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Samain 2014 32.1
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CSANA
CELTIC STUDIES ASSOCIATION OF NORTH AMERICA
Newsletter 32.1 Samain 2014
Contents
Announcements 3
CSANA/CCC 2015 dates announced!
Conferences 8
Book Reviews
Deborah Hayden on Saltair Saíochta, Sanasaíochta agus Seanchais
A Festschrift for Gearóid Mac Eoin 12
Sharon Paice McLeod on Archaeology and Celtic Myth:
an Exploration 16
Timothy P. Bridgman on The Origins of the Irish 18
Gregory J. Darling on The Cult of the Saints and the Virgin Mary
in Medieval Scotland 19
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CELTIC STUDIES ASSOCIATION OF NORTH AMERICA On the web at http://celtic.cmrs.ucla.edu/csana/
Dan Wiley’s blog at http://csanablog.blogspot.com/
Officers: President: Charlene Eska, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Vice-‐President: Michael Meckler, Ohio State University Secretary-‐Treasurer: Elissa R. Henken, University of Georgia
Members at Large: Georgia Henley, Harvard University Michael Newton, St. Francis Xavier University
Patrick Wadden, Belmont Abbey College
Bibliographer: Karen Burgess, UCLA Executive Bibliographer: Joseph F. Nagy, UCLA Yearbook Editor: Joseph F. Eska, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Newsletter Editor: Jimmy P. Miller, Temple University Past President: Paul Russell, Pembroke College, Cambridge University
Incorporated as a non-‐profit organization, the Celtic Studies Association of North America has members in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Europe, Australia and Japan. CSANA produces a twice-‐a-‐year newsletter and bibliographies of Celtic Studies. The published bibliographies (1983-‐87 and 1985-‐87) may be ordered from the Secretary-‐Treasurer, Professor Elissa R. Henken, Dept. of English, Park Hall, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA (Email: [email protected] ).
The electronic CSANA bibliography is available at: http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/celtic/csanabib.html. The electronic bibliography is available at cost in printed form to members who request it from Bibliographer Karen Burgess, [email protected]. The bibliographer welcomes updates, corrections, and information about out-‐of-‐the-‐way publications of relevance that should be included in the Bibliography.
The privileges of membership in CSANA include the newsletter twice a year, access to the bibliography and the electronic discussion group CSANA-‐L (contact Professor Joe Eska at [email protected] to join), invitations to the annual meeting for which the registration fees are nil or very low, the right to purchase the CSANA mailing list at cost, and an invaluable sense of fellowship with Celticists throughout North America and around the world.
Membership in CSANA is open to anyone with a serious interest in Celtic Studies. Dues are payable at Beltaine. New and renewing members should send checks in either of the two accepted currencies to Elissa R. Henken (Department of English, Park Hall, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602 USA). Please note that the currency changes the Payable to line. Checks in U.S. dollars, payable to CSANA, must be drawn on a U.S. bank or an affiliate of a U.S. bank (international money orders cannot be accepted). Cheques in British Sterling must be made payable to Elissa R. Henken. Payment may also be made by credit card through PayPal. [Go to the PayPal website (www.paypal.com), press the tab “send money,” type in the e-‐mail address [email protected]. Remember to pay in U.S. dollars. Put CSANA in the e-‐mail subject line. In the Note box, type in your name, postal address, e-‐mail address, and for what exactly you are paying (dues year, membership rate, Yearbook number).]
Membership categories: Associate (student, retiree, unemployed, institution) $20 US, £13 GBP, Sustaining Member (basic) $40 US, £26 GBP Contributor $60 US, £39 GBP Patron $100 US, £65 GBP Benefactor $250 US, £163 GBP
(Contributors, Patrons and Benefactors support the creation of the CSANA bibliography, help to defray expenses of the annual meeting, and allow CSANA to develop new projects. Please join at the highest level you can.)
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Announcements
CSANA 2015/CCC 37 dates announced The 2015 conference of the Celtic Studies Association of North America and the 37th California Celtic Conference will take place jointly, March 5-‐8, 2015, on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley.
Invited speakers include: • Tomas O Cathasaigh, Harvard University • Diarmuid O Giollain, Notre Dame University • Lisa Bitel, University of Southern California
The CSANA text seminar will be on a text by Myles na gCopaleen and will be led by Catherine Flynn of UC-‐Berkeley. Watch your inboxes for more details soon!
Southern Celtic Studies Consortium A collaborative Southern Celtic Studies Consortium is in the process of being formed, organized by Lindy Brady (Department of English, University of Mississippi) and Joshua Byron Smith (Department of English, University of Arkansas). We have received two SEC Visiting Faculty Travel Grants in support of this consortium, for
summer 2014 and summer 2015, and hope to go “live” after summer 2015.
Recognizing that Celtic Studies is a difficult and highly specialized field and that scholars are often forced to work in isolation, both geographically and intellectually, we envision this consortium as a longstanding collaborative initiative that will give graduate students access to advanced and specialized areas of study, provide better networking opportunities for scholars working in these areas, open the door for future collaborative research, and increase the visibility of Celtic Studies in the South. We welcome suggestions from Celticists working in the Southeastern United States (roughly, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida) as to what you would like to see in such a consortium, but we envision two immediately practical benefits. First, we hope to facilitate cross-‐institutional study (and course credit) for graduate students at member institutions, combining resources to offer our graduate students a level of specialized training in Celtic Studies that is otherwise very difficult for them to attain. Along those lines, we envision a (password-‐protected!) online interface for the consortium that would contain a master calendar of events and classes hosted at all our partner institutions and facilitate exchanges of course materials among interested members. Second, we hope to host an annual workshop for consortium members (intended to complement rather than compete with extant conferences) to exchange ideas, ask advice, and receive feedback on works in progress. If you are a Celticist in the Southeastern U.S., stay tuned for updates!
– Lindy Brady and Joshua Byron Smith
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Lectureship in Early and Medieval Irish at UCC Applications will close Nov. 24 for the role of Lecturer in Early and Medieval Irish at University College Cork, Ireland (NUI, Cork). Reporting to the Head of Department, the Lecturer will contribute to core teaching in Early and Medieval Irish / Celtic Civilisation at undergraduate and postgraduate level. The successful candidate will have a strong track record of teaching, research and publication in Early and Medieval Irish language and literature / Celtic Studies. The Lecturer will be expected
to contribute to current and future initiatives in the Department of Early and Medieval Irish.
Informal enquiries can be made in confidence to Professor John Carey, Head of Department of Early and Medieval Irish, Tel: 021 4902999, Email: [email protected]. For further information on the Department of Early and Medieval Irish, please visit http://www.ucc.ie/academic/smg/
Appointment may be made on the Lectureship Salary Scale: €31,821 -‐ €51,270/€62,353 -‐ €76,942.
The opening became available because of the retirement of Professor Máire Herbert. John Carey was subsequently promoted to Professor, and Kevin Murray was promoted to Senior Lecturer.
Indo-‐European Studies opening at UCLA The Program in Indo-‐European Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, invites applications for an open-‐rank position in Indo-‐European Studies. Senior applicants will be considered for the A. Richard Diebold Chair in Indo-‐European Studies. Applicants should have the PhD in hand and broad training in the linguistics and philology of the principal ancient and medieval Indo-‐European languages and in the linguistic and cultural reconstruction of Proto-‐Indo-‐European. Field(s) of
specialization open. Candidates should demonstrate a strong commitment to scholarly research and publication as well as dedication to undergraduate and graduate teaching. The appointment will be effective July 1, 2015. Salary will be commensurate with education and experience.
Applicants should make use of the UCLA job application website (https://recruit.apo.ucla.edu/apply/JPF00568) to submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, representative publication(s), and contact information for three recommenders. The deadline for applications is December 15, 2014. Inquiries may be directed to Prof. Stephanie Jamison [email protected].
New Appointment to Australian Chair With the retirement in 2013 of Anders Ahlqvist, the first professor, Jonathan Wooding becomes the second occupant of the Sir Warwick Fairfax Chair of
Celtic Studies at the University of Sydney (Australia).
Wooding was born and raised in Sydney, but spent the past two decades living in Ireland and then
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Wales, where he was most recently Reader in Church History at the University of Wales, Lampeter (now Trinity Saint David). He has published widely on early medieval Irish as well as Welsh topics, with interests ranging across literature, history and theology. His studies on the legend of St. Brendan and the Irish peregrini might be most familiar to CSANA members.
He writes: “I am enjoying the opportunity to build upon a well-‐established programme. In this I benefit especially from the enduring legacy of goodwill created by Anders Ahlqvist.” The program will continue under Wooding’s leadership to offer a range of teaching in medieval as well as modern Celtic studies, including some new offerings in medieval literature. Wooding notes that “the only problem about coming back to your alma mater is that it feels like a time-‐warp back to when I was a student. I keep expecting the real owner of my office to turn up!”
Readers might also be interested to hear news of recent publications from Sydney’s Series in Celtic Studies. In 2013 were published the following new volumes (SSCS 11-‐15):
• Anders Ahlqvist, Grammatical Tables for Old Irish. • Anders Ahlqvist & Pamela O’Neill (eds), Medieval Irish Law: Text and Context. • Rowena Finnane, Late Medieval Irish Law Manuscripts: A Reappraisal of Methodology and
Content. • Pamela O’Neill (ed.), The Land beneath the Sea: Essays in Honour of Anders Ahlqvist’s
Contribution to Celtic Studies in Australia. • Anders Ahlqvist & Pamela O’Neill (eds), Celts and their Cultures at Home and Abroad: A
Festschrift for Malcolm Broun.
For further information see: http://sydney.edu.au/arts/celtic_studies/research/index.shtml
Wooding also is shortly launching a new series with University of Wales Press entitled “New Approaches to Celtic Religion and Mythology” and has joined Professor Margaret Clunies-‐Ross as a general editor of the Brepols series “Medieval Voyaging.” He welcomes enquiries about either series.
And do watch out for the next Australian Conference of Celtic Studies, for that long-‐planned trip down under!
The William B. Neenan, S.J., Visiting Fellowship at Boston College-‐Ireland Applications are invited for the William B. Neenan, S.J., Visiting Fellowship, to be held at Boston College-‐Ireland in 2015. The Fellowship is named in honor of Fr.
Neenan, who came to Boston College in 1979 as the first Thomas I. Gasson Professor. He served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 1980 to 1987 before assuming the role of academic vice president and dean of faculties. From 1998, he was vice president and special assistant to the president. He passed away in 2014.
The Fellowship is open to any scholar working in the field of Irish Studies who requires time to research in Dublin. The Fellowship can be held at any time during 2015, and must be held for a minimum of two months during the course of the year. The holder of the Fellowship will be awarded a stipend of €5000 and have access the Boston College-‐Ireland building, an office, and administrative
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support during their time in Dublin. The holder of the Fellowship will also work with Boston College Ireland to organize a funded, one-‐day symposium based around the topic of their research.
The closing date for the Fellowship is Dec. 5, 2014. To apply, please send your CV, an explanation of the research you wish to undertake in Ireland, and details of proposed outputs to Professor Mike Cronin, [email protected].
Jesus Chair of Celtic fundraising appeal The University of Oxford is asking for donations toward an endowment to permanently fund the Jesus Chair of Celtic, which the university has left vacant since the retirement of Thomas Charles-‐Edwards.
Oxford established the Jesus Chair of Celtic – the oldest chair of Celtic in the world – in 1877, and it is Oxford’s oldest chair in a modern language. To ensure that its Celtic scholarship continues both in the short term and for generations to come, the University of Oxford must raise £2.64 million, creating a permanent endowment for the Jesus Chair of Celtic.
For more information or to download the appeal brochure, visit http://www.mod-‐langs.ox.ac.uk/celticappeal. Direct inquiries can be sent to Antony Green, Head of Development – Humanities on [email protected].
Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru freely available online The University of Wales Dictionary of the Welsh Language (Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru) is now available online in a full version which is freely accessible. It is the only standard historical dictionary of Welsh and is broadly comparable in method and scope with the Oxford English Dictionary.
GPC Online allows the user to search for Welsh headwords, variant forms, and collocations, as well as synonymous words and phrases in the English definitions. The vocabulary is defined in Welsh with English synonyms, so GPC is not intended to be used as a translating dictionary. However, when the English definitions are searched, the results are ordered according to the relevance of the searched term in the definition, so as to give precedence to synonymous words.
GPC Online is the culmination of a process dating back to the 1920s when a reading program was set up at the National Library of Wales by the University of Wales Board of Celtic Studies to read and collect citations from all published Welsh material prior to 1800 together with a large proportion of early Welsh manuscripts and later printed material. Editorial work began in 1948/9 and the Dictionary was published in 64-‐page fascicles from 1950 onwards. The first edition was completed in 2002.
Since then, work has been ongoing to completely re-‐edit and extend the very earliest sections dealing with A and B as well as to add entirely new vocabulary throughout the alphabet.
It has been the intention for some time that the Dictionary should go online but it has been a long process as it was necessary to encode all the Dictionary data – around 8 million words in all – in XML.
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From now on the Dictionary will be published online only, although the previously published volumes and parts are still available to purchase. Further details can be found on the GPC website, www.geiriadur.ac.uk.
Medieval Law Conference papers captured on YouTube Recordings of select papers from the one-‐day Medieval Law conference in honor of Professor Fergus Kelly on his retirement are online at https://www.youtube.com/user/OraclePicturesStudio
The conference was June 28 at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
ACIS scholarships, awards and publications The ACIS graduate fellowship committees are now ready to accept applications for projects to be undertaken in 2015. ACIS offers two graduate fellowships to support travel costs for doctoral research by students enrolled in Ph.D. programs in North America. The Larkin Fellowship supports graduate research in the fields of history
and the social sciences. The Krause Fellowship is awarded to assist research on the topic of Irish literature. The deadline for each year's competition is December 1st. Applicants must send a two-‐ or three-‐page letter of application describing the project and its purpose, a CV, and two letters of recommendation to each of the committee members. Contact information for sending applications and eligibility guidelines can be found on the graduate fellowships page of the ACIS website: http://acisweb.org/prizes-‐and-‐fellowships/graduate-‐student-‐fellowships/
For those intending to nominate a book or dissertation for an ACIS book prize, the deadline for receipt of submissions is Jan. 12, 2015. All submissions must have a publication year of 2014 (or, in the case of the Dalsimer prize for best dissertation, a completion year of 2014). ACIS recognizes outstanding publications through six prizes:
• The James S. Donnelly, Sr. Prize for Books on History and Social Sciences • Duais Leabhar Taighde na Bliana Fhoras na Gaeilge/The ACIS Award for Books in the Irish
Language • The Michael J. Durkan Prize for Books on Language and Culture • The Donald Murphy Prize for Distinguished First Books • The Robert Rhodes Prize for Books on Literature • The Adele Dalsimer Prize for Distinguished Dissertations
Authors, publishers, or ACIS members wishing to nominate a book or dissertation should arrange to have a copy of the publication sent to each member of the relevant prize committee. A full list of eligibility rules and committee member information can be found on the ACIS Book and Dissertation Prizes web page: http://acisweb.org/prizes-‐and-‐fellowships/book-‐and-‐dissertation-‐prizes/ Prize winners are announced at the annual ACIS national meeting in the spring.
Finally, the papers of Emmet Larkin, long-‐time historian at the University of Chicago and a founding member of the American Conference for Irish Studies, were donated to the John J. Burns Library of
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Boston College by Dianne Larkin and are now open for research. A full announcement and a link to the guide for the papers can be found here: http://acisweb.org/announcement/emmet-‐larkin-‐papers-‐now-‐available-‐john-‐j-‐burns-‐library-‐boston-‐college/
Irish Texts Society discount for CSANA members CSANA and the Irish Texts Society have agreed on a collaboration: in return for our helping announce ITS works, CSANA members in good standing will receive a 33 percent discount on ITS publications.
The Irish Texts Society continues to be a leader in the publication of scholarly editions and translations of Irish texts. ITS most recent “Main Series” (texts and translations) volume is Anathomia Gydo (ed. Eithne Ní Ghallchobhair, 2014), the only surviving medieval surgical text to have been translated into Early Modern Irish. Its most recent subsidiary series (lectures on past Main Series titles) volume is Buile Suibhne: Perspectives and Reassessments (ed. John Carey, 2014). ITS also is publishing, in fascicles, the ongoing Historical Dictionary of Gaelic Placenames, ed. Pádraig Ó Riain, Diarmuid Ó Murchadha and Kevin Murray.
To take advantage of the partnership, go to the ITS website, www.irishtextssociety.org, where the full catalogue of ITS publications can be found. When ordering, you will be transferred to the Royal Irish Academy website where ITS books are listed with their prices. Enter the word "texts" in the box entitled "coupon code," and CSANA members in good standing will receive the 33 percent discount.
For questions about, or problems related to, ordering ITS volumes with the CSANA member discount, please contact CSANA Secretary/Treasurer Elissa R. Henken, [email protected].
Conferences
CSANA at Kalamazoo CSANA will be represented in two Sessions at the 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies, scheduled May 14-‐17 at Kalamazoo, Michigan. One of the sessions will be cosponsored by the American Society of Irish Medieval Studies.
The first session is “New Work by Young Celtic Studies Scholars,” chaired and organized by Frederick Suppe, Ball State University:
• “A ‘Paradise’ of Birds? Demonology in the Navigatio of St. Brendan” by Mary Helen Galluch, University of Notre Dame
• “Early Irish Geneaology: Ethnogenesis, Mythogenesis, and Statecraft” by Matthew Holmberg, Harvard University
• “Where is Alba exactly? Journeys in the Irish Mythological Landscape” by Elizabeth Kempton, St. Louis University
Session two, cosponsored by CSANA and ASIMS, is “Travel, Maps, and Itineraries in Medieval Ireland
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and Britain”: • “On the March: Travelling in the Irish Women’s Saints’ Lives” by Dorothy Africa, Harvard
University • “’Such a Great Multitude’: Biblical Numerology as a Literary Device in Navigatio Sancti
Brendani” by Darcy Ireland, Providence College • “The Associative Branches of the Irish Barnacle: Gerald of Wales and the Natural World” by
Sarah Jane Sprouse, Texas Tech University
Gerald of Wales conference at Harvard Gerald of Wales, also known as Giraldus Cambrensis or Gerald de Barri, is one of the most widely referenced authors of the twelfth century, and an important source of information for life in the insular medieval world. Much of his work, however, remains understudied, with scholarly focus usually limited to his works
on Ireland and Wales, while his religious and other writings remain almost untouched. Recent scholarship on the complete manuscripts of his works by Catherine Rooney at the University of Cambridge, however, as well as recent studies on his ethnographic writings and the vernacular transmission of his work, has opened up new possibilities and renewed interest in his life and writings, including several forthcoming new editions. This conference, scheduled April 10-‐11, seeks to bring together scholars of Gerald of Wales from around the world, considering this remarkable writer in his own right, both in the context of the twelfth century and throughout the later Middle Ages, stimulating new dialogue and allowing a platform for new work in the future.
The conference will be hosted by Harvard University’s Department of Celtic Languages and Literatures and the Standing Committee on Medieval Studies. Plenary addresses will be given by Robert Bartlett (University of St. Andrews) and Huw Pryce (Bangor University). Visit http://harvardgerald.wordpress.com/ for more information.
MLA 2015 Celtic Languages and Literatures session The Modern Language Association’s Celtic Languages and Literatures Discussion Group is hosting a session at MLA 2015 in January in Vancouver. Titled “The Carry-‐Ons of the Celtic World: How to Pack Your Power and Prestige,” the session will be chaired by Lahney Preson-‐Matto, Adelphi University. Scheduled lineup:
• Natasha Sumner “Fianna on the Move: Aspects of the Fenian Tradition from Coast to Coast to Coast”
• Jessica Hemming “A Thousand Years of Snow in Welsh Poetry” • Antone Minard “The Vancouver Welsh: Mae'r Hen Iaith yn Parháu” • Marie Sanquer “The Breton Red Bonnets Re-‐enacting 1675 in 2013: Political Scam or Historian
Slam?”
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15th Celtic Congress The 15th International Congress of Celtic Studies will be held July 13-‐17 at the University of Glasgow.
The International Congress of Celtic Studies is the foremost international gathering of scholars researching the languages, literatures and cultural traditions of the Celtic-‐speaking peoples. Held once every four years, the Congress provides a forum in which experts from across the full range of Celtic Studies — including linguistics, literature, history, archaeology and art history — come together to share the fruits of their work.
Visit http://www.celticstudiescongress.org/index.php/home/ for more information or to join the Congress mailing list.
Monastic Europe: Landscape & Settlement The Irish Research Council-‐funded “Monastic Ireland: Landscape and Settlement” research team is happy to announce that it is hosting a three-‐day conference in August 2015.
Conference themes will include: • The topography of medieval monastic settlement (1100-‐1700), in both urban and rural
environments • The impact of Church reforms on the physical structures and landscapes of the monastic
Church • Monastic space (liturgical, social and architectural aspects) • Patronage networks • Architecture and identities • Written sources for understanding the monastic environment
We welcome proposals for 20-‐minute papers exploring this theme across the stated time span, throughout Europe. Papers may deal with either case studies or broader methodological questions, and are not limited to delivery in English.
Deadline for proposals is Nov. 28, 2014. Proposals to be sent to [email protected] For more information, visit http://www.discoveryprogramme.ie/research/current-‐projects/monastic-‐ireland/264-‐monastic-‐europe-‐landscape-‐a-‐settlement.html
Cambridge Postgraduate ASNAC Colloquium The Department of Anglo-‐Saxon, Norse and Celtic at the University of Cambridge invites proposals from postgraduate students for its annual interdisciplinary conference, scheduled Feb. 7, 2015. Please submit a 300-‐word abstract for a 20-‐minute paper in accordance with this year’s theme, “Communication and Control””
to [email protected] by Dec. 10.
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The keynote speaker will be Professor Stefan Brink, chair in Scandinavian Studies, University of Aberdeen, who will give a talk on “Medieval laws: the most important written sources for understanding Scandinavian society.”
International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures The annual conference of the International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures comes to England July 20-‐24 at the University of York and in venues across the historic city of York itself.
Scheduled plenary speakers are James Chandler, Hugh Haughton, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, and Eve Patten.
The theme for 2015 will be “Reconciliations,” and all reconciliations, be they political, aesthetic or psychic will be explored, both as limits and tensions in Irish literary study and criticism. Papers are invited on the matter of reconciliation between languages (Irish and English) between competing ideas of national literary history (the genres of the novel, theatre and film, poetic form, cultural criticism, children’s literature and other generic developments in Irish criticism), and in the many thematic preoccupations of Irish literature with states of transition and dialogue.
Organizers seek to reflect the study of Irish Literature across all of its periods and languages. We actively encourage papers from Irish language scholars, from critics of medieval, early modern and eighteenth century literature, as well as from contemporary literature, theatre and film. Papers and panels dealing with other Irish literary and historical topics are also welcome, and since 2015 is the 150th anniversary of his birth, talks about William Butler Yeats and his influence on our conception of Irish literature and drama and his continuing and problematic example in the present day are especially welcome.
IASIL 2015 will also feature a full program of cultural events and performances in York and excursions to sites in Yorkshire of historical, cultural and aesthetic significance.
Email [email protected] for more information. Deadline for 300-‐word abstract submission and/or three-‐member panel proposals is Jan. 31. Please also include a brief biography (50 words including affiliation). Individual papers should be no more than 20 minutes.
Subject to confirmation, the full fee for the conference will be £200. Student, unwaged and daily rates will be available. University accommodation will be offered to all delegates, and the cost will be in the region of £35 per night. The conference banquet will be in the medieval Merchant Adventurers’ Hall at additional cost.
CSANA on the web: http://celtic.cmrs.ucla.edu/csana/
Dan Wiley’s CSANA blog: http://csanablog.blogspot.com/
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Book Reviews
Dónall Ó Baoill, Donncha Ó hAodha and Nollaig Ó Muraíle (eds), Saltair Saíochta, Sanasaíochta agus Seanchais. A Festschrift for Gearóid Mac Eoin. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2013. xxv + 516 pp. ISBN 978-‐1-‐85182-‐570-‐7. €60.
This collection of essays pays tribute to the scholarly career of Professor Gearóid Mac Eoin, who formerly held the Chair of Old and Middle Irish and Celtic Philology at
University College, Galway. As noted by the editors (xiii and xv), it is not the first such celebration of Mac Eoin’s wide-‐ranging interests and achievements, being preceded by two collections published by German academics in 1990 and 1999 respectively.1 This circumstance has not, however, adversely impacted the number and variety of contributions received for the present volume, which fittingly reflect the breadth and significance of Mac Eoin’s work. As is perhaps to be expected in such an extensive and diverse collection, the contributions vary considerably in length from brief notes to more in-‐depth studies, and include some useful editions and translations of previously neglected texts. As promised by its title, the volume contains much that will be of interest to scholars of the Celtic languages and literatures from the medieval period to the modern day. Its contents consist of a biography of the honorand in both Irish and English, a select list of the dedicatee’s publications, a brief preface, and 41 chapters arranged alphabetically by author, followed by a bibliography and index. The linguistic medium of the contributions is chiefly divided between English (23) and Irish (16), while a further two chapters are written in German.
A significant proportion of the volume is concerned with medieval Irish language and literature, encompassing manuscript studies, narrative and religious works, toponymy, genealogy, legal doctrine, history and linguistics. A handful of essays deal with Early Modern and Modern Irish texts, while a few address Welsh and Scottish Gaelic (mainly linguistic) themes, and several others deal with issues of modern language policy. It comes as no surprise, however, that many of the studies cross these generic boundaries in various ways, e.g. by tracing literary or linguistic developments from the medieval period to the modern one, engaging in comparative analysis of Celtic languages and cultures, or probing literary sources for evidence of historical context.
The rich corpus of early Irish narrative literature is considered from multiple angles. Petra Hellmuth outlines the manuscripts in Scottish libraries containing copies of Táin Bó Cúailnge, and discusses the history of one particular such manuscript, NLS Adv. MS 72.1.32 (also known as the Leabhar Chille Bhríde), which is now lost but which can be partly reconstructed by examining later descriptions of the codex and copies of the texts it contained (57-‐63). The Ulster Cycle also receives attention from Máire West, who rejects the interpretation of claideb (corthaire) and claideb garmne as synonymous terms meaning a “weaver’s beam” in Cecile O’Rahilly’s editions of the various versions of the Táin. Drawing on archaeological, material and contextual evidence, she proposes the more literal translations “fringe sword/fringe rod” and “beam sword” respectively for these references to the
1 Hildegard L. C. Tristram (ed.), Deutsche, Kelten und Iren: 150 Jahre Deutsche Keltologie, Gearóid Mac Eoin zum 60. Geburtstag gewidmet (Hamburg, 1990); Erich Poppe and Hildegard L. C. Tristram (eds), Übersetzung, Adaptation und Akkulturation im insularen Mittelalter, Studien und Texte zur Keltologie 4 (Münster, 1999).
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ornate metal instrument carried by the prophetess Fedelm, to reflect more accurately their specialist meaning in weaving terminology and to inform the significance of this imagery in a literary context (463-‐74). Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin likewise explores the depiction of female figures in medieval Irish literature, surveying numerous instances in which early sources portray the speech of women as suspect, untrustworthy or foolish (199-‐200).
Religious texts are the focus of six contributions. Máire Herbert discusses the eighth-‐century Vita of the Uí Néill saint, Bishop Áed mac Bricc, as a window on changing political realities in the Irish midlands during the pre-‐Viking period (64-‐74). The considerably later Life of Colum Cille compiled by Maghnus Ó Domhnaill in 1532 is the subject of another chapter by Jan Erik Rekdal (407-‐14). Caitríona Ó Dochartaigh examines the metrical account of Biblical history known as Saltair na rann, and provides an edition and translation of poems 138-‐41 (297-‐310). Donncha Ó hAodha offers a further brief note on the metrical features of the twelfth-‐century calendar of saints by Máel Muire Ua Gormáin (315-‐18). Pádraig Ó Riain discusses the close connection between the prose liturgical calendar found in the Book of Lecan, written in Connacht at the end of the fourteenth century, and the poem beginning Bliadhain so solas a dath, of which the earliest extant witness dates to the seventeenth century (384-‐94). Máirtín Mac Conmara pays homage to Mac Eoin’s work on Old and Middle Irish homilies by considering what these works reveal about the text and understanding of the Bible in the period from 600-‐1200 (124-‐43).
The remaining essays that are concerned primarily with Ireland in the medieval period examine a range of literary and learned texts. In a study of the legendary king of Tara Loegaire mac Néill, Joseph Nagy ponders what we might infer about historical and cultural circumstances in early medieval Ireland from the insistent focus on death and defeat in tales relating to this figure (181-‐9). Brian Ó Broin compares Irish and Norse accounts of the tenth-‐ and eleventh-‐century king of Dublin, Sigtryggr Silkiskegg (285-‐96). Legal material is the subject of a contribution by Patricia Kelly, who revisits a short passage on “Horse-‐qualities” that was first edited by Fergus Kelly in Appendix A of his Early Irish Farming.2 She tentatively posits an alternative reading of the phrase slan [t]aib “healthy with regard to side” as slan gaib, “healthy with regard to mouth,” plausibly suggesting that one of the positive attributes sought when purchasing such an animal was how well it had been trained to accept a bit (83-‐7).
The transition from the medieval to the modern period is bridged by Diarmuid Johnson’s discussion of literary inheritance and renewal in the mythological tale Oidhe Chloinne Tuireann, of which the oldest manuscript version dates to the seventeenth century, but which has clear affinities with earlier tradition relating to the Tuatha Dé Danann (78-‐82). Gearóid Denvir turns our attention to the eighteenth century with his analysis of the dramatic qualities, literary parallels and stylistic features of Brian Merriman’s satirical poem Cúirt an Mheán Oíche (43-‐56). Mícheál Mac Craith offers a subtle analysis of Colm Mac Confhaola’s prize-‐winning historical novel Ceol an phíobaire, published in 1998, and its wide-‐ranging depiction of the events unfolding in Wexford during the 1798 rebellion and its aftermath (144-‐52). Breandán Ó Madagáin’s essay on “Earlier functions of Irish vocal music”
2 Fergus Kelly, Early Irish Farming (Dublin, 2000), pp. 555-‐6.
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considers the development of Irish song tradition within a wider European context, and in particular its relationship to belief in magic and the supernatural (319-‐30). Seán Ó Briain examines the opposing themes of interiority versus exteriority and past versus present in Máirtín Ó Cadhain’s Cré na Cille, and highlights the similarities between political and social events in the novel and the period that Ó Cadhain spent in the Curragh Camp during the Second World War (274-‐84). Máirtín Ó Briain examines the various extant versions of the Fenian lay Geinealach Oisín alongside other genealogical sources that provide evidence for its development (261-‐73). Bo Almqvist contributes an insightful analysis of Irish folkloric accounts in which Aristotle is portrayed as an imperfect sage, focusing mainly on stories in which the philosopher is outwitted by clever or ambitious women, and tracing the evolution of this tradition from early Continental sources to tales collected from modern storytellers in the Blasket Islands (6-‐16).
Three chapters deal with Irish place-‐names. Breandán Mac Aodha draws attention to some of the most common elements in names of coastal features, such as headlands, harbours, rivermouths and islands, which he illustrates with eight useful maps indicating their geographical distribution (99-‐11). Mícheál Ó Mainnín offers a note on the etymology of various names for the Blackwater River in Tyrone and Armagh, in particular the earliest-‐recorded form Dabhall (331-‐4). In one of the most substantial contributions to the volume, Nollaig Ó Muraíle presents several passages from a sixteenth-‐century Connacht manuscript relating to the Clann Uilliam Íochtair in Mayo, as well as a fragment of another text concerned with the Burkes of Munster. In attempting to link the place-‐names mentioned in these tracts with known locations, Ó Muraíle builds on his important previous work on the place-‐names of Mayo and Limerick; in particular, his edition of the fragment relating to the Burkes of Munster brings some welcome improvements to that produced by O’Grady as an appendix to his 1929 edition of Caithréim Thoirdhealbhaigh.3 Ó Muraíle’s editions are followed by three helpful lists of the place-‐names mentioned in the tracts: one in text-‐order with identifications, one arranged according to parish, and one given alphabetically with cross-‐references (335-‐78).
Several papers shed light on other Celtic languages and literary traditions. Máirtín Ó Murchú offers a note on the etymology of Scottish Gaelic dachaigh “habitation, abode” (379-‐83), while Donald Mac Aulay examines the system of person in that language, with a particular focus on the development of the pronominal element ar in a spoken context (112-‐16). Mícheál Ó Flaithearta considers the Indo-‐European etymology and cognates of O.Ir. richt (Mod. Ir. riocht) “form, shape, guise” (311-‐14). Graham Isaac investigates the origins of Welsh llais “voice,” suggesting that it may be a loan from Latin lexis “speech,” and therefore an additional piece of evidence for the influence of learned schools of rhetoric in the fourth, fifth and sixth centuries on the basic vocabulary of the Brittonic vernacular (75-‐7). In the only contribution concerned specifically with Welsh literary tradition, Andrew Breeze revisits his previously published argument that the Four Branches of the Mabinogi might be regarded as the work of Gwenllian, daughter of the twelfth-‐century king of Gwynedd, Gruffudd ap Cynan. Here Breeze highlights several correspondences between the vocabulary used in the Four Branches and that found in the poetry of Gwenllian’s nephew Hywel, an illegitimate son of her brother Owain Gwynedd (17-‐24).
3 S. H. O’Grady (ed. and trans.), Caithréim Thoirdhealbhaigh. The Triumphs of Turlough, Irish Texts Society, vols 26-‐7 (1929), I, 159-‐61; II, 169-‐71.
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Other papers concerned with linguistic matters include Patrizia De Bernardo Stempel’s discussion of the relative chronology of the separate developments shown by the five main Celtic languages (25-‐42), and Dónall Ó Baoill’s revision the 1988 work of McCloskey and Sells on controlled clauses in Modern Irish, where he introduces some new data and offers a fresh analysis of this phenomenon (235-‐46). A contribution by the late Karl Horst Schmidt examines several examples of suppletion and aspect in the Old Irish verbal system (415-‐21). Three chapters address matters relating to the definite article in Irish. That by the late Proinsias Mac Cana looks at some medieval Welsh and French cognates for the Irish syntactical structure, especially common in poetry, whereby the article may be used to link an adjective to a preceding substantive qualified by a possessive pronoun (117-‐23). Séamus Mac Mathúna examines the article at various stages in the development of Irish under the light of classical Russellian logic and other semantic theories of definiteness, and observes a shift in the later language towards use of the article in an ever-‐increasing range of circumstances (153-‐80). Jürgen Uhlich revisits various conflicting opinions concerning the contexts in which the article might be omitted before an antecedent in an early Irish relative sentence (429-‐62). Máire Ní Neachtain’s chapter provides an interesting case-‐study of Irish language acquisition in children, reporting on material collected from recordings of a Cois Fharraige toddler made over a period of eight months (211-‐18). In one of two papers dealing with Irish lexicography, Nóilín Nic Bhloscaidh gives a detailed account of the semantic development of words meaning “swift” and “easy” from Old to Modern Irish (219-‐34). Anders Ahlqvist argues in favour of two revisions to technical terminology recorded in dictionaries of Modern Irish: first, the use of réim, a term long attested in medieval grammatical sources as a reference to nominal declension, in preference to paraidím as a translation of English “grammatical paradigm;” and second, the inclusion of the term séimhse for “(an academic) semester,” a suggestion previously put forward by Mac Eoin himself (1-‐5).
The final four chapters deal mainly with issues relating to modern language policy and cultural identity amongst the Celtic-‐speaking peoples. Jean Le Dû surveys the history of Breton language use and education, and looks at the future of language-‐teaching in Brittany, paying particular attention to the vexed question of dialect versus written standard (88-‐98). Many of these themes are echoed in Feargal Ó Béarra’s discussion of current Irish usage and the role of the caighdeán oifigiúil, which also offers an interesting account of similar preoccupations with the notion of a linguistic standard in medieval and early modern Irish sources (247-‐60). The last two essays in the volume examine the role of Celtic languages and cultures through a somewhat wider lens: Seán Ó Riain addresses the status of Irish and other minority languages as a means of communication within the European Union (395-‐406), while Patrick Sims-‐Williams draws on personal experience to contribute some further thoughts to his ongoing discussion of “Celtoscepticism” (422-‐8).
Although such a succinct summary cannot do justice to the many and diverse issues raised in this volume, it is nonetheless clear that its contents offer something for nearly everyone interested in the Irish language from its earliest sources to the modern day, as well as several related areas of Celtic Studies. One potential caveat for the reader, however, is that acknowledged rather briefly by the editors in the preface to the volume, where it is stated that the work has been “a very long time in gestation, partly by reason of technical difficulties” (xxv). Indeed, it is noted by several contributors that their chapters are based on research papers or theses presented towards the end of the 1990s (e.g. De Bernardo Stempel (25); Mac Aulay (112 n); Nashimoto (190 n); Ní Bhrolcháin (199 n) Ó Flaithearta (311 n)). This does not necessarily impact the scholarly value or relevance of many of the
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discussions per se, of course, and some authors have clearly updated their work at a more recent stage, or at the very least acknowledged by way of a footnote some related work that has been published in the meantime (e.g. De Bernardo Stempel, Ó Béarra, Ó Muraíle, Sims-‐Williams). Such does not seem to be the case for all of the contributions, however, as is indicated in part by the relatively small percentage of entries in the bibliography that date to the current millennium, most of which are associated with the work of just a few contributors.
These concerns aside, the editors of this volume deserve praise for producing a publication that is reasonably free of typographical errors and inconsistencies. Most such faults that I have noted are quite minor inaccuracies of spacing or spelling, although pages 134-‐51 in particular would have benefitted from more careful proofreading. The publication is otherwise attractively presented, and priced by Four Courts Press at €60 for the hardback version.
Deborah Hayden Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
John Waddell, Archaeology and Celtic myth: an exploration. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2014. 232 pp. ISBN 978-‐1-‐84682-‐494-‐4. €45
In this work, archeologist John Waddell proposes to shine some light into dark corners of our understanding of early Irish culture through a comparison of archaeology and literature, a multi-‐disciplinary approach which is more and more
coming to the fore in Celtic studies. Although there is some risk involved in such a venture, promising work has been done in Scandinavia, as an example, and Waddell sets out to examine symbols and motifs that may have had a long lifespan in Ireland and other parts of pre-‐literate Europe.
In the Preface (xiii), he quotes Tomás Ó Cathasaigh’s 1984 article “Pagan survivals: the evidence of early Irish narrative”:
… what is remarkable about the Irish situation is the extent and richness of the vernacular literature which has come down to us from the early medieval period. Much of this literature is firmly rooted in ancient myth and remains robustly pagan in character; it has been used, along with other evidence, to build up at least a partial picture, not only of the pagan religion of the Irish, but also that of the Celts, and it has even been laid under contribution in the comparative study of Indo-‐European mythology.1
In Chapter One, “Confronting ancient myth,” Waddell discusses the mythic dimension of various sites in the Irish archaeological landscape, cautioning against the malleability of mythological interpretation while bringing valuable methods of comparative ethnography into the discussion. He discusses and defines a number of important preliminary concepts, including the varied origins of the literary corpus and the uses of myth. A quote from Jaan Puhvel brings the significance of the study into sharp focus (11):
1 T. Ó Cathasaigh, in P. Ní Catháin and M. Richter (eds), Irland und Europa, 291.
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Myth in the technical sense is a serious object of study, because true myth is by definition deadly serious to its originating environment. In myth are expressed the thought patterns by which a group formulates self-‐cognition and self-‐realization, attains self-‐knowledge and self-‐confidence, explains its own source and being and that of its surroundings, and sometimes tries to chart its own destinies… Myth operates by bringing a sacred (and hence essentially and paradoxically ‘timeless’) past to bear preemptively on the present and inferentially on the future … 2
The study starts out on a very strong footing in Chapter 2, “The Otherworld hall on the Boyne.” A helpful overview of the archaeological evidence is followed by a detailed collection of literary and mythic references to the monuments of the Boyne Valley. Important concepts such as chthonic ritual activities and the concept of Otherworld time are explored to excellent effect.
Chapter 3, “The elusive image,” was not as persuasive as the previous chapter, due to the identification of a number of literary characters as ‘sun gods’ and an over-‐use of T.F. O’Rahilly’s Early Irish History and Mythology. However, Waddell’s presentation of solar imagery in the archaeological record was quite convincing, including the phases of the solar journey and the use of inverted images.
In the following section, “In pursuit of the Otherworld,” the author brings his prodigious expertise to bear on the less well known but equally intriguing monuments at Rathcroghan. This section was very strong, exploring the chthonic aspects of Úaimh na gCat and discussing the symbolism and use of caves and souterrains, prophetic activities and votive offerings, and portals to the Otherworld. This is followed by a discussion of inverted imagery and rites
of reversal, a compelling and thought provoking analysis which will no doubt evoke on-‐going discussion and application of these methods of inquiry to various branches of Celtic studies.
Chapter 5, “The horse goddess,” and Chapter 6, “The goddess of sovereignty,” present a quite comprehensive overview of literary references to horse-‐ and sovereignty-‐goddesses. Waddell compares these with the archaeological symbolism of the ritual complex at Navan Fort, and presents a fascinating overview of female symbolism associated with ritual drinking paraphernalia and imagery. A detailed exploration of female burials in Continental settings helps bring these motifs into perspective.
In Chapter 7, “Sacral kingship,” Waddell explores the landscape of Tara, as well as written evidence pertaining to early medieval kingship. The section on funerary evidence from the Continent was top-‐notch, and his discussions of one-‐shoed kings, the crown of wisdom, and the symbolism of a group of nine provide fertile ground for additional exploration.
In spite of leaps of connection between mythic or pseudo-‐historical personages and solar deities, and the occasional over-‐use of out-‐dated notions pertaining to early people’s projected fascination with (and alleged confusion concerning) the sun, the study was overall both strong and compelling. Many new areas of potential inquiry have been opened up to Celticists through the presentation of evidence pertaining to the widespread use of mythic symbols in the archaeological record. The book 2 Puhvel, Comparative mythology (2006), p. 128.
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makes an important contribution by providing readers with a number of new tools and methodologies for analyzing early Irish mythic narratives and the ritual landscapes associated with them. This type of visionary interdisciplinary approach is to be commended, and it is hoped that others will follow Waddell’s courageous example.
Sharon Paice MacLeod Celtic Institute of North America
J.P. Mallory The Origins of the Irish. London: Thames and Hudson, 2013. 320 pp. £19.95
The Origins of the Irish is a delightful, thoroughly enthralling, in-‐depth exploration of the prehistory and history of Ireland as a geographical entity and the Irish as a people and nation. Author J.P. Mallory uses clear definitions as starting points and
then expands, mostly using archaeology to illustrate what is known and understood about each phase in the prehistory and history of Ireland and the Irish. It is more than impressive that he starts his work about 10,000 B.C. Also, there can be no doubt, based on the evidence presented in this work, that climate change, including global warming and cooling, has always existed throughout the periods dealt with and that it is not a new phenomenon. Mallory’s analysis is extremely detailed and comprehensive because he uses geological, geographical and climatological sources, pollen analysis, dendrochronological dating, faunal and floral remains, potassium-‐argon and carbon dating, genetic studies and linguistic sources. Moreover, the author is always careful to embed and highlight Ireland’s role in the wider European context, emphasizing that it was never a far-‐away enigmatic island perched on the edge of Europe, as many ancient Hellenic and Roman authors wrote. Mallory treats the “Roman problem” judiciously saying that while there have been some Roman artifacts found in Ireland and scanty traces of Romans actually living there, there is absolutely no evidence to substantiate any Roman occupation or organization of Ireland into a province of the empire. The authors is also careful to emphasize, as Barry Rafftery had done before him, that the archaeological sources for Ireland and the literary sources for the origins of the Irish seldom correspond and that it is imperative to separate mythology from fact, including mythology created by archaeologists when there are no sources (the Beaker complex, for example). Mallory writes in good, clear, crisp prose which is virtually devoid of ambiguity.
Mallory’s conceit, however, involving Niall, son of Eochaid Mugmédon, nicknamed Noígiallach (“of the nine hostages”) is quite unnecessary. Futhermore, it has a tendency to confuse and exasperate the reader. Niall lived about 450 A.D. or so, yet the author looks on him as a “standard Irishman” throughout history. This does not make sense and can be agitating, as Mallory states that “they have no claim to being Irish unless they have lived on the island” (p.12). If this is true, then, those Welsh people who live in Patagonia are not Welsh, even though they speak Welsh and use Welsh culture. The author’s whole argument obfuscates and clouds the historical fact of colonization and its effects on the Irish throughout history. It was not necessary either to go into the chemical composition of an Irish person or the big bang theory either. These just throw the reader off point (pp. 11-‐12). Mallory
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states that “the earliest Irish were direct products of the land they occupied” and that if there had been no geology of Ireland, there would not have been any Irish. He then goes on to contradict himself by saying that the earliest inhabitants of Ireland were not Irish at all, but from the southern part of the continent. Mallory further clouds the point by not emphasizing that the first appearance of the people we would call Irish today was not until about 500 B.C. or so, and that before then, we do not know anything about the ethnic identity or languages that were spoken on the island. Mallory does not really address the question “what is it to be Irish?” nor does he attempt to define ethnicity in any meaningful and evolving historical context. Furthermore, the author barely mentions Saint Patrick or the effects of Christianity on Ireland and the Irish. Also, this book could have definitely benefitted from color maps and illustrations; black and white is just not sufficient for a work of this magnitude and quality.
Finally, the author’s own sense of style and humor really add to his work and help to make this book a wonderful, charming read.
Timothy P. Bridgman Binghamton University and Broome Community College
Steve Boardman and Eila Williamson, eds. The Cult of the Saints and the Virgin Mary in Medieval Scotland. Rochester: Boydell Press, 2010. 209 pp. $99.
The Cult of the Saints and the Virgin Mary in Medieval Scotland grew out of a conference held in Edinburgh in 2007 – a conference which was the culmination of a project titled The Survey of Dedications to Saints in Medieval Scotland. For the many
readers who did not attend the conference, the book includes papers given on that occasion, plus a number of extra contributions. Another book, Saints’ Cults in the Celtic World, also a development of this project, was published earlier, in 2009. The editors note that "the main aim of the project is to stimulate and facilitate research into the cult of saints and the associated themes of piety and religious enthusiasm in medieval Scotland" (xi). The Cult of the Saints and the Virgin Mary in Medieval Scotland is a valuable contribution to that laudable undertaking. The database put together by the project can be accessed at http://www.shca.ed.ac.uk/Research/saints/.
This book, The Cult of the Saints and the Virgin Mary in Medieval Scotland, according to its editors, Steve Boardman and Eila Williamson, enhances the project in a two-‐fold manner: first, the paradigmatic approaches offered in articles by Thomas Owen Clancy (“The Big Man, the Footsteps, and the Fissile Saint: paradigms and problems in studies of insular saints’ cults”) and David Ditchburn (“The ‘McRoberts thesis’ and patterns of sanctity in late medieval Scotland”); second, the studies on an array of topics, provided by other contributors to this volume (xii).
In connection with the paradigms guiding hagiographical study, noteworthy about Clancy, according to the editors Williamson and Boardman, is that he focuses “on the various ways in which place-‐name evidence has been used to trace or analyze the development of saints’ cults in early medieval Celtic societies” (xi). The reader will find Clancy’s discussion illuminating, especially since he calls for “a greater openness about the fact that we interpret the available evidence of these cults using a number of different paradigms” (5). Those readers fascinated by the influence of nationalism on the development of saints’ cults will find Ditchburn’s essay thought provoking. Ditchburn questions what
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he calls the “McRoberts thesis,” advocated in Monsignor David McRoberts's article in Innes Review in 1968. “McRoberts,” according to Ditchburn, “argued that the fifteenth century witnessed a new and what he called ‘nationalist’ trend in Scottish religious observation” (177). This tendency, according to Ditchburn, “was especially apparent, McRoberts argued, in the veneration of saints” (177). Ditchburn, in response, note the editors, argues that devotion in Scotland in the later medieval period appears to reflect to a great extent “wider trends in Western European piety, with an increased emphasis on cosmopolitan christocentric, biblical and, especially, Marian cults..." (xii.) Ditchburn observes that the emphasis on Christ in devotional matters was complemented “by a flourishing interest in his family and friends” (180).
The book also presents articles on a variety of different subjects. In her essay, “Saint Munnu in Ireland and Scotland: an exploration of his cult,” Rachel Butter emphasizes the necessity, as noted by the editors, of approaching devotion towards “a particular saint figure as a malleable social phenomenon” (xii). Butter notes of St. Munnu that the portrayal of this saint may be somewhat oversimplified, in that “his simple characterization as a Leinster saint and a saint with important connections with Iona, may not be the most helpful way in which to approach his cult” (41). Four other essays are concerned with Marian devotion. In his essay, “Royal and aristocratic attitudes to saints and the Virgin Mary in twelfth-‐ and thirteenth-‐century Scotland,” Matthew Hammond takes up for the interested reader the issue of nationalism, observing “in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries, the
challenge to insular saints and their familiae was coming not so much from ‘universal’ European saints as from a renewed emphasis on the worship of Christ, the three-‐fold divine expression as exhibited by the trinity, and the Blessed Virgin Mary” (67). Nevertheless, Hammond points out the continuity of “devotion to local and insular saints” in Scottish domains (84). Family-‐oriented readers will be enthralled by the essay, “Mothers and their sons: Mary and Jesus in Scotland, 1450-‐1560,” by the late Audrey-‐Beth Fitch, who observes that in the 100 years or so before the Reformation, “people still honored saints and the fatherly, middle-‐aged God, but most turned to the compassionate and merciful Mother Mary and her Son Jesus for models of morality, religious devotion, and filial bonding” (176). In his essay, “Wo/men only? Marian devotion in medieval Perth,” Mark A. Hall examines Marian devotion in a particular setting. Readers who are fascinated by the topic of miracles will find useful Sím R. Innes's essay, “Is eagal liom tá na hagra: devotion to the Virgin in the later medieval Gàidhealtachd” (xiii). Innes recommends a less dismissive approach to “Marian miracle tales” so that these narratives might be studied as manifestations of ideal practices:
An approach which does not solely dismiss these Marian miracle tales as “excessive” but allows us to use them as evidence of (desired) religious practice is particularly useful for the study of piety in a culture for which other evidence is scarce. (140)
For those readers captivated by the mystique of sanctity, the question of “the recognition and promotion of sanctity” is taken up by Helen Birkett (“The struggle for sanctity: St Waltheof of Melrose, Cistercian in-‐house cults and the canonisation procedure at the turn of the thirteenth century”) and Steve Boardman (“A saintly sinner? The ‘martyrdom’ of David, duke of Rothesay”), as noted by the editors (xiii). According to Birkett, her essay traces “the development of Waltheof’s cult
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during its first fifty years” in the context of the Melrose locale (45). Local support is a more important factor than papal canonization:
The continuing success of the cult shows that while papal authorization was a desired asset—so much so that the community appears to have commissioned a Vita in order to acquire it—it was more a way of keeping up with ecclesiastical fashions of the day than the ultimate authenticator of Waltheof’s status (59).
Boardman's study, however, is concerned with a more questionable figure, David, duke of Rothesay (ob. 1402). Boardman observes that “the celebration of Rothesay as a saintly figure was hardly straightforward or universal, for a powerful counter-‐narrative existed, preserved in a series of fifteenth-‐ and sixteenth-‐century texts” (87). In these texts, Duke David is described “as an immoral, womanizing degenerate who had to be removed from power by his uncle in order to save the kingdom from the baleful effects of his rule” (87). On the other hand, Alan Macquarrie in his essay, “Scottish saints’ legends in the Aberdeen Breviary,” through his emphasis on the vital role of the Breviarium Aberdonense , as observed by the editors, “gives an insight into a clerical venture to direct popular veneration through the production of a national liturgy” (xiii). The Breviary, according to Macquarrie, “is modeled on the English Sarum Breviary, but with important modifications: a large number of English local saints are excluded from the Calendar and their places taken by Scottish saints, while other English feasts are downgraded and the Scottish ones elevated” (146).
The various perspectives on hagiographical issues offered by these essays provide a thought-‐provoking treasure trove for our understanding of the development of piety, saints’ cults, and Marian devotion in the culture and society of medieval Scotland.
Gregory J. Darling Fordham University and John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Call for news and book reviews CSANA seeks book reviews and announcements for its twice-‐a-‐year newsletter. If you would like to review a recent book for the newsletter, please let me know, and I will contact the publisher about obtaining a review copy. We welcome reviews of books on all aspects of Celtic Studies. We also welcome
any announcements that would be of interest to members: job ads, conferences, calls for papers, competitions and prizes, funding announcements, etc. The newsletter is published at Samain and Beltaine. Announcements and queries about book reviews can be sent to [email protected] (note one "L" in philip).
Books received that need a reviewer (though reviews of any recent books are welcome!): • In Dialogue with the Agallamh: Essays in Honour of Seán Ó Coileáin, ed. Aidan Doyle and Kevin
Murray • Memory, Myth and Long-‐Term Landscape Inahbitation, ed. Adrian M. Chadwick and Catriona
D. Gibson • Yeats and Afterwords, ed. Marjorie Howes and Joseph Valente • Seamus Heaney’s Regions, Richard Rankin Russell
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