The Scéla Cano meic Gartnáin (The Story of Cano mac Gartnáin) is an Old Irish

Old Irish language

Old Irish is the name given to the oldest form of the Goidelic languages for which extensive written texts are extant. It was used from the 6th to the 10th centuries, by which time it had developed into Middle Irish....

 prose tale of the ninth century or later. It forms part of the Cycles of the Kings.

It deals with the exile and return of Cano mac Gartnáin in sixth century Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. The tale involves historical figures such as Cano himself; Gartnán or Gartnait his father; Áedán mac Gabráin

Áedán mac Gabráin

Áedán mac Gabráin was a king of Dál Riata from circa 574 until his death, perhaps on 17 April 609. The kingdom of Dál Riata was situated in modern Argyll and Bute, Scotland, and parts of County Antrim, Ireland...

, the king of Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

; Diarmait

Diarmait mac Áedo Sláine

Diarmait was a son of Áed Sláine. According to the Irish annals he was High King of Ireland.-Sons of Áed Sláine:Diarmait's father Áed Sláine was a son of Diarmait mac Cerbaill, the apical ancestor of the southern branches of the Uí Néill kindred which dominated Ireland from the late 6th century...

 and Blathmac

Blathmac mac Áedo Sláine

Blathmac was a son of Áed Sláine. According to the Irish annals he was High King of Ireland.-Sons of Áed Sláine:Blathmac's father Áed Sláine was a son of Diarmait mac Cerbaill, the apical ancestor of the southern branches of the Uí Néill kindred which dominated Ireland from the late 6th century...

, sons of Áed Sláine

Áed Sláine

Áed mac Diarmato , called Áed Sláine , was the son of Diarmait mac Cerbaill. Legendary stories exist of Áed's birth. Saint Columba is said to have prophesied his death...

; Guaire Aidne of the Uí Fiachrach

Uí Fiachrach

The Uí Fiachrach were a dynasty who originated in, and whose descendants later ruled, the coicead or fifth of Connacht at different times from the mid-first millennium onwards. They claimed descent from Fiachrae, an older half-brother of Niall Noigiallach or Niall of the Nine Hostages...

, the king of Connacht and father of Cano's true love Créd.

The Irish annals

Irish annals

A number of Irish annals were compiled up to and shortly after the end of Gaelic Ireland in the 17th century.Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days...

 contain a number of entries which may suggest that there is a kernel of truth behind the literary invention in the surviving tale, although Cano Garb mac Gartnáin, Guaire Aidne and the sons of Áed Sláine flourished

Floruit

Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...

 more than half a century after Áedán mac Gabráin.

Manuscript sources

• Yellow Book of Lecan
  Yellow Book of Lecan
  The Yellow Book of Lecan , or TCD MS 1318 , is a medieval Irish manuscript written no later than the dawn of the 15th century. It is currently housed at Trinity College, Dublin and should not be confused with the Great Book of Lecan.-Overview:The manuscript is written on vellum and contains 344...
  
   (YBL), pp. 128a-132b.
• B IV 2 (RIA
  Royal Irish Academy
  The Royal Irish Academy , based in Dublin, is an all-Ireland, independent, academic body that promotes study and excellence in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is one of Ireland's premier learned societies and cultural institutions and currently has around 420 Members, elected in...
  
  , Dublin), written by Michael O'Clery in 1627/8: poem of lines 450-497.

Editions and translations

• Binchy, Daniel A.
  D. A. Binchy
  Daniel Anthony Binchy was a scholar of Irish linguistics and Early Irish law.From 1919-20 he was Auditor of the Literary and Historical Society...
  
   (ed.). Scéla Cano meic Gartnáin. Mediaeval and Modern Irish Series 18. Dublin: DIAS
  Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
  The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies Dublin, Ireland was established in 1940 by the Taoiseach of the time, Éamon de Valera under the . The Institute consists of 3 schools: The , the and the . The directors of these schools are currently Professor Werner Nahm, Professor Luke Drury and...
  
  , 1963. Reprinted 1975. Edition available from CELT
• Meyer, Kuno
  Kuno Meyer
  Kuno Meyer was a German scholar, distinguished in the field of Celtic philology and literature. His pro-German stance at the start of World War I while traveling in the United States was a source of controversy.-Biography:...
  
   (ed.). "Scéla Cano meic Gartnáin. From Yellow Book of Lecan, col. 786 (p.128a)." Anecdota from Irish Manuscripts I, ed. O.J. Bergin et al. Halle, 1907. 1-15.
• Thurneysen, Rudolf
  Rudolf Thurneysen
  Eduard Rudolf Thurneysen was a Swiss linguist and Celticist.Born in Basel, Thurneysen studied classical philology in Basel, Leipzig, Berlin and Paris. His teachers included Ernst Windisch and Heinrich Zimmer...
  
   (tr.). "Eine irische Parallele zur Tristan-Sage." Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie 43 (1924): 385-402. Addenda and corrigenda in Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie
  Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie
  Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie ' is an academic journal of Celtic studies, which was founded in 1896 by the German scholars Kuno Meyer and Ludwig Christian Stern and first appeared in 1897. It is the first journal devoted exclusively to Celtic languages and literature and the oldest...
  
  16 (1926): 280-2. German translation available from CELT

External links

• Commentary by Dan M. Wiley (The Cycles of the Kings Web Project)
• Scéla Cano meic Gartnáin in Old Irish (in German, translation by Kuno Meyer
  Kuno Meyer
  Kuno Meyer was a German scholar, distinguished in the field of Celtic philology and literature. His pro-German stance at the start of World War I while traveling in the United States was a source of controversy.-Biography:...
  
  ) at University College Cork's CELT (Corpus of Electronic Texts).