Anonymous Biography | Author of The Cattle Raid of Cooley

The Cattle Raid of Cooley Author Biography

The twelfth-century manuscript called the Book of Leinster preserves a note stating that at one time none of the poets of Ireland knew the full Táin Bó Cúailnge. Two pupils of the poet Senchán Torpéist set out to find a copy that had been taken out of Ireland to exchange for a copy of the Cuilmenn, the Irish name for the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville, the greatest digest of learning of the early middle ages. On their way, they happened upon the grave of Fergus, one of the great heroes of the Ulster cycle of tales. His spirit came and recited the whole Táin Bó Cúailnge to them. The note's scribe, however, added an alternative version: some people said Senchán himself learned the whole story from some of the descendants of Fergus adding, "this seems reasonable."

The existence even in such a note is characteristic of the history...
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