Bibliography
Narrative literature
Irish literature
Ulster CycleCycles of the KingsFinn CycleMythological CycleDinnshenchas ÉrennWelsh literature
MabinogionDinnshenchas Érenn
Results (100)
Theuerkauf, Marie-Luise, Dindshenchas Érenn, Cork Studies in Celtic Literatures, 7, Cork: CSCL, 2023.
abstract:
The purpose of the present volume is to provide an accessible overview and entry into the complex literary creation known as Dindshenchas Érenn ‘History of the Notable Places of Ireland’. The five chapters in the book consider different aspects of the Dindshenchas corpus, ranging from the manuscript sources; the format and structure of the various texts so labelled; an overview of the scholarship published to date; the dating of the corpus; the Dindshenchas as a branch of aetiological literature; and an analysis of the literary connections between the Dindshenchas and medieval Irish literature generally.
McCay, David, “The Dindshenchas in the Book of Leinster”, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Cambridge, 2021.
abstract:
This thesis explores the nature of the Dindshenchas in the Book of Leinster (s. xii2). The Dindshenchas is a twelfth-century compilation of stories, in prose and verse, which explain the etymologies and origins of medieval Irish place names. The textual history of the Dindshenchas is complex and not yet fully understood, however, the Book of Leinster, as the earliest manuscript, and the only to contain the so-called ‘Metrical Dindshenchas’, is evidently an important witness. Furthermore, the Book of Leinster is codicologically complex, being constituted out of several smaller manuscripts, which are the works of different scribes. In this thesis I explore the nature of the Dindshenchas in this manuscript from a material perspective. An investigation of the codicology reveals that the Dindshenchas was produced by four compilers, independent from one another to varying degrees. Furthermore, these individual collections were themselves compiled over a period of time as poems and items of prose were accumulated. The Dindshenchas in the Book of Leinster, then, is the product of many acts of compilation. This thesis interrogates these acts and their motivations, sitting at the intersection of the material and the conceptual. The physical and visual make-up of the collections – their paratext, mise-en-page, and ordinatio – are used to illuminate the critical categories, interpretations and intellectual frameworks of the compilers. Chapter I considers the nature of dindshenchas as portrayed in the scholarly literature, before situating its etymological kernel within the frameworks of medieval Etymologia and history-writing. Chapter II investigates the codicology of the Dindshenchas in the Book of Leinster in detail, defining the various codicological units which make up the corpus and providing insights into the processes of their compilation. The implications of this research on our understanding of the textual development of the Dindshenchas are profound and will be considered at the end of this chapter. Chapter III discusses the Prose Dindshenchas, exploring the ways in which it was used to structure historical narratives, and its interaction with the wider literary tradition as a text intended for consultation. Finally, Chapter IV turns to the so-called ‘Metrical Dindshenchas’, questioning the motivations behind the individual acts of compilation which produced so diverse a collection and, by extension, the nature of dindshenchas poetry as a meaningful historical category. Cumulatively, this thesis provides greater insight into the Dindshenchas, the Book of Leinster, and the contemporary critical and intellectual environment of the twelfth-century Irish scholars who compiled them.
Mulligan, Amy C., A landscape of words: Ireland, Britain and the poetics of space, 700–1250, Manchester Medieval Literature and Culture, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2019.
Contents: Introduction; 1. Holy islands: transformative landscapes and the origins of an Irish spatial poetics; 2. Place-making heroes and the storying of Ireland's vernacular landscape; 3. A versified Ireland: the Dindshenchas Érenn and a national poetics of space; 4. National pilgrims: travelling a sanctified landscape with Saint Patrick; 5. English topographies of Ireland's conquest and conversion; Conclusion; Index.
abstract:
Living on an island at the edge of the known world, the medieval Irish were in a unique position to examine the spaces of the North Atlantic region and contemplate how geography can shape a people. This book is the first full-length study of medieval Irish topographical writing. It situates the theories and poetics of Irish place - developed over six centuries in response to a variety of political, cultural, religious and economic changes - in the bigger theoretical picture of studies of space, landscape, environmental writing and postcolonial identity construction. Presenting focused studies of important literary texts by authors from Ireland and Britain, it shows how these discourses influenced European conceptions of place and identity, as well as understandings of how to write the world.
Soverino, Tiziana, “‘Here, Finn… take this and give him a lick of it’: two place-lore stories about Fi(o)nn Mac Cum(h)aill in medieval Irish literature and modern oral tradition”, in: Matthias Egeler (ed.), Landscape and myth in northwestern Europe, 2, Turnhout: Brepols, 2019. 147–161.
Bondarenko, Grigory, “Codal and Ériu: feeding the land of Ireland”, in: Matthias Egeler (ed.), Landscape and myth in northwestern Europe, 2, Turnhout: Brepols, 2019. 99–111.
Bekkhus, Eivor, “Men on pilgrimage – women adrift: thoughts on gender in sea narratives from early medieval Ireland”, in: Victoria Blud, Diane Heath, and Einat Klafter (eds), Gender in medieval places, spaces and thresholds, London: University of London Press, Institute of Historical Research, 2019. 93–106.
Collection: Jstor – open-access: <link>
Vries, Ranke de, “The rosc passage in the recension C Dindṡenchas of Port Láirge”, Ériu 69 (2019): 55–79.
abstract:
This article provides a new edition, with discussion, translation, and notes, of a rosc passage contained in Recension C of the dindsenchas of Port Láirge. The edition is based on seven manuscript versions. This passage has never before been translated or edited in full.
Bondarenko, Grigory, “Ireland as mesocosm”, in: Emily Lyle (ed.), Celtic myth in the 21st century: the gods and their stories in a global perspective, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2018. 53–71.
Theuerkauf, Marie-Luise, “The death of Boand and the recensions of Dindṡenchas Érenn”, Ériu 67 (2017): 49–97.
abstract:
The death of Boand is found in both prose and verse in the Dindṡenchas. Three poems, labelled Boand I, II and III by E.J. Gwynn, have survived in various sources. In the first section of this paper, I provide an analysis of the relationship of these poems to one another. This section also includes an edition and translation of a short poem, here called ‘Boand A’, from Oxford Bodl. MS Laud 610, which has a close connection to Boand I. In the second section, I discuss changes which occur between variants of the prose article on Boand. The outcome of the present enquiry demonstrates how studying individual Dindṡenchas articles broadens our knowledge of the dynamics and growth of the entire corpus. The results of this investigation also have an impact on our understanding of the recensions of the Dindṡenchas.
Bondarenko, Grigory, “Búaid Cuinn, rígróit rogaidi: an alliterative poem from the Dindṡenchas”, in: Grigory Bondarenko, Studies in Irish mythology, Berlin: curach bhán, 2014. 127–154.
Toner, Gregory, “Landscape and cosmology in the Dindshenchas”, in: Jacqueline Borsje, Ann Dooley, Séamus Mac Mathúna, and Gregory Toner (eds), Celtic cosmology: perspectives from Ireland and Scotland, 26, Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2014. 268–283.
Archan, Christophe, “Les règles de droit dans la prose du Dindshenchas de Rennes”, Droit et Cultures 64:2 (2013–): 91–113. URL: <https://journals.openedition.org/droitcultures/2809>
Online since 08 January 2013.
Downey, Clodagh, “Cúán ua Lothcháin and the transmission of the Dindshenchas”, in: Ailbhe Ó Corráin, and Gordon Ó Riain (eds), Celebrating sixty years of Celtic studies at Uppsala University: proceedings of the Eleventh Symposium of Societas Celtologica Nordica, 9, Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet, 2013. 45–61.
Ingridsdotter, Kicki, “Motivation for incest: Clothru and the battle of Druim Criaich”, Studia Celtica Fennica 10 (2013): 45–63.
– PDF: <link>
abstract:
The topic of this article is an episode found in early Irish literature in which Clothru, Medb’s sister and Eochaid Feidlech’s daughter, mates with her three brothers Bres, Nár, and Lothar before the battle of Druim Criaich, resulting in the conception of Lugaid of the red stripes. Previous work has focused mainly on mythological and political connotations of the episode, particularly Clothru’s presumed connection to sovereignty. Whereas I do agree that the episodes concerning Clothru’s incest can be read as replete with liminality, and that issues of kingship are central to all extant examples of in these episodes, here I would like to explore a reading of the texts in which I see Clothru as less bound to sovereignty and more acting within a literary motif of mediating violence and preventing strife. I will focus on the immediate textual context and subtle differences in the motivation and narrative function of the incest and the conception of a child as found in these sources. Whereas the surface motivation shifts from text to text, the underlying motivation-to keep her brothers from killing their father, remains throughout. This motivation is also comparable to other episodes in which violence is negotiated and mediated by women or men in early Irish literature. Although several scholars have noted this shift in motivation, it has not been discussed in full and merits a fuller treatment.
Breatnach, Liam, “Dinnseanchas Inbhear Chíochmhaine, ‘trí comaccomail na Góedelge’, agus caibidil i stair litriú na Gaeilge”, in: Eoin Mac Cárthaigh, and Jürgen Uhlich (eds), Féilscríbhinn do Chathal Ó Háinle, Inverin: Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 2012. 37–55.
Bondarenko, Grigory, “The dindshenchas of Irarus: the king, the druid and the probable tree”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 59 (2012): 5–26.
Kilpatrick, Kelly A., “The historical interpretation of early medieval Insular place-names”, unpublished D.Phil thesis, University of Oxford, 2012.
abstract:
This study examines the textual and social roles of place-names in Insular sources from the seventh through eleventh centuries. Place-names are analysed within the framework of textual narrative to uncover the function of place-names in early texts and to reveal ways in which medieval Insular societies interpreted 'place' and place- names. The sources analysed in this thesis have been carefully selected where the geography recorded represents a particular culture or geographic region so as to provide an adequate representation of the early medieval Insular world.
Chapters One through Three examine place-names in hagiographical sources. Chapter One focuses on the island-names in the Vita Sancti Columbae. This chapter investigates the relationship of Columban foundations in the Hebrides, the early Christian interpretations of 'place' and the role of place-names in Biblical exegesis. Chapter Two analyses the place-names in the medieval dossier of St Brigit. Toponymic differences between Latin and vernacular sources are examined and compared. Special attention is given to tracing Brigit's journeys throughout medieval Ireland, and comparing the place-names in the Lives with Brigit's constituencies. Chapter Three examines place-names in the Vita Sancti Guthlaci. The Anglo-Saxon perceptions of prehistoric monuments and the fenland landscape are analysed, and evidence for early medieval frontier-zones are considered.
The material examined in Chapter Four dates to the later centuries of the early medieval period, and analyses place-names in Middle-Irish senchas tracts concerned with the cemeteries of mythological individuals. These sites were symbolic centres commonly characterised by monumental landscapes. Comparison with external literature reveals a wealth of information about these places, their perceptions and their social functions in medieval Ireland.
The Conclusions of this thesis highlight the differences in 'place' interpretation and also examine widespread functions of place-names in early texts and society.
Chapters One through Three examine place-names in hagiographical sources. Chapter One focuses on the island-names in the Vita Sancti Columbae. This chapter investigates the relationship of Columban foundations in the Hebrides, the early Christian interpretations of 'place' and the role of place-names in Biblical exegesis. Chapter Two analyses the place-names in the medieval dossier of St Brigit. Toponymic differences between Latin and vernacular sources are examined and compared. Special attention is given to tracing Brigit's journeys throughout medieval Ireland, and comparing the place-names in the Lives with Brigit's constituencies. Chapter Three examines place-names in the Vita Sancti Guthlaci. The Anglo-Saxon perceptions of prehistoric monuments and the fenland landscape are analysed, and evidence for early medieval frontier-zones are considered.
The material examined in Chapter Four dates to the later centuries of the early medieval period, and analyses place-names in Middle-Irish senchas tracts concerned with the cemeteries of mythological individuals. These sites were symbolic centres commonly characterised by monumental landscapes. Comparison with external literature reveals a wealth of information about these places, their perceptions and their social functions in medieval Ireland.
The Conclusions of this thesis highlight the differences in 'place' interpretation and also examine widespread functions of place-names in early texts and society.
Ó Mainnín, Mícheál B., “‘Saig in Machai fothúaid’: on the application and extent of ‘the Macha’ in north-west Armagh”, Ériu 60 (2010): 111–130.
The seventh-century Patrician documents in the Book of Armagh, and other early sources such as Bethu Phátraic, contain references to the toponym Macha, which has been identified by the Dictionary of the Irish Language with either the ecclesiastical centre of Ard Macha or the ‘royal seat’ of Emain Macha. This article examines the evidence for the name in the sources and illustrates that Macha applies primarily to the plain in which both Ard Macha and Emain Macha are located. It is to be identified with Mag Macha ‘the plain of Macha’, familiar to us from the Dindshenchus, and further evidence of the organic potential of a given toponym is witnessed in later sources where the plain is referred to as Mag/Machaire na hE(a)mna ‘the plain of Emain’ and Machaire Aird/Arda Macha ‘the plain of Armagh’. The extent of Macha is difficult to establish with certainty, but it seems very likely that it stretched north to the River Blackwater as well as south towards Slíab Fúait.
Toner, Gregory, “Macha and the invention of myth”, Ériu 60 (2010): 81–109.
abstract:
This paper provides new literary analyses of two tales associated with Emain Macha, both of which feature a woman called Macha: Noínden Ulad, which purports to tell the origin of the debility that the Ulstermen suffered during the Táin, and the story of Macha Mongrúad, who overthrew her enemies and forced them to construct the fort of Emain Macha. The discussion considers issues of warriorhood, justice and gender, and seeks to disentangle the themes of sovereignty and war in relation to the women called Macha. Two of the four women bearing the name Macha are, in all probability, relatively late innovations, and the primary function of the remaining two figures lies in warfare.
Downey, Clodagh, “Dindṡenchas and the tech midchúarta”, Ériu 60 (2010): 1–35.
The banqueting hall (tech midchúarta) of Tara is vividly described in a variety of medieval Irish sources. This paper examines descriptions of the physical layout and social regulation of the banqueting hall in some of these sources with a view to retrieving how their authors understood its form and function, and assesses evidence associating the banqueting hall with the cursus monument in Tara known today as Tech Midchúarta.
Hicks, Ronald, “Dún Ailinne’s role in folklore, myth, and the sacred landscape”, in: Susan A. Johnston, and Bernard Wailes, Dún Ailinne: excavations at an Irish royal site, 1968–1975, 129, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2007. 183–194.
Hellmuth, Petra S., “Zu Forfess Fer Fálgae”, in: Erich Poppe (ed.), Keltologie heute: Themen und Fragestellungen. Akten des 3. Deutschen Keltologensymposiums, Marburg, März 2001, 6, Münster: Nodus, 2004. 195–210.
Hellmuth, Petra S., “The Dindshenchas and Irish literary tradition”, in: John Carey, Máire Herbert, and Kevin Murray (eds), Cín Chille Cúile: texts, saints and places. Essays in honour of Pádraig Ó Riain, 9, Aberystwyth: Celtic Studies Publications, 2004. 116–126.
FitzPatrick, Elizabeth, Royal inauguration in Gaelic Ireland c. 1100-1600: a cultural landscape study, Studies in Celtic History, 22, Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2004.
Ó Murchadha, Diarmuid, “Carman, site of Óenach Carmain: a proposed location”, Éigse 33 (2002): 57–70.
Pődör, Dóra, “Twelve poems attributed to Fland Mainistrech from the Book of Leinster”, unpublished PhD thesis, Trinity College, Dublin, 1999.
Ó Cuív, Brian, “Dinnshenchas: the literary exploitation of Irish place-names”, Ainm: Bulletin of the Ulster Place Name Society 4 (1989–1990): 90–106.
Toner, Gregory, “Emain Macha in the literature”, Emania: Bulletin of the Navan Research Group 4 (Spring, 1988): 32–35.
Sayers, William, “The Old Irish Bóand/Nechtan myth in the light of Scandinavian evidence”, Scandinavian-Canadian Studies / Études scandinaves au Canada 1 (1983): 63–78.
Ó Concheanainn, Tomás, “The three forms of Dinnshenchas Érenn [part 1]”, Journal of Celtic Studies 3 (1981–1983): 88–101.
Ó Concheanainn, Tomás, “The three forms of Dinnshenchas Érenn [part 2]”, Journal of Celtic Studies 3 (1981–1983): 102–131.
Draak, Maartje, and Frida de Jong [trs.], Van helden, elfen en dichters: de oudste verhalen uit Ierland, Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1979.
Ó Concheanainn, Tomás, “An dinnsheanchas próis”, Ph.D. thesis, National University of Ireland, Galway, 1977.
Bowen, Charles, “A historical inventory of the Dindshenchas”, Studia Celtica 10–11 (1975–1976): 113–137.
Ford, Patrick K., “The well of Nechtan and ‘La gloire lumineuse’”, in: Gerald James Larson, C. Scott Littleton, and Jaan Puhvel (eds), Myth in Indo-European antiquity, Berkeley, CA: University of California, 1974. 67–74.
Best, Richard Irvine, and M. A. OʼBrien, The Book of Leinster, formerly Lebar na Núachongbála, vol. 4, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1965. xxvii + pp. 761-1117.
CELT – pp. 761-781 and 785-841: <link>
Best, Richard Irvine, and M. A. OʼBrien, The Book of Leinster, formerly Lebar na Núachongbála, vol. 3, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1957. xxi + pp. 471-760.
CELT – pp. 471-638 and 663: <link>
Greene, David [ed.], Fingal Rónáin and other stories, Mediaeval and Modern Irish Series, 16, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1955.
Best, Richard Irvine, Osborn Bergin, M. A. OʼBrien, and Anne OʼSullivan [eds.], The Book of Leinster, formerly Lebar na Núachongbála, 6 vols, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1954–1983.
Best, Richard Irvine, Osborn Bergin, and M. A. OʼBrien, The Book of Leinster, formerly Lebar na Núachongbála, vol. 1, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1954. 260 pp. + 4 pl.
CELT – edition (pp. 1-260): <link>
Murphy, Gerard, Duanaire Finn: The book of the lays of Fionn, 3 vols, vol. 3: Introduction, notes, appendices and glossary, Irish Texts Society, 43, London: Irish Texts Society, 1953.
Internet Archive: <link>
Smith, Roland M., “Guinganbresil and the Green Knight”, Journal of English and Germanic Philology 45 (1946): 1–25.
