Entities
Sims-Williams (Patrick)
- s. xx–xxi
- (agents)
Sims-Williams, Patrick, The medieval Welsh Englynion y beddau: the ‘Stanzas of the graves’, or ‘Graves of the warriors of the Island of Britain’, attributed to Taliesin, Studies in Celtic History, 46, Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2023.
abstract:
The "Stanzas of the Graves" or "Graves of the Warriors of the Island of Britain", attributed to the legendary poet Taliesin, describe ancient heroes' burial places. Like the "Triads of the Island of Britain", they are an indispensable key to the narrative literature of medieval Wales. The heroes come from the whole of Britain, including Mercia and present-day Scotland, as well as many from Wales and a few from Ireland. Many characters known from the Mabinogion appear, often with additional information, as do some from romance and early Welsh saga, such as Arthur, Bedwyr, Gawain, Owain son of Urien, Merlin, and Vortigern. The seventh-century grave of Penda of Mercia, beneath the river Winwæd in Yorkshire, is the latest grave to be included. The poems testify to the interest aroused by megaliths, tumuli, and other apparently man-made monuments, some of which can be identified with known prehistoric remains.This volume offers a full edition and translation of the poems, mapped with reference to all the manuscripts, starting with the Black Book of Carmarthen, the oldest extant book of Welsh poetry. There is also a detailed commentary on their linguistic, literary, historical, and archaeological aspects.
Sims-Williams, Patrick, “Corbre, Corknud and Llia Gvitel: three Irish allusions in Englynion y beddau”, Ériu 72 (2022): 45–55.
abstract:
This article investigates three allusions to Irish characters in the Middle Welsh ‘Stanzas of the graves’, a poem in the Black Book of Carmarthen (c. 1250).
Sims-Williams, Patrick, “Welsh Yr Eifl: a trace of the Brittonic u-stem dual?”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 69 (2022): 261–270.
Sims-Williams, Patrick, “The legal triads in Llanstephan MS 116, folios 1–2”, Studia Celtica 53 (2019): 73–82.
abstract:
The fragmentary text of the Triads on the first two folios of the fifteenth-century Welsh law manuscript Llanstephan 116 is transcribed and collated with similar legal texts.
Sims-Williams, Patrick (ed.), Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 77 — Sir John Rhys (1840–1915) (Summer, 2019), Aberystwyth: CMCS Publications.
Incl. preface (pp. 1-2) by Patrick Sims-Williams.
Sims-Williams, Patrick, “John Rhys and the Insular inscriptions”, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 77 (2019): 47–64.
Sims-Williams, Patrick, The Book of Llandaf as a historical source, Studies in Celtic History, 38, Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2019.
Contents: Introduction; The Book of Llandaf and the early Welsh charter; The origin of the Llandaf claims; The charters in the Book of Llandaf: forgeries or recensions?; The authenticity of the witness lists; The integrity of the charters; The chronology of the charters; The status of the donors and recipients of the charters; The fake diplomatic of the Book of Llandaf; The Book of Llandaf: first edition or seventh enlarged revision?; A new approach to the compilation of the Book of Llandaf; The evidence of the doublets; The Book of Llandaf as an indicator of social and economic change; The royal genealogical framework; The episcopal framework; Afterword; Appendix I: Concordance and chart showing the paginal and chronological order of the charters; Appendix II: Maps of grants to bishops; Bibliography.
abstract:
The early-twelfth-century Book of Llandaf is rightly notorious for its bogus documents - but it also provides valuable information on the early medieval history of south-east Wales and the adjacent parts of England. This study focuses on its 159 charters, which purport to date from the fifth century to the eleventh, arguing that most of them are genuine seventh-century and later documents that were adapted and "improved" to impress Rome and Canterbury in the context of Bishop Urban of Llandaf's struggles in 1119-34 against the bishops of St Davids and Hereford and the "invasion" of monks from English houses such as Gloucester and Tewkesbury. After assembling other evidence for the existence of pre-twelfth-century Welsh charters, the author defends the authenticity of most of the Llandaf charters' witness lists, elucidates their chronology, and analyses the processes of manipulation and expansion that led to the extant Book of Llandaf. This leads him to reassess the extent to which historians can exploit the rehabilitated charters as an indicator of social and economic change between the seventh and eleventh centuries and as a source for the secular and ecclesiastical history of south-east Wales and western England.
Sims-Williams, Patrick, “IE *peug′‐ /*peuk′‐ ‘to pierce’ in Celtic: Old Irish og ‘sharp point’, ogam, and uaigid ‘stitches’, Gallo‐Latin Mars Ugius, Old Welsh ‐ug and Middle Welsh ‐y ‘fist’, Middle Welsh vch ‘fox’, and ancient names like Uccius”, Transactions of the Philological Society 116:1 (March, 2018): 117–130.
abstract:
A systematic search for Celtic derivatives of IE *peug′‐ /*peuk′‐ ‘to pierce’ illustrates the extent to which Indo‐European etymological dictionaries have tended to overlook the existence of cognates in the Celtic languages.
Sims-Williams, Patrick (ed.), Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 76 (Winter, 2018), Aberystwyth: CMCS Publications.
Sims-Williams, Patrick (ed.), Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 75 (Summer, 2018), Aberystwyth: CMCS Publications.
Sims-Williams, Patrick, “Indices to CMCS, 1–75 (1981–2018)”, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 76 (2018): 1–34.
Sims-Williams, Patrick, Buchedd Beuno: the Middle Welsh Life of St Beuno, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, School of Celtic Studies, 2018.
abstract:
Beuno was a seventh-century abbot, active in eastern and north-western Wales. The fourteenth-century Middle Welsh Life of St Beuno is an attractive literary text which is also important historically, being based on a lost Latin original, as shown in the comprehensive introduction to this edition. As the language of the text is unusually simple, the edition is accompanied by a short grammar of Middle Welsh and a full glossary so that it can be used by complete beginners.
Sims-Williams, Patrick (ed.), Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 73 (Summer, 2017), Aberystwyth: CMCS Publications.
Haycock, Marged, and Patrick Sims-Williams, “Welsh vch ‘fox’? in the Book of Taliesin”, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 73 (2017): 21–30.
Sims-Williams, Patrick (ed.), Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 74 (Winter, 2017), Aberystwyth: CMCS Publications.
Sims-Williams, Patrick, “The earliest Celtic ethnography”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 64 (2017): 421–442.
Sims-Williams, Patrick, “The kings of Morgannwg and Gwent in Asser’s Life of King Alfred”, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 74 (2017): 67–81.
Sims-Williams, Patrick (ed.), Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 72 (Winter, 2016), Aberystwyth: CMCS Publications.
Sims-Williams, Patrick, “The location of the Celts according to Hecataeus, Herodotus, and other Greek writers”, Études Celtiques 42 (2016): 7–32.
abstract:
[FR] La localisation des Celtes d’après Hécatée, Hérodote et d’autres auteurs grecsC’est par erreur que l’on a compris le texte d’Hécatée et d’Hérodote, deux contemporains des premières inscriptions celtiques du Nord de l’Italie et du Sud de la Suisse, comme des documents localisant les Celtes en Autriche et dans le Sud-Ouest de l’Allemagne, ce qui a eu pour résultat malheureux de conférer l’étiquette celtique à la culture halstattienne de cette région. En réalité, Hécatée et Hérodote renvoient à une localisation en Gaule – comme il a été confirmé plus tard par Timagète, Pythéas et Apollonius de Rhodes –, ainsi que, peut-être, dans une partie de la péninsule Ibérique, comme il a été affirmé par Éphore au IVe siècle. L’aire ou les aires celtiques de la péninsule auxquelles se réfèrent Hérodote et Éphore ne peuvent pas aujourd’hui être définies, mais il n’est pas nécessaire de les faire s’étendre à l’ouest de la Celtibérie – au centre de l’Espagne –, d’où proviennent, plus tard, les plus anciennes inscriptions celtiques de la péninsule. Au milieu du IVe siècle, le Pseudo-Scylax fait mention de l’installation de Celtes en Italie dans la plaine du Pô, de même peut-être que Apollonius au siècle suivant. À l’époque d’Apollonius, les Celtes étaient déjà engagés dans des migrations vers l’Ouest, si bien que tous les témoignages postérieurs concernant leur localisation, même les données toponymiques, sont d’une valeur incertaine comparée à celles des premiers auteurs, notamment Hécatée et Hérodote, malgré leurs limites et leur point de vue méditerranéen. Certes, les premiers auteurs sont eux-mêmes trop tardifs pour nous indiquer la région où sont apparus les Celtes et la langue celtique. Cependant, nous pouvons dire négativement qu’ils ne permettent d’appuyer ni une localisation à l’Est, en Allemagne ou en Autriche, ni une localisation à l’Ouest sur le rivage atlantique. Ce qu’ils nous disent s’accorde certainement avec une origine des Celtes située en Gaule, mais cette hypothèse ne peut être développée sans attribuer des identifications ethniques spéculatives aux données archéologiques préhistoriques.
[EN] Hecataeus and Herodotus, who were contemporary with the earliest Celtic-language inscriptions in northern Italy and southern Switzerland, have been misunderstood as localising the Celts in Austria and south-west Germany, with the unfortunate result that its archaeological ‘Hallstatt culture’ has been wrongly labelled ‘Celtic’. In fact, Hecataeus and Herodotus point to locations in Gaul (as later confirmed by Timagetus, Pytheas, and Apollonius of Rhodes) and possibly in part of the Hispanic Peninsula (as stated by Ephorus in the fourth century). The Celtic area or areas in the Peninsula to which Herodotus and Ephorus may refer cannot now be defined, but need not have extended west of Celtiberia in central Spain, which is later the source of the earliest Celtic inscriptions in the Peninsula. In the mid-fourth century the Italian Celtic settlements around the Po valley are referred to by Pseudo-Scylax, and possibly by Apollonius in the third. By Apollonius’ day, Celts were already migrating eastwards, so that any subsequent evidence for their location, including onomastic data, is of doubtful value compared to that of the earlier writers, especially Hecataeus and Herodotus, despite their evident limitations and Mediterranean perspective. Even the earliest writers are too late to guide us to the area where the Celts and the Celtic language emerged. Negatively, however, we can conclude that they neither support a location in Germany or Austria in the east nor support a location on the Atlantic seaboard in the west. What they say is certainly consonant with Celtic origins in Gaul, but that hypothesis cannot be taken further without attaching speculative ethnic labels to prehistoric archaeological data.
[EN] Hecataeus and Herodotus, who were contemporary with the earliest Celtic-language inscriptions in northern Italy and southern Switzerland, have been misunderstood as localising the Celts in Austria and south-west Germany, with the unfortunate result that its archaeological ‘Hallstatt culture’ has been wrongly labelled ‘Celtic’. In fact, Hecataeus and Herodotus point to locations in Gaul (as later confirmed by Timagetus, Pytheas, and Apollonius of Rhodes) and possibly in part of the Hispanic Peninsula (as stated by Ephorus in the fourth century). The Celtic area or areas in the Peninsula to which Herodotus and Ephorus may refer cannot now be defined, but need not have extended west of Celtiberia in central Spain, which is later the source of the earliest Celtic inscriptions in the Peninsula. In the mid-fourth century the Italian Celtic settlements around the Po valley are referred to by Pseudo-Scylax, and possibly by Apollonius in the third. By Apollonius’ day, Celts were already migrating eastwards, so that any subsequent evidence for their location, including onomastic data, is of doubtful value compared to that of the earlier writers, especially Hecataeus and Herodotus, despite their evident limitations and Mediterranean perspective. Even the earliest writers are too late to guide us to the area where the Celts and the Celtic language emerged. Negatively, however, we can conclude that they neither support a location in Germany or Austria in the east nor support a location on the Atlantic seaboard in the west. What they say is certainly consonant with Celtic origins in Gaul, but that hypothesis cannot be taken further without attaching speculative ethnic labels to prehistoric archaeological data.
Persée – Études Celtiques, vol. 42, 2016: <link>
Sims-Williams, Patrick (ed.), Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 71 (Summer, 2016), Aberystwyth: CMCS Publications.
Sims-Williams, Patrick, “The Welsh versions of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s ‘History of the Kings of Britain’”, in: Axel Harlos, and Neele Harlos (eds), Adapting texts and styles in a Celtic context: interdisciplinary perspectives on processes of literary transfer in the middle ages: studies in honour of Erich Poppe, 13, Münster: Nodus Publikationen, 2016. 53–74.
Sims-Williams, Patrick, “The Celtic composition vowels -i- and -u-”, in: Guillaume Oudaer, Gaël Hily, and Hervé Le Bihan (eds), Mélanges en l’honneur de Pierre-Yves Lambert, Rennes: TIR, 2015. 313–331.
Sims-Williams, Patrick, “The four types of Welsh yn”, Transactions of the Philological Society 113:3 (2015): 271–406.
abstract:
This paper discusses and categorises the various medieval and modern Welsh prepositions and particles yn and the initial mutations that follow them. It investigates possible manuscript variants such as Old Welsh int and it and Middle Welsh y, and examines variations in mutation. Historical explanations are suggested, including a new explanation of the absence of mutation in the productive yn + verbal noun construction, which is argued to have spread from the construction in which possessive pronouns between yn and the verbal nouns of intransitive stative verbs prevented yn from mutating the verbal nouns.
Sims-Williams, Patrick, “Leprechauns and Luperci, Aldhelm and Augustine”, in: John Carey, Kevin Murray, and Caitríona Ó Dochartaigh (eds), Sacred histories: a Festschrift for Máire Herbert, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2015. 409–418.
Sims-Williams, Patrick, “H. M. Chadwick and early Wales”, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 69–70 (2014): 171–182.
As honouree
Poppe, Erich, Simon Rodway, and Jenny Rowland (eds), Celts, Gaels, and Britons: studies in language and literature from antiquity to the middle ages in honour of Patrick Sims-Williams, Turnhout: Brepols, 2022.
abstract:
Celts, Gaels, and Britons offers a miscellany of essays exploring three closely connected areas within the fields of Celtic Studies in order to shed new light on the ancient and medieval Celtic languages and their literatures. Taking as its inspiration the scholarship of Professor Patrick Sims-Williams, to whom this volume is dedicated, the papers gathered together here explore the Continental Celtic languages, texts from the Irish Sea world, and the literature and linguistics of the British languages, among them Welsh and Cornish. With essays from eighteen leading scholars in the field, this in-depth volume serves not only as a monument to the rich and varied career of Sims-Williams, but also offers a wealth of commentary and information to present significant primary research and reconsiderations of existing scholarship.
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Dennis Groenewegen
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March 2018, last updated: December 2021
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