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This article seeks to establish a poetics of irony in Early Middle Irish literature centring on anticlerical irreverence, misogyny, and ethnic stereotyping. Using a cluster of tenth-century narratives in the Book of Leinster, this study reads within and between texts to attempt to delineate conventions of genre and style which can be used to make the case for ironic readings of these and other texts. It is tentatively suggested that such anecdote-length humorous texts may have been used for pedagogical purposes, and the relationship between anticlerical texts and those which critique poets is briefly explored.

Wine is assumed to have been among the earliest of Roman goods imported into Ireland, but archaeology, linguistics, and literary sources cannot provide definitive proof for any widespread availability of wine in Ireland during the early period of Roman control in Britain. An examination of the evidence for wine and its accoutrements in late Iron Age Ireland suggests that the Irish were initially less engaged with Roman material culture than were other peoples who lived near, but outside of, areas of direct Roman control, a situation that appears to have changed in late antiquity. The greater availability of wine and other exotic goods in Ireland in the fourth and fifth centuries ce is probably best interpreted as yet another aspect of the still poorly understood transformation of Irish society at the end of the late Iron Age, a transformation that eventually resulted in the integration of the Irish within the late Roman and early medieval European cultural sphere.

This paper investigates identification copula clauses linking substantives of different gender, e.gg., as in OIr. Críst didiu, is sí in chathir ‘Christ, then, is the city’ and CIr. An leabhar, is í an eagna ‘The book is wisdom’; the copula identification clause with pronominal subject, e.gg., MIr. Iss é mo lennán é ‘He is my beloved’ and CIr. Is é an seanadh hé ‘It is the old tradition’; and the Classical Irish type with substantives of different gender and subject pronoun, e.g., Mo theanga, is é m’arm-sa í ‘My tongue is my weapon’. It argues that the pronoun following the copula in such phrases is a mere shoe-horn to the following defined substantive, that the iss é mo lennán é type should not be classified under the rubric ‘repetition of the pronoun’, as is often done, and seeks to explain why the construction Mo theanga, is é m’armsa í, with different gender in the substantives, is more likely to be encountered in Classical verse than the type with just one gender.

It is a familiar cliché, even a trope, to characterise Cú Chulainn as 'the Irish Achilles' and to exemplify this by citing the shared motif of the hero choosing an early death and eternal fame in preference to a long inglorious life. Building on Brent Miles' insight that knowledge of the 'choice of Achilles' story could have come to the Irish literati through the commentary on Vergil known as Servius Auctus, this article aims to reconstruct the reading strategies that might have been applied to this text in the period when Táin bó Cúailnge was taking shape. The argument is pursued by examining two manuscripts of Servius Auctus (MSS Bern, Burgerbibliothek 167 & 172), of which other sections preserve direct evidence for Irish engagement with Virgilian poetry in the form of marginalia focussed on the word picti in connexion with the British race known as the Picts. The picti material provides the model for a hypothetical reconstruction of how the literati might have interpreted and re-contextualised the Achilles material in these or similar annotated manuscripts of Vergil. This encourages a revised assessment of how and why the makers of the Táin may have been engaging creatively with the perceived parallelism between Cú Chulainn and Achilles.

This article provides a critical edition and translation of a dialogue between the mythical king, Cormac, and his son, Coirpre. In the first part, Coirpre confesses to raping a woman. Cormac asks why he did such a thing, and Coirpre’s excuses for his actions follow in a series of repetitive questions and answers. The second part of the dialogue is ascribed entirely to Cormac and forms his ‘instructions’ to his son. They describe the steps from flirtation to kissing to seduction to conception without resorting to violence. Cormac’s ‘instructions’ also touch upon the real legal consequences of begetting a child, whether by rape or consent.

The ninth-century Irish tale Orgguin trí mac Diarmata meic Cerbaill is something of an outlier, both in terms of the Leinster Cycle, in which it is explicitly included by Rawlinson B 502, and, especially, in terms of the corpus of the tale's featured Uí Néill king, Diarmait mac Cerbaill. So at odds is this tale with elements of the identity established for Diarmait by the rest of his corpus that it appears that he is being used in the text anachronistically and as a proxy. Indeed, certain details in the tale, particularly the names of the titular three sons and the place of the tale's climax, Lagore Crannóg, indicate that the Uí Néill king in the tale would have been better identified as Áed Sláine. However, while Áed is the best match, this reading, too, presents challenges, and it is clear that Orgguin trí mac was not written to describe true events of the sixth or seventh century, but rather to use representatives from the past to comment upon the historical reality contemporary with the tale's composition. Examination of the characters, peoples, and place-names within the tale, as compared to relevant historical figures and events as described in the annals, reveal close ties between the details of the tale and the reality of the ninth century. Specifically, these details combine to provide compelling evidence that Orgguin trí mac Diarmata meic Cerbaill was written ca. 867–868 to explain and justify an alliance between the Laigin and Síl nÁedo Sláine.

This article presents an edition of a hitherto overlooked Middle Welsh text, a prose translation of a popular medieval apocryphon, the Erythraean Sibyl. This apocryphal prophecy, first translated from a Greek acrostic poem into a Latin one by Augustine (ca. 400), presents a brief overview of the cataclysmic events that are supposed to occur leading up to the Final Judgement. The Welsh translation can be found interpolated into several copies of another prose apocryphon, Ystoria Adda (Legend of the holy rood). In this text, the prophecy is placed in the mouth of Sibylla, Queen of Sheba, who utters it while she visits King Solomon after encountering the wood of the (future) cross. In this article, I present an edition and a translation of the text and compare the Welsh text to a possible Latin source. I argue that the text represents a crucial element in a network of Welsh religious prose texts which present prophecy in royal presences and that its manuscript milieux give evidence for a network of apocrypha which seem to have travelled together in Welsh manuscripts, both in Latin and in the vernacular.

As a verb-second language, one expects Middle Cornish to allow only a single argument/complement to appear in the left periphery of affirmative root clauses. Object personal pronouns never occur in the left periphery, but a full non-adjunct XP and subject personal pronoun do, in fact, coöccur in 329 clauses in our corpus—in that order, in all but a single token—, presumably owing to poetic overdetermination, which alters the morphosyntax and surface configuration in order to enable the required syllable-count or end-rhyme in the verse line. George 1990 & 1991, based upon an analysis of Beunans Meriasek, finds five tokens of full object DP and subject personal pronoun which coöccur in the left periphery, which, he states, are not motivated by poetic overdetermination. He concludes, on that basis, that the construction is generated by the grammar. In this paper, we collect all of the tokens of this construction in the verse corpus of Middle Cornish and propose that they are all, ultimately, motivated by poetic overdetermination, not only in order to enable the required syllable-count or end-rhyme, but sometimes also to encode pragmatic information.

This article examines the healing of Caílte in the late twelfth- or early thirteenth-century text Acallam na senórach from a medieval medical perspective. According to the text, Caílte suffers from long-lasting injuries, particularly from mobility issues caused by a poisoned spear. The healing itself, performed mainly by Bé Binn, a female member of the Túatha Dé Danann, takes place in three stages: (1) healing through vomiting; (2) curing Caílte's head afflictions with a head rinse; and (3) extracting the poison and other gore from his legs. After this, as a parting gift, Bé Binn provides Caílte with a potion that restores his memory. This article argues that the healing sequence shows familiarity with medieval medical practice derived from European and Arabic medical sources up to two centuries before the appearance of the earliest medical manuscripts.

This essay investigates two appearances of the Gaelic folk figure, Cailleach Bhéarra (Scot. Gael. Cailleach Bheurr) in Older Scots comic poetry. The translation of the iconic ‘mother-goddess’ or ‘hag’ of Beara into Older Scots is provocative on two levels: foremost, the casual and familiar language used to relate the comic tales demonstrates a rich folk culture that crossed linguistic and geographic boundaries. Both tales center around the Scottish lowlands, which were not traditionally Gaelic speaking, however the mythical figures seem to fit comfortably within the cultural community of Edinburgh and its environs. The tales further merit attention since the figure of the cailleach is mobilized in a festive context that creates a pseudo-historical narrative of the fantastical origins of Scottish landmarks apparently formed by the cailleach's excretions. Considering the folk figure in the context of festive, public entertainment informs our understanding of Scotland's socio-cultural landscape in the early sixteenth century.

This article draws attention to an under-appreciated historical text commonly known as Annála gearra as proibhinse Ard Macha. As well as reporting events not recorded elsewhere in any other medieval Irish sources, such as the battle of Hastings, the synchronistic chronological structure of the text distinguishes it from better-known annals. This article provides the first modern translation of the text, which was edited by Gearóid Mac Niocaill in the 1950s; examines its sources, content, and structure; discusses its relationship to other major annal collections; and reflects on its place within the historiographical tradition of medieval Ireland. It argues that the text was compiled in its current form in Armagh in the middle of the twelfth century, and that political and religious concerns of that church and period were influential in shaping both its structure and content.

In this article, I examine the unique etymology for the word littir ‘letter’ as recorded in Auraicept na n-éces. Comparing the Auraicept to analogous grammatical commentaries on Donatus with connections to medieval Irish scholarship, I demonstrate that, while there are three standard etymologies for ‘letter’, the Auraicept appears to only record two of them, i.e., that letters are named from either their providing a road for readers to follow, or their being erased from wax tablets. In place of the third, the Auraicept provides an extended meditation on animal dens located on the seashore. After a discussion that shows how each part of the Auraicept's extended etymology—the animal, the animal's den, and the name Molossus—suggests Latin words phonologically similar to littir, I demonstrate how reading these echo words back into the etymology results in the expected third common etymology for 'letter': that letters are so called because they are repeated in reading.

A saint's feast-day represents the date of his/her death. It is recorded under a calendar date in martyrologies and saints' calendars. The meaning of a feast-day is contradicted when a saint is given two feast-days in a martyrology. Why might a second feast-day be recorded for a saint? This article attempts to cast some light on the matter by examining Irish martyrological entries for three different saints: St. Abbán of Moyarney and Killabban, St. Lommán of Trim, and St. Ailbe of Emly, all believed to have lived at some point between the fifth to seventh centuries. The names of these three saints are commonly recorded under two separate calendar dates in most of the Irish martyrologies. This article will compare the different Irish martyrological sources in which their feast-days are recorded. It will also offer some consideration of other genealogical and hagiographical detail on the saints. This approach will demonstrate that the attestation of a second feast-day for each saint dates to a period no later than the eighth century. Lastly, this article argues that reasons for the attestation of a second feast-day can vary, depending on the individual cultural identities of each of the three saints.

This article provides a transcription and translation of the fragment of medieval Irish legal material found on the strip of vellum which comprises the entirety of British Library MS Egerton 88, f. 35r. Only the first section of the legal material on this strip of vellum appears in the Corpus iuris Hibernici (1531.25-28) and the Brehon Law transcripts (O'Curry 1851: 2429); the vellum is so badly degraded that little else is visible to the naked eye. However, with the assistance of an ultraviolet light, more of the text can be read. The passage concerns an aspect of the provision of legal protection by members of some of the lay, poetic, and ecclesiastical grades.

Calgacus is famous as the Caledonian leader who, according to Tacitus, addressed British forces before their defeat in battle against the Romans at Mons Graupius in AD 83. Very little is recorded about Calgacus, giving his name added significance. The Celtic personal name *Kalgākos, Latinised as Calgacus, has traditionally been interpreted as ‘swordsman’ following two of the leading Celtic scholars of the twentieth century, William J. Watson and Kenneth Jackson. More recently, *Kalgākos has been either elevated to a title or dismissed as merely a nickname, contributing to growing doubts about Calgacus as a historical figure. After considering the socio-political standing and ethno-linguistic identity of Calgacus, his historical status and the authenticity of *Kalgākos as a personal name are evaluated and confirmed. The etymology of *Kalgākos is then reassessed. The widely-accepted interpretation of *Kalgākos as ‘swordsman’ is challenged on the grounds that its root *kolg- occupies a wider semantic field. Instead, *Kalgākos may have an adjectival sense describing the personal quality ‘sharp, pointed, prickly, spiky’, literally ‘pertaining to stinging, piercing’, perhaps nominalised as ‘stinger, piercer’ or even ‘spearman’ and, metaphorically, ‘angry, fierce’.

This article examines Dublin, Trinity College 11500, a historical compilation dated to the fourteenth century containing the First Variant version of Geoffrey of Monmouth's De gestis Britonum, works by Gerald of Wales and Aristotle, and several poems including a prophetical text called ‘Song on the kings of Scotland’. Following a long period of private ownership, the manuscript was purchased by Trinity College in 2014. It brings to light important new textual evidence for Geoffrey's First Variant. This article examines the text's readings against the other extant manuscripts of the First Variant, establishes that it is the exemplar for Evan Evans' eighteenth-century extracts, and contextualizes the production of the manuscript within a network of transnational Irish Sea connections between Ireland, northeast Wales, and the Welsh Marches enabled by the Cistercian order.

This paper discusses three terms in the run of englynion known as Canu Urien which have given rise to discussion and debate: the meaning of llad ‘strike’ or ‘kill’; the precise sense of two related phrases ry'm gallat and ry'm gallas; and what is meant by the geographical term Erechwyd or Yr Echwyd. In doing do, it draws on a wide range of evidence from other medieval Welsh prose and verse, and in one case also contributes to the understanding of a Middle Cornish verb.

This paper sheds new light on an enigmatic text preserved within the Pictish regnal list. Traditionally known as ‘The 30 Brudes’, the Brude list is the longest surviving Pictish text and is usually interpreted as a regnal list, genealogical record, or list of Pictish territories. By contrast, analysis of its textual history, structure, and contents reveals that the Brude list is, instead, a panegyric, in the form of a catalogue poem in the Insular Celtic tradition, to a Pictish king named Brude, the Irish or Gaelic form of the Pictish personal name Bredei or Bridei, a name shared by several Pictish kings. The contents of the Brude list are compared with cognate terms in other Insular sources, its format reconstructed, an edited text proposed, and a provisional translation made. The mode and possible contexts of performance of the Brude list as a call and response chant poem are then inferred.

This article investigates two comparable crises of leadership in Gaelic Christendom which occurred around the same time, in 1120–1121; these culminated in failed episcopal appointments for St. Andrews and Dublin. The article is based on accounts from Scotland and Ireland which shed light on the developments in both countries and on Historia nouorum in Anglia ‘History of recent events in England’ by Eadmer, who was biographer and confidant of Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 until his death in 1109. Eadmer was the principal contemporary first-hand witness to events in this period, but his evidence is somewhat problematic. There are few substantial comparative discussions of Scottish and Irish ecclesiastical developments in the 1120s; in addition, the work of Eadmer needs fuller consideration regarding Canterbury's relationships with Gaelic churches. Eadmer's depiction of the St. Andrews situation is especially significant because he himself was the bishop-elect. I assess how these crises arose and how they caused the relationships between Gaelic churches and Canterbury to become highly strained. I aim to show that leaders in Scotland and Ireland undertook the pursuit of ecclesiastical independence in very different ways and that both failed appointments, though eventually prompting a degree of independence, resulted in short-term stagnation.

The Middle Gaelic poem Cumtach na nIudaide n-aird belongs to a medieval tradition of listing national characteristics. Its composition reflects interest among the Gaelic learned classes in the diversity of humankind. The poet drew heavily on the Latin tract De proprietatibus gentium, but adapted its form and, possibly, content to reflect local concerns. In this way, the poem represents Gaelic scholars' engagement with the learned culture of medieval Europe. The same impression of Gaelic scholarship—that it was a local manifestation of a broader, European tradition in which widely held ideas were given local currency through adaptation—is apparent in the ways in which Gaelic scholars down to the seventeenth century conceptualised national characteristics, which was influenced by both international trends and local learning.

Although the mid-twelfth-century figure Iorwerth Goch seems an obscure lurker in footnotes in works which consider medieval England or medieval Wales, the pattern of contemporary evidence about him is extraordinary. He appears as a subsidiary character in both the Welsh tale Breudwyt Ronabwy and the Anglo-French romance Fouke le Fitz Waryn. Extensive further evidence about him appears in the English government's Pipe Rolls and in Welsh chronicles, genealogies, and poetry. Iorwerth founded a hereditary March family which held manors for several generations in return for service as Anglo-Welsh interpreters and intermediaries. Memories of his exploits persisted in Wales and the Marches through the remainder of the middle ages. He is, thus, a good example of the bi-culturally adept lords in the Welsh Marches whose members could preserve and transmit oral traditions which lie behind the Breudwyt Ronabwy, Fouke le Fitz Waryn, and other similar tales.