Clavis Litterarum Hibernensium

Book excerpt: This work describes the whole literary and scholarly output of the whole of the Irish middle ages (4th-17th centuries), in Latin and in the vernaculars, and tries to do so as comprehensively as possible, esp. in biblica, liturgica, computistica, hagiographica and grammatica. The book focuses both on individual manuscripts and on textual transmission. In the case of manuscripts, it gives succinctly information and a detailed bibliography, always chronologically arranged. In the case of texts, it lists the manuscripts in which they occur or, on occasion, where such a list can be found, together with a bibliography of relevant publications. In the case of both, there are running cross-references to the standard works of reference. Concordantiae, at the end of the volume, reinforce that. The 'Index Manuscriptorum' is the most comprehensive attempt so far to list the MSS written by the medieval Irish or transmitting their texts. It should allow new work on the fortuna of Irish MSS and texts and their influence throughout the middle ages. The chapters on MSS and texts written in Irish provide the treatment of several areas: annals, genealogies, vernacular law, early poetry, bardic poetry and metrics.--See publisher's website.