Dr David Stifter is Professor of Old and Middle Irish at Maynooth University. He is founder and editor of the interdisciplinary Celtic-studies journal Keltische Forschungen (Vienna 2006–), and founding member of the Societas Celtologica Europaea (European Association of Celtic Studies scholars). His research interests are language variation and change in Old Irish and comparative Celtic linguistics (esp. Old Irish and Continental Celtic). His research projects include a dictionary of the Old Irish glosses in the Milan manuscript Ambr. C301 infr, Lexicon Leponticum - an interactive etymological dictionary plus edition of texts of Lepontic, and, since 2015, the ERC-funded project Chronologicon Hibernicum. His introductory handbook Sengoídelc. Old Irish for Beginners (Syracuse University Press 2006) has been adopted for teaching Old Irish in universities world-wide. Conference by the Royal Irish Academy Library in partnership with Roinn na Sean-Ghaeilge, Ollscoil Mhá Nuad. The Royal Irish Academy manuscript known by its shelfmark ‘23 N 10’ was produced in Ballycummin, Co. Roscommon, in the sixteenth century. It is an extraordinarily important manuscript for many reasons, but it is particularly significant because it contains tales which are amongst the oldest surviving literature in Irish. These tales would originally have been preserved in a now-lost manuscript called Cín Dromma Snechta. Aside from wonderful examples of Old Irish narrative literature, the manuscript also preserves legal texts, poetry and wisdom literature from early medieval Ireland. This two-day conference will explore all aspects of the production, survival and significance of the ‘Book of Ballycummin’ and the marvels of medieval Irish literature which are contained within it. Described in the nineteenth century as a ‘little remnant of the work of the ancients’, this manuscript is a remarkable witness to the earliest development of Irish literature. Location: Academy House Date: 8 March, 2019 Disclaimer: The Royal Irish Academy has prepared this content responsibly and carefully, but disclaims all warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy of the information contained in any of the materials. The views expressed are the authors’ own and not those of the Royal Irish Academy.

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