The ''Codex Salmanticensis'' (Brussels, Royal Library 7672–4) is a medieval Irish manuscript containing an extensive collection of Irish
saints' Lives, now in the
Royal Library of Belgium
The Royal Library of Belgium ( ; ; , abbreviated ''KBR'' and sometimes nicknamed in French or in Dutch) is the national library of Belgium. The library has a history that goes back to the age of the Duke of Burgundy, Dukes of Burgundy. In ...
in Brussels. It was culled by the compilers from various sources, some of which can be identified as distinct, regionally focused groups in the text.
One such group is that of the O'Donohue ''Lives'', so-called after one of the manuscript's contributors,
Diarmaid Ó Dúnchadha. These works are mostly eighth- and ninth-century ''Lives'' of saints whose monasteries lay in central Ireland (around
Slieve Bloom), in parts of Munster, Mide and Leinster. They include saints like
Ciarán of Saighir,
Ailbe
Saint Ailbe ( ; ), usually known in English as St Elvis ( British/ Welsh), Eilfyw or Eilfw, was regarded as the chief 'pre-Patrician' saint of Ireland (although his death was recorded in the early 6th-century). He was a bishop and later saint.
...
of Emly,
Ruadán of Lorrha and
Cainnech of Aghaboe.
The collection also includes five short ''Lives'' of saints associated with northern churches (in Ulster or the
AirgÃalla
AirgÃalla (; Modern Irish: Oirialla, English: Oriel, Latin: ''Ergallia'') was a medieval Irish over-kingdom and the collective name for the confederation of tribes that formed it. The confederation consisted of nine minor kingdoms, all indepen ...
):
Mo Lua of Drumsnat, Daig of Inniskeen,
Mochta of Louth,
Éogan of Ardstraw and
Mac Nisse of Connor. Their feast days are given in August or the beginning of September. These texts are relatively late, but Charles-Edwards has suggested that they ultimately derive from an earlier, northern Irish work used for reading on the festivals, which he calls the Northern Lectionary.
[Charles-Edwards, "The Northern Lectionary," pp. 151-3.]
References
Edition
*W.W. Heist (ed.). ''Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae ex codice olim Salmanticensi nunc Bruxellensi''. Brussels, 1965.
Secondary sources
*Charles-Edwards, T.M. "The Northern Lectionary: a source for the ''Codex Salmanticensis''?." In ''Celtic hagiography and saints' cults'', ed. Jane Cartwright. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2003. pp. 148–60. .
Further reading
*Heist, W.W. "Dermot O'Donohue and the Codex Salmanticensis." ''Celtica'' 5 (1960): pp. 52–63
RHS record*Ó Riain, Pádraig. "''Codex Salmanticensis'': a provenance inter Anglos or inter Hibernos?." In ''A Miracle of Learning: studies in manuscripts and Irish learning. Essays in honour of William O'Sullivan'', ed. by T.C. Barnard, D. Ó CróinÃn and K. Simms. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998. pp. 91–100
RHS record*O'Sullivan, William. "A Waterford origin for the ''Codex Salmanticensis''." ''Decies. Journal of the Waterford Archaeological & Historical Society'' 54 (1998): pp. 17–24
RHS record
{{DEFAULTSORT:Codex Salmanticensis
Irish manuscripts
Medieval texts in Irish
Manuscripts in the Royal Library of Belgium