Texts

Turas na dTaoiseach nUltach as Éirinn

Tadhg Ó Cianáin
  • Early Modern Irish
  • prose
  • Irish texts
The story of the Flight of the Earls (1607-1608), according to Tadhg Ó Cianáin.
Author
Ó Cianáin (Tadhg)Ó Cianáin (Tadhg)
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Language
  • Early Modern Irish
  • late Early Modern Irish
Form
prose (primary)

Classification

Irish textsIrish texts
...

Subjects

Flight of the EarlsFlight of the Earls
...

Sources

Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.

[ed.] Ó Muraíle, Nollaig [ed.], Turas na dTaoiseach nUltach as Éirinn: from Ráth Maoláin to Rome. Tadhg O Cianain's contemporary narrative of the so-called Flight of the Earls, 1607-8, Rome: Pontifical Irish College, Four Courts Press, 2007.  
Contents include: introduction (17-45); Text and translation (48-399); Tomás Ó Fiaich and notes by Paul Walsh (403-600); Sample to compare (semi)diplomatic and modernised editions (603-609); Paul Walsh's preface (610-616); AFM's account (617-619); Prosopography of Earl's entourage (620-628); Index of persons mentioned in the text (629-630); Index of placenames (631-640), etc; Irish inscription of Loreto (653-656).
abstract:
When the principal lords of Gaelic Ulster and their followers sailed from Lough Swilly in September 1607 on the faithful journey that would end in Rome nine months later, their company included one of the Irish learned class – Tadhg Ó Cianáin. This tantalisingly obscure figure has left us a most important primary source for a pivotal period in Irish history. Ó Cianáin’s careful record sheds valuable light on such things as the reaction of the Continental powers – France, Spain, Lorraine, and the Papacy – to the arrival on their territories of the inconvenient Irish exiles; the spread of Tridentine Catholic influence as far afield as Ireland; the role of such important Franciscan figures as Flaithrí Ó Maoil Chonaire and Roibeart Mac Artúir; the palpable Franciscan flavour that suffuses Ó Cianáin’s work; the sights and sounds of the great Baroque city of Rome, and the impressive sophistication and flexibility of the Irish language in accommodating itself to and borrowing from several other languages.

This new edition of Tadhg Ó Cianáin’s work owes much to the two previous editions, those of Paul Walsh (†1916) and Tomás Ó Fiaich and Pádraig de Barra (†1972); from the latter edition it furnishes, in translation, the late Cardinal Ó Fiaich’s invaluable commentary on the Earls’ journey, supplemented by Fr Walsh’s detailed annotation.

Secondary sources (select)

Mac Craith, Micheál, “Tadhg Ó Cianáin: spaghetti fiannagheacht”, in: Sharon J. Arbuthnot, and Geraldine Parsons (eds), The Gaelic Finn tradition, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2012. 163–178.
Contributors
C. A., Dennis Groenewegen
Page created
August 2012, last updated: January 2024