The Poems of Blathmac, 8th Century Poetry in the 21st Century

The Poems of Blathmac mac Con Brettan maic Conguso do Feraib Rois , ‘Blathmac, Son of Cu Brettan, son of Congus of the Fir Rois’, are two long, 8th century, Old Irish, religious poems preserved in a 17th century manuscript now called MS G 50, which is house d in the National Library of Ireland, Dublin. While the provenance of the manuscript is not certain, it has been suggested that this text was transcribed by Micheal O Cleirigh, or one of his consorts, who are collectively known as the Four Masters. Micheal O Cleirigh, a Franciscan brother from County Donegal, is renowned for the work he did as a collector of texts and is the chief scribe associated with the Annals of the Four Masters . The connection between this manuscript and Micheal O Cleirigh is based on the fact that in 1846, it was in the possession of John O’Clery, who claimed to be a descendant of one of the Four Masters and who also claimed that the manuscript was once the property of his famous predecessor. The content of this manuscript would certa inly be consistent with other material copied and collected by Micheal O Cleirigh. This manuscript was acquired by the National Library in 1931 and the poems were discovered in 1953 by Nessa Ni Sheaghdha (Stifter, 2015, p. 47).