Historian and author Elizabeth Boyle will join Tomás Kenny in conversation in Kennys Bookshop on 23 May at 6pm to discuss the Book of Uí Mhaine and its connections to Galway.
The recent published Book of Uí Mhaine (Royal Irish Academy 2023) investigates the fourteenth century Irish manuscript of the same name, one of the most important manuscripts of late medieval Ireland.
Edited by Dr Elizabeth Boyle (Maynooth University) and Professor Ruairí Ó hUiginn (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), Book of Uí Mhaine (2023) examines all aspects of the manuscript, including its production, the medieval texts it contains, its decoration and its later history.
The Book of Uí Mhaine was written over a period of seven years for Muircheartach Ó Ceallaigh, bishop of Clonfert and later archbishop of Tuam (d. 1407), probably in the ancient territory of Uí Mhaine (east Galway, south Roscommon, part of Clare, part of Offaly).
It was the work of many scholars and a miscellaneous collection of much that was considered vital for a bishop to know in fourteenth-century Ireland.
Gathering together work by experts from Irish and UK universities, the book sheds new light on the manuscript and is lavishly illustrated with examples of its beautiful scripts and decorated initials.
One highlight is an edition and translation by Professor Liam Breatnach of a medieval Irish poem never published before which possibly dates to the twelfth or thirteenth century, and which discusses all sorts of occupations held by people in medieval Ireland, from musicians to doctors, silversmiths to comb-makers.
The event takes place in Kennys Bookshop in Liosbán on Tuesday, May 23 at 6pm and all are welcome.
Copies of the book will be available to purchase on the night. This event is free to attend, but ticketed – please visit www.kennys.ie/events or call Kennys on 091-709350 to book your free ticket.
