A friend sent me the following URL this morning to do with medical writing in Ireland 1400-1700. Some others might find it interesting. I'm including an exerpt from the page. Jane "It seems that for most of the period 1590-1600 the Aghmacart school was headed by Donnchadh Óg Ó Conchubhair (fl. 1586-1610), who, by 1590 certainly, and probably several years prior to that, had acquired the position of official physician (ollamh leighis ) to the third Lord Baron of Upper Ossory, Fínghean Mac Giolla Pádraig (d. 1613). A position as official physician to an Irish lord was one of the most prestigious medical appointments the country had to offer; such posts were limited in number, keenly contested, and richly rewarded. Evidence of Donnchadh Óg's suitability for office is found in a comment made by Risteard Ó Conchubhair, a kinsman and student of his, who in a colophon written in RIA ms 439 (3 C 19) in October 1590 described his master as `the best of the doctors of Ireland in his own time', adding in parentheses: `understand that he never left Ireland to study'. " http://www.celt.dias.ie/english/staff/rcsi1.html