Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawlinson B 502 is a medieval Irish manuscript which currently resides in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. It ranks as one of the three major surviving Irish manuscripts to have been produced in pre-Norman Ireland, the two other works being Lebor na hUidre and the Book of Leinster. Some scholars have also called it the Book of Glendalough, in Irish Lebar Glinne Dá Locha, after several allusions in medieval and early modern sources to a manuscript of that name. However, there is currently no agreement as to whether Rawlinson B 502, more precisely its second part, is to be identified as the manuscript referred to by that title.

It was described by Brian Ó Cuív as one of the "most important and most beautiful ... undoubtedly the most magnificent" of the surviving medieval Irish manuscripts.Ó Cuív, Catalogue of Irish Language Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford and Oxford College Libraries, p. 172 Pádraig Ó Riain states ".. a rich, as yet largely unworked, source of information on the concerns of the community at Glendalough in or about the year 1131, and a magnificent witness, as yet barely interrogated, to the high standard of scholarship attained by this monastic centre."Ó Riain, "The Book of Glendalough: a continuing investigation", p. 87.

History and structure According to Robert Anthony Welch, it was compiled from around 1125–30.Welch (2000), p. 34. The manuscript as it exists today consists of two vellum codices which were originally separate works but were bound together sometime before 1648.Hellmuth, "Rawlinson B 502", p. 1475 This was done at the request of their new owner, Irish antiquarian Sir James Ware (died 1666), who thanks to Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh (died 1671) had been able to assemble a fine collection of Irish manuscripts. Several leaves of paper with a (mainly) Latin commentary by Ware on aspects of Irish history (fos. 13–18) were inserted between the two manuscripts, possibly to preserve the appearance of two distinct works. Further paper folios were added at the end of the second manuscript (fos. 90–103), containing notes and transcripts of documents, part of which was written in Latin.

The first manuscript, which covers folios 1–12v (six bifolia), was compiled and written in the late 11th century or possibly at the beginning of the 12th.Oskamp, "The first twelve folia", p. 56. The fine minuscule script suggests the work of two professional scribes, and glosses were added by later hands. One of these glossators has been identified as the scribe "H" who was also responsible for adding glosses to Lebor na hUidre. Like the latter work, this part of Rawlinson B 502 may therefore have been a product of the monastic scriptorium of Clonmacnoise, County Offaly.

The greater part of Rawlinson B 502, covering fos. 19–89, is taken up by a manuscript the text of which was written by a single scribe in the mid-12th century. The last king of Connacht listed is Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair (r. 1106–1156).Breatnach, "Rawlinson B 502", p. 399.

Every leaf has two columns of text written in regular minuscule.Ó Riain, "The Book of Glendalough: a continuing investigation", p. 71. The calligraphy, with some decoration, is of a high standard. The parchment was well prepared, though the manuscript has been subject to wear and tear and several folios are now lost. The contents of the manuscript point towards a monastic milieu in Leinster as the source of its origin. It has been proposed that Killeshin in County Laois was the house responsible for its production.

James Ware's collection of manuscripts passed on to his son, who sold it to the Earl of Clarendon. It was later transferred to James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, who sold some of the manuscripts, including that known now as Rawlinson B 502, to Dr Richard Rawlinson (died 1755). Rawlinson's collection of manuscripts was bequeathed to St John's College, Oxford, whence in 1756 it finally found its way into the Bodleian Library.

In 1909, Kuno Meyer published a collotype facsimile edition of the vellum pages, with an introduction and indices, published by Clarendon Press.Meyer, Rawlinson B 502: a collection of pieces in prose and verse in the Irish language compiled during the eleventh and twelfth Centuries. By 2000, the Early Manuscripts at Oxford University project was launched, now entrusted to the Oxford Digital Library, which published digital reproductions of the manuscript. The scanned images include both vellum and paper leaves, with the exception of the 17th-century paper leaves found on fos. 105–171.Early Manuscripts at Oxford University. Critical editions and translations of the individual texts, insofar as these have been undertaken, have been published separately in books and academic journals.

Contents The first manuscript contains an acephalous copy of the Annals of Tigernach, preserving a fragment of the so-called Chronicle of Ireland, a world history in Latin and Irish based on Latin historians such as Eusebius and Orosius. The text is incomplete at both its beginning and end, which suggests that the twelve folios may represent only a portion of the original manuscript.

The second manuscript opens with a series of Middle Irish religious poems entitled Saltair na Rann ("The Psalter of the Verses"), followed by a recension of the Irish Sex Aetates Mundi ("The Six Ages of the World") and the poem Amra Coluimb Chille ("Song for Columkille / Columba"). The manuscript contains many Leinster narratives belonging to the Cycles of the Kings, some of which are grouped in a section which is headed Scélshenchas Laigen, beginning with Orgain Denna Ríg. Among these is Tairired na n'Déssi, the best preserved copy of the "A" version of the work known as The Expulsion of the Déisi.Meyer, p. 102. Another secular group of Leinster texts, but written in verse, is the selection of poems collectively referred to as the Laídshenchas Laigen. Other verse texts include the wisdom poems Immacallam in Dá Thuarad ("The Colloquy of the Two Sages") and the legal instructional dialogue Gúbretha Caratniad ("False judgments of Caratnia"). The manuscript is also one of two pre-Norman sources for Irish genealogical texts, the other being the Book of Leinster. These genealogies, which come at the end in a sizeable section of some 30 folios, are mainly associated with Leinster, but others are integrated. Importantly, some material of early Irish law is preserved, such as the tract Cóic Conara Fugill ("The Five Paths of Judgment"). For a select but more detailed list of the contents of the manuscript, expand the following table:

Folios Pages (facsimile) Texts f. 1r-12v Annals of Tigernach (Irish World Chronicle) f. 13-8 Paper leaves containing historical notes by Ware f. 19r-40 Saltair na Rann ("The Psalter of Verses") f. 40v-44v Sex Aetates Mundi (The Six Stages of the World) f. 45r Poem ascribed to Mac Cosse, beginning Ro fessa hi curp domuin dúir f. 46r Poem Fichi rig cia rim as ferr, text on kings who ruled Jerusalem, beginning with King Saul and ending with the destruction of Jerusalem by Nabcodon f. 46r Religious poem A Dé dúlig adateoch / Cethrur do-raega ní dalb f. 46v Religious poem Ro chuala crecha is tir thair f. 46v Text beginning Ad fet Augustus míl do bith i fudumnaib in mara ⁊ in talman Indecdai, note on monster in India. f. 46 Poem beginning Cenn ard Ádaim étrocht rád; annal for 1454 f. 47r p. 81a-b Orcuin Néill Noígíallaig (The Death of Níall Noígíallach) f. 47r-v p. 81b-82a Gein Branduib meic Echach ⁊ Aedáin meic Gabráin (The Birth of Brandub son of Eochu and of Aedán son of Gabrán) f. 47v p. 82a-b Aided Maelodráin (The Death of Maelodrán) f. 47v heading announcing Laidsenchas Lagen (fos. 47v-50v) f. 47v Poem Is mo chen a Labraid lain, dialogue between Scoriath, Labraid Loingsech and Moriath f. 47v Poem Cethri m. Airtt Mis Telmann f. 47v Poem Ochtur Criathar cid dia ta f. 47v p. 82b-83a Orgguin trí mac Diarmata meic Cerbaill. Cf. p. 134b. f. 48r Poem Coic rig trichat do Laignib, on kings of Leinster who ruled early Ireland f. 48r Poem Secht rig do Laignib na lerg, further kings of Leinster f. 48r Poem Dia ngaba apgitir Lagen, on Leinster warriors f. 48r Poem Fedeilmid athair Echach, on battle fought by the Fothairt against the men of Munster f. 48r Poem Fothairt for clannaib Concorb, on expulsion of the Fothairt from Tara f. 48v Poem Clanna Bresail Bricc builid, on Leinster dynasties f. 48v Poem Coic rig trichat triallsat roe, on Christian kings of Leinster f. 49r Poem attributed to Dubthach hua Lugair, Crimthann clothri coicid hErenn f. 49v Poem Ro batar laeich do Laigneib, on the birth of Brandub mac Echach, king of Leinster, and Áedán mac Gabráin, king of Dál Riada f. 50r p. 87a-88a Poem Cathair cenn coicid Banba, the metrical Esnada Tige Buchet ("The Songs of Buchet's House"). Cf. f. 73. f. 50v p. 88a Poem Do chomramaib Laigen (or Eol dam i ndairib drechta), ascribed to Flann mac Máel Máedóc; on battles fought by Leinster heroes. f. 50v Poem A choicid choem Chairpri chruaid chasm leaf or leaves missing f. 51r Genealogies of Irish saints f. 52v Alphabetically arranged list of saints bearing the same name f. 54r Poem ascribed to Dallán Forgaill, Amrae Coluimb Chille ("A Poem for Colum Cille") f. 59v Prayer "Adomnan mac Ronain ro cháchain in nothainseo", beginning Colum Cilli co Dia dommerail i tias nimustias. f. 59v Poem attributed to Columba, Dia ard árlethar f. 59v Mac Lesc mac Ladain Aithech, about Mac Lesc mac Ladain and Finn, both of whom utter a number of verses f. 60r Poem "Cainnech do rigni in northainse" f. 60r-62v p. 107b-112b Immacallam in Dá Thuarad ("The Colloquy of the Two Sages") f. 62v Gúbretha Caratniad ("The False Judgments of Caratnia") f. 63v Cóic Conara Fugill ("The Five Paths of Judgment"), legal text f. 64r Genealogies of the Laigin f. 65v Story of Labraid Loingsech and other pre-Christian kings of Leinster, including poems: Dind Rig attributed to Ferchertne; Lug sceith; Cethri meic la Setna Sithbacc, attributed to Senchán; etc. f. 65v Laigin genealogies, descendants of Cú Corb f. 66v Laigin genealogies (Dál Niad Cuirp). Includes verse. f. 67r Miniugud senchasa mac nairegda Cathair, Laigin genealogies f. 68v Laigin genealogies (Dál Niad Cuirp). chasm lacuna f. 69r Laigin genealogies (continued) f. 69r Laigin genealogies and section on Fothairt f. 69v Genealogies, De peritia ⁊ genelogia Loichsi, on Lugaid Loígsech and genealogies of Loíchse f. 70v Genealogies, Duil laechsluinte Lagen f. 70v Osraige(Ossory) genealogies f. 71v Heading Scelshenchas Laigen, announcing items folios 71v-73v f. 71v-72r p. 130b-131b Orgain Denna Ríg (The Destruction of Dind Ríg) f. 72r p. 131b-133b Tairired na n-Déssi (The Expulsion of the Déisi) f. 73r-73v p. 133b-134a prose Esnada Tige Buchet (The Songs of Buchet's House). Cf. f. 50. f. 73v p. 134a Comram na Clóenferta (The Triumph of the Sloping Mound) f. 73v-74v p. 134b Orgguin trí mac Diarmata meic Cerbaill (The Deaths of the Three Sons of Diarmait mac Cerbaill). Cf. p. 82b-83a. chasm f. 74r Text on pre-Christian kings of Ireland, beginning Do rochair tra Sirna Sirsaeglach mac Dein m. Demail la Rothechtaid Rotha mac Moen f. 74v List of kings of Ireland, from the age of Míl up to Brian Bóraime f. 75r Miniugud na Croeb Coibnesta, on descendants of Éremón up to the time of Eochaid Mugmedón's sons p. 138a Echtra mac Echdach Mugmedóin (The Adventures of the Sons of Eochaid Mugmedón) Leinster and other genealogies f. 90–103 paper leaves (17th century)

Disputed identity The identity of the second part of the manuscript, more especially its name and provenance, in sources long before it passed into the hands of Rawlinson has been a matter of some controversy.

Saltair na Rann