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  3. Studies in Celtic History

Studies in Celtic History aims to provide a forum for new research into all aspects of the history of Celtic-speaking peoples throughout the whole of the medieval period. The term `history' is understood broadly: any study, regardless of discipline, which advances our knowledge and understanding of the history of Celtic-speaking peoples will be considered. Studies of primary sources, and of new methods of exploiting such sources, are encouraged.

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21 results in Studies in Celtic History

Page 1 of 2

The Medieval Welsh Englynion y Beddau
  • The 'Stanzas of the Graves', or 'Graves of the Warriors of the Island of Britain', Attributed to Taliesin
  • Edited and translated by Patrick Sims-Williams
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    02 March 2024
    Print publication:
    19 September 2023
  • Edition and translation of this important genre of Old Welsh poetry.

Christ in Celtic Christianity
  • Britain and Ireland from the Fifth to the Tenth Century
  • Michael W. Herren, Shirley Ann Brown
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    17 March 2023
    Print publication:
    24 October 2002
  • A new interpretation of Celtic Christianity, supported by images of Christ taken from manuscripts, metalwork and sculpture, and showing how it departed from continental practice largely due to a differing perception and application of Pelagianism.

Classical Literature and Learning in Medieval Irish Narrative
  • Edited by Ralph O'Connor
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    24 February 2023
    Print publication:
    20 November 2014
  • Examinations of the use of classical Latin texts, themes and techniques in medieval Irish narrative.

The Growth of Law in Medieval Wales, c.1100-c.1500

The Legacy of Gildas
  • Constructions of Authority in the Early Medieval West
  • Stephen J. Joyce
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    05 July 2022
    Print publication:
    18 February 2022
  • A provocative new investigation into the shadowy figure of Gildas, his influence and representation.

History and Identity in Early Medieval Wales

Perceptions of Femininity in Early Irish Society
  • Helen Oxenham
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    18 June 2021
    Print publication:
    17 November 2016
  • Was femininity in early Irish society perceived as weak and sinful, innately inferior to masculinity? Was it seen as powerful and dangerous, a threat to the peace and tranquility of male society? Orwas there a more nuanced view, an understanding that femininity, or femininities, could be presented in a variety of ways according to the pragmatic concerns of the writer?
    This book examines the sources surviving from fifth- to ninth-century Ireland, aiming to offer a fresh view of authorial perceptions of the period. It seeks to highlight the complexities of those perceptions, the significance of authorial aims and purposes in the construction of femininity, and the potential disjunction between societal "reality" and the images presented to us in the sources. This careful analysis of a broad range of early Irish sources demonstrates how fluid constructions of gender could be, and presents a new interpretation of the position of femininity in the thought world of early Irish authors.

    Helen Oxenham worked at the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic in Cambridge as supervisor and researcher on the Mapping Miracles project. She now works for The EnglishHeritage Trust.

The Book of Llandaf as a Historical Source

Reading and Shaping Medieval Cartularies
  • Multiple Scribes and Patterns of Growth
  • Joanna Tucker
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    13 April 2021
    Print publication:
    19 February 2021
  • The physical nature of the medieval cartulary examined alongside its textual contents.

Medieval Welsh Genealogy
  • An Introduction and Textual Study
  • Ben Guy
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    30 April 2020
    Print publication:
    17 April 2020
  • First in-depth investigation of the genealogies of medieval Wales, bringing out their full significance.

Gaelic Influence in the Northumbrian Kingdom
  • The Golden Age and the Viking Age
  • Volume 40
  • Fiona Edmonds
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    28 February 2020
    Print publication:
    17 January 2020
  • First full-scale, interdisciplinary treatment of the wide-ranging connections between the Gaelic world and the Northumbrian kingdom.

Personal Names and Naming Practices in Medieval and Early Modern Scotland
  • Volume 39
  • Edited by Matthew Hammond
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    18 September 2019
    Print publication:
    21 September 2019
  • "A landmark of scholarship on medieval Scotland." Professor Dauvit Broun University of Glasgow.

St Samson of Dol and the Earliest History of Brittany, Cornwall and Wales
  • Edited by Lynette Olson
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    05 July 2018
    Print publication:
    01 June 2018
  • The First Life of St Samson of Dol (Vita Prima Samsonis) is a key text for the study of early Welsh, Cornish, Breton and indeed west Frankish history. In the twentieth century it was the subject of unresolved scholarly controversy that tended to limit its usefulness. However, more recent research has firmly re-established its significance as a historical source. This volume presents the results of new, multi-disciplinary, assessment of the text and its context. What emerges from the studies collected here is a context of greater plausibility for the First Life of St Samson of Dol as an early and essentially historical text, potentially at the centre of early British Christianity and its influence on the Continent. The landscape of that Christianity is gradually emerging from the shadows and it is a landscape in which the career of St Samson, the first Insular peregrinus, is shown to be of considerable importance. Lynette Olson is an Honorary Associate of the Department of History, University of Sydney. Contributors: Caroline Brett, Karen Jankulak, Constant J. Mews, Lynette Olson, Joseph-Claude Poulin, Richard Sowerby, Ian N. Wood, Jonathan M. Wooding.

Saints' Cults in the Celtic World
  • Edited by Steven Boardman, John Reuben Davies, Eila Williamson
  • With contributions by Thomas O. Clancy , Sally Crumplin , Fiona Edmonds , James E. Fraser , Joanna Huntington , Karen Jankulak and Jonathan M. Wooding
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    11 May 2017
    Print publication:
    19 February 2009
  • The way in which saints' cults operated across and beyond political, ethnic and linguistic boundaries in the medieval British Isles and Ireland, from the sixth to the sixteenth centuries, is the subject of this book. In a series of case studies, the contributions highlight the factors that allowed particular cults to prosper in, or that made them relevant to, a variety of cultural contexts. The collection has a particular emphasis on northern Britain, and the role of devotional interests in connecting or shaping a number of polities and cultural identities (Pictish, Scottish, Northumbrian, Irish, Welsh and English) in a world of fluid political and territorial boundaries. Although the bulk of the studies are concerned with the significance of cults in the insular context, many of the articles also touch on the development of pan-European devotions (such as the cults of St Brendan, The Three Kings or St George).

    Contributors: James E. Fraser, Thomas Owen Clancy, Fiona Edmonds, John Reuben Davies, Karen Jankulak, Sally Crumplin, Joanna Huntington, Steve Boardman, Eila Williamson, Jonathan Wooding

Medieval Powys
  • Kingdom, Principality and Lordships, 1132-1293
  • David Stephenson
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    29 April 2017
    Print publication:
    16 September 2016
  • Powys, extending over north-east and central Wales, was one of three great medieval Welsh polities, along with Gwynedd to the north and Deheubarth (south-west), occupying nearly a quarter of the country. However, it has been somewhat neglected by historians, who have tended to dismiss it as a satellite realm of England, and viewed its leaders as obstacles to the efforts of Gwynedd leaders to construct a principality of Wales.
    This book provides the first full, authoritative history of Powys in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It argues in particular that the Powysian rulers were dogged and resourceful survivors in the face of pressure from Welsh rivals and the problems of internal fragmentation; and that, paradoxically, co-operation with the English and intermarriage with marcher families underlay a desire to regain lands to the east lost in earlier centuries.

    Dr David Stephenson is an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of History, Welsh History and Archaeology, Bangor University.

The Transformation of the Irish Church in the Twelfth Century
  • Marie Therese Flanagan
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    05 October 2013
    Print publication:
    18 October 2010
  • The twelfth century saw a wide-ranging transformation of the Irish church, a regional manifestation of a wider pan-European reform movement. This book, the first to offer a full account of this change, moves away from the previous concentration on the restructuring of Irish dioceses and episcopal authority, and the introduction of Continental monastic observances, to widen the discussion. It charts changes in the religious culture experienced by the laity as well as the clergy and takes account of the particular Irish experience within the wider European context. The universal ideals that were defined with increasing clarity by Continental advocates of reform generated a series of initiatives from Irish churchmen aimed at disseminating reform ideology within clerical circles and transmitting it also to lay society, even if, as elsewhere, it often proved difficult to implement in practice. Whatever the obstacles faced by reformist clergy, their genuine concern to transform the Irish church and society cannot be doubted, and is attested in a range of hitherto unexploited sources this volume draws upon. Marie Therese Flanagan is Professor of Medieval History at the Queen's University of Belfast.

Tome: Studies in Medieval Celtic History and Law in Honour of Thomas Charles-Edwards
  • Edited by Fiona Edmonds, Paul Russell
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    05 October 2013
    Print publication:
    21 July 2011
  • Thomas Charles-Edwards, the distinguished scholar of medieval Britain and Ireland, has made important contributions to a number of fields, but is particularly renowned for his studies in Celtic history and law. In this volume, colleagues pay tribute to his work with essays that range across the medieval Celtic world, including medieval Wales, Ireland and Scotland. In the first part of the volume, they cover historical aspects (and, as is fitting, often reflect the honorand's interest in archaeology and epigraphy); in the second, they focus on medieval Irish and Welsh legal institutions and texts, which are used by some to inform new readings of literary texts. Contributors: Susan Youngs, Clare Stancliffe, Catherine Swift, David N. Dumville, Elizabeth O'Brien, Edel Bhreathnach, Oliver Padel, Nancy Edwards, Thomas Owen Clancy, Marie Therese Flanagan, Huw Pryce, Roy Flechner, Robin Chapman Stacey, Wendy Davies, Sara Elin Roberts, Fergus Kelly, Bronagh Ní Chonaill, Charlene Eska, Elva Johnston, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Maredudd ap Huw.

The Present and the Past in Medieval Irish Chronicles
  • Nicholas Evans
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    05 October 2013
    Print publication:
    17 June 2010
  • Ireland has the most substantial corpus of annalistic chronicles for the early period in western Europe. They are crucial sources for understanding the Gaelic world of Ireland and Scotland, and offer insights into contacts with the wider Christian world. However, there is still a high degree of uncertainty about their development, production, and location prior to 1100, which makes it difficult to draw sound conclusions from them. This book analyses the principal Irish chronicles, especially the "Annals of Ulster", "Annals of Tigernach", and the "Chronicum Scotorum", identifying their inter-relationships, the main changes to the texts, and the centres where they were written in the tenth and eleventh centuries - a significant but neglected period. The detailed study enables the author to argue that the chroniclers were in contact with each other, exchanging written notices of events, and that therefore the chronicle texts reflect the social connections of the Irish ecclesiastical and secular elites. The author also considers how the sections describing the early Christian period (approximately 431 to 730 AD) were altered by subsequent chroniclers; by focussing on the inclusion of material on Mediterranean events as well as on Gaelic kings, and by comparing the chronicles with other contemporary texts, he reconstructs the chronicles' contents and chronology at different times, showing how the accounts were altered to reflect and promote certain views of history. Thus, while enabling readers to evaluate the sources more effectively, he also demonstrates that the chronicles were sophisticated and significant documents in themselves, reflecting different facets of contemporary medieval society and their shifting attitudes to creating and changing accounts of the past. Dr Nicholas Evans is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow.

The Cult of Saints and the Virgin Mary in Medieval Scotland
  • Edited by Steve Boardman, Eila Williamson
  • With contributions by Helen Birkett , Rachel Butter , Thomas Owen Clancy , David Ditchburn , Audrey-Beth Fitch , Mark A. Hall , Matthew H. Hammond , Sim Innes and Alan Macquarrie
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    05 October 2013
    Print publication:
    19 August 2010
  • Of all the Celtic countries, Scotland has lacked the kind of scholarly attention that has been lavished fruitfully on Wales, Ireland, Cornwall and Brittany. And yet of all of them, Scotland offers the widest range of interfaces with broader work on the cult of saints. The papers presented here cover this territory very effectively.... [the book] brings together excellent studies that successfully explore the wide ramifications of the topic. Anyone with an interest in saints' cults will want this book. DAUVIT BROUN, Professor of Scottish History, University of Glasgow. This volume examines the phenomena of the cult of saints and Marian devotion as they were manifested in Scotland, ranging from the early medieval period to the sixteenth century. It combines general surveys of the development of the study of saints in the early and later middle ages with more focused articles on particular subjects, including St Waltheof of Melrose, the obscure early medieval origins of the cult of St Munnu, the short-lived martyr cult of David, duke of Rothsay, and the Scottish saints included in the greatest liturgical compendium produced in late medieval Scotland, the Aberdeen breviary. The way in which Marian devotion permeated late medieval Scottish society is discussed in terms of the church dedications of the twelfth and thirteenth-century aristocracy, the ecclesiastical landscape of Perth, the depiction of Mary in Gaelic poetry, and the pervasive influence of the familial bond between holy mother and son in representations of the Scottish royal family. Dr Steve Boardman is Reader in History, University of Edinburgh; Eila Williamson gained her PhD from the University of Glasgow. Contributors: Helen Birkett, Steve Boardman, Rachel Butter, Thomas Owen Clancy, David Ditchburn, Audrey-Beth Fitch, Mark A. Hall, Matthew H. Hammond, Sim Innes, Alan Macquarrie

Literacy and Identity in Early Medieval Ireland
  • Elva Johnston
  • Published by:
    Boydell & Brewer
    Published online:
    05 September 2013
    Print publication:
    15 August 2013
  • Much of our knowledge of early medieval Ireland comes from a rich literature written in a variety of genres and in two languages, Irish and Latin. Who wrote this literature and what role did they play within society? What did the introduction and expansion of literacy mean in a culture where the vast majority of the population continued to be non-literate? How did literacy operate in and intersect with the oral world? Was literacy a key element in the formation and articulation of communal and elite senses of identity? This book addresses these issues in the first full, inter-disciplinary examination of the Irish literate elite and their social contexts between ca. 400-1000 AD. It considers the role played by Hiberno-Latin authors, the expansion of vernacular literacy and the key place of monasteries within the literate landscape. Also examined are the crucial intersections between literacy and orality, which underpin the importance played by the literate elite in giving voice to aristocratic and communal identities. This study places these developments within a broader European context, underlining the significance of the Irish experience of learning and literacy. Elva Johnston is lecturer in the School of History and Archives, University College Dublin.

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