Bibliography
Narrative literature
Irish literature
Ulster CycleCycles of the KingsFinn CycleMythological CycleDinnshenchas ÉrennWelsh literature
MabinogionUlster Cycle
Results (879)
Ní Bhrolcháin, Muireann, “The Banshenchas: genealogy and women of the Ulster Cycle”, in: Gregory Toner, and Séamus Mac Mathúna (eds), Ulidia 3: proceedings of the Third International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales, University of Ulster, Coleraine 22–25 June, 2009. In memoriam Patrick Leo Henry, Berlin: curach bhán, 2013. 75–85.
Rekdal, Jan Erik, “Ynglingatal and Fianna bátar i nEmain: two parallel poems in two parallel cultures”, in: Rudolf Simek, and Asya Ivanova (eds), Between the islands – and the continent: papers on Hiberno-Scandinavian-continental relations in the Early Middle Ages, 21, Vienna: Fassbaender, 2013. 221–252.
Le Mair, Esther, “A trusted outsider: Leborcham in the Ulster Cycle”, in: Gregory Toner, and Séamus Mac Mathúna (eds), Ulidia 3: proceedings of the Third International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales, University of Ulster, Coleraine 22–25 June, 2009. In memoriam Patrick Leo Henry, Berlin: curach bhán, 2013. 37–47.
Herren, Michael W., “Patrick, Gaul, and Gildas: a new lens on the apostle of Ireland’s career”, in: Sarah Sheehan, Joanne Findon, and Westley Follett (eds), Gablánach in scélaigecht: Celtic studies in honour of Ann Dooley, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2013. 9–25.
Deane, Marion, “From knowledge to acknowledgement: Feis tige Becfholtaig”, Peritia 22–23 (2011-2012, 2013): 149–176.
abstract:
In the Old-Irish tale Feis Tige Becfholtaig, the pragmatic details of the king’s success, marital and martial, are delineated. However, as the goal of the king is Truth or happiness, his worldly conquests, in love or war, cannot exist in isolation. They are part of a whole. His progress towards Wisdom and Truth is indicated by an acallam in which he recognises his reliance on the goddess and the part she plays in bringing things to this pass. However, if he is to be a good king he must not only acknowledge the full Truth or the whole of reality to himself, but make it known to his subjects. This paper examines the incremental fashion in which the king, at first refused and then only partially acknowledged the truth before eventually proclaiming it in full in public.
(source: Brepols)
Wright, Charles D., “From monks’ jokes to sages’ wisdom: the Joca monachorum tradition and the Irish Immacallam in dá thúarad”, in: Mary Garrison, Arpad P. Orbán, and Marco Mostert (eds), Spoken and written language: relations between Latin and the vernacular languages in the earlier Middle Ages, 24, Turnhout: Brepols, 2013. 199–225.
Bosch, Kor, “De schaduwzijde van het pauselijk hof. Twee Welshe impressies van middeleeuws Rome”, Ex Tempore 32 (2013): 97–112.
abstract:
The medieval Welshmen Gerald of Wales and Adam Usk wrote extensively about their visits to Rome. How do these accounts compare and what do they tell us about life in medieval Rome for visiting Welshmen?
Edel, Doris, “Cú Chulainn on the couch: character portrayal in Táin bó Cúailnge”, in: Gregory Toner, and Séamus Mac Mathúna (eds), Ulidia 3: proceedings of the Third International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales, University of Ulster, Coleraine 22–25 June, 2009. In memoriam Patrick Leo Henry, Berlin: curach bhán, 2013. 127–136.
Caball, Marc, and Benjamin Hazard, “Dynamism and decline: translating Keating’s Foras Feasa ar Éirinn in the seventeenth century”, Studia Hibernica 39 (2013): 49–70.
Bondarenko, Grigory, “The migration of the soul in De chophur in dá muccida and other early Irish tales”, in: Gregory Toner, and Séamus Mac Mathúna (eds), Ulidia 3: proceedings of the Third International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales, University of Ulster, Coleraine 22–25 June, 2009. In memoriam Patrick Leo Henry, Berlin: curach bhán, 2013. 137–147.
Ó Cathasaigh, Tomás, “Tochmarc Étaíne II: a tale of three wooings”, in: Pamela OʼNeill (ed.), The land beneath the sea: essays in honour of Anders Ahlqvist’s contribution to Celtic studies in Australia, 14, Sydney: Celtic Studies Foundation, University of Sydney, 2013. 129–142.
Ó hUiginn, Ruairí, “Some late tales of the Ulster Cycle”, 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. 99–111.
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.
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.
Ó Cathasaigh, Tomás, “The body in Táin bó Cúailnge”, in: Sarah Sheehan, Joanne Findon, and Westley Follett (eds), Gablánach in scélaigecht: Celtic studies in honour of Ann Dooley, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2013. 131–153.
Qiu, Fangzhe, “Wandering cows and obscure words: a rimeless poem from legal manuscripts and beyond”, Studia Celtica Fennica 10 (2013): 91–111.
Journal volume: – PDFs: <link>
abstract:
An Old Irish rimeless poem recording a verdict by the legendary judge Fachtna is found in manuscripts that represent various textual traditions. It is cited in a gloss to early Irish laws and commentary to Amra Coluim Chille, and in two lemmata in Sanas Cormaic. This paper provides a critical edition of the poem, and considers it together with the accompanying narrative prose and verses in the textual environments, in order to illustrate the complex relationship between these textual traditions. The discussion may further our understanding of the intellectual background of the medieval literati and the growth of medieval Irish law tracts.
Lacey, Brian, Saint Columba: his life and legacy, Dublin: The Columba Press, 2013.
abstract:
Saint Colum Cille, also known from the Latin form of his name as Columba, was probably born in Donegal in ad 520 and died on Iona on 9 June – most likely in the year 593. His memory has been kept alive for almost a millennium and a half through folklore and literature, music and song, poetry and sculpture, manuscript-making and metalwork, history and archaeology.
Saint Columba His Life and Legacy is a comprehensive examination of the saint’s life in so far as we can know it, and a survey of the cult and traditions that developed subsequently; it also gives an outline of the enormous cultural legacy associated with the saint’s name. It covers material from Ireland, Scotland, the north of England, and the continent (including Scandinavia) and combines some archaeology, art history and folklore with the richer documentary material.
Dr Brian Lacey deals with an actual historical person, distinguishing him from the wonderfully complex but fictional character of the stories that have developed over the last fourteen centuries. He traces the evolution and effects of the monastic institution stemming from the saint’s main foundation on Iona – probably founded around 562 – as these spread throughout Ireland, Scotland and the north of England, with cultural and other influences reaching further to the continent. The extraordinary literary and artistic achievements of the Columban communities, of which the summa is the Book of Kells, are put in context, and the way in which Colum Cille’s memory has been invoked in the centuries since the middle ages is examined.(source: Columba Press)
Ó hUiginn, Ruairí, Marriage, law and Tochmarc Emire, E. C. Quiggin Memorial Lectures, 15, Cambridge: Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge, 2013. 54 pp.
Burnyeat, Abigail, “The Táin-complex in B.L. Egerton 1782”, in: Gregory Toner, and Séamus Mac Mathúna (eds), Ulidia 3: proceedings of the Third International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales, University of Ulster, Coleraine 22–25 June, 2009. In memoriam Patrick Leo Henry, Berlin: curach bhán, 2013. 287–297.
Ní Mhaoláin, Lára, “Poetry in Brisleach mhór Mhaighe Muirtheimhne agus deargruathar Chonaill Chearnaigh considered.”, in: Gregory Toner, and Séamus Mac Mathúna (eds), Ulidia 3: proceedings of the Third International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales, University of Ulster, Coleraine 22–25 June, 2009. In memoriam Patrick Leo Henry, Berlin: curach bhán, 2013. 299–306.
Findon, Joanne, “Nes, Deirdriu, Luaine: fated women in Conchobar’s life”, in: Sarah Sheehan, Joanne Findon, and Westley Follett (eds), Gablánach in scélaigecht: Celtic studies in honour of Ann Dooley, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2013. 154–170.
Toner, Gregory, and Séamus Mac Mathúna (eds), Ulidia 3: proceedings of the Third International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales, University of Ulster, Coleraine 22–25 June, 2009. In memoriam Patrick Leo Henry, Berlin: curach bhán, 2013.
Enright, Michael J., Prophecy and kingship in Adomnán's 'Life of Saint Columba', Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2013.
abstract:
This book offers a new interpretation of Adomnán’s 'Life of Saint Columba', a crucial source for the study of early Irish and north British history. Whereas previous scholars have assumed that this vita was that of a fairly typical Irish saint, Michael J. Enright shows that Adomnán intended to portray Columba as an authentic Old Testament-style prophet, one superior to any other leader because he had been divinely chosen and commissioned to impose God’s will on the British Isles. His purposes were not refutable by any other power since, like Moses, Samuel and Elijah, he had been made into God’s own singular herald. His commission was to reform kingship by selecting, anointing and guiding rulers according to Old Testament precedent. Like a scriptural prophet, moreover, he taught his followers to be prophets so as to ensure the continuity of his mission. In order to advance this regime of the prophet-guided ruler, God also endowed Columba with the special privilege of giving victory in battle to those who supported him. Adomnán intended to show that no other leader or institution could ever legitimately defy Columba, whose spirit actively lived on in his community.
(source: Four Courts Press)
Ó Mainnín, Mícheál B., “The Protean Emain: Emain Macha, Emain Ablach (Avalon) and other Emain names”, in: Gregory Toner, and Séamus Mac Mathúna (eds), Ulidia 3: proceedings of the Third International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales, University of Ulster, Coleraine 22–25 June, 2009. In memoriam Patrick Leo Henry, Berlin: curach bhán, 2013. 253–285.
Färber, Beatrix, “Bedeutung und Rezeptionsgeschichte des Foras feasa ar Éirinn (c. 1634) von Geoffrey Keating (Seathrún Céitinn)”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 59 (2012): 97–117.
Boyle, Elizabeth, “The authorship and transmission of De tribus habitaculis animae”, The Journal of Medieval Latin 22 (2012): 49–65.
abstract:
This paper argues that Aubrey Gwynn’s attribution of the Latin treatise De tribus habitaculis animae to Patrick, bishop of Dublin (d. 1084), is based on flawed argumentation. The manuscript evidence and the early transmission of the text suggest that it should be regarded as the work of an unknown pseudo-Patrick. Stylistic features are highlighted which argue against the author of De tribus habitaculis animae being identified with the author of the corpus of poetry also attributed to Patrick of Dublin. The English transmission of the text, and its ascription to a sanctus Patricius episcopus, is discussed in relation to English interest in the cult of St. Patrick in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries.
(source: Brepols)
Mac Carron, Pádraig, and Ralph Kenna, “Universal properties of mythological networks”, Europhysics Letters 99:2 (2012–). URL: <http://iopscience.iop.org/0295-5075/99/2/28002>
Lacey, Brian, Lug’s forgotten Donegal kingdom: the archaeology, history and folklore of the Síl Lugdach of Cloghaneely, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2012.
abstract:
Using archaeology, history, place-names, mythology and folklore, this book examines one of the smallest territorial units in Ireland from the beginning of history c.600, and traces its development to c.1100. It argues that these people from a remote area of Donegal constituted a tiny kingdom that had an ongoing association with the pagan god Lug – Lugh Lámhfhada. The book demonstrates how their original devotion to Lug was transmuted through conversion to Christianity, reconstituted in aspects of the cult of St Colum Cille and of a probably invented local saint – Beaglaoch. From c.725, their territory and influence were expanding – eventually giving rise to the powerful O’Donnell and O’Doherty families of the later Middle Ages. This illustrated book makes the Donegal landscape itself speak in a revealing manner, and offers a unique insight into wider early medieval history and religious culture.
Ireland, Colin, “From protected to protector: some legal language in Cú Chulainn’s boyhood deeds”, in: Martin E. Huld, Karlene Jones-Bley, and Dean Miller (eds), Archaeology and language: Indo-European studies presented to James P. Mallory, 60, Washington, D.C.: Institute for the Study of Man, 2012. 15–22.
abstract:
Sport was the foundation of Cú Chulainn’s early training, and through sport one can see the makings of the great warrior he was to become. In his sporting and gaming activities one sees the application of early Irish law in terms of protection for the young Cú Chulainn and, subsequently, for his legal protection of others. This paper examines legal terminology that demonstrates how the young Cú Chulainn not only physically overcomes his opponents but also manages to place them legally under his protection.
Morley, Vincent, “The popular influence of Foras feasa ar Éirinn from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century”, in: James Kelly, and Ciarán Mac Murchaidh (eds), Irish and English: essays on the Irish linguistic and cultural frontier, 1600–1900, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2012. 96–115.
Warner, Richard B., “Láeg's line: a route for the gods?”, in: Martin E. Huld, Karlene Jones-Bley, and Dean Miller (eds), Archaeology and language: Indo-European studies presented to James P. Mallory, 60, Washington, D.C.: Institute for the Study of Man, 2012. 55–72.
Johnston, Elva, “Kingship made real? Power and the public world in Longes mac nUislenn”, in: Fiona Edmonds, and Paul Russell (eds), Tome: studies in medieval Celtic history and law in honour of Thomas Charles-Edwards, 31, Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2011. 193–206.
Ní Mhaonaigh, Máire, “Cormac mac Cuilennáin: king, bishop, and ‘wondrous sage’”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 58 (2011): 108–128.
Moore, Elizabeth, “In t-indellchró bodba fer talman: a reading of Cú Chulainn’s first recension ríastrad”, Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium 29 (2009, 2011): 154–176.
Fulton, Helen, “Magic naturalism in the Táin bó Cúailnge”, in: Joseph F. Eska (ed.), Narrative in Celtic tradition: essays in honor of Edgar M. Slotkin, 8, 9, New York: Colgate University Press, 2011. 84–99.
Collinson, Lisa A., “A new etymology for Hamlet? The names Amlethus, Amlodi and Admlithi”, Review of English Studies (New Series) 62:257 (November, 2011): 675–694.
abstract:
The Hamlet-name may have been associated with players several centuries earlier than has hitherto been thought. It is well-known that Hamlet is related to Amlethus, found in Gesta Danorum, by Saxo Grammaticus. However, the etymologies of both Amlethus and the linked Icelandic name, Amlođi, have remained unclear. One possibility, explored in this article, is that these derive from the player-name, Admlithi, found in the Irish tale, Togail Bruidne Da Derga. Admlithi could have been transmitted to Saxo either as a player-name, or as a nautical noa-term (perhaps denoting a dangerous sea whirlpool, such as Coire Brecáin), or both; and it may have carried some small hint of its meaning with it on its journey into Gesta Danorum and beyond.
Vries, Ranke de, “Similarities in the three female aided-tales”, Studia Celtica Fennica 8 (2011): 19–28.
McLeod, Neil, “Fergus mac Léti and the law”, Ériu 61 (2011): 1–28.
Two versions of the saga of Fergus mac Léti are found in legal material associated with the Senchas Már; one in the original text, and one in the eighth-century commentary. The commentary version and §2 of the older version have both been edited by D. A. Binchy. It is argued here that §1 of the older version and §2 of the commentary version are both in verse. The older version is then analysed in terms of the law of distraint. It is concluded that the saga was written as a legal teaching tale, with its plot-twists deliberately designed to highlight aspects of the law. An appendix argues for the inclusion of an additional section, omitted by Binchy, in the commentary version of the saga.
Frazier, Katherine R., “More than a name: place-name literature within Táin Bó Cúailnge”, in: Morgan Thomas Davies (ed.), Proceedings of the Celtic Studies Association of North America Annual Meeting 2008, 10, New York: Colgate University Press, 2011. 39–45.
Findon, Joanne, “Fabula, story, and text: the case of Compert Conchobuir”, in: Joseph F. Eska (ed.), Narrative in Celtic tradition: essays in honor of Edgar M. Slotkin, 8, 9, New York: Colgate University Press, 2011. 37–55.
Tristram, Hildegard L. C., “Die handschriftliche Überlieferung des altirischen Prosaepos über den ‘Rinderraub von Cuailnge’ (Táin bó Cuailnge)”, Acta Linguistica Petropolitana: Transactions of the Institute for Linguistic Studies 7:1 (2011): 465–507. URL: <https://alp.iling.spb.ru/issues.en.html>
abstract:
The Old Irish “Cattle-Raid of Cooley” (Táin Bó Cuailnge or The Táin in short) is the centre piece of a cycle of heroic prose tales about an ethnic strife between the Ulaid, i.e. the kingship of Ulster in the North of the island, and the other kingships of Ireland under the leadership of the Connachta, i.e. the kingship of Connacht in the West of the country. The symbolic bone of contention is the Brown Bull of Cooley. This bull belongs to the Ulaid, but the queen of the Connachta desires it for herself. The outcome of the raiding expedition to capture the bull leads to a stalemate situation, which lasts for seven years before the dispute between the Ulaid and the other kingships flairs up again.
Although the tale is set in the pre-Christian Ireland, the first two written records date only from the 12c. So far, the research on the Táin has focused on reconstructing both the oral and written prehistory of this tale. Scholars have been particularly concerned with, or have speculated about the putative origin of the tale (“the backward look”).
The present study undertakes a “forward look” into the 800 years of the manuscript transmission of the tale till the years of 1870 and 1880 when the Royal Irish Academy published facsimile editions of the two 12c manuscripts (LU and LL). The editions contain the earliest textual evidence of the written Táin and represent photolithographic reproductions made from Seosamh cs manual transcripts. He and his son were the last of a long series of Irish scholar scribes who penned, preserved, and transmitted the ancient lore of the Irish from the High Middle Ages to the end of the 19c.
Deane, Marion, “From sacred marriage to clientship: a mythical account of the establishment of kingship as an institution”, in: Roseanne Schot, Conor Newman, and Edel Bhreathnach (eds), Landscapes of cult and kingship, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2011. 1–21.
Fogarty, Hugh, “Aislinge Óenguso: a remscél reconsidered”, in: Joseph F. Eska (ed.), Narrative in Celtic tradition: essays in honor of Edgar M. Slotkin, 8, 9, New York: Colgate University Press, 2011. 56–67.
Miles, Brent, Heroic saga and classical epic in medieval Ireland, Studies in Celtic History, 30, Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2011.
abstract:
The puzzle of Ireland's role in the preservation of classical learning into the middle ages has always excited scholars, but the evidence from the island's vernacular literature - as opposed to that in Latin - for the study of pagan epic has largely escaped notice. In this book the author breaks new ground by examining the Irish texts alongside the Latin evidence for the study of classical epic in medieval Ireland, surveying the corpus of Irish texts based on histories and poetry from antiquity, in particular Togail Troi, the Irish history of the Fall of Troy. He argues that Irish scholars' study of Virgil and Statius in particular left a profound imprint on the native heroic literature, especially the Irish prose epic Táin Bó Cúailnge (“The Cattle-Raid of Cooley”).
Bock, Franziska, “Cú Chulainn’s Revival: literarische Transformationen eines irischen Mythos im frühen 21. Jahrhundert”, Kulturelle Identitäten, 4, PhD thesis, Marburg Universität, Peter Lang, 2010–2011.
abstract:
Seit der Wiederentdeckung Cú Chulainns und seiner Stilisierung zum irischen Nationalhelden im Irish Literary Revival im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert ist das Interesse an ihm ungebrochen. Auch zu Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts befassen sich Autoren unterschiedlicher Nationalitäten mit den Erzählungen um diesen irischen Helden. Auf der Basis von 18 Werken zeigt dieses Buch die Veränderungen des Helden vom Mittelalter bis in die Moderne auf und legt dar, wie sich das Bild eines Kriegers gewandelt hat. Dabei werden die Werke nicht nur im Einzelnen, sondern auch im Vergleich betrachtet, um Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede der Bearbeitungen aufzuzeigen.
Means-Shannon, Hannah, “Seeing double: the transforming personalities of Alan Moore’s Promethea and the Ulster Cycle’s Cuchulain”, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics 1:2 (2010): 93–104.
Mac Gearailt, Uáitéar, On the date of the Middle Irish recension II: Táin bó Cúailnge, E. C. Quiggin Memorial Lectures, 11, Cambridge: Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge, 2010.
Hily, Gaël, “Conflits au sein de familles royales: les cas d’Eochaid Feidlech et de Math”, in: Gaël Hily, Patrice Lajoye, and Joël Hascoët (eds), Deuogdonion: mélanges offerts en l’honneur du professeur Claude Sterckx, 2, Rennes: Tir, 2010. 335–348.
