'As a pleasing task'. Medieval Irish texts in the pages of the Irish penny publications

The Dublin penny journal, the Irish penny journal, and the Irish penny magazine were weekly periodicals circulated in Ireland during the 1830s and 1840s. These penny publications intended to bring to a wider audience matters of Irish history, legend, topography, and discussions around Irish identity. As these publications were edited by antiquarians for much of their runs, a large amount of antiquarian research was published in their pages. This article explores how topics pertaining to medieval Irish literature are presented in these publications, given that they were aimed at a non-scholarly audience. These publications were linked to the promotion of a national idea and this article examines how the medieval texts selected for publication aided this aim in promoting a long literary past centred around the Irish language.