manuscript copy has been preserved as Ms. Landsdowne 418 in the British Library. Later, the original book came into the possession of Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, whose library was acquired by the British Museum in 1754. A first modern printed edition of the text was published by Thomas Wright in Reliquiae Antiquae I in 1841. A standard philological edition of the text is that by Wilhelm Heuser (1904); a more recent edition was offered by Angela Lucas in 1995. Contents The religious and satirical contents of the Kildare poems are thought to display ideas characteristic of Franciscan concerns, including a concern for the poor and a dislike of older, established monastic orders. The Kildare poems comprise the following items: The Land of Cokaygne: a satirical piece about a corrupt community of monks, who lead a life of fantastic luxury and dissipation in the mythical land of Cockaigne. This satire may be directed against the Cistercian abbey at Inislounaght, near Waterford. Five hateful things: a short, seven-line poem expressing a gnomic saying about human vices Satire ("Hail, Seint Michel"): a satirical piece about human vices, in twenty short stanzas, each in the form of an incantation to a different saint Song of Michael of Kildare: a religious poem, considered the most ambitious literary work among this group of poems, and the only one that names its author ("Frere Michel Kyldare", who also describes himself as a "frere menour", i.e. a minorite). Sarmun ("sermon"), Fifteen Signs before Judgment, Fall and Passion, Ten Commandments: four religious verse sermons, in rhymed quatrains Christ on the Cross: a religious poem in irregular rhymed long lines Lollai, Lollai, litil child: a religious poem in the form of a lullaby song directed to a child Song of the Times: a satirical poem criticizing political and social disorder, containing a moral animal fable. Seven Sins: a religious poem in six-line stanzas Piers of Bermingham: an obituary of an English knight, Sir Piers of Birmingham (of Tethmoy, the region around Edenderry)), who is praised for his military exploits against the Irish and whose death is dated to 13 April 1308. Elde, a poem about the problems of old age Repentance of Love, a brief poem of three quatrains expressing a lover's complaint Nego, a moral poem about denial, symbolized by the Latin word ('I deny/reject/refuse') Erth a moral poem about earth, in two parallel