1 Much has been written on this subject. For comprehensive commentaries, see Jeffrey, D. L., The early English lyric and Franciscan spirituality (Lincoln, 1975)Google Scholar; Fleming, J. V., An introduction to the Franciscan literature of the Middle Ages (Chicago, 1977)Google Scholar; eadem, ‘The friars and medieval English literature’ in Wallace, D. (ed.), The Cambridge history of medieval English literature (Cambridge, 1999), pp 349-75Google Scholar; Roest, B., Franciscan literature of religious instruction before the Council of Trent (Leiden, 2004), pp 275–313Google Scholar.

2 Fleming, ‘The friars & medieval English literature’, p. 350.

3 Scott, A. B., ‘Latin learning and literature in Ireland, 1169–1500’ in Cróinín, D. Ó (ed.), A new history of Ireland, i: prehistoric and early Ireland (Oxford, 2005), pp 974-80Google Scholar; Bliss, A. and Long, J., ‘Literature in Norman French and English to 1534’ in Cosgrove, A. (ed.), A new history of Ireland, ii: medieval Ireland, 1169–1534 (Oxford 1987, reprint 2008), pp 720–32;Google ScholarCartlidge, N., ‘Festivity, order and community in fourteenth-century Ireland: the composition and contexts of BL MS Harley 913’ in The Yearbook of English Studies, 33 (2003), pp 33–52.Google Scholar

4 Bliss & Long, ‘Literature in Norman French & English’, p. 722.

5 For a survey of this subject and an indication of primary and secondary sources, see Clabaigh, C. N. Ó, The Franciscans in Ireland, 1400–1504 (Dublin, 2002), pp 137-41.Google Scholar

6 Jeffrey, , The early English lyric, pp 231–61.Google Scholar

7 Flower, R., ‘Ireland and medieval Europe’ in Brit. Acad. Proc., 13 (1927), pp 282–92.Google Scholar

8 Breatnach, C., ‘The religious significance of Oidheadh Chloinne Lir’ in Ériu, 50 (1999), pp 38–40.Google Scholar

9 Cotter, F. J., The Friars Minor in Ireland (New York, 1994), pp 77–8Google Scholar.

10 Jeffrey, , The early English lyric, pp 211–12.Google Scholar

11 Jennings, B., Michael O’Cleirigh, chief of the four masters, and his associates (Dublin, 1936)Google Scholar, reprinted as Muraíle, N. Ó (ed.), Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, his associates and St Anthony’s College, Louvain. Brendan Jennings OFM, Paul Walsh, Felim O Brien OFM and Canice Mooney OFM (Dublin, 2008).Google Scholar

12 Bergin, O., Irish bardic poetry (Dublin 1970; reprint 1974), pp 43 §15, 228 §15.Google Scholar

13 I am grateful to Hazard, Dr Benjamin for this insight into Flaithrí Ó Maoil Chonaire’s career.Google Scholar

14 Giblin, C. (ed.), Irish Franciscan mission to Scotland, 1619–1646: documents from the Roman archives (Dublin, 1964), pp 53–4.Google Scholar

15 McGrath, C., ‘Three poems by Bonabheantura Ó hEódhasa’ in Éigse, 4 (1944), pp 175–96.Google Scholar

16 Raghnaill, F. Mac (ed.), An Teagasg Críosdaidhe (Baile Átha Cliath, 1976).Google Scholar

17 Jennings, B. (ed.), ‘Donatus Moneyus, de provincia Hiberniae S. Francisci’ [‘Brussels MS. 3947’] in Arch. Hib., 6 (1934), p. 63Google Scholar; Clabaigh, C. Ó, ‘Patronage, prestige and politics: the Observant Franciscans at Adare’ in Burton, J. and Stöber, K. (eds), Monasteries and society in the British Isles in the later Middle Ages (Woodbridge, 2008), p. 76Google Scholar.

18 Jennings, B. (ed.), ‘Brevis synopsis Provinciae Hiberniae Fratrum Minorum’ [‘Brevis synopsis’] in Arch. Hib., 6 (1934), pp 167–8, 174, 183.Google Scholar

19 Idem (ed.), ‘Brussels MS. 3947’, p. 57; Idem (ed.), ‘Brevis synopsis’, p. 168 (1552, 1561).

20 Idem (ed.), ‘Brussels MS. 3947’, p. 93.

21 Idem (ed.), ‘Brevis synopsis’, p. 168 (1533).

22 The Conventual Friars were a branch of the Franciscan order that followed a moderate form of the Rule of St Francis allowing it to hold property in common. The Observant Friars consisted of reformed branches of the order who considered themselves followers of the ‘primitive’ rule of St Francis. They were formally separated from the Conventuals in 1517. They expanded rapidly in Ireland in the late ffteenth century, and most Irish friars were Observants from the sixteenth century onwards. See Ó Clabaigh, Franciscans in Ireland, passim; Monti, D. V., St Francis and his brothers: a popular history of the Franciscan friars (Cinncinati, 2009).Google Scholar

23 Annála Uladh, Annals of Ulster; otherwise Annála Senait, Annals of Senat: a chronicle of Irish affairs, 431–1131, 1155–1541, ed. Hennessy, W. M. and MacCarthy, B. (4 vols, Dublin, 1887–1901), iii, 627.Google Scholar

24 Carney, M., ‘Agreement between Ó Domhnaill and Tadhg Ó Conchobhair concerning Sligo Castle (23 June 1539)’ in I.H.S., iii (1943), pp 282–96.Google Scholar

25 Ibid., p. 291.

26 Annála Connacht … (A.D. 1224–1544), ed. Martin Freeman, A. (Dublin, 1944), p. 834.Google Scholar

27 Ibid., pp 722–3.

28 Ibid., pp 410–11.

29 Gwynn, A. and Hadcock, R. N., Medieval religious houses. Ireland (Dublin, 1988 reprint), p. 301.Google Scholar

30 Ó Muraíle, N., The celebrated antiquary. Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh (c. 1600–71) (Maynooth, 1996), pp 39–40, 366–7.Google Scholar

31 For a fair description of the main manuscripts of the late medieval period, see Carney, J., ‘Literature in Irish, 1169–1534’ in Cosgrove, (ed.), A new history of Ireland, ii: medieval Ireland, pp 690–4.Google Scholar

32 Concheanainn, T. Ó, ‘The scribe of the Leabhar Breac’ in Ériu, 24 (1973), pp 64–79.Google Scholar

33 Atkinson, R., The passions and homilies from Leabhar Breac (Dublin, 1885), pp 41–8 (text), 278–86Google Scholar (translation).

34 Ibid., pp 56–9 (text), 295–9 (translation).

35 On the complexity of the textual tradition and its dating in Leabhar Breac., see Murdoch, B., ‘Preaching in medieval Ireland: the Irish tradition’ in Fletcher, A. J. and Gillespie, R. (eds), Irish preaching, 700–1700 (Dublin, 2001), pp 52–5Google Scholar.

36 Jennings, Michael O’Cleirigh, chief of the Four Masters, p. 89.

37 Concheannain, Ó, ‘Scribe of the Leabhar Breac’, p. 67.Google Scholar

38 The cataloguer (Catalogue of Irish manuscripts in the Royal Irish Academy (28 fasc., Dublin, 1926–70), fasc. xxvi, pp 3297–8), suggests that the name Sair Seon Mailéadanan is a playful emulation of the Knights of the Round Table whose story occurs in translation in the same manuscript but written in a different hand.

39 O’Sullivan, W., ‘Medieval Meath manuscripts’ in Ríocht na Midhe, 7, no. 4 (1985–6), pp 7–8, 15.Google Scholar

40 Todd, J. H. (ed.), ‘Obits of Kilcormick’ in Miscellany of the Irish Archaeological Society (1849), pp 103–4Google Scholar. I have made minor changes to Todd’s translation.

41 Flanagan, M. T., Royal Irish charters: texts and contexts (Oxford, 2005), pp 15–19Google Scholar.

42 Clabaigh, Ó, Franciscans in Ireland, pp 138–40.Google Scholar

43 Colker, Marvin, Trinity College Dublin descriptive catalogue of the medieval and Renaissance Latin manuscripts (2 vols, Aldershot, 1991), 2.Google Scholar

44 Flower, , ‘Ireland & medieval Europe’, p. 282.Google Scholar

45 Dillon, Myles, Mooney, Canice, M., O.F. and Brún, Pádraig de (eds), Catalogue of Irish manuscripts in the Franciscan Library, Killiney (Dublin, 1969), pp 10–11Google Scholar.

46 The essential tool for research on Irish bardic poetry is the database compiled by Dr Katharine Simms and available on the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies’ website: www.bardic.celt.dias.ie.

47 Ryan, S., ‘A slighted source: rehabilitating Irish bardic poetry in historical discourse’ in Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies, 48 (2004), p. 79.Google Scholar

48 Craith, C. Mhá, Dán na mBráthar Mionúr (2 vols, Baile Átha Cliath, 1967), i, 1–15; ii, 1–6.Google Scholar

49 Ibid., ii, 4 §1.

50 Flower, R., The Irish tradition (Dublin, 1947), pp 117-18Google Scholar; Craith, Mhág, Dán, ii, 100–1Google Scholar; Clabaigh, Ó, Franciscan in Ireland, p. 113.Google Scholar

51 Mhág Craith, Dán, ii, 5 §9.

52 Ibid., ii, 4, §3, 6 §27.

53 For medieval Dominicans and the Irish tradition, see Kearns, C., ‘Medieval Dominicans and the Irish language’ in I.E.R., 94 (1960), pp 17–38Google Scholar; Fenning, H. (ed.), Medieval Irish Dominican studies [Benedict O’Sullivan O.P.]Google Scholar.

54 McKenna, L., Dán Dé: the poems of Donnchadh Mór Ó Dálaigh, and the religious poems in the duanaire of the Yellow Book of Lecan (Dublin, 1922), pp 6–8Google Scholar (IV); 74–5 (VI).

55 Ibid., pp 74–5, §§14–5.

56 For consideration of references to SS Dominic and Francis in bardic poetry, see Ryan, S., ‘Popular religion in Gaelic Ireland, 1445–1645’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, N.U.I. Maynooth, 2002), pt. I, 258–66.Google Scholar

57 McKenna, Dán Dé, pp 24 (XIII), 91–2 (XIII).

58 Ibid., pp 24 §10, 92 §10.

59 Cat. Ir. MSS R.I.A., pp 3418–21.

60 All references are to McKenna’s, edition, although translations are occasionally altered (poem number followed by verse and line numbers).Google Scholar

61 Clabaigh, C. Ó, ‘The cult of St Francis in late medieval Ireland’ in Moss, R., Clabaigh, C. Ó and Ryan, S. (eds), Art and devotion in late medieval Ireland (Dublin, 2006), pp 158–9Google Scholar.

62 On the Third Order in Ireland, see Ó Clabaigh, , Franciscans in Ireland, pp 80–105.Google Scholar

63 On the history of the entombment of St Francis and the subsequent rediscovery of his remains, see Brooke, R. B., The image of St Francis. Responses to sainthood in the thirteenth century (Cambridge, 2006), pp 48–50, 454–64Google Scholar.

64 Irish Monthly, no. 58 (1930), pp 150–3.

65 Ó Clabaigh, Franciscans in Ireland, p. 120.

66 McKenna, , ‘To St Francis’, p. 152 §§29–30.Google Scholar

67 Ibid., p. 153, 32a, c.

68 Ryan, , ‘Popular religion in Gaelic Ireland’, pt. 1, pp 258–60.Google Scholar

69 McKenna, , ‘To St. Francis of Assisi’, p. 151 §17.Google Scholar

70 Riain, Pádraig Ó (ed.), Corpus Genealogiarum Sanctorum Hiberniae (Dublin, 1985), p. 2, §1.3Google Scholar. There seems to have been a number of relics that were reputedly St Patrick’s teeth, the most notable being the Shrine of St Patrick’s tooth, which was originally made in the twelfth century and altered in the 1370s by Thomas Bermingham, Lord of Athenry (d. 1376); (Wallace, P. F. and Floinn, R. Ó, Treasures of the National Museum of Ireland (Dublin, 2002), pp 270, 292–3 (Plates 7:25–6))Google Scholar.

71 Ann. Conn., pp 298–9.

72 For a full account of the Ó hUiginn family, see Knott, E., The bardic poems of Tadhg Dall Ó Huiginn (1550–1591) (London, 1921 [1926]), pp 305–25.Google Scholar

73 Ibid., p. 321.

74 The soubriquet crosach – ‘marked with a cross, marked with a scar’ – is relatively rare.

75 Clabaigh, Ó, Franciscans in Ireland, p. 54.Google Scholar

76 Colker, , Cat. Latin MSS T.C.D., pp 1159–60 (items 326, 326 (a)–(e)).Google Scholar

77 Jennings, (ed.), Louvain papers, p. 9, document no. 9 (16 Aug. 1607).Google Scholar

78 Ryan, S., ‘Windows on late medieval devotional practice: Máire Ní Mháille’s “Book of Piety” (1513) and the world behind the texts’ in Moss, et al. (eds), Art & devotion, pp 1–15Google Scholar; Cunningham, B., ‘Illustrations of the Passion of Christ in the Senchas Búrcach manuscript’ in ibid., pp 16–32.Google Scholar

79 R.I.A., 3 B 22–3 (nos 1226–7), 24 P 1 (no 1228).

80 Ryan, ‘Máire Ní Mháille’s ‘Book of Piety’’.

81 Ibid., p. 2.

82 Walsh, P. (ed.), Leabhar Chlainne Suibhne. The Book of the MacSweeneys. Text and genealogies (Dublin, 1920), pp xliv–v, liGoogle Scholar. The text known as Spiritus Guidonis also occurs in an Irish translation in the ffteenth-century manuscript known as Liber Flavus Fergusiorum (R.I.A. MS 23 O 48, f. 13 (15) r). See Millett, B., ‘The translation work of the Irish Franciscans’ in Seanchas Ardmhacha, 17 (1996–7), pp 1–25.Google Scholar

83 Clabaigh, Ó, Franciscans in Ireland, pp 147, 167.Google Scholar

84 R.I.A. catalogue 23 O 48 (no. 476) folio 20vo begins Le[g]thar eig Reimunn ina shuim féin ‘it is read in his own Summa by Raymond’; see www.isos.dias.ie.

85 Dottin, G., ‘Notice du manuscript irlandais de la Bibliothèque de Rennes’ in Revue Celtique, 15 (1894), pp 86–7Google Scholar. The scribe notes at folio 69: Dardæin manndála indíu 7 ar comurci an fer do caithes indiu damh 7 i Cill Creidhi damh ‘Today Holy Thursday and I put myself under the protection of he who I received today and I am in Kilcrea’; Ó Clabaigh, Franciscans in Ireland, pp 137–8.

86 Omont, H., ‘Catalogue des MSS celtiques et basques de la Bibliothèque Nationale’ in Revue Celtique, 11 (1890), pp 390–405.Google Scholar

87 Flower, R., Catalogue of Irish manuscripts in the British Museum (3 vols, London, 1992) ii, 550 (5); these volumes were first published from 1926–53.Google Scholar

88 Brook, The image of St Francis, pp 329–31.

89 Dottin, G., ‘Notice du manuscript irlandais de la Bibliothèque de Rennes’, p. 87Google Scholar; see also Flower, , Cat. Ir. MSS in B.L., ii, 540–1 (B.L., MS Egerton 1781)Google Scholar.

90 Jennings, , Michael O’Cleirigh, chief of the Four Masters, pp 150–2.Google Scholar

91 John, O’Donovan (ed.), Annála Ríoghachta Éireann: Annals of the kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters, from the earliest period to the year 1616. Edited from MSS in the library of the Royal Irish Academy and of Trinity College Dublin with a translation and copious notes (7 vols, Dublin, 1848–51),Google Scholar v, 1508 (s.a. 1548), note Niall, b. O’Shiel sub scribed the will of Sir John Coghlan in 1590. Turlough Mac Cochláin was one of Mícheál Ó Cléirigh’s patrons.Google Scholar

92 Jennings, B., Michael O’Cleirigh, chief of the Four Masters, pp 150–2.Google Scholar

93 Flower, , Cat. Ir. MSS in B.L., pp 526, 542–3 (art. 26).Google Scholar

94 O’Donovan, (ed.), A.F.M., v, p. 1508 (s.a. 1548), note b.Google Scholar

95 Cuív, B.Ó, Catalogue of Irish language manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford and Oxford college libraries (2 parts, Dublin, 2001–03), pt. i, 256.Google Scholar

96 Ibid., 261ff. As Cuív, Ónotes (p. 262), Giolla Riabhach Ó Cléirigh also compiled a personal duanaire for Maghnus Ó Domhnaill (T.C.D., MS 1319 (H.2.17)).Google Scholar

97 Dillon, et al., Cat. MSS FLK, pp 16–17.Google Scholar

98 Cuív, Ó, Cat. Ir. MSS in Bodleian Library, i, 89–90.Google Scholar

99 I wish to thank DrMacMahon, Joseph O.F.M., McCafferty, Dr John, and the editors for their observations on an earlier draft of this paper.Google Scholar