Bodleian: The Book of Glendalough

Two things may be said about the Book of Glendalough. One is that it resides in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. The second thing? That we don't know for certain what or where the Book of Glendalough is. Let me explain.

First let's look at the obvious facts about the catalog entry known as MS Rawlinson B 502. It is a 166-page vellum manuscript that was composed between 1100 and 1130 CE in Glendalough in the County Wicklow. It is written in Middle Irish and Latin, and has later notes added by owners and scholars and scribes through whose hands it passed. There are two parts to it: separate works that were bound together in the 1600s. Three different scribal hands can be detected. One of the scribes seems to have been the one designated "H," the same who wrote notes into the Book of the Dun Cow.

The subject matter of the first manuscript is the Annals of Tigernach, a history of early Ireland. The second manuscript includes religious poems, a revised edition of a history called "The Six Ages of the World," a poem called a "Song for Columcille" (Columba), and more.

The reason for the uncertain identity? The Book of Glendalough was referenced by other manuscripts, with referrals to some of the texts that we find contained in MS Rawlinson B 502. But MS Rawlinson B 502's provenance and history are not carved in stone. Determining that this manuscript was the same Book of Glendalough that other manuscripts quoted has left room for debate.

Adding to the confusion is that the title "Book of Glendalough" (I am using the English translation of the Gaelic Lebar Glinne Dá Locha) was used to refer to what is now universally known as the Book of Leinster.

Taken at face value, the manuscript has been called "most important and most beautiful ... undoubtedly the most magnificent" of medieval Irish manuscripts by the 20th-century scholar Brian Ó Cuív. For more on the debate, you can read here (requires special access).

From the same century as the Book of Glendalough, tomorrow let us look at a true one-of-a-kind manuscript, the only known example in existence of the Old Dutch language, the Hebban olla vogala. See you then.

What Was the Dun Cow?

In the legends of Guy of Warwick, he fights wild boars, dragons, giants, and the Dun Cow. Three of those four are familiar to modern readers, but the last bears explanation. The Dun Cow was supposedly a giant beast that roamed Dunsmore Heath in Warwickshire.

A related story tells that the dun-colored cow was owned by a giant. Its supply of milk never ran out, and anyone could come and milk it to get what they needed. One day, however, a witch came along. After filling her pail with milk, she wanted the cow to fill her sieve (called a "riddle"); its attempts to fill what could not hold milk killed it.

The origin of Guy's encounter with the Dun Cow is unknown. One 19th century philologist suggested that "Dun Cow" was a corruption of Dena Gau, Germanic for "Danish region"; in his explanation, the character of Guy was instrumental in defeating the Danes. Since one version of Guy's legend has him returning from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to help King Æthelstan against northern attacks (Danes), this makes some sense.

But the legend gave rise to stories about actual beasts, and so we have to look at non-Danish options. There are actually "souvenirs" of the Dun Cow in England. At Warwick Castle, where you can see items reported to be from Guy's life and adventures, there is one item that is said to be the rib of the Dun Cow. It is, in fact, a narwhal tusk. In Lancashire there is a Dun Cow Rib Farm where a giant rib bone is embedded in a wall, said to come from a giant cow. That rib is assumed to have come from a giant bovine, the auroch that roamed Britain during the Bronze Age.

There is a modern novel called The Book of the Dun Cow, adapted from "The Nun's Priest's Tale" from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. There was also a 12th century Book of the Dun Cow that is a lot more relevant to this blog, and I'll tell you about it next time.