''An Cléireach'' (Gaelic: The Clerk) is a novel by the Irish writer

Darach Ó Scolaí Darach Ó Scolaí is an Irish novelist, playwright, publisher, and artist living in the County Galway Gaeltacht of Connemara. He was awarded the Oireachtas Prize for Literature in 2007 for his novel,'' An Cléireach''. Writing His 2007 novel' ...

, published in 2007 and winner of the 2007 ''

Oireachtas The Oireachtas ( ; ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of the president of Ireland and the two houses of the Oireachtas (): a house ...

Prize for Literature''. It also won Gradam Uí Shúilleabháin (Irish Language Book of the Year) in 2008.

Plot

Set during the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

, the book centers on the protagonist and narrator, a soldier and clerk in dispute with his colonel over a promotion. In north

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

in the year 1650, as the remnants of the royalist army flee from the victorious parliamentarians, a band of poets and soldier-scribes are brought together and, regardless of the proximity of the enemy, spend the night storytelling. In the stories recounted by

Cearbhall Óg Ó Dálaigh Cearbhall Óg Ó Dálaigh (; fl. 1630), sometimes spelt in English as Carroll Oge O'Daly, was a 17th-century Irish language poet and harpist, who composed the song "". Cearbhall (Carroll) was a common name amongst people of the Ó Dálaigh (O'D ...

, Toirdhealbhach Carach Ó Conchubhair and

Fear Flatha Ó Gnímh Fear Flatha Ó Gnímh (c. 1540 – c. 1630) was an Irish poet. Life and works Fear Flatha Ó Gnímh was a member of a hereditary learned family based at Larne, County Antrim, who was bard for the O'Neills of Clannaboy. Known as O'Gnive in Eng ...

, another theme surfaces in the novel, the story of a young man who has been entrusted with the safekeeping of an ancient

psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters were ...

that has been in his family's keeping for three hundred years, and who has to flee abroad with the book as the

Tudor conquest of Ireland Ireland was conquered by the Tudor monarchs of England in the 16th century. The Anglo-Normans had Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland, conquered swathes of Ireland in the late 12th century, bringing it under Lordship of Ireland, English rule. In t ...

is completed by 1601. His hereditary responsibility brings him to the

Spanish Netherlands The Spanish Netherlands (; ; ; ) (historically in Spanish: , the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the Habsburg Netherlands ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs from 1556 to 1714. They were a collection of States of t ...

, to

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

where he takes part in the

Battle of White Mountain The Battle of White Mountain (; ) was an important battle in the early stages of the Thirty Years' War. It led to the defeat of the Bohemian Revolt and ensured Habsburg control for the next three hundred years. It was fought on 8 November 16 ...

as a musketeer in captain Somhairle Mac Domhnaill's company, and from there to the Irish College of St Anthony in

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

(''Louvain''), in the company of Brother

Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Mícheál Ó Cléirigh (), sometimes known as Michael O'Clery, was an Irish chronicler, scribe and antiquary and chief author of the ''Annals of the Four Masters'', assisted by Cú Choigcríche ÓCléirigh, Fearfeasa ÓMaol Chonaire, and Pe ...

and Father Brian Mac Giolla Coinnigh, and finally back to Ireland during the wars of the Irish Catholic Confederation and the

Cromwellian conquest of Ireland The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (1649–1653) was the re-conquest of Ireland by the Commonwealth of England, initially led by Oliver Cromwell. It forms part of the 1641 to 1652 Irish Confederate Wars, and wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three ...

. And although the dispute between the narrator and the colonel is brought to a head that night in Ireland, the final strands of the novel are brought together in 1667 as the narrator lives in exile in the

Reception

Tadhg Dubh Ó Cróinín in ''The Limerick Leader'' emphasizes the credibility and verisimilitude of the writing that succeeds in convincing the reader that at all times he is in the centre of the vortex no matter where the action takes him. Philip Cummings in ''Lá Nua'' reads the novel as a contemporary fiction, drawing attention to the author's tricks and modern conscious narrative.[//www.nuacht.com/index.tvt?_ticket=KZ4DALOLO9M2TRRIVPSE9NTHLZIZBHSJ7TRFPPPCCNVEILM9CHVRG13EIOQNANSEANYBEGSGW4UUHONCN15DALNNOPRGUT4STNNADYNWNKLAFUTKTRRITIAW9NTHNKLAITRGUXSEIOQLOGAWM97&_scope=La/Content/Faoi%20Chaibidil&id=7563&_page=&psv=20 Lá Nua, Faoi Chaibidil]

References

External links

website of the Publishing company, Leabhar Breac

author's website

2007 Irish novels Irish-language literature Novels set in the 1650s Novels set in the 1660s Fiction set in 1650 Fiction set in 1667 Novels set in Ireland Novels set during the English Civil War Cromwellian conquest of Ireland {{2000s-hist-novel-stub