At over 400 years old, the Book of Lismore is a 15th-century manuscript commonly referred to as one of the “great books of Ireland”. The tome was compiled for the then Lord of Carbery, Fínghin Mac Carthaigh, from 1478 to 1505 and includes almost 200 large vellum folios containing much of medieval Irish literature’s greatest masterpieces. It includes the lives of Irish saints, the only known surviving Irish translation of the travels of Marco Polo, and the adventures of the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill, or Finn MacCool. The book was captured by the English during a siege of Kilbrittain Castle in Cork in the 1640s, but now, after hundreds of years, it’s returning home.
Once it fell into British hands, the book was given to the Earl of Cork at Lismore Castle, and later thought to have been lost after it was walled up in the 18th-century, though it was rediscovered following renovations in 1814. One hundred years later, it was relocated to Devonshire House in London, then to Chatsworth, the ancestral seat of the dukes of Devonshire. The book has been owned by the trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement ever since.
As The Guardian reports, the book is now being donated to University College Cork by the trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement. Taoiseach Micheál Martin has warmly welcomed the return of the historic book and applauded the generosity of Peregrine Cavedish, Duke of Devonshire, as well as his family.
“Were it not for the duke and his predecessors in England and Ireland, The Book of Lismore might, like many other Gaelic manuscripts of its time, have been lost or remained undiscovered,” said Martin.
Cavedish stated that, ever since the book was loaned to the institution for an exhibition in 2011, he and the trustees have been looking at ways to return the book permanently. It is now being donated “in recognition of academic and curatorial expertise at the university, and in appreciation of a very long and fruitful partnership between the Cavendish family and UCC”, which goes as far back as the establishment of the university in the 1840s.
“My family and I are delighted this has been possible, and hope that it will benefit many generations of students, scholars and visitors to the university,” said Cavendish.
University College Cork says the manuscript shows “an Ireland that was deeply engaged with the contemporary European culture of the time,” and intends to display the book for the public.
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