Cuimre na nGenealach
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{{Use dmy dates, date=October 2013 Cuimre na nGenealach ("binding of the genealogies") is an abridgment of
Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh (), also known as Dubhaltach Óg mac Giolla Íosa Mór mac Dubhaltach Mór Mac Fhirbhisigh, Duald Mac Firbis, Dudly Ferbisie, and Dualdus Firbissius (fl. 1643 – January 1671) was an Irish scribe, translator, histori ...
's ''
Leabhar na nGenealach ''Leabhar na nGenealach'' ("Book of Genealogies") is a massive genealogical collection written mainly in the years 1649 to 1650, at the college-house of St. Nicholas' Collegiate Church, Galway, by Dubhaltach MacFhirbhisigh. He continued to add m ...
'', written at his home in Lecan in Tír Fhíacrach Múaidhe,
County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the local ...
in the spring and summer of 1666.


Origins and background

The original manuscript was lost sometime after 1706, but it survives in two, apparently incomplete, 18th century transcripts, now
RIA A ria (; gl, ría) is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea. Definitions Typically rias have a dendritic, treelike outline although they ca ...
MS 25 N2, by an unknown scribe, and
Maynooth Maynooth (; ga, Maigh Nuad) is a university town in north County Kildare, Ireland. It is home to Maynooth University (part of the National University of Ireland and also known as the National University of Ireland, Maynooth) and St Patrick's ...
Irish MS B 8, by Henry MacCarrick, a merchant of
Sligo Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the List of urban areas ...
town. Mac Fhirbhisigh's lengthy introduction specifies the contents, author, time and place:
''"Cuimre Cráobhsgaoileadh cineadh ó Adhamh gus anois, 1666, tionóiltear a leabhraibh Cloinne Fhirbhisigh (is go hairidhe as an leabhar do sgriobhsam fén go foirleanthan are cráobhsgaoileadh mór – agus mion-bhabhal Ereann in gach am) egarthas agus sgriobhthar sonna lesin Dubhaltach mc Giolla Íosa Mhóir mc an and Dubhaltach Mec Fhirbisigh Lecain Mhec Firbhisigh i tTír Fhiachrach Muaidhe, anno Christi 1666: anius and dara lá is an cédlúan do mhís Aibreóil e toil nDé) trosaigheam so isin Tír Fhiachrach remebeartha/An Abridgement of the genealogical ramifications of the peoples of Ireland and the Scots of Alba together with their principal genealogical branches from Adam until now, 1666, which is assembled from the books of Clann Bhirbhisigh (and especially from the book I wrote myself at length on the ramification of the great and minor branches of Ireland at every time) and is arranged and written here by An Dubhaltach son of Giolla Íosa Mhóir son of An Dubhaltach Mec Fhirbisigh of Lecain Mhec Firbhisigh in Tír Fhiachrach of the Muaidhe in the year of Christ 1666; today, the second day and first Monday of the month of April, we begin this (by God's will) in the year and Tireragh aforesaid.''


Contents

Having written Leabhar na nGenealach, Mac Fhirbhisigh took on the task of making a smaller concise version of the text. The ''Cuimre'' contains about 30% of LGen.'s material, fully a third of which (25,000 words) is taken verbatim from LGen. Of the rest (42,000 words), about half is an abridged or rewritten version of LGen., the remaining contents are new, sometimes entirely unique. The new material comes from a variety of sources, mostly unknown, and not found anywhere else. While there are differences, the ''Cuimre'' in general reflects the layout of LGen. However, the ''Naoimhsheanchas'', the copy of Holinshed's governors, deputies and lieutenants of Ireland, along with almost all of the poems, are absent. It may be that Mac Fhirbhisigh intended to add them later. ''Seachas Síl Ír'' however has been both abridged and rearranged. New material includes: * a short piece on the Cruithnigh (
Picts The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from ea ...
) * a very detailed history of the Stuart kings of
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 ...
and
Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
from 1034 to 1666 * detailed genealogies on over twenty-five branches of the Nugents and Daltons


Innovations

An innovative feature of the ''Cuimre'' is the manner in which many pedigrees are recast. O Muraile writes (on page 267 of ''The Celebrated Antiquary''):
"In a development which is quite unique to this work – not being found, at least in such a systematically developed form, in any other Irish genealogical collection – ... the more important genealogies are set out in the reverse of the usual order of son: father: grandfather, and so on; instead they begin with a more or less distant ancestor and progress from father to son to grandson and so on down – in many cases – to a figure more or less contempoarty with Dubhaltach."
Examples include
Ruaidhrí Ó Flaithbheartaigh Roderick O'Flaherty ( ga, Ruaidhrí Ó Flaithbheartaigh; 1629–1718 or 1716) was an Irish historian. Biography He was born in County Galway and inherited Moycullen Castle and estate. O'Flaherty was the last ''de jure'' Lord of Iar Connacht, a ...
, Martán Ó Conchobhair Sligigh, Brian Ó Ruairc (d. 1641), and Mac Fhirbhisigh himself. It may indeed have been that he intended to recast the entire collection, but realising the scale of the task, contented himself with an abridgment. Other works cited include: * ''Faccuculus Temporum'' by
Werner Rolevinck Werner Rolevinck (1425–1502) was a Carthusian monk and historian who wrote about 50 titles. He was born near Laer, Westphalia, the son of a wealthy farmer. In 1447 he entered Cologne Charterhouse, where he later died. His most famous work was his ...
* ''A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence'' by
Richard Verstegan Richard Rowlands, born Richard Verstegan (c. 1550 – 1640), was an Anglo-Dutch antiquary, publisher, humorist and translator. Verstegan was born in East London the son of a cooper; his grandfather, Theodore Roland Verstegen, was a refugee fro ...
/
Richard Rowlands Richard Rowlands, born Richard Verstegan (c. 1550 – 1640), was an Anglo- Dutch antiquary, publisher, humorist and translator. Verstegan was born in East London the son of a cooper; his grandfather, Theodore Roland Verstegen, was a refugee f ...


Preparation and progress

"Even to produce a work such as the ''Cuimre'' ... must have taken a great deal of planning and preparation. We can at least be quite certain that Dubhaltach must have been far from idle during all those years in the 1650s and early 1660s when he is lost from our view.(p.269, Ó Muraile, 1996)"
Dubhaltach's rate of progress can be gauged by a colophon dated Saturday, 5 May 1666 – at a point where he had written some 45% of the ''Cuimre'' since he began on 2 April. This is highly suggestive of a work of transcription; thus Dubhaltach must have had compiled and prepared the text by the time he began, and would have reached the end of what is now the end of both surviving manuscripts by June or July. Ó Muraile feels that Dubhaltach did not actually finish the work, thus what survives may indeed be much, or all or, what he originally wrote.


Return to Dublin

At some point later in the year Dubhaltach returned to Dublin, where he translated annalistic material for
Sir James Ware Sir James Ware (26 November 1594 – 1 December 1666) was an Irish historian. Personal details Born at Castle Street, Dublin on 26 November 1594, James Ware was the eldest son of Sir James Ware (1568–1632) and Mary Bryden, daughter of Ambrose ...
. He was working at Sir James's house on Castle Street, Dublin, on Tuesday 6 November 1666. On Saturday 1 December 1666 Sir James died, five days after his seventy-second birthday, bringing their collaboration, and Dubhaltach's employment in Dublin, to an end.


External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20100821075322/http://www.deburcararebooks.com/geneal.htm
Maynooth MS B 8 on Irish Script on Screen


References

*Ó Muraíle, Nollaig (1996). ''The Celebrated Antiquary''. Maynooth. *Mac Fhirbhisigh, Dubhaltach; Ó Muraíle, Nollaig, editor (2004). ''Leabhar Genealach. The Great Book of Irish Genealogies''. Dublin: De Búrca. (Alternate names by which it may be referenced include ''Leabhar Mór nGenealach'', and ''Leabhar Mór na nGenealach''). 17th century in Ireland 17th-century books 17th-century documents Irish texts Irish-language literature 1666 books Irish manuscripts Irish genealogy Royal Irish Academy Library 17th-century Irish literature