James H[enthorn] Todd (1805-69)

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Bibliographical details
Leabhar Brethach Annso Sis /The Irish Version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius, ed. with trans. James Henthorn Todd, DD, MRIA (Dublin Arch. Soc. MDCCCXLVIII) [with society crest of Sir James Ware], intro. and add. notes by Hon. Algernon Herbert; Pref. v-xiv; Intro. 1-23; Text, div. in 13 pts. under heading Liber Britannicus, 25-168; Appendix, [170]-220, contains 1] Of the Miracle of Cairneach ?Here], pp.178-220 of l/r bilingual text; 2] Duan Eireannach, pp.221-287 l/r bilingual text; pp.iii-cxxx, invl. index; material relating to Arch. Soc. meetings, policy, membership, and business, 35pp. [END]

Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh / The war of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, or, The invasions of Ireland by the Danes and other Norsemen: the original Irish text, ed., with trans. & intro. by James Henthorn Todd [Rerum britannicarum medii aevi scriptores] (London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer 1867),4, ccvii, [1], 348, [4] p., 2 leaves of col. plates (1 folded); geneal. tables; 25cm. [based the Book of Leinster, fol. 217, and another incomplete manuscript version in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, and on the MS. of Michael O’Clery in the Burgundian Library, Brussells].

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Criticism
W. B. Yeats, ‘Plays by an Irish Poet’, review of A Sicilian Idyll and The Poison Flower, in Untied Ireland (11 July 1891); rep. in Frayne, ed., Uncollected Prose of W. B. Yeats, Vol. 1 (Macmillan 1970), p.191-94.

 

Commentary
J. B. Bury, Life of St Patrick and His Place in History (London & NY: Macmillan & Co. 1905.) Of Todd, ‘The radical vice of the book is that the indispensable substructure is lacking. The preliminary task of criticising the sources methodically was never performed. Todd showed his scholarship and historical insight in dealing with this particular passage or that particular statement, but such sporadic criticism was no substitute for methodical Quellenkritik. Hence his results might be right or wrong but they could not be convincing. [vi]

James Godkin, Ireland and Her Churches (London: Chapman & Hall 1867): Godkin - who is a strenous critic of the entitlement of the "established" Protestant episcopalian Church of Ireland to call itself the right successor of St. Patrick through suggestive consecrations without the assent of the Irish majority to their coloinal regime in Ireland - quotes Todd extensively on the institutions of Early Irish Christianity, especially in relation to the principle of apostolic succession and the difference between it and the clan or framily-based versions of abbacy and bishopric in the Vatican system and in Ireland. (He lays much emphasis on Todd's preference for the Irish term abbat over the Norman-English term abbot.) ‘The] mixture of the temporal and spiritual has been a source of the utmost confusion to ecclesiastical historians, who looked at the old Irish Church through the modern hierarchical system, and laboured to trace the line of apostolical succession from St. Patrick down to their own time.’

Godkin (Ireland and Her Churches, 1867) - cont: ‘The latter office mentioned had reference to the Church lands, and was also hereditary in the same families. There are ancient lists of the co-arbs of St. Patrick; but Dr. Todd, the most learned antiquary in the Irish Established Church, and probably the most competent of living judges in such matters, affirms that they all bear internal evidence of having been drawn up at the close of the eleventh or the beginning of the twelfth century, “when,” he adds, “archiepiscopal and diocesan jurisdiction were introduced — and it is probable that their authors were influenced by a wish to establish a claim to a regular episcopal succession — at least at Armagh, and thus to escape so far the reproach of irregularity, which the Roman party amongst the Norsemen and English of that period had brought against the Irish Church. Hence, in reference to a regular succession in Armagh, or elsewhere. [31] Dr. Todd says, emphatically, “THE TRUTH is, THERE WAS NO SUCH THING.” (Godkin, op. cit., p.30-31 [his caps.]; citing Todd, St. Patrick, p.172.)

Godkin (Ireland and Her Churches, 1867) - cont: ‘Dr. Todd remarks on the native independence of the Irish Church: — “It was not looked upon as coming from foreigners, or as representing the manners and civilization of a foreign nation. Its priests and bishops, the successors of St. Patrick in their missionary labours, were many of them descendants of the ancient kings and chieftains, so-venerated by a clanish people By his judicious management the Christianity which he founded became self-supporting. It was endowed by the chieftains without any foreign aid. It was supplied with priests and prelates by the people them selves, and its fruits were soon seen in that wonderful stream [32] of zealous missionaries, the glory of the Irish Church, who went forth in the sixth and seventh centuries to evangelize the barbarians of central Europe.”’ (Godkin, op. cit., pp.31-32; citing Todd, St. Patrick, idem.)

Godkin (Ireland and Her Churches, 1867) - cont. [of Todd himself]: ‘It is not every member of a corporation who has the moral courage to expose fallacies and delusions calculated to sustain its exclusive privileges and profitable monopolies. This credit is due to the Rev. Dr. Todd, who has dug a pit into which the Patrician secessionists [sic] have all descended [Note: he clearly means successionists here, in keeping with the argument that he outlines.] In virtue of that succession they claim the tithes. But the tithe system was introduced into Ireland by the foreign settlers in the twelfth century. The succession itself is but a shadow conjured up by the imagination. Dr. Todd has demonstrated that the clan-church perished under the repeated blows of England. When the desolating storm of persecution abated, Rome gathered in and organized the scattered remnants of the population, and gave them pastors. Elizabethֻs “Establishment” got everything but the people — the property, the buildings, the dignity, and worldly state; and to the present hour the people are alienated.’ (Ireland and Her Churches, 1867, p.40.)

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P. W. Joyce, A Small History of Gaelic Ireland (1906), ‘Dr. Todd tested the statement in the Annals regarding the full tide at the start of the battle of Clontarf by calculating with Rev. Samuel Haughton [on the calendar].’ [Also Under P. W. Joyce.] See also recurrent references to his works in A Short History of Ireland (Longmans 1893.) [See longer account of same under Houghton [q.v.]

See also A Primer / of / The Irish Language / with Copious Reading Lessons; for the use of the students / in / The College of St. Columba (Dublin: Hodges & Smith 1845), with a Preface signed R. C. Singleton, thanking Mr. [John] O’Donovan, and Dr. Todd of TCD, for reading the proofs. [See further under John O’Donovan, supra.

Alannah Hopkin, The Living Legend of St Patrick (NY: St Martin’s Press 1989): ‘Todd’s book [St Patrick: Apostle of Ireland, 1864] naturally caused outrage among the Catholic community. He argued that contemporary Irish Catholicism had nothing at all to do wth Saint Patrick’s conversion of Ireland, but was a foreign import, the original Irish Catholic church having died out furing the period between the Viking invasions and the Reformation. Catholics anted to refute Todd’s assertions, but were unable to produce from their midst a scholar of Todd’s stature with the necessary knowledge to carry out the task. […&c.; p.155; see also under O’Growney, q.v.]

Joseph Th. Leerssen, Mere Irish & Fior-Ghael: Studies in the Idea of Irish Nationality, Its Development and Literary Expression Prior To The Nineteenth Century (Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub. Co. 1986), p.438: James Henthorn Todd founded the Irish Archaeological Society (o replace the defunct Iberno-Celtic Society), with the Duke of Leinster and many RIA members, notably O’Curry, O’Donovan, Petrie, Hardiman; but also Daniel O’Connell, Thomas Moore, Smith O’Brien, and archb. John McHale; amalgamated in 1853 with the Celtic Society (fnd 1845) to form Irish Arch. and Celtic Society. Ossianic Society formed in 1853. [438] Another society of note was the Kilkenny Archaeological Society (est. 1849), later called the Royal Historical and Arch. Assoc. of Ireland (1872-92) and Royal Antiquaries of Ireland (from 1892). It had a rule stating that all matters ‘connected with the religious and political differences which exist in our country’ are not only ‘foreign to the objects of this Society’ but also ‘calculated to disturb the harmony which is essential to its success.’ [ftn.466] Leerssen remarks that the official nationalist policy of the date was equally unwilling to draw on cultural revivalism, viz O’Connell and Butt. Also, Douglas Hyde’s Gaelic League professed apolitical intentions, as did its immediate predecessors, the Gaelic Unin and the Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language. Note that Leerssen refers the reader to Breandán O’Buachalla for further information about Irish language societies. [439]

1872 Catalogue of Trinity College, Dublin (TCD) Library

James Henthorn Todd was primarily responsible for the Printed catalogue which finally appeared in 1872. Finding the existing catalogues to be almost useless Todd persuaded the Board of the College to appoint permanent Library Clerks for the first time and set about cataloguing the books on slips of paper in 1835. This work was completed in 1846 and Todd was now in a position to commence printing. He used Bandinel’s Catalogue of the Bodleian Library in Oxford as a model but made significant improvements. Unlike Bandinel he decided not to set a date at which he would stop adding books as he knew that printing would take a long time and many books would be unreasonably excluded. As the catalogue was to contain both primary and secondary entries and was to be printed over many years it is possible that secondary entries will be found without primary entries and vice-versa. A primary entry which is listed under author (or other keyword such as Ireland) and contains the title, place of publication, date size, edition, no. of volumes etc. and finally as many shelf marks as there are copies of the book. A secondary entry is listed under a different heading and the entry is an abridgement of the title with the primary entry heading printed in capitals. The A-B volume, together with a Supplement, was in the printer’s hands from 1849 to 1862 and was published in 1864. Todd, who had been appointed Librarian in 1852, died in 1869 before the other volumes were printed. Henry Dix Hutton was given the task of editing the remaining seven volumes and a supplement which also contained an addenda and corrigenda. The T-Z volume was printed in 1885 and the Supplement in 1887. The whole project took 52 years. The 5121 pages of one set of the eight volumes were separated in 1987 in order to make a microfiche copy and these pages which were provided by Dr. Charles Benson, Keeper of Early Printed Books, were used to develop this on-line system. There are about 250,000 entries in the catalogue. [...]

Notice by John G. Byrne (TCD Lib.)

See further at TCD Printed Catalogue > Introduction to the 1872 Printed Catalogue [online; accessed 12.06.2024.]

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Quotations

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See quotations from his Life of Saint Patrick: Apostle of Ireland (Dublin: Hodges Smith & Co. 1864) - under St. Patrick, “Commentary”, supra

Wars of the Gaedhil with the Gaill (1867): Preface , includes this passage of reasoning on the identity of Milbrico of the Helmskringla Saga of Snorre Sturlason, with Melbricus in Saxo Grammaticus and the Maelbhrighte of the Irish Annals, a king of Conaille captured by the Norse in a.d. 831. By extension of the kinship between the Irish and the Danish accounts, Todd infers that Turgéis in one is in fact the Ragnar Lodbrok who commanded the Norse expedition in the other. ‘This year 831 was therefore the date of his appearance in Ireland; but 832, as we have seen, was the year in which Turgesius invaded the north of Ireland, and plundered Armagh three times in one month. Here then is a coincidence which, as far as it goes, would seem to identify the tyrant, Turgesius, with Regnar Lodbrok. It is true there are discrepancies in the narrative which shake the certainty of the conclusion. there is no mention of Dublin in the Irish accounts, and the first occupation of Dublin was some six or seven years later. Saxo says that Melbricus was killed, whereas the Annals speak only of his having been made prisoner. But he may have been made prisoner, and afterwards put to death (his name does not apper at subsequent dates in the Irish Annals.) there is therefore no real contradiction; and so also Turgesius, although he did not take Dublin in 831, did certainly occupy it as a garrison a few years afterwards.’ (p.liv) Charles Haliday endorses Todd’s opinion in Scandanavian Kingdom of Dublin, 1881, p.28. (Cited in George A. Little, op. cit., Dublin Before the Vikings, pp.152-53]

Wars of the Gaedhil with the Gaill (1867): ‘He (Brian Borumha) sent professors and masters to teach wisdom and knowledge and to buy books beyond the sea and great ocean, because their (the Irish) writings and their books were burned or thrown into the water by the plunderers, from the beginning (of the Scand. period) to the end.’ (Ed. Todd, p.139.) ‘The name Boroimhe means - and is translated as “cattle tribute”: “eleven cantreds hath Leinster / And twenty of teeming wealth; / From Dublin Bay (Inbher Duibhlinne) hither / Unto the Pass of the Cattle Tribute.”’ (Ibid., p.7.) ‘There came after that [the first action against Dublin] a very great fleet into the south of Ath Cliath and the greater part of Eire was plundered by them’ (Wars of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, p.17; Todd p.143; quoted in Little, op. cit., p.82ff.

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References
Justin McCarthy, gen. ed., Irish Literature (Washington: University of America 1904); gives ‘St. Patrick’s Success’ from St. Patrick: Apostle of Ireland (Dublin Hodges, Smith 1864) [cited also Torchiana, 1986].

Stephen Brown, Ireland in Fiction: A Guide to Irish Novels, Tales, Romances and Folklore [Pt. I] (Dublin: Maunsel 1919) notes that Fianaigecht [RIA Lect. Ser.] (Dublin: Hodges Figgis 1910), xxxii, 144pp., is based on Todd’s RIA lecture series relating to Finn and his Fiana [sic], with Eng. trans., incl a list of all “acccessible tales, poems, and references bearing upon the cycle known to me”, and proceeding century by century from the 8th to the 14th; Tale 2 is the quarrel of Finn with Oisin, and Tale 6 the Chase of Sid na mBan Finn. Scholarly apparatus.’ (Brown, 1919, p.212.)

D. J. O’Donoghue, Poets of Ireland (Dublin: Hodges Figgis 1912), gives bio-details: b. 1805, Dublin, d. 1869, Rathfarnham; works incl. Life of St. Patrick (1864), and The Book of the Vaudois (1865); translated poems from the Irish, rep. in Connolly; notes that he was an ‘antiquarian parson’ to Thomas Carlyle.

Hyland Books [219; 1995] lists An Apology for Lollard Doctrines, Attributable to Wycliffe; Now first Printed from a Manuscript in ... TCD [Camden Soc.] (1st Edn. 1842).

Belfast Public Library holds The Book of Hymns of the Ancient Church of Ireland, 2 vols. (1855-59).

University of Ulster Library, Morris Collection, holds The Book of Hymns of the Ancient Church of Ireland, 2 vols. (1855-59), taken from Liber Hymnorum [TCD MS]; Antiphonarium Benchorense [Ambrosian Lib., Milan], et al.

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Notes
Boss Todd: On Todd’s employment of James Clarence Mangan in TCD Library. (See Robert Welch, Irish Poetry, Gerards Cross: Colin Smythe 1980, p.103.)

John Cornelius O’Callaghan, The Green Book, or Gleanings from the Writing-desk of A Literary Agitator (1841), refers to Todd as ‘setting on foot on a principle similar to the Oriental Translation Fund Society in London, to give the world the benefit of the valuable and curious collections of native Irish literature in the archives of the University [TCD] - each work issued by the society to contain both the original text, and an exactin translation of it in English.’ (p.xxxiii.)

See library-sale: Catalogue of the valuable library of the late Rev. James H. Todd, comprising select Biblical literature; the history, antiquities, and language of Ireland; miscellanea [...] and an important collection of patristic, Irish and other Manuscripts [...] ; to be sold by auction by John Fleming Jones [...] on Monday, November 15th, 1869 / John Fleming Jones (Firm). 1869.

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