Grímur Thorkelin and the search for Danish antiquities in Ireland

Lecture by Peadar Ó Muircheartaigh

In 1786, the Icelander Grímur Thorkelin was commissioned by the King of Denmark to travel to Britain and Ireland in search of antiquities that might shed light on the history of Denmark and Scandinavia. He would spend the next 5 years carrying out that work. The most famous fruit of this trip was Thorkelin’s editio princeps of Beowulf, a text he ‘discovered’ in the British Museum, but his research also brought him beyond the bounds of the British Museum. This paper will examine Thorkelin’s antiquarian activities in Ireland, especially the interest he took in Irish manuscripts.