|
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawlinson B 502 is a medieval Irish manuscript which presently resides in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. It ranks as one of the three major surviving Irish manuscripts to have been produced in pre-Norman Ireland, the two other works being the Lebor na hUidre and the Book of Leinster. Some scholars have also called it the Book of Glendalough, in Irish ''Lebar Glinne Dá Locha'', after several allusions in medieval and early modern sources to a manuscript of this name. However, there is currently no agreement as to whether Rawlinson B 502, more precisely its second part, is to be identified as the manuscript referred to by that title. It was described by Brian Ó Cuív as one of the "most important and most beautiful ... undoubtedly the most magnificent" of the surviving medieval Irish manuscripts.〔Ó Cuív, ''Catalogue of Irish Language Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford and Oxford College Libraries'', p. 172〕 Pádraig Ó Riain states ".. a rich, as yet largely unworked, source of information on the concerns of the community at Glendaloughin or about the year 1131, and a magnificent witness, as yet barely interrogated, to the high standard of scholarship attained by this monastic centre."〔Ó Riain, "The Book of Glendalough: a continuing investigation", p. 87.〕 ==History and structure== The manuscript as it exists today consists of two vellum codices which were originally separate works but were bound together sometime before 1648.〔Hellmuth, "Rawlinson B 502", p. 1475〕 This was done at the request of their new owner, Irish antiquarian Sir James Ware (d. 1666), who thanks to Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh (d. 1671) had been able to assemble a fine collection of Irish manuscripts.〔 Several leaves of paper with a (mainly) Latin commentary by Ware on aspects of Irish history (fos. 13–18) were inserted between the two manuscripts, possibly to preserve the appearance of two distinct works.〔 Further paper folios were added at the end of the second manuscript (fos. 90–103), containing notes and transcripts of documents, part of which was written in Latin.〔 The first manuscript, which covers folios 1-12v (six bifolia), was compiled and written in the late 11th century or possibly at the beginning of the 12th.〔〔Oskamp, "The first twelve folia", p. 56.〕〔 The fine minuscule script suggests the work of two professional scribes, and glosses were added by later hands. One of these glossators has been identified as the scribe "H" who was also responsible for adding glosses to the Lebor na hUidre. Like the latter work, this part of Rawlinson B 502 may therefore have been a product of the monastic scriptorium of Clonmacnoise, Co. Offaly.〔 The greater part of Rawlinson B 502, covering fos. 19–89, is taken up by a manuscript the text of which was written by a single scribe in the mid-12th century.〔 The last king of Connacht listed is Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair (r. 1106–1156).〔Breatnach, "Rawlinson B 502", p. 399.〕 Every leaf has two columns of text written in regular minuscule.〔Ó Riain, "The Book of Glendalough: a continuing investigation", p. 71.〕 The calligraphy, with some decoration, is of a high standard. The parchment was well prepared, though the manuscript has been subject to wear and tear and several folios are now lost.〔 The contents of the manuscript point towards a monastic milieu in Leinster as the source of its origin. It has been proposed that Killeshin in Co. Laois was the house responsible for its production.〔 James Ware's collection of manuscripts passed on to his son, who sold it to the Earl of Clarendon. It was later transferred to James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, who sold some of the manuscripts, including that known now as Rawlinson B 502, to Dr Richard Rawlinson (d. 1755). Rawlinson's collection of manuscripts was bequeathed to St John's College, Oxford, whence in 1756 it finally found its way into the Bodleian Library.〔 In 1909, Kuno Meyer published a collotype facsimile edition of the vellum pages, with an introduction and indices, published by Clarendon Press.〔Meyer, ''Rawlinson B 502: a collection of pieces in prose and verse in the Irish language compiled during the eleventh and twelfth Centuries''.〕 By 2000, the ''Early Manuscripts at Oxford University'' project was launched, now entrusted to the Oxford Digital Library, which published digital reproductions of the manuscript. The scanned images include both vellum and paper leaves, with the exception of the 17th-century paper leaves found on fos. 105–171.〔''(Early Manuscripts at Oxford University )''.〕 Critical editions and translations of the individual texts, insofar as these have been undertaken, have been published separately in books and academic journals. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bodleian Library, MS Rawlinson B 502」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|