Baile Chuind Chétchathaig was first edited by Rudolf Thurneysen who dated it to about 700 AD and believed it to have been included in the lost Cín Dromma Snechtai manuscript. Thurneysen later revised this opinion based on the content of the poem, supposing that the poem's "Glúnshalach" represented 10th-century king Niall Glúndub. Later editors and writers have generally preferred Thurneysen's first estimate, taking the work to have been begun in the lifetime of Fínsnechta Fledach (died 695).[1]
In recent studies Edel Bhreathnach has suggested that the current form of the poem may be somewhat later: while the kings who follow Fínsnechta were previously interpreted as imagined future kings, he suggests that these are in fact historical figures from the first quarter of the eighth century disguised by kennings. If this is correct, the poem as a whole dates from around 720 or was revised at about that time.[2]
Content and context
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Analogues
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Notes
^Murray, "Manuscript Tradition", p. 69; Bhreathnach & Murray, "Edition", p. 73; Bhreathnach, "Political Context", pp. 49 & 61–62; Byrne, Irish Kings, p. 54; Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland, p. 483.
^Bhreathnach, "Political Context", p. 50; Murray, "Manuscript Tradition", p. 70; Mac Shamhráin & Byrne, "Prosopography", pp. 159 & 204–212.
References
Bhreathnach, Edel (2005), "Níell cáich úa Néill nasctar géill: The Political Context of Baile Chuinn Chétchathaig", in Bhreathnach, Edel (ed.), The Kingship and Landscape of Tara, Dublin: Four Courts Press, pp. 49–68, ISBN1-85182-954-7
Bhreathnach, Edel; Murray, Kevin (2005), "Baile Chuinn Chétchathaig: Edition", in Bhreathnach, Edel (ed.), The Kingship and Landscape of Tara, Dublin: Four Courts Press, pp. 73–94, ISBN1-85182-954-7
Charles-Edwards, T. M. (2000), Early Christian Ireland, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN0-521-36395-0
Mac Shamhráin, Ailbhe; Byrne, Paul (2005), "Kings named in Baile Chuinn Chétchathaig and the Airgíalla Charter Poem", in Bhreathnach, Edel (ed.), The Kingship and Landscape of Tara, Dublin: Four Courts Press, pp. 159–224, ISBN1-85182-954-7
Murray, Kevin (2005), "The Manuscript Tradition of Baile Chuinn Chétchathaig and its Relationship with Baile in Scáil", in Bhreathnach, Edel (ed.), The Kingship and Landscape of Tara, Dublin: Four Courts Press, pp. 69–72, ISBN1-85182-954-7