Críchad an Chaoilli ("boundary of the Caoille") is a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

Irish

text Text may refer to: Written word * Text (literary theory) In literary theory, a text is any object that can be "read", whether this object is a work of literature, a street sign, an arrangement of buildings on a city block, or styles of clothi ...

Overview

Written in

Middle Irish Middle Irish, also called Middle Gaelic (, , ), is the Goidelic language which was spoken in Ireland, most of Scotland and the Isle of Man from AD; it is therefore a contemporary of Late Old English and Early Middle English. The modern Goideli ...

sometime between 1100 and 1300, Críchad an Chaoilli is a

topographical Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scienc ...

text that takes its title from its opening verse: : ''Crichad an caoilli gu cruaidh'' : ''in fuil uaibh nech noimluaidh ?'' : ''tucad do mac Sonaisc sin'' : ''ar an forbhais d'fhoirdhin'' which translates as :''The exact boundary of the Caoille,'' :''is there anyone of you who would describe it?'' :''It was given to the son of Sonasc'' :''for assisting at the siege.'' The rest of the text is written in

prose Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...

, and describes the land and proprietors of

Fermoy Fermoy () is a town on the Munster Blackwater, River Blackwater in east County Cork, Ireland. As of the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, the town and environs had a population of approximately 6,700 people. It is located in the barony (Ir ...

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

, an area originally known as the kingdom of Caoille or Fir Maige Féne. It survives in two manuscripts –

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). Defectiv ...

, on

folio The term "folio" () has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging Paper size, sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for ...

140a, 2; and in

Egerton 92 Egerton may refer to: People * Egerton (name), a list of people with either the surname or the given name * Egerton family, a British aristocratic family * George Egerton, pen name of Mary Dunne Bright (1859–1945), Australian-born writer Place ...

, fo. 13b, preserved in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Authorship

Its unknown author is thought to have been a monastic

scribe A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of Printing press, automatic printing. The work of scribes can involve copying manuscripts and other texts as well as ...

External links

* http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G100063/index.html

References

Manuscript sources

* Cork,

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

, fo. 140a, 2. * London,

, Egerton 92, fo. 13b.

Editions

* J. G. O'Keeffe (ed.), ''The ancient territory of Fermoy'',

Ériu In Irish mythology, Ériu (; ), daughter of Delbáeth and Ernmas of the Tuatha Dé Danann, was the eponymous matron goddess of Ireland. The English name for Ireland comes from the name Ériu and the Germanic languages, Germanic (Old Norse or ...

10 (1926–28), 170–89. * P. Power (ed.), ''Crichad an Chaoilli being the Topography of Ancient Fermoy'' (Dublin 1932).

Articles

* Eithne Donnelly, ''The Roches, Lords of Fermoy: the history of a Norman-Irish family'', in ''Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society''39 (1934), 38–40, 57–68; 40 (1935), 37–42, 63–73; 41 (1936), 20–28, 78–84; 42 (1937), 40–52. * T. F. O'Rahilly, ''Some Fermoy placenames'', ''

'', 12 (1938), 254–256. *

Liam Ó Buachalla Liam Ó Buachalla (10 April 1899 – 15 October 1970) was a Fianna Fáil politician from Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland. He was active as a financial expert in the Irish War of Independence. He was a Seanad Éireann, Senator from 1939 to 1969, ...

, ''Placenames of north-east Cork'', ''J.C.H.A.S.'' 54 (1949) 31–34. * Liam Ó Buachalla, ''Contributions towards the political history of Munster'', in ''J.C.H.A.S.'' 56 (1951), 87–90; 57 (1952) 67–86; 59 (1954) 111–26; 61 (1956) 89–102. * Liam Ó Buachalla, ''Townland development in the Fermoy area, 12th century–19th century'', '' Dinnseanchas'' 1 (1965), 87–92. * Liam Ó Buachalla, ''An early fourteenth-century placenames list for Anglo-Norman Cork'', ''Dinnseanchas'' 3/2 (1967), 39–50. *

F. X. Martin Francis Xavier Martin, OSA (; 2 October 1922 – 13 February 2000) was an Irish cleric, historian and activist. Life Francis Xavier Martin was born 2 October 1922 in Ballylongford, County Kerry, Ireland. Francis was the youngest son in a family ...

, ''The first Normans in Munster'', in ''J.C.H.A.S.'' 76 (1971), 48–71. * Niall Brunicardi, ''Fermoy to 1790: a local history (Fermoy: Eigse na Mainistreach)'', 1975. * C. J. F. MacCarthy, ''Éigse Chaoille: an introduction to the literature of ancient

'', in ''Mallow Field Club Journal'' 6 (1988) 134–155. *

Kenneth Nicholls Kenneth W. Nicholls (1934 or 1935 – 25 May 2025) was an Irish academic and historian, notable for his work on the late medieval and early modern period. He was the subject of a festschrift in 2014. Work Nicholls worked at the Dublin Institut ...

, ''The development of Lordship in County Cork, 1300–1600'', in: P. O'Flanagan and C.G. Buttimer (eds), ''Cork History and Society. Interdisciplinary Essays on the history of an Irish County'' (Dublin 1993) 157–211. *

Donnchadh Ó Corráin Donnchadh Ó Corráin (28 February 1942 – 25 October 2017) was an Republic of Ireland, Irish historian and professor emeritus of medieval history at University College Cork. He earned his BA in history and Irish from UCC, graduating in 1964. ...

, ''

Corcu Loígde The Corcu Loígde (Corcu Lóegde, Corco Luigde, Corca Laoighdhe, Laidhe), meaning Gens of the Calf Goddess, also called the Síl Lugdach meic Itha, were a kingdom centred in West County Cork who descended from the proto-historical rulers of M ...

: land and families'', in O'Flanagan and Buttimer, ''Cork History and Society'', 63–81. * Paul MacCotter & K. W. Nicholls, ''The

pipe roll The Pipe rolls, sometimes called the Great rollsBrown ''Governance'' pp. 54–56 or the Great Rolls of the Pipe, are a collection of financial records maintained by the English Exchequer, or HM Treasury, Treasury, and its successors, as well a ...

Cloyne Cloyne () is a small town located to the southeast of Midleton in eastern County Cork, Ireland. It is also a see city of the Anglican (Church of Ireland) Diocese of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, while also giving its name to a Roman Catholic dioce ...

(Rotulus pipæ Clonensis)'', Cloyne, Midleton, Co. Cork, 1996. * Diarmuid Ó Murchadha, ''Cenn Ebrat, Sliab Caín, Belach Ebrat, Belach Legtha/Lechta'',

Éigse ''Éigse: A Journal of Irish Studies'' is an academic journal devoted to the study of the Irish language and literature. It began in 1923 as part of an initiative by the Senate of the National University of Ireland to use the Adam Boyd Simpson F ...

29 (1996), 153–71. * M. A. Monk & John Sheehan (eds), ''Early Munster: Archaeology, Sistory and Society'' (Cork 1998) 59–64. * Denise Power et al., ''Archaeological inventory of County Cork'' (4 vols, Dublin 1992–2000). * J. O'Meara, ''Mallow-Fermoy-Mitchelstown'', in ''Journal of the Irish Railway Record Society'' 22 (2004) pp. 17–33. * Edel Bhreathnach, ''Críchad an Chaoilli: a medieval territory revealed'', in ''J.C.H.A.S'', 110 (2005), pp. 85–96. * Paul MacCotter, ''Medieval Ireland: territorial, political and economic divisions'', Dublin, 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Crichad An Chaoilli Texts in Irish Irish-language manuscripts Irish-language literature 12th-century manuscripts 13th-century manuscripts 12th-century documents 13th-century documents Medieval genealogies and succession lists Irish books