The Colloquy of the Ancients
Also known as: Acallam na Senórach, Tales of the Elders of Ireland, Dialogue of the Elders
A Middle Irish frame-tale in which Saint Patrick hears the memories of Fionn mac Cumaill’s survivors, chiefly Caílte mac Rónáin and Oisín. Through dialogue, verse, and place-lore, it gathers Fenian lore into a Christian-era itinerary across Ireland.
Description
Composed in the early thirteenth century, *The Colloquy of the Ancients* (Acallam na Senórach) stages an encounter between Saint Patrick and the last elders of the Fénnid, notably Caílte mac Rónáin and Oisín. As they travel the island, Caílte narrates episodes of the Fénnid and explains the names of hills, wells, woods, and fords, interspersing prose with short poems. The Christian saint questions, blesses, and sometimes challenges the pagan heroic code, while the elders preserve honor, hospitality, and memory through story. The work functions both as a Fenian compendium and as a dindshenchas-like place-lore anthology, recording battles, hunts, loves, and laments from the cycle of Finn mac Cumaill. Its blend of hagiographic setting and heroic retrospection makes it the largest medieval synthesis of Fenian tradition.
Historiography
The text survives chiefly in later medieval manuscripts, above all the Book of Lismore (c. 1470s) and Bodleian Laud 610, with additional fragments and a shorter *Acallam Bec* pointing to a wider transmission. Linguistic features indicate composition in Middle Irish with later modernization in some witnesses. The redaction integrates earlier Fenian lays and place-lore into a unified Christian frame, and modern scholarship treats it as the most substantial medieval compilation of the Fenian Cycle. Standard modern editions and translations have enabled comparisons across recensions and analysis of its dindshenchas method and hagiographic dialogue.
Date Notes
Middle Irish prose compilation likely redacted in the early 13th century; principal witnesses include the Book of Lismore and Bodleian Laud 610 (both 15th c.), preserving earlier material.
Symbols
Major Characters
- Saint Patrick
- Caílte mac Rónáin
- Oisín
- Finn mac Cumaill
Myths
- St. Patrick’s Encounters with Caílte and Oisín
- Tales of Fionn mac Cumhaill and the Fianna
- Revelations of Sid-Mounds and Otherworld Sites
- Genealogies and Place-Lore of the Fianna
Facts
- Largest medieval compilation of Fenian (Fénnid) lore.
- Frame narrative features Saint Patrick questioning and blessing pagan-era heroes.
- Combines prose narrative with numerous short lyric passages attributed to characters.
- Extensive dindshenchas-style explanations of Irish place-names structure the itinerary.
- Language is Middle Irish with later scribal modernization in some witnesses.
- Primary manuscripts include the Book of Lismore and Bodleian Laud 610, both 15th century.
- A shorter related text, the Acallam Bec, reflects alternate redactional traditions.
- Narratives preserve social codes of hospitality, oath-keeping, and honor alongside Christian ethics.
- Geographical scope spans much of Ireland, linking landscape memory to heroic episodes.
- Influential for later Fenian scholarship and modern retellings of Finn mac Cumaill.