Acallam na Senórach

Acallam na Senórach (Modern Irish: Agallamh na Seanórach, whose title in English has been given variously as Colloquy with the Ancients, Tales of the Elders of Ireland, The Dialogue of the Ancients of Ireland, etc.), is an important prosimetric Middle Irish narrative dating to the last quarter of the 12th century . It is the most important text of the Fenian Cycle and at about 8,000 lines is the longest surviving work of original medieval Irish literature. It contains many Fenian narratives framed by a story in which the fianna warriors Oisín and Caílte mac Rónáin have survived long enough to relate the tales to Saint Patrick.

Contents

Set several hundred years after the death of Finn mac Cumaill, the frame story follows two aged Irish heroes as they travel Ireland with a newly arrived Saint Patrick.^[1][2] The pagans are Caílte mac Rónáin, Finn's nephew, and Oisín, Finn's son, both members of the famous warrior band the Fianna.^[1] For most of the narrative Caílte is the more important informant of the two, regaling Patrick with tales of Finn and his men and explaining place names they encounter in the manner of another Irish work, the Dinsenchas.

The stories reiterate the greatness of Finn and his departed age of heroes, often focusing on the rivalry between Finn's family and that of his enemy Goll mac Morna, which threatened the stability of the island. Other stories record the Fianna's relationship with the Otherworld and the Tuatha Dé Danann, while those involving Patrick often stress the importance of integrating the values and culture of pre-Christian Ireland with the new ways of the Church. Some of the individual tales may predate their inclusion in Acallam na Senórach, though the authors adapted them with an eye towards narrative unity.

Acallam na Senórach survives in four late manuscripts. Three are from the 15th century: MS Laud 610 and MS Rawlinson B487 from the Bodelian Library, and the Book of Lismore. The fourth is a copy of MS A IV, Killiney, which dates to the 16th century.^{[lower-alpha 1][3][4]}

Editions and translations

Several modern editions exist. The work was edited, with an accompanying English translation entitled Colloquy with the Ancients by Standish O'Grady (1892), using the Book of Lismore version as the base text.^[5]

Whitley Stokes later printed an edition of Acallamh na Seanórach in Irische Texte IV, using the Laud 610 as base and collating it with Rawlinson B. 487, Book of Lismore, and the fourth copy.^[3] Stokes also provided a partial translation of the work to complement O'Grady's translation, filling the lacunae in the Book of Lismore.^[6]

The first complete English translation was that of Ann Dooley and Harry Roe, Tales of the Elders of Ireland, published by Oxford University Press in 1999.^[7] Maurice Harmon (2009) published another translation, entitled The Dialogue of the Ancients of Ireland.^[8]

Adaptations

Composer Tarik O'Regan has adapted the narrative into a one-hour musical setting for solo guitar and chorus, performed under the title Acallam na Senórach.^[9] The work was premiered on 23 November 2010 in Dublin by the National Chamber Choir of Ireland and Stewart French (guitar) under the direction of Paul Hillier.^[10]

Explanatory notes

References