Loose Leaves:The Annals of the Four Masters, the iconic chronicle of Irish history from prehistory to AD 1616, which influenced the writing of national history from the 17th century onwards, will be reunited for the first time since 1636 in Dublin next month.
The five manuscripts that make up the two contemporary sets of the work, compiled by Irish Franciscans, will be on show in the Long Room of Trinity College Dublin in an exhibition organised by Trinity, UCD, the Franciscan order and the Royal Irish Academy. It's part of this year's celebration of the founding 400 years ago, in 1607 (the same year as the Flight of the Earls), of St Anthony's College in Louvain by Irish members of the order. It was from Louvain, in Belgium, that Donegal historian and poet Mícheál Ó Cléirigh was sent to Ireland in 1626 to compile manuscript sources for the lives of the saints and the history of his homeland. The idea was to gather annals throughout the country and make them into a continuous book, thereby rescuing and preserving the sources of Irish history.
Ó Cléirigh was the principal historian on the project. From Kilbarron, Co Donegal, he became a lay brother in Louvain before, back in Ireland, working from a Franciscan house on the River Drowes in Donegal. His modus operandi was to travel from there to other friaries and to the schools of learned families and elsewhere, looking for material. He copied texts wherever he found them and then, back in Co Donegal for the winter, made legible copies. His immense knowledge of his subject is clear from his marginalia to the texts - even if he sometimes gave out about the difficulty of his task.
Also on board were the other three masters, lay professional writers Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh (Mícheál's cousin ), Fearfeasa Ó Maoil Chonaire and Cú Choigcríche Ó Duibhgheannáin, who were all members of learned families from the north-west of Ireland. They wrote their history in Irish, drawing on legends and earlier annals.
While one set of their finished oeuvre was probably sent to Louvain, the original manuscripts are now preserved in Dublin. There's no record of Mícheál Ó Cléirigh's death, but it is thought he died in 1643 and was buried in the college in Louvain.
"I hope the exhibition will show people the source of our history," says Edel Bhreathnach, of UCD's Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute for the Study of Irish History and Civilisation.
The annals will be contextualised in the exhibition by being displayed with the works of other historians of the era and with other books, such as The Book of Leinster and The Annals of Ulster.
Writing Irish History: the Four Masters and the World opens in TCD on Oct 9 and runs until the end of December
Taking up the Gray gauntlet
Women write too many novels about domesticity - this was the sentiment that caused a furore earlier this year when voiced by British broadcaster Muriel Gray, chairwoman of the judges for the 2007 Orange prize for women's fiction. The theme of her remarks was that women wrote too much about relationships and motherhood rather than creating sweeping epics. Taking up the gauntlet and continuing the debate in Dublin next Saturday will be poet Gerald Dawe, novelist and playwright Carlo Gébler, novelist Adrienne Dines and feminist activist Ailbhe Smyth.
The debate is part of Readers' Day, organised by Dublin City Public Libraries at the Civic Offices on Wood Quay, an event which will also feature Captain Corelli's
Mandolin author Louis de Bernières (right). There's also a session on New Ideas for Your Book Club, with Guy Pringle, Kate Bateman, Maria Dickenson and Sarah Binchy (who researched the phenomenon of the Irish book club for her M Phil at TCD).
www.dublincitypubliclibraries.ie
Poetic springboard
Entries (and there's no fee required) can now be sent to the Dún Laoghaire-based Féile Filíochta International Poetry Competition in 10 languages (English, Irish, Polish, Spanish, Swedish, French, German, Welsh, Italian and Scots Gaelic). Prizes totalling €25,000 are on offer for the Féile, in its 19th year and run by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Libraries as a springboard for emerging poets. Judges include Nuala Ní Dhomhnailll, Gabriel Fitzmaurice and Rita Ann Higgins.
This competition remains wide open, taking poems from anywhere and of any style, length or theme. Last year there were 6,176 entries from 52 countries. Winners will be invited to take part in workshops with poets and judges at the Poetry Now Festival.
www.dlrcoco.ie/feile