The Book of Leinster (Irish Lebor Laignech), formerly known as the Book of Noughaval (Lebor na Nuachongbála), is a medieval Irish manuscript compliled ca. 1160 and now kept in Trinity College, Dublin. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... A manuscript (Latin manu scriptus, written by hand), strictly speaking, is any written document that is put down by hand, in contrast to being printed or reproduced some other way. ... Events Erik den helige is succeeded by Karl Sverkersson. ... The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin or more commonly Trinity College, Dublin (TCD) was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I, is the only constituent college of the University of Dublin, Irelands oldest university. ... Dublins Hapenny Bridge. ...

It is one of the most important sources of medieval Irish literature, genealogy and mythology, containing, among many others, texts such as Lebor Gabála Érenn (the Book of Invasions), the most complete version of Táin Bó Cuailnge (the Cattle Raid of Cooley), the Metrical Dindshenchas and an Irish translation/adaptation of the Aeneid. It is apparently the work of a single scribe/compiler, Áed Ua Crimthainn. From annals recorded in the manuscript we can say it was written between 1151 and 1201, with the bulk of the work probably complete in the 1160s. For a comparatively small country, Ireland has made a disproportionate contribution to world literature in all its branches. ... Genealogy is the study and tracing of family pedigrees. ... Although many of the manuscripts containing texts relating to Irish mythology have failed to survive, and much more material was probably never committed to writing, there is enough remaining to enable the identification of four distinct, if overlapping, cycles: the Mythological Cycle, The Ulster Cycle, the Fenian Cycle and the... Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of the Taking of Ireland) is the Middle Irish title of a loose collection of poems and prose narratives recounting the mythical origins and history of the Irish race from the creation of the world down to the Middle Ages. ... The Táin Bó Cúailnge, or Cattle Raid of Cooley, is the central tale in the Ulster Cycle, one of the four great cycles that make up the surviving corpus of Irish mythology. ... The Metrical Dindshenchas, or Lore of Places, is probably the major surviving monument of Irish bardic verse. ... The Aeneid is a Latin epic written by Virgil in the 1st century BC that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who traveled to Italy where he became the ancestor of the Romans. ... This article is about the historian Tacitus. ... Events Ghazni is burned by the princes of Ghur Geoffrey of Anjou dies, and succeeded by his son Henry, aged 18. ... Events The town of Riga was chartered as a city. ...

The manuscript has 187 leaves, each approximately 13" by 9" (33cm by 23cm). A note in the manuscript suggests as many as 45 leaves have been lost. A diplomatic edition was published by the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies in six volumes over a period of 29 years.

References

• R. I. Best, Osborn Bergin & M. A. O'Brien (eds) (1954), The Book of Leinster Vol 1

External links

• Contents of the Book of Leinster (http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/leinster.html)