Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh (), also known as Dubhaltach Óg mac Giolla Íosa Mór mac Dubhaltach Mór Mac Fhirbhisigh, Duald Mac Firbis, Dudly Ferbisie, and Dualdus Firbissius (fl. 1643 – January 1671) was an Irish scribe, translator, historian and genealogist. He was one of the last traditionally trained Irish Gaelic scholars, and was a member of the Clan MacFhirbhisigh, a leading family of northern Connacht. His best-known work is the Leabhar na nGenealach, which was published in 2004 as The Great Book of Irish Genealogies, also known as The Great Book of Irish Genealogies. This was published in 2004 by Éamonn de Búrca, more than 300 years after it had been written.
Family and education
Mac Fhirbhisigh was most likely born at the family castle, in the parish of Lackan, Tireragh, County Sligo, sometime in the first quarter of the 17th century. He was originally known as Dubhaltach Og ("young Dubhaltach") to distinguish him from his grandfather, Dubhaltach Mór ("big Dubhaltach").
He was the eldest of four sons born to Giolla Íosa Mór Mac Fhirbhisigh and an unnamed daughter of Eoghan Gruamadha Mac Diarmada of the Sliocht Cormaic Oig Mac Diarmada of Tireragh. It is unknown whether he himself had ever married or had children. On page nine of his Introduction to The Great Book of Irish Genealogies, Nollaig Ó Muraíle writes:
It is possible that he had received some sort of formal education in Galway, studying English, Latin and some Greek. This is implied by his use of all three languages in his works. There is also the possibility that he received additional training at the Mac Aodhagáin bardic school located at Ballymacegan, Lough Derg, County Tipperary, which was run by noted scholar, Flann Mac Aodhagáin.
Mac Fhirbhisigh's friends and acquaintances included John Lynch, Patrick D'Arcy, Mary Bonaventure Browne, Sir James Ware, Eoin Ó Gnímh and Ruaidhrí Ó Flaithbheartaigh. His contemporaries include Peregrine O'Duignan, Mícheál Ó Cléirigh, Richard Martyn, Daibhidh Ó Duibhgheannáin, and Randal MacDonnell, 1st Marquess of Antrim.
Mac Fhirbhisigh's career as a scholar overlapped with a devastating period of war, famine, and plague in Ireland (the Irish Confederate Wars of 1641–1653), but curiously, he never mentions contemporary politics or events in his works.
Emergence in 1643
The first certain date that can be associated with Dubhaltach is 5 May 1643, when he was situated at Ballymacegan translating the ancient glossary Duil Laithne ("the book of Latin"). In that year, he transcribed from an old Mac Aodhagan manuscript what is now known as the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland; according to a Latin note prefixed to the manuscript, it was made for Rev. Dr. John Lynch, then Archdeacon of Tuam.
It is not known how long Dubhaltach spent collecting the necessary materials and planning the book's layout. Nor is it known when he commenced writing; he does note that on the "13 April, in Galway, 1649", he had completed a fifty-page tract on the genealogies of the Ui Bhruin down to "do shlioch Brian mc Eathach Muighmheadhoin/the lineage of Brian son of Eochaidh Muighmheadhoin." That August saw him complete a catalogue of the Kings of Ireland, from Partholón to Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair, entitled Réim Ríoghraidhe Éireann. He names the source of this material as Leabhar Airisean Fhearghail Uí Ghadhra, an alternative name for the Annals of the Four Masters. Exactly how this work reached Galway has never been explained.
Réim Ríoghraidhe Éireann was completed on 8 August 1649, just as the bubonic plague entered Galway on a Spanish ship. Over the next nine months, it killed some 3,700 of the town's inhabitants. Of Dubhaltach's whereabouts and activities in this period, Ó Muraíle has the following to say:
Fate of his manuscripts
According to Ruaidhrí Ó Flaithbheartaigh - as noted by Edward Lhuyd - Dubhaltach's manuscripts were passed on his death to his lord, David O Dowd. Ó Flaithbheartaigh himself obtained Dubhaltach's transcript of Chronicum Scotorum. William O Sullivan believed that his law manuscripts were passed on to John Conry via the library of Tadhg O Rodaighe (Thady Roddy) of Crossfield, County Leitrim.
In 1702, Dubhaltach's genealogical works were in the possession of merchant and part-time scribe, Henry MacCarrick, of Sligo. Leabhar na nGenealach was in this possession till 1705, while the Cuimre disappears after 1706, fate unknown (there exists a possibility that it was in the possession of Richard Tipper of Dublin, scribe, in the years 1710–1730, as he made a copy of it).
Leabhar na nGenealach next came into the hands of Séamus Bacach Mág Uidhir of An Leargaidh (Dowra-Blacklion area) who made a copy in 1715 or 1716 at Stranamart, north-west County Cavan. It is of poor value overall. A transcript of Réim Ríoghraidhe Éireann was made by him at Doobally in 1713. It next appeared in Dublin, held by John Conry, who penned extracts from it on 24 July 1723. He may have obtained it from the library of Tadhg O Rodaighe.
It was sold in 1731 to Dr John Fergus (Eoin O Fearghusa) of Jervis Street, Dublin. Fergus also acquired the anonymous copy of the Cuimre. Following his death and that of his son, Dr. Fergus's daughter put his extensive library up for auction at their home in Abbey Street, Dublin, on 3 February 1766. Leabhar na nGenealach was purchased by Robert Jocelyn (who became 1st Earl of Roden in 1771) for £7.1.0. For much of the next hundred and fifty years, it was placed at the Jocelyn family home of Tollymore House, Newcastle, County Down, who were in part descended through a female line from the local Magennis clan.
During this time, extensive use of Leabhar na nGenealach was made by Charles O'Conor (1770s), Thady Connellan (1830s), John O'Donovan (MacCarrick's version) and Eugene O'Curry, who transcribed between March 1836 and February 1837. Upon the death of William Henry Jocelyn, 6th Earl of Roden in 1911, it was included in a list of items sold to cover his death duties. The auction was held at Sotheby's of London on 10 November 1911, and the manuscript was purchased by Dublin physician Dr Michael F. Cox for £79.00. Cox died on 20 February 1926, and his son, Dublin solicitor Arthur Cox, oversaw his father's bequest of the manuscript to University College Dublin on 23 March 1926, "to be perpetually preserved in its library." During the 20th century, it was consulted by various scholars, including Eoin MacNeill, Eleanor Knott, and Father Paul Walsh. The study by Ó Muraíle commenced in 1971; this process ended with its publication in five volumes by De Burca Books in 2004.
Personal life
There are no substantial surviving details of Dubhaltach's personal life. It is unknown whether he married or ever had children.