work in ...

(d.1530) and

Robert Henryson Robert Henryson (Middle Scots: Robert Henrysoun) was a poet who flourished in Scotland in the period c. 1460–1500. Counted among the Scots ''makars'', he lived in the royal burgh of Dunfermline and is a distinctive voice in the Northern Renai ...

(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,

Irish poems Irish poetry is poetry written by poets from Ireland. It is mainly written in Irish and English, though some is in Scottish Gaelic and some in Hiberno-Latin. The complex interplay between the two main traditions, and between both of them and o ...

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 () follow ...

, 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 the ...

, 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 Castle Sween, also known as Caisteal Suibhne, and Caistéal Suibhne, is located on the eastern shore of Loch Sween, in Knapdale, south of the forestry village of Achnamara on the west coast of Argyll, Scotland. Castle Sween is thought to be o ...

.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 Iseabail Ní Mheic Cailéin, Gaelic noblewoman and poet, fl. 1500. Despite being the ancestor of many members of the Scottish nobility, Iseabail is best known today as the writer of one of the most famous works of erotic poetry in Scottish Gaeli ...

, the daughter of

Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll (c. 1433 – 10 May 1493) was a medieval Scottish nobleman, peer, and politician. He was the son of Archibald Campbell, Master of Campbell and Elizabeth Somerville, daughter of John Somerville, 3rd Lord ...

(died 1493). By far the most famous of the three poems is ''

Éistibh, a Luchd an Tighe-se Éistibh, a Luchd an Tighe-se, otherwise Listen, People of this House is a poem dated to (see 1500 in poetry), composed by Iseabail Ní Mheic Cailéin, a daughter of Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll (died 1493). Thomas Owen Clancy notes that ' ...

'', 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 particu ...

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 do n ...

. 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