
The latest Academy manuscript to go online
19 June 2020The Library holds one of the earliest known copies of Keating’s Foras feasa ar Éirinn. This 17th-century manuscript is now available to view in full via Irish Script On Screen.
Geoffrey Keating’s history of Ireland, Foras feasa ar Éirinn, was completed c. 1634 and became one of the most influential histories of early Ireland ever written. RIA, MS 24 P 23 is among the earliest known copies of the full version of Keating’s Foras feasa ar Éirinn.
The identity of the scribes is not known at present. It is hoped that online publication of the manuscript might lead to identification of the scribal hands, by facilitating palaeographical comparison with other Irish manuscripts of similar date. A digitised version of this manuscript can now be viewed on Irish Script On Screen. We hope this will help solve the mystery of the scribes – calling all palaeographers!