Professor Pádraig A. Breatnach

phone: +353-1-6140174
e-mail: pbreatnach@celt.dias.ie

Senior Professor, School of Celtic Studies, and co-editor of Celtica. Formerly Professor of Classical Irish, University College Dublin, and Editor of Éigse: A Journal of Irish Studies (National University of Ireland). Specialises in editing and interpreting Irish poetry and prose literature of the classical period (c. 1200–1650), and is an authority on the palaeography and scribal history of medieval and early modern Irish manuscripts. Has also written extensively in Irish and English on classical and post-classical Irish linguistics, metrics and literary genres, and has pioneered the scholarly editing and publication of eighteenth-century Irish poetry. He is the author of over one hundred published papers, reviews and books reflecting interests in a wide range of Irish and Hiberno-Latin philology, and made a special study of the Irish contribution to medieval European culture.

University College Cork, M.A. (with Travelling Studentship, NUI) 1971; School of Celtic Studies, DIAS, 1972; University of Munich, 1972–76, Dr. phil. 1977; St Patrick’s College, Dublin, lecturer 1976–79; University College Dublin, lecturer 1979–86, Professor of Classical Irish 1986–2006, Head of Department of Modern Irish 1988–92, 2001–04; Editor, Éigse: A Journal of Irish Studies, 1986–2010 (vols XXII–XXXVII); National Humanities Center, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA, Andrew W. Mellon Fellow 2000–01; Royal Irish Academy, elected MRIA 2004; Comité International de Paléographie Latine (CIPL), elected 2004; Government of Ireland Senior Research Fellow 2005–06; DIAS, Senior Professor 2006–, Director 2009–2012.

Selected publications

Die Regensburger Schottenlegende – Libellus de fundacione Consecrati Petri. Untersuchung und Textausgabe. Münchener Beiträge zur Mediävistik und Renaissance-Forschung, Band 27) Bei der Arbeo-Gesellschaft, München 1977. 324 S.

‘Medieval traditions from West Munster’ Studia Hibernica 17/18 (1977-8) 58-70

‘Metamorphosis 1603: dán le hEochaidh Ó hEódhasa’ Éigse 17 (1978) 169-80

‘The origins of the Irish monastic tradition at Ratisbon (Regensburg)’ Celtica 13 (1980) 58-77

The chief’s poet. Royal Irish Academy, Dublin 1983 (= PRIA 83, C, No. 3 (1983) 37-79

‘Múnlaí véarsaíocht rithimiúil na Nua-Ghaeilge’ Folia Gadelica: aistí ar iardhaltaí leis a bronnadh ar R. A. Breatnach, eag. P. de Brún, S. Ó Coileáin, P. Ó Riain, (Corcaigh 1983) 54-71

‘In praise of Maghnas Ó Domhnaill’ Celtica 16 (1984) 63-72

‘Amhrán le hAogán Ó Raithile’ Éigse 20 (1984) 149-56

‘Über Beginn und Eigenart der irischen Mission auf dem Kontinent einschliesslich der irischen Missionare in Bayern’ Virgil von Salzburg.Missionar und Gelehrter, ed. H. Dopsch, R. Juffinger (Salzburg 1985) 84-91

‘Irish churchmen in pre-Carolingian Europe’ Seanchas Ardmhacha 11/2 (1985) 319- 30

‘A poem of protest’ Celtica17 (1985) 91-100

‘Un poème d’écho en irlandais moderne’Études Celtiques23 (1986) 157-62

‘An address to Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill in captivity, 1590’ Irish Historical Studies 25 no. 98 (November 1986) 198-213

‘Ar bhás Aodha an Einigh Mhéig Uidhir A.D. 1428’ Éigse21 (1986) 37-51

Editor, Éigse. A Journal of Irish Studies. Vol. XXII, 1987, 168 pp.

‘Oral and written transmission of poetry in the eighteenth century’ Eighteenth-century Ireland2 (1987) 57-65

‘Dhá dhuain leanbaíochta’ Éigse 22 (1987) 111-23

‘The pronunciation of Latin in medieval Ireland’ Scire litteras: Forschungen zum mittelalterlichen Geistesleben, ed. S. Krämer & Michael Bernhard (Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-Hist. Kl, Abhandl. NF, Heft 99) (München 1988) 59-72

Editor, Éigse. A Journal of Irish Studies. Vol. XXIII, 1989, 226 pp.

‘Cú Chonnacht Ó Dálaigh’s poem before leaving Aodh Ruadh’, Sages, saints andstorytellers: Celtic studies in honour of Professor James Carney, ed. D. Ó Corráin, L. Breatnach, K. McCone (Maynooth Monographs 2) (Maynooth 1989) 32-42

‘Roinnt amhrán ar comhfhoirm ón seachtú haois déag’ Éigse 23 (Ómós do Thomás Ó Choncheanainn) (1989) 67-79

Editor,Éigse. A Journal of Irish Studies. Vol. XXIV, 1990, 218 pp.

‘Dandaimín don Ridire Brianach (1705)’ Éigse24 (1990) 121-3

‘An appeal for a guarantor’Celtica 21 (Essays in honour of Brian Ó Cuív) (1990) 28-37

Editor, Éigse. A Journal of Irish Studies. Vol. XXV, 1991, 212 pp.

‘Meascra ar an saol in Éirinn, 1841-44’ Éigse25 (1991) 105-12

‘Die Entwicklung und Gestaltung des neuirischen rhythmischen Versmaßes’ Metrik und Medienwechsel / Metrics and Media, ed. H. L. C. Tristram (Script Oralia 35) (Tübingen 1991) 289-300

Editor, Éigse. A Journal of Irish Studies. Vol. XXVI, 1992, 210 pp.

‘Togha na héigse 1700-1800. 1. Níor bhoirbe an fhoireann sin in árthaíbh Gréag (Liam Mac Cartáin’ Éigse26 (1992) 93-104

Editor, Éigse. A Journal of Irish Studies. Vol. XXVII, 1993, 188 pp.

‘Bernhard Bischoff (d. 1991), the Munich School of Medieval Latin Philology, and Irish medieval studies’ Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 26 (Winter 1993) 1-14

‘Form and continuity in later Irish verse tradition’ Ériu 44 (1993) 125-38

‘A covenant between Eochaidh Ó hEódhusa and Aodh Mág Uidhir’ Éigse27 (1993) 59-66

‘Notula Patriciana’ Éigse27 (1993) 80

‘Togha na héigse 1700-1800. 2. Ní cogadh ná cargaill fhada idir airdríthibh (Séamas Mac Coitir)’ Éigse27 (1993) 120-1

‘Eochaidh Ó hEódhusa (c. 1560-1612)’ Éigse27 (1993) 127-9

‘A note on the syntax of the particle dar’Éigse 27 (1993) 130-2

Editor, Éigse. A Journal of Irish Studies. Vol. XXVIII, 1994-5, 240 pp.

‘Litir ó Thadhg Mac Bruaideadha’ Éigse 28 (1994-5) 97-99

‘Togha na héigse 1700-1800. 3. A bhuime den bhród mhórdha ba rathamhail réim (Úna Nic Cruitín)’ Éigse 28 (1994-5) 135-7

Editor, Éigse. A Journal of Irish Studies. Vol. XXIX, 1996, 268 pp.

‘The methodology of seanchas: the redaction by Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh of the chronicle poem Leanam croinic clann nDálaigh’Éigse 29 (1996) 1-18

A New Introduction to The Bardic poems of Tadhg Dall Ó Huiginn (1550-1591). Irish Texts Society 1996.

‘The new edition of the hagiography of St Finbarr’Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 32 (Winter 1996) 111-8

Téamaí taighde Nua-Ghaeilge. Dán agus Tallann 6. An Sagart, Maigh Nuad. 1997. vii + 259 pp.

Editor, Éigse. A Journal of Irish Studies.Vol. XXX (1997) 243 pp.

‘The poet’s graveside vigil: a theme of Irish bardic elegy in the fifteenth century’

Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie49/50 (1997-8) 50-63

Editor, Éigse. A Journal of Irish Studies.Vol. XXXI (1999) 204 pp.

‘An Irish Bollandus: Fr Hugh Ward OFM and the Louvain hagiographical enterprise’ Éigse31(1999) 1-30

‘A poem on the end of patronage’ Éigse31 (1999) 79-88

‘Togha na héigse 1700-1800. 4. Mairg do chuala marbh a tuairisc (Uilliam Mac Cartáin)’ Éigse31 (1999) 103-20

‘An inventory of Latin lives of Irish saints from St Anthony’s College Louvain c. 1643’ in: Seanchas: studies presented to Francis J. Byrne, ed. A. P. Smyth (Dublin 1999) 431-9

Editor, Éigse. A Journal of Irish Studies.Vol. XXXII (2000) 186 pp.

‘The metres of citations in the Irish Grammatical Tracts’ Éigse32 (2000) 7-22

‘A poet’s autograph in the Book of O’Donnell’s Daughter’ in: Philologica et linguistica.Historia, Pluralitas, Universitas, Festschrift Helmut Humbach, hrsg. Walter Bisang & Maria Gabriela Schmidt (Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier 2001) 377-83.

‘The aesthetics of Irish bardic composition: an analysis of Fuaras iongnadh, a fhir chumainn by Fearghal Óg Mac an Bhaird’ Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies42 (Winter 2001) 51-72

Editor, Éigse. A Journal of Irish Studies.Vol. XXXIII (2002) 244 pp.

‘A seventeenth-century abridgement of Beatha Aodha Ruaidh Uí Dhomhnaill’ Éigse 33 (2002) 77-172

(Contributor) Field Day anthology of Irish writing, Vol. IV, ed. Máirín Ní Dhonnchadha (Cork University Press, 2002) 434-36 , 438-40, 444-45

‘Irish records of the Nine Years’ War: a brief survey, with particular notice of the relationship between Beatha Aodha Ruaidh Uí Dhomhnaill and the Annals of the Four Masters’ in ‘Beatha Aodha Ruaidh’: The Live of Red Hugh O’Donnell. Historical an literary contexts, ed. P. Ó Riain, Irish Texts Society Subsidiary Series (Dublin 2002), 115-138.

Cluiche caointeach ón seachtú céad déag’ Celtica 23 (2003) 55-7

(Contributor) Gill & Macmillan Encyclopedia of Ireland, ed. Brian Lalor (Dublin 2003). [‘Classical Irish Poetry’; ‘Irish metrics’]

Editor, Éigse. A Journal of Irish Studies.Vol. XXXIV (2004) 244 pp.

‘Index of names in Irish Grammatical Tracts I-IV’ Éigse (2004) 49-70

‘Togha na héigse 1700-1800. 5. Lá luainscrios lá gruama lá buartha d’éigsibh (Uilliam Inglis (?))’ Éigse34 (2004) 141-71

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, in association with the British Academy (2004). [‘Eochaidh Ó hEódhusa’; ‘Tadhg Mac Dáire Mic Bhruaideadha’; ‘Marianus Scottus’]

Editor, Éigse. A Journal of Irish Studies.Vol. XXXV (2005) 196 pp.

(with R. A. Breatnach) ‘Elegy of Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill (d. 1505)’ Éigse 35 (2005) 27-52

Editor, Éigse: A Journal of Irish Studies. Index to Volumes I-XXXV, compiled by Meidhbhín Ní Úrdail (2006) 226 pp.

(with Caoimhín Breatnach, Meidhbhín Ní Úrdail), Léann lámhscríbhinní Lobháin: The Louvain manuscript heritage, Éigse Publications 1 (Dublin 2007) (204 pp)

‘Repertoria manuscriptorum Collegii S. Antonii’ in Léann lámhscríbhinní Lobháin: The Louvain manuscript heritage, edited by P. A. Breatnach, Caoimhín Breatnach, Meidhbhín Ní Úrdail, Éigse Publications 1 (Dublin 2007) 3-20

Editor, Éigse. A Journal of Irish Studies.Vol. XXXVI. 2008. 248 pp.

‘Scríbhinní i láimh Eoghain Ruaidh Mhic an Bhaird’ Éigse 36 (2008) 43-62 (with plate)

‘Changed loyalties in Thomond’ Éigse 36 (2008) 132-37

‘Varia. 1. Attack on an ignorant scholar; 2. Truagh do chor a chroidhe tim (Eoghan Ruadh Mac an Bhaird) q. 17; 3. Díoth ollaimh easbhuidh Laighean (Éigse27, 101-14)’ Éigse 36 (2008) 138-44

Editor, Éigse: A Journal of Irish Studies, vol. XXXVII, 2010, 210 pp.

I measc na ngearrcach is na gcearca fraoigh. An Sagart, 2010.

‘The Book of the O’Conor Don and the manuscripts of St Anthony’s College, Louvain’ in The Book of the O’Conor Don. Essays on an Irish manuscript, edited by Pádraig Ó Macháin, Dublin 2010, 103-22.

On the Ó Cléirigh Recension of Leabhar Gabhála. National University of Ireland 2010 (Reprint [with plates] fromÉigse 37 (2010) 1-57)

‘Approbationes’ Éigse 37 (2010) 58

‘Caoineadh Shéamais Óig Mhic Coitir (1720)’ Éigse 37 (2010) 142-150

‘Togha na héigse 1700-1800. (6) Mo léansa an galar so shearg mé i sírghéibheann(Séamas Beag Mac Coitir)’ Celtica 26 (2010) 1-22

‘Continuity and change in the script of some early modern Irish autograph manuscripts’, in Medieval autograph manuscripts. Proceedings of the XVIIth colloquium of the Comité International de Paléographie Latine held in Ljubljana, 7-10 September 2010, ed. Nataša Golob (Brepols, Turnhout 2013) [= Bibliologia 36] 67–78

Editor (with Fergus Kelly), Celtica vol. XXVII (2013) 229 pp.

‘Poetics and the bardic imagination’, Celtica 27 (2013) 95–113

The Four Masters and their manuscripts. Studies in palaeography and text. Dublin 2013. xi + 206 pp.

‘Irish handwriting in the seventeenth century’, in Proceedings XIV International Congress of Celtic Studies, Maynooth 2011, ed. Liam Breatnach et al. (Dublin 2015) 137–64

‘Remarks on the manuscript tradition of IGT’, in Aon don Éigse. Essays Marking Osborn Bergin’s Centenary Lecture on Bardic Poetry (1912), ed. Caoimhín Breatnach and Meidhbhín Ní Úrdail (Dublin 2015), 1–16

Editor (with Fergus Kelly, Barry J. Lewis), Celtica vol. XXVIII (2016) 266 pp.

‘An address to Toirdhealbhach an Fhíona Ó Domhnaill: edition and critical exposition’, Celtica 28 (2016) 55–88

‘Athchuairt ar amhrán le hAogán Ó Raithile’, Celtica 28 (2016) 168–85

‘Tomás Ó Con Cheanainn (1921-2015)’, Celtica (2016) 238–41

‘Ornamentation in Rannaigheacht’, in Dá dTrian Feasa Fiafraighidh. Essays on the Irish Grammatical and Metrical Tradition, ed. Gordon Ó Riain (Dublin 2017), 293–338

‘Kuno Meyer’s boyhood diaries and the letters to family and friends’ (Review Article), Studia Hibernica, 44 (2018), 135–148

‘”A true scholar and something more”: Gearóid Ó Murchadha (1901-1959)’, in Súgán an Dúchais, Sraith Adhamhnáin Iml. 1, eag. Nioclás Mac Cathmhaoil et al., Doire 2018, 462–485

‘Togha na hÉigse 1700–1800, 7. Tarla gné dhaoldatha d’fhoiligh gach rian (Séamas Mac Coitir)’, Celtica 30 (2018), 38–55

‘Duanaire i láimh an údair: Filíocht Eoghain Ruaidh Mhic an Bhaird i leabhar Inghine Í Dhomhnaill’, Celtica 33 (2021) 307–23

‘Scribal accretions in the Martyrology of Donegal (long recension)’, ZCP 68 (2021) 39–61