Ireland Colin A. Old Irish wisdom attributed to Aldfrith of Northumbria: an edition of Bríathra Flainn Fhína maic Ossu

Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Ranaissance Studies, 1999. — 262 p. — (Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies 205).A wide variety of early Irish wisdom-texts survive. The present edition is based on a gnomic collection consisting predominantly of terse three-word maxims which have come down in three separate recensions, two of which are attributed to Flann Fina while the third is associated with Fithal. Flann Fina mac Ossu is the Irish name for King Aldrith son of Oswiu who ruled Anglo-Saxon Northumbria from ca. 685 to 705. His learning, piety, and efficient rule were recognized by such noted contemporaries as the English clerics Aidelm (d. 709) and Bede (d. 735), and the Irish cleric Adomnán (d. 704). His reign laid a firm foundation for the Northumbrian “Golden Age” (see pp. 52-56). Fithal is a legendary poet and judge often associated with the equally legendary third-century king of Tara, Cormac mac Airt (see pp. 48-52). This collection was first edited, but not translated, by Kuno Meyer under the title Briathra Flainn Fina maic Ossu, “The Sayings of Flann Fina son of Oswiu”. The title used in the present edition is taken from one of two manuscripts used by Meyer. A related text edited, but not translated, by Rudolf Thurneysen under the title Senbriathra Fithail “The Old Sayings of Fithal” contains long strings of these same maxims. In addition, this latter text holds many sections in common with another wisdom-text known as Tecosca Cormaic “The Instructions of [King] Cormac”.