The Books of Clanranald are two paper manuscripts that date to about the early 18th century. The books are written in

Classical Gaelic Classical Gaelic or Classical Irish () was a shared literary form of Gaelic that was in use by poets in Scotland and Ireland from the 13th century to the 18th century. Although the first written signs of Scottish Gaelic having diverged from Iri ...

,. and are best known for their traditional account of the history of

Clan Donald Clan Donald, also known as Clan MacDonald ( gd, Clann Dòmhnaill; Mac Dòmhnaill ), is a Highland Scottish clan and one of the largest Scottish clans. The Lord Lyon King of Arms, the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry i ...

.. The manuscripts are commonly referred to as the ''Red Book'' and the ''Black Book''. The name "Red Book", however, may actually be a misnomer. Although Gaelic tradition on

South Uist South Uist ( gd, Uibhist a Deas, ; sco, Sooth Uist) is the second-largest island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. At the 2011 census, it had a usually resident population of 1,754: a decrease of 64 since 2001. The island, in common with the ...

notes a "Red Book of MacMhuirich", it is uncertain whether this book is identical to the surviving manuscript. In fact, the manuscript may be partly derived from the red book of tradition. The name "Black Book" may have been coined in order to distinguish it from the so-called ''Red Book''. The ''Red Book'' was composed by Niall MacMhuirich, a member of the

MacMhuirich bardic family The MacMhuirich bardic family, known in Scottish Gaelic as ''Clann MacMhuirich'' and ''Clann Mhuirich'', and anglicised as Clan Currie was a prominent family of bards and other professionals in 15th to 18th centuries. The family was centred in t ...

, who wrote the clan history within, and was responsible for the collection of some of the manuscript's other poetical material. A later hand also added material into the book. Compared to the ''Red Book'', the ''Black Book'' is more of a miscellaneous collection of material. This manuscript was compiled by several people, but the history within this work was written by Christopher Beaton, a member of the Beaton learned family, who appears to have been employed by the family of the

Earls of Antrim Earl of Antrim is a title that has been created twice, both times in the Peerage of Ireland and both times for members of the MacDonnell family, originally of Scottish origins. History The MacDonells of Antrim descended from Sorley Boy MacDo ...

Published edition

References

External links

*. (original form) *{{citation , title=The Book of Clanranald , url=http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T402566/index.html , publisher= CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts . (English translation) Clan Donald Scottish Gaelic literature Scottish manuscripts