Abstract
While the Dindshenchas has appeared sporadically within academia, it was not until the turn of this century that the corpus started to earn consistent interest. However, due to its size and continued presence in manuscripts, ranging from the Book of Leinster and Book of Ballymote to newer manuscripts, there are a large number of aspects in need of further investigation. This thesis will address the scribal alterations in Dindshenchas entries across multiple manuscripts, as well as to what extent this has affected the placelore material. Even though it would have been beneficial to analyse a significant amount of the Dindshenchas corpus, this project focuses on three specific Dindshenchas entries in the hopes of developing arguments and conclusions that can connect to the entire corpus. Furthermore, this thesis attempts to advocate for a closer look on the scribal alterations to the Dindshenchas, and questions why such alterations were committed in the first place. Through this analysis, it is evident that accessing the original placelore is impossible due to these alterations being introduced gradually over time. However, it is important keep in mind that the main purpose of the Dindshenchas might not have been to provide plausible and accurate entries of Irish placelore. Instead, it could have been an attempt to provide a collection of the Irish placelore, without paying attention to truthfulness, believability, or accurateness. Finally, this thesis has been written to provide a glimpse into these three Dindshenchas entries, their scribes and their preservation methods through a selection of extant manuscripts containing this complex and extraordinary Irish tradition.