Rereading The Sermons In The Leabhar Breac, Conor McDonough

The Royal Irish Academy

A two-day conference exploring the historical, ecclesiastical, literary and illustrative aspects of An Leabhar Breac which ran from Thursday 27 April - Friday 28 April 2023 in the Royal Irish Academy. Royal Irish Academy Library in association with the Maynooth University Department of Early Irish, and the School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. The Royal Irish Academy manuscript An Leabhar Breac/The Speckled Book was written in Irish by Murchadh Riabhach Ó Cuindlis (a scribe of the Book of Lecan), at Cluain Lethan in Múscraige Tíre, in north Co. Tipperary and at other locations, between the years 1408 and 1411. In the 16th century the manuscript was held by the Mac Egans of Duniry, the most prominent of the hereditary legal families of late medieval Ireland, whence it also received the title of Leabhar Mór Dúna Doighre/The Book of the MacEgans. It is the largest Irish vellum manuscript created by one scribe and contains religious and biblical material derived from Latin, Irish literature and history, including the lives of St Patrick and St Brigid, the Litany of Our Lady, Félire Óengusso Céli Dé, the humorous saga Aisling Meic Conglinne, and some reworkings of biblical history. This two-day conference will explore the historical, ecclesiastical, literary and illustrative aspects of An Leabhar Breac, this most impressive example of a predominantly religious manuscript compilation in the Irish vernacular.