Bibliography
Narrative literature
Irish literature
Ulster CycleCycles of the KingsFinn CycleMythological CycleDinnshenchas ÉrennWelsh literature
MabinogionUlster Cycle
Results (879)
Innes, Sìm, “Fionn and Ailbhe’s riddles between Ireland and Scotland”, in: Matthieu Boyd (ed.), Ollam: studies in Gaelic and related traditions in honor of Tomás Ó Cathasaigh, Madison and Teaneck: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2016. 271–285.
Schrijver, Peter, “Zwischen Eisenzeit und christlichem Mittelalter: Der Rinderraub von Cúailnge (Táin bó Cúailnge)”, in: Hans Sauer, Gisela Seitschek, and Bernhard Teuber (eds), Höhepunkte des mittelalterlichen Erzählens: Heldenlieder, Romane und Novellen in ihrem kulturellen Kontext, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, 2016. 41–53.
Pettit, Edward, “Three variations on the theme of the dog-headed spear in medieval Irish: Celtchar’s lúin, Conall Cernach’s Derg Drúchtach, Lugaid’s flesc”, Studia Hibernica 42 (2016): 65–96.
abstract:
This article seeks to show that aspects of the late-attested myth of the origin of Cú Chulainn’s gae bolga ‘spear of the bulge’ illuminate medieval descriptions of another remarkable spear, an extraordinary horse that acts like a spear, and a divinatory rod wielded by a spearman: respectively, the lúin of Celtchar mac Uthechair, the Derg Drúchtach of Conall Cernach, and the flesc of a poet called Lugaid. This finding helps to demonstrate the essential integrity of what might otherwise seem arbitrarily fanciful passages in Mesca Ulad ‘The intoxication of the Ulstermen’, Brislech mór Maige Muirthemni ‘The great rout of Murthemne’ and Sanas Cormaic ‘Cormac’s glossary’. Also included in a footnote is a suggested solution to a crux in Lebor gabála Érenn ‘The book of invasions of Ireland’ concerning Lug’s gae Assail ‘spear of Assal’.
OʼConnor, Ralph, “Monsters of the tribe: berserk fury, shapeshifting and social dysfunction in Táin bó Cúailnge, Egils saga and Hrólfs saga kraka”, in: Jan Erik Rekdal, and Charles Doherty (eds), Kings and warriors in early north-west Europe, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2016. 180–236.
OʼConnor, Ralph, “Fabulous content, historical purpose and scribal strategy in Irish and Icelandic saga narrative. Some comparative perspectives on the colophon to the Book of Leinster Táin”, 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. 305–330.
Mc Carthy, Daniel P., “The chronology of Saint Columba’s life”, in: Pádraic Moran, and Immo Warntjes (eds), Early medieval Ireland and Europe: chronology, contacts, scholarship. A Festschrift for Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, 14, Turnhout: Brepols, 2015. 3–32.
abstract:
Between Adomnán’s Vita Columbae and Bede’s account in his Historia ecclesiastica, Saint Columba’s life and missionary career are the best recorded of all early Irish ecclesiastics. Further, and in great contrast to his 5th-century British missionary predecessor, Saint Patrick, Columba’s chronology has not been the subject of controversy in modern times. At least from the 17th-century scholarship has been almost unanimous that Columba died in AD 597, a date that derives from Adomnan’s assertion that he died on Sunday, and that he left Ireland in AD 563, which likewise derives from Adomnán’s statement that his mission had lasted 34 years. However, Dáibhí Ó Cróinin’s identification in 1985 that Padua, Biblioteca Antoniana, I 27, 76r-77v preserves a copy of the paschal table followed by the early Irish church demonstrated that the feria of the kalends of January was the primary chronological criterion used by early insular Christian scholars to identify each successive year. It was this discovery that prompted examination of the ferial data preserved in the Clonmacnoise group of Irish annals, which in turn revealed that annals were compiled contemporaneously with Columba’s life, and hence that the annalistic account of Columba predates those of Adomnán and Bede by a century. These ferial data locate Columba’s obit unmistakeably at AD 593, and this four-year discrepancy raises serious doubt regarding the veracity and honesty of Adomnán’s account of Columba’s life.
Edel, Doris, Inside the Táin: exploring Cú Chulainn, Fergus, Ailill, and Medb, Berlin: curach bhán, 2015. xii + 372 pp.
abstract:
This is the first literary-critical study of the Táin Bó Cúailnge in its entirety, and as an autonomous literary work. The key to a more deeply probing understanding of the semiliterate epic is the study of its characters: what they do and why they do it – why more important than what. Why reveals the differences between the various versions. Most promising is the multilayered Recension I, mainly preserved in Lebor na hUidre, which testifies of the keen interest of its compilers in the portrayal of the characters, while the version in the Book of Leinster, with its tendency to omit what might lessen the heroes’ prestige, pays for its greater unity with loss of depth.
The multifacetedness of the characters in the early version, combined with the deceptive simplicity of the plot, lends the work a remarkable pragmatism. Despite occasional baroque descriptions of battle frenzy, the main heroes Cú Chulainn and Fergus embody a heroism reined in by prudence. All through the war they do everything in their power to limit the use of force. Ailill and Medb represent a new type of ruler-entrepreneur, who seeks to realize his aim at the lowest possible cost and accepts failure matter-of-factly. So the epic has no fatal end-point. The greater part of the two armies are able return to their countries. The theme of mutual destruction is relegated to the Battle of the Bulls. The lasting antagonism between the North and the remainder of the island must have endowed the Táin with contemporary significance at various points in time, as the allusions to (near-)contemporary events suggest.
(source: publisher)
Künzler, Sarah, “A spectacle of death? Reading dead bodies in Táin bó Cúailnge II”, Studia Celtica Fennica 12 (2015): 35–48.
Journal volume: Studia Celtica Fennica: <link>
abstract:
Although at times despicable to modern tastes, violence and killing are essential parts of medieval heroic literature, and they are integral in shaping the heroic world of the text. This article investigates how certain dead bodies in TBC II are read within the heroic discourses of fír fer and posthumous fama. It shows how some corpses can become signs, purposefully installed by Cú Chulainn and read by his adversaries, and argues that these episodes instigate a critical engagement with the ever-present reading of bodies in the text. In order to contextualise the close readings of four carefully selected passages, a short discussion of the discourse of violence and heroic combat in TBC II preceeds the individual analyses. Furthermore, the importance of visually observing the dead bodies within the narrative is stressed and paired with the idea of specularity, recently introduced by Sarah Sheehan in relation to live bodies. The article thus offers an engagement not just with the textual passages but also with cutting-edge ideas about reading bodies in early Irish literature and stresses the differences of live and dead bodies in relation to what kind of identity and reading they generate.
Grigg, Julianna, The philosopher king and the Pictish nation, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2015.
abstract:
The political climate of early medieval northern Britain was dynamic. Identifiable kingdoms came into prominence and new ideas on political governance promoted territorial consolidation. Among these kingdoms, Pictland also underwent a political evolution. This book examines a crucial stage in the emergence of Pictland as a cohesive nation under dynastic kingship. It draws on Irish and Anglo-Saxon comparanda and archaeological evidence to offer a new perspective on the way in which power was articulated to forge national identity. Central to this narrative was a dynasty of Pictish kings whose political careers shaped the destiny of their kingdom, none more so than the philosopher king Necthon, son of Derilei, whose expansionary tactics and diplomacy married political action with the formative influence of Christianity. This book reappraises Necthon’s reign to present the first comprehensive examination of this authoritative king while offering important insights into the processes that propel political consolidation.
Lajoye, Patrice, “Fer Diad: des géants et des meules”, in: Guillaume Oudaer, Gaël Hily, and Hervé Le Bihan (eds), Mélanges en l’honneur de Pierre-Yves Lambert, Rennes: TIR, 2015. 257–262.
Kobel, Chantal, “A critical edition of Aided Chonchobair ‘The violent death of Conchobar’: with translation, textual notes and bibliography”, PhD thesis, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Irish and Celtic Studies, 2015.
Tara.tcd.ie: <link>
abstract:
This thesis is a critical edition of the Old and Middle Irish versions of Aided Chonchobair ‘The violent death of Conchobar’. AC belongs to the aided category of tales of the Ulster Cycle. It has been transmitted in four recensions, A, B, C and D respectively, copies of which are preserved in a total of eight manuscripts. Despite largely diplomatic editions and translations of all four recensions of the tale having been published in The Death-Tales of the Ulster Heroes in 1906, Kuno Meyer was unaware of the existence of a copy preserved in NLS 72.1.5, and only became aware of RIA C i 2 and Laud Misc. 610 at a later date.
Shercliff, Rebecca, “Textual correspondences in Tochmarc Ferbe”, Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium 35 (2015): 187–203.
Ireland, Colin, “Some Irish characteristics of the Whitby life of Gregory the Great”, in: Pádraic Moran, and Immo Warntjes (eds), Early medieval Ireland and Europe: chronology, contacts, scholarship. A Festschrift for Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, 14, Turnhout: Brepols, 2015. 139–178.
abstract:
The anonymous Vita Gregorii produced at Whitby is among the earliest of the hagiographical works to come from Anglo-Saxon England. It is the first vita written of Pope Gregory the Great. The traditional dates for its production are between AD 704 and 714. It relates Gregory’s works and emphasizes his role as originator of the Christian mission to the Anglo-Saxons centred at Canterbury. In terms of Anglo-Saxon matters it highlights the conversion of King Edwin of Northumbria by Bishop Paulinus. In so doing it avoids mention of the successful Irish mission in Northumbria from Iona, the famous ‘synod’ that was held in AD 664 at Whitby and, by extension, Bishop Wilfrid and his ‘Roman’ legacy. It has been described as one of the most ‘idiosyncratic’ of the Anglo-Saxon vitae with ‘numerous (and spurious) miracles involving the great pope’. Despite its emphasis on the contribution of Rome and Pope Gregory to the conversion of Anglo-Saxons generally, and Northumbria specifically, many of the vita’s episodes and their topoi are more typical of Irish hagiography and reveal the Whitby hagiographer’s debt to Irish learning and teaching. This paper will examine some of those Irish narrative features.
Arbuthnot, Sharon, “The phrase troig mná trogain in exhortative speech”, Studia Celtica Fennica 12 (2015): 5–20.
Journal volume: Studia Celtica Fennica: <link>
abstract:
The phrase troig mná trogain appears in a number of Irish narrative texts from the medieval and Early Modern periods. It is clearly a reference to an undesirable experience. In light of this, there has been a tendency to interpret the phrase as meaning 'the pangs of a woman in childbirth'. Such an understanding does not seem justified, however, by the established semantic ranges of the words listed in DIL as trog, trogan or trogain. The purpose of this article is to reinstate Kuno Meyer’s century-old suggestion that the last element of this phrase is trogan 'raven' and to refine and build upon this, arguing that ben trogain is a kenning for the Morrígain in her bird-aspect and asking whether the first element of the phrase under discussion might be the word for 'foot'. Following this line of thought, it seems possible that the phrase in question is an allusion to that defining moment in medieval Irish literature when the Morrígain alights upon the dying Cú Chulainn, setting foot upon his spilt intestines.
Downey, Clodagh, “Literature and learning in early medieval Meath”, in: Arlene Crampsie, and Francis Ludlow (eds), Meath, history & society: interdisciplinary essays on the history of an Irish county, 24, Dublin: Geography Publications, 2015. 101–130.
Jaski, Bart, “The strange case of Ailill mac Mágach and Cet mac Mátach”, in: Emer Purcell, Paul MacCotter, Julianne Nyhan, and John Sheehan (eds), Clerics, kings and vikings: essays on medieval Ireland in honour of Donnchadh Ó Corráin, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2015. 440–451.
Sharpe, Richard, “King William and the Brecc Bennach in 1211: reliquary or holy banner?”, The Innes Review 66:2 (2015): 163–190.
abstract:
In his Rhind Lectures of 1879 Joseph Anderson argued for identifying the Monymusk Reliquary, now in the National Museum of Scotland, with the Brecc Bennach, something whose custody was granted to Arbroath abbey by King William in 1211. In 2001 David H. Caldwell called this into question with good reason. Part of the argument relied on different interpretations of the word uexillum, ‘banner’, taken for a portable shrine by William Reeves and for a reliquary used as battle-standard by Anderson. It is argued here that none of this is relevant to the question. The Brecc Bennach is called a banner only as a guess at its long-forgotten nature in two late deeds. The word brecc, however, is used in the name of an extant reliquary, Brecc Máedóc, and Anderson was correct to think this provided a clue to the real nature of the Brecc Bennach. It was almost certainly a small portable reliquary, of unknown provenance but associated with St Columba. The king granted custody to the monks of Arbroath at a time when he was facing a rebellion in Ross, posing intriguing questions about his intentions towards this old Gaelic object of veneration.
(source: Publisher)
Thanisch, Eystein P., “The reception and use of Flann Mainistrech and his work in medieval Gaelic manuscript culture”, 2 vols, vol. 1, PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2015.
Edinburgh Research Archive – PDF: <link>
Deane, Marion, “Fír flathemon: the ruler’s truth”, The Letter: Irish Journal for Lacanian Psychoanalysis 59–60 (Summer/Autumn, 2015): 77–90.
Sayers, William, “The laconic scar in early Irish literature”, in: Larissa Tracy, and Kelly DeVries (eds), Wounds and wound repair in medieval culture, 1, Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2015. 473–495.
Eska, Charlene M., “The mutilation of Derbforgaill”, in: Larissa Tracy, and Kelly DeVries (eds), Wounds and wound repair in medieval culture, 1, Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2015. 252–266.
Meid, Wolfgang, The romance of Froech and Findabair, or, The driving of Froech's cattle: Táin bó Froích, ed. Albert Bock, Benjamin Bruch, and Aaron Griffith, Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Kulturwissenschaft, Neue Folge, 10, Innsbruck: Institut für Sprachen und Literaturen der Universität Innsbruck, 2015.
Subtitle: Old Irish text, with introduction, translation, commentary and glossary critically edited by Wolfgang Meid. English-language version based on the original German-language edition prepared with the assistance of Albert Bock, Benjamin Bruch and Aaron Griffith.
Charles-Edwards, T. M., “Táin bó Cuailnge, hagiography and history”, in: John Carey, Kevin Murray, and Caitríona Ó Dochartaigh (eds), Sacred histories: a Festschrift for Máire Herbert, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2015. 86–102.
Ó Cathasaigh, Tomás, Coire Sois: the cauldron of knowledge, ed. Matthieu Boyd, Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2014.
Lewis, Barry J., “St. Mechyll of Anglesey, St. Maughold of Man and St. Malo of Brittany”, Studia Celtica Fennica 11 (2014): 24–38.
Journal volume: Studia Celtica Fennica: <link>
abstract:
A late-medieval Welsh poem in honour of the Anglesey saint Mechyll contains features drawn from two other cults, those of the Breton St Malo and the Manx St Maughold. This article surveys the evidence for the interpenetration of these three cults in medieval Man and Anglesey. It describes first the contents of the Welsh poem and the other evidence for the cult of Mechyll. It demonstrates that Mechyll was identified with Malo under his Latin name, Machutus, though the identification itself is unhistorical. The question of the name of Malo-Machutus, the spread of his cult and the hagiography associated with him are then surveyed. It is shown that St Maughold of Man was likewise associated with Machutus, and that much the same thing happened at the Scottish church of Lesmahagow, originally dedicated to St Féchín. The place of Maughold in the Lives of St Patrick is then discussed, confirming that Maughold of Man was the saint associated by Muirchú (c.700) with Patrick’s adversary Mac Cuill. The final question raised is the name of Maughold himself. Though it is unlikely that Maughold and Mechyll were really the same historical individual, the possibility is acknowledged.
Ireland, Darcy, “Remarks on the theological aspect of the ‘hell-motif’ in Síaburcharpat Con Culaind”, Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium 34 (2014): 112–135.
Herbert, Máire, “The fleet of Inber Domnann”, in: John Carey, Emma Nic Cárthaigh, and Caitríona Ó Dochartaigh (eds), The end and beyond: medieval Irish eschatology, vol. 2, 17.2, Aberystwyth: Celtic Studies Publications, 2014. 715–720.
Davies, Morgan Thomas, “Cultural memory, the finding of the Táin, and the canonical process in early Irish literature”, in: Jan Erik Rekdal, and Erich Poppe (eds), Medieval Irish perspectives on cultural memory, 11, Münster: Nodus Publikationen, 2014. 81–108.
Sweetser, Eve E., “Advantage and disadvantage: cognate formulas for a Welsh and Irish topos of otherworldly ambiguity”, in: Georgia Henley, Paul Russell, and Joseph F. Eska (eds), Rhetoric and reality in medieval Celtic literature: studies in honor of Daniel F. Melia, 11-12, Hamilton, NY: Colgate University Press, 2014. 191–194.
Hemming, Jessica, “‘I could love a man with those three colours’: gazing and the tricoloured beloved”, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 68 (Winter, 2014): 51–67.
Carey, John, “Colum Cille’s warning to Baíthín”, in: John Carey, Emma Nic Cárthaigh, and Caitríona Ó Dochartaigh (eds), The end and beyond: medieval Irish eschatology, vol. 2, 17.2, Aberystwyth: Celtic Studies Publications, 2014. 697–704.
OʼConnor, Ralph, “Was classical imitation necessary for the writing of large-scale Irish sagas? Reflections on Táin bó Cúailnge and the ‘watchman device’”, in: Ralph OʼConnor (ed.), Classical literature and learning in medieval Irish narrative, 34, Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2014. 165–195.
Bondarenko, Grigory, “Roads and knowledge in Togail bruidne Da Derga”, 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. 186–206.
Ahlqvist, Anders, “A rhetorical poem in Longes mac nUislenn”, in: Georgia Henley, Paul Russell, and Joseph F. Eska (eds), Rhetoric and reality in medieval Celtic literature: studies in honor of Daniel F. Melia, 11-12, Hamilton, NY: Colgate University Press, 2014. 1–7.
Miller, Jimmy P., “The feminization of the early Irish hero”, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 67 (Summer, 2014): 1–31.
Burnyeat, Abigail, “‘Wrenching the club from the hand of Hercules’: classical models for medieval Irish compilatio”, in: Ralph OʼConnor (ed.), Classical literature and learning in medieval Irish narrative, 34, Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2014. 196–207.
Faletra, Michael A., Wales and the medieval colonial imagination: the matters of Britain in the twelfth century, The New Middle Ages, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
abstract:
Focusing on works by some of the major literary figures of the period, Michael A. Faletra argues that the legendary history of Britain that flourished in medieval chronicles and Arthurian romances traces its origins to twelfth-century Anglo-Norman colonial interest in Wales and the Welsh. Viewing the Welsh as England’s original repressed Other, this book identifies and critiques the ways in which medieval narratives construe Wales as a barbaric peripheral zone requiring colonial control. By focusing on texts across a variety of genres by some of the major literary figures of the period - including Geoffrey of Monmouth, Chrétien de Troyes, Marie de France, Gerald of Wales, Walter Map, and John of Salisbury - Faletra offers innovative new readings that illuminate both the subtle power and the imaginative limitations of these matters of Britain.
(source: Palgrave Macmillan)
Carey, John, “Colum Cille on the pains of hell”, in: John Carey, Emma Nic Cárthaigh, and Caitríona Ó Dochartaigh (eds), The end and beyond: medieval Irish eschatology, vol. 1, 17.1, Aberystwyth: Celtic Studies Publications, 2014. 461–464.
Fogarty, Hugh, “Aided Guill meic Carbada 7 Aided Gairb Glinne Rige: intertextuality and the inward look in a late Middle Irish prose saga”, in: Elizabeth Boyle, and Deborah Hayden (eds), Authorities and adaptations: the reworking and transmission of textual sources in medieval Ireland, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2014. 185–210.
Lajoye, Patrice, and Guillaume Oudaer, “*Percos/*Ercos: an unknown Celtic theonym”, Journal of Indo-European Studies 42:1–2 (2014): 40–100.
abstract:
Erc is the name of several Irish and Scottish figures belonging to mythology, hagiography and the annals. This anthroponym does not seem to be widespread and is of uncertain significance. However, it appears to be the origin of several place-names both in Ireland and also in other Celtic lands. Given the different usage of the root erc-, if we want to try to understand the cultural concept it covers, we must study it literarily – through an examination ofcharacters with this name or surname.
Loon, Daan van, “The usage of the historical present in Old Irish narrative prose”, in: Elisa Roma, and David Stifter (eds), Linguistic and philological studies in Early Irish, Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2014. 247–280.
Szerwiniack, Olivier, “Les interprétations des noms hébreux dans le Liber glossarum”, Histoire Épistémologie Langage 36:1 (2014): 83–96.
abstract:
Among the 520 AB entries of the Liber glossarum, 17 give interpretations of Hebrew, Syriac and Chaldaic names. They represent a little more than 3% of the total. Their main sources are Eucherius of Lyon, Instructiones II, Isidorus of Sevilla, Etymologies VII and some biblical commentaries of Hieronymus, whose Liber interpretationis nominum Hebraicorum is the most important source of Eucherius and Isidorus. The immediate and ultimate sources of each interpretation are indicated and then the compiler’s method of working is explained. Paradoxically, most of the time, the compiler introduces interpretations of Hebrew names by a simple ‘‘interpretatur’’, without mentioning the Hebrew language.
OʼDonovan, Tom, Irish sagas online, Online: University College Cork, 2013–present. URL: <http://iso.ucc.ie>
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.
