Geoffrey Keating

Seathrún Céitinn, known in English as Geoffrey Keating, was a 17th century Irish clergyman, poet and historian. He was born in Burgess, Ballylooby, just outside Cahir in County Tipperary c. 1569, and died c. 1644. He is buried in Tubrid Graveyard in the parish of Ballylooby-Duhill.

In November 1603, he was one of forty students who sailed for Bordeaux under the charge of the Rev. Diarmaid MacCarthy to begin their studies at the Irish College which had just been founded in that city by Cardinal François de Sourdis, Archbishop of Bordeaux. On his arrival in France he wrote a poetical "Farewell to Ireland", and upon hearing of the Flight of the Earls wrote "Lament on the Sad State of Ireland." After obtaining the degree of Doctor of Divinity at the University of Bordeaux he returned about 1610 to Ireland and was appointed to the cure of souls at Uachtar Achaidh in the parish of Knockraffan, near Cahir, where he put a stop to the then-common practice of delaying Mass until the neighbouring gentry arrived.

His major work, Foras Feasa ar Éirinn (literally "Foundation of Knowledge on Ireland", more usually translated "History of Ireland") was written in Early Modern Irish and completed ca. 1634, during the reign of Charles I of England.

The Foras Feasa traced the history of Ireland from the creation of the world to the invasion of the Normans in the 12th century, based on the rich native historical and pseudohistorical traditions (including that of the Milesians), historical poetry, annals and ecclesiastical records. Ireland's English rulers discouraged printing in Irish so the Foras Feasa circulated in manuscript.

Bibliography

• Bernadette Cunningham The World of Geoffrey Keating: history, myth and religion in seventeenth century Ireland (Dublin 2000).
• Geoffrey Keating Foras Feasa ar Éirinn: the history of Ireland D.Comyn and P.S.Dineen (eds.) 4 vols. Irish Texts Society (London 1902-14).
• Geoffrey Keating Trí bior-ghaoithe an bháis: The three shafts of death ed. Robert Atkinson, LL.D. Royal Irish Academy (Dublin: 1890);
• Geoffrey Keating Stories from Keating's History of Ireland edited, with introduction, notes, and vocabulary by Osborn Bergin. Royal Irish Academy (Dublin: 1981)
• Geoffrey Keating Dánta, Amhráin is Caointe (Poems, Songs and Elegies), ed. Rev. John C. MacErlean, S.J. The Gaelic League (Dublin: 1900)
• Geoffrey Keating Eochairsciath an Aifrinn: An explanatory defence of the mass, ed. Patrick O'Brien (Dublin: 1898)
• Geoffrey Keating "History of Ireland: Foras Feasa ar Eirinn" trans. O'Mahoney. 3 vols. Irish Genealogical Foundation (1980)

References

• Catholic Encyclopedia: Geoffrey Keating

External links

• The History of Ireland (translation) of Foras Feasa ar Éirinn at University College Cork's CELT- Corpus of Electronic Texts
• The History of Ireland (English Translation) with memoir, notes and genealogies at The Ex-Classics Web Site.
• Catholic Encyclopedia entry