Imagination and Innovation in Medieval Celtic Literatures

by Helen Fulton (Editor), Georgia Henley (Editor)

Overview

The literatures of medieval Wales and Ireland are among the richest vernacular traditions of medieval Europe. From a large corpus of poetry and prose, key texts such as the Welsh Mabinogion, the Irish sagas, Celtic Latin literature, chronicles, saints’ lives and court poetry have established their place within the written legacy of medieval Europe. This collection of original essays by leading Celtic scholars, writing in honour of Catherine McKenna, Professor of Celtic at Harvard University, goes beyond the familiar canon of medieval Celtic literatures to showcase a wide range of Welsh and Irish texts that are compelling in their literary imagination and technical innovation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781837722969
Publisher:	University of Wales Press
Publication date:	08/15/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	376
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Helen Fulton is chair and professor of Medieval literature at the University of Bristol. She has published widely on medieval Welsh and English literature and is the coeditor of The Cambridge History of Welsh Literature.

Georgia Henley is an associate professor of English at Saint Anselm College in Manchester in New Hampshire. She is the author of Reimagining the Past in the Borderlands of Medieval England and Wales.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors List of Images List of Abbreviations Foreword Catherine McKenna, Scholar, Mentor and Friend: An Informal Biography Annalee C. Rejhon Section 1: Welsh Literature 1. Undated Medieval Welsh Texts and the Literary Critic Patrick Sims-Williams 2. ‘Ys celuit ae dehoglho’: Interpreting Breuddwyd Rhonabwy Sioned Davies 3. Prophesying with Peredur: Fate, Cyfarwyddyd and the Nine Witches of Caerloyw Joseph Shack and A. Joseph McMullen 4. Llygad i Weld a Chlust i Wrando?: Saernïaeth Anghyffredin Awdlau Llygad Gŵr Aled Llion Jones 5. Animate Landscape and Noise in Etmic Dinbych Jessica Hemming 6. The Story of Ysgan ap Asgo Elissa R. Henken 7. The Cwrrach and its Use(fulness/lessness): Poetics, Prophecy and (De)valuing the Book in Late Medieval Wales Jerry Hunter 8. The Bells of Osney, the Mariner’s Compass and Monogrammed Swans: Novelty and Poetic Imagination in Fifteenth-Century Wales Marged Haycock 9. Henry Tudor and Welsh Poetry of the Wars of the Roses Helen Fulton 10. ‘Gammawash, comrade, Gammawash!’: Some Welsh Words and Phrases in Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama Geraint Evans Section 2: Irish Literature 11. Seeing and Being Seen in Aithbe Damsa Bés Mara Tomás Ó Cathasaigh 12. History Lessons in Neverland: A Preliminary Enquiry John Carey 13. Close Encounters of the Traditional Kind in Aislinge Meic Conglinne Joseph Falaky Nagy 14. Two ‘Hags’ Slinging ‘Crooked Quatrains’: Evidentiary Verse and Women’s Folklore in Aislinge Meic Conglinne Matthieu Boyd 15. Fionn among the Women: A Re-evaluation of Irish Women’s Fenian Tales Natasha Sumner Section 3: Celtic and Latin 16. 432 and All That Daniel F. Melia 17. Practices of Translation and Adaptation in the Welsh Chronicle Brut y Tywysogion Georgia Henley 18. Performing the Word: A Note on Two Welsh Healing Charms in Latin Michaela Jacques and Katherine Leach 19. Keli Culwyt: Pronouncing Latin in Medieval Welsh Verse Paul Russell 20. A Note on the Dating of the Latin Poem ‘Trucidare Saxones’ Sarah Zeiser Section 4: Religious Imagination 21. ‘Sicut Vis’: Faith, Miracles and Abortion in the Irish Hagiographer’s Craft Dorothy C. Africa 22. The Daughters of the Dagda Dorothy Ann Bray 23. Bríg/Brigit and Eochaid Ollathair: Like Father Like Daughter? Afterword Catherines: A Personal Tribute Patrick K. Ford Bibliography of Catherine A. McKenna Georgia Henley Index

Editorial Reviews

"Written by distinguished scholars in the field of Celtic Studies, this volume’s insightful and original chapters celebrate the import of Catherine McKenna’s wide-ranging scholarly interests on the subject and open new perspectives on medieval Welsh and Irish literatures, on Latin in Celtic contexts, and on traditions associated with saints and goddesses."

Erich Poppe