Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, 23 O 48 a-b

Images: Irish Script on Screen (part a, part b); Codecs

Other identifiers: Liber Flavus Fergusiorum 

Physical description: vellum, 11 × 8 in., 92 remaining fols., 2 cols. presently bound in two volumes

Language: Middle Irish

Date: 1407 (vol. 1 fol. 29^r) and 1440 (vol. 2, fol. 1^r); scribe(s) of the Ó Fearghuis clan, from whom the manuscript receives its name

Provenance: Roscommon

Contents: 

Passion of Andrew (=Epistle of the Presbyters and Deacons of Achaea (I, fol. 30[81]^v)

Passion of Philip (=Acts of Philip (Latin) (I, fol. 31[82]^r)

Passion of Bartholomew (I, fol. 31[82]^v)

Life of John (I, fol. 32[87]^r and and a second Life of John (I, fols. 32[87]^v–33[88]^v)

Passion of John the Baptist (I fols. 33[88]^v–34[89]^v)

Birth of Mary and Birth of Christ (incorporating Book of the Nativity of the Savior) (II, fols. 2^r–6[7]^v)

Passion of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul (Ps.-Marcellus) (II, fols. 22[24]^v–24[26]^v)

Gospel of Nicodemus (II, fols. 26^r–32[42]^v)

Epistle of Christ from Heaven (II, fol. 34[45]^v)

Ever-New Tongue (II, fols. 35[44]^r–37[46]^r)

Apocalypse of Paul (II, fols. 38[47]^v)

Transitus of Mary (II, fols. 48[99]^r–50^v)

Additional contents: Finding of the True Cross, On the Four Kinds of Wood out of Which the Cross Was Made, Concerning the Wonders at the Birth of Christ, On the Fifteen Signs of the Day of Judgment, tract on Christ’s Descent into Hell, and various Irish hagiographies, tractates, prayers, and offices.

Catalogs and resources:

Gwynn, Edward J. “The manuscript known as the Liber Flavus Fergusiorum.” Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 26 C:2 (1906–1907): 15–41.

McNamara, Martin, et al., eds. “The Liber Flavus Fergusiorum Infancy Narrative.” Pages 136–245 in vol. 1 of Apocrypha Hiberniae I. Evangelia Infantia. Edited by Martin McNamara et al. 2 vols. CCSA 13–14. Turnhout: Brepols, 2001 (manuscript description, pp. 137–39).

Mulchrone, Kathleen, et al. Catalogue of Irish manuscripts in the Royal Irish Academy. 8 vols. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1943 (vol. 2, fasc. 27, pp. 1254–73).

Plummer, Charles. “A Tentative Catalogue of Irish Hagiography.” Pages 171–285 in Miscellanea hagiographica Hibernica: vitae adhuc ineditae sanctorum Mac Creiche, Naile, Cranat, 15. Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 1925 (p. 174 and inter alia).

Other online databases: Wikipedia

Entry created by Tony Burke, York University, 10 December 2024.