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This thesis is presented in two parts. Part 1 is a study of the application of the term remsc?l prefatory tale to Early Irish literature, specifically to those tales associated with the T?in B? C?ailnge (TBC), and the wider implications of its usage, which led to the emergence of this medieval literary series. My starting point is the lists of so-called remsc?la, which are extant in the following manuscripts: 12th-century Book of Leinster, p. 245b; 15th-century RIA MS D iv.2, f. 47vb; 17th-century RIA MS C vi.3, f. 27v; and two sets of transcriptions of a now-lost manuscript, NLS MS Adv. 72.1.46, by the Scottish antiquarian Ewen M Lachlan, i.e. NLS MS Adv. 72.3.5, p. 253, and NLS Ingliston MS A vi.1, box 4, p. 17. I include also in this study the compilation of the 16th-century BL MS Egerton 1782, which contains thirteen of the tales, described as remsc?la in the aforementioned lists, as a complete collection that physically preface TBC in this manuscript. This represents the idea...
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