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Beltaine 2017 34.2
1
CSANA
CELTIC STUDIES ASSOCIATION OF NORTH AMERICA
Newsletter 34.2 Beltaine 2017
Contents Crowd funding Scottish Gaelic studies 3
Announcements 5
Two job openings 7-‐8
Conferences 10
CFP CSANA at Kalamazoo 2018 11
Celtic Studies in North America
Locations and contact information 14
Book Reviews
Deborah Hayden on Literacy and Identity in Early Medieval Ireland 15
Patrick Wadden on Early Medieval Ireland and Europe: Chronology, Contacts, Scholarship: a Festschrift for Dáibhí Ó Cróinín 18
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CELTIC STUDIES ASSOCIATION OF NORTH AMERICA On the web at http://celtic.cmrs.ucla.edu/csana/
Follow us on Twitter @csanaceltic Connect with us on Facebook
Officers: Board of Directors: President: Michael Meckler, Ohio State University Michaela Jacques, Harvard University Vice-‐President: Patrick Wadden, Belmont Abbey College Joshua Byron Smith, University of Arkansas Secretary-‐Treasurer: Elissa R. Henken, University of Georgia Brent Miles, University of Toronto Bibliographer: Karen Burgess, UCLA Executive Bibliographer: Joseph F. Nagy, Harvard University North American Journal of Celtic Studies Editor: Joseph F. Eska, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University Newsletter Editor: Jimmy P. Miller, Temple University Past President: Charlene Eska, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State 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. Membership in CSANA is open to anyone with a serious interest in Celtic Studies. Dues are payable at Beltaine. The privileges of membership include a subscription to the peer-‐reviewed North American Journal of Celtic Studies (NAJCS), a twice-‐a-‐year newsletter, access to CSANA’s bibliography of Celtic Studies, 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 around the world. 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 bibliography is available at http://celtic.cmrs.ucla.edu/csana/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 publications that should be included. To join CSANA or renew your membership, go to the Ohio State University Press website, https://ohiostatepress.org/NAJCS.html and click on “ORDER NAJCS.” A host of membership options will be presented, including discounts for students and two-‐year membership options. The basic membership price is $80 annually ($40 for students), though members are encouraged to join at the highest level they can. Previous to 2017, CSANA printed an annual Yearbook, and past Yearbooks are still available for purchase. Volumes 1-‐7 (visit www.fourcourtspress.ie and type “CSANA” in the search bar to see contents) can be purchased at a discount for CSANA members by contacting Elissa Henken directly ([email protected]). Prices:
CSANAY 1, $50 US, £33 GBP CSANAY 5, $50 US, £33 GBP CSANAY 2, $50 US, £33 GBP CSANAY 6, $50 US, £33 GBP CSANAY 3-‐4, $70 US, £46 GBP CSANAY 7, $60 US, £39 GBP CSANA Yearbooks 8-‐12 are available from Colgate University Press, www.colgatebookstore.com; type “CSANA Yearbook” in the search bar at the top right of the screen.
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President’s column: Ethnicity and identity in the 21st century News that the new Taoiseach in Ireland is the son of an Indian immigrant has been cited as indicative of an openness that allows Irish identity to encompass those whose ancestry isn’t entirely Gaelic. Certainly Irish society has undergone dramatic changes in the past few decades, but identity in Celtic communities has long displayed a willingness to embrace outsiders.
In medieval times, origin legends connected the Irish to Spain, and the Welsh to the Trojans. Even foreigners who used force to gain control of regions often became amalgamated into Celtic culture and identity, such as the Romans in Britain, and later the Vikings and the Normans in both Ireland and Scotland.
Archaeology and genetics are also showing that immigrants have long been part of Celtic communities that might, at first sight, have appeared too remote for such cosmopolitanism. Isotope analysis of teeth and bones from ancient burials in Britain and Ireland has turned up individuals who appear to have grown up quite a distance from the communities where they were buried. And DNA samples often provide matches to diverse modern populations, suggesting that migration was far more prevalent in premodern times than we might initially have supposed.
Even though most of us are quite cognizant of the notion that ethnicity and identity are social constructs that are constantly being invented and reinvented, it can be beguiling to imagine that certain aspects of culture are survivals of a venerable and pure heritage that must be safeguarded from the corrupting influence of outsiders. Yet Celtic peoples from antiquity to the present day have not necessarily deemed outsiders to be deleterious to their cultural survival.
In an era of heated debate over how immigrants will shape our own culture in 21st-‐century North America, it is worth keeping in mind that outsiders to a culture and ethnicity do not always remain so.
Crowd funding Scottish Gaelic studies If the universities won’t bring funding to Scottish Gaelic and Highland diaspora studies, then Scottish Gaelic studies will bring funding to the universities.
That’s the conclusion reached by Gaelic USA, a Scottish Highland heritage and education group in North Carolina, which has taken the unusual step of attempting to crowd fund a visiting lectureship in Scottish Gaelic Studies at UNC Chapel Hill.
Headed by longtime CSANA members Michael Newton and Charlie MacQuarrie, Gaelic USA in 2016 reached an agreement with UNC to house a visiting lecturer in Scottish Gaelic studies – if Gaelic USA could pay for it.
According to Newton, the organization has raised about $10,000 so far, and more is pledged. The group has to raise $20,000 by September 2017, and the entire $75,000 by April 2018, for the lectureship to be in place for the 2018-‐19 academic year.
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“There are millions of Americans with Highland background and plenty of regions – such as southeastern North Carolina – with a legacy of Gaelic-‐speaking communities,” Newton wrote in explanation of why the group decided to try crowd funding. “The Outlander book [a series of historical romance novels set largely in the 18th century Highlands] and television series has certainly raised the profile of the language and historical background, so we decided it was a good time to try to finally build something to help develop this neglected dimension of the story of North America.”
Gaelic USA and its visiting lectureship campaign aim to begin restoring Scottish Gaelic and Highland diaspora studies to the field of American studies, according to Gaelic USA’s website. The group’s ultimate goal, according to MacQuarrie, is to endow a chair at UNC.
The group’s leaders came to the crowd funding conclusion in part because other sources of funding are simply drying up, MacQuarrie wrote in an email about the campaign. Public humanities funding is hard to find, and corporations are giving fewer dollars than they once were for these types of projects, MacQuarrie wrote.
“The board of Gaelic USA resolved that the ‘cleanest’ funding stream was crowd sourcing, so we are giving it a go,” he wrote.
Academic crowd funding is new, but not unheard of, though past campaigns have generally focused on the sciences. Recently, the humanities are getting on board. William and Mary, for instance, has an established crowd funding structure for its undergraduate honors research projects, and in 2014, a student successfully raised $6,000 for her research into “The Culture of Medicine in Late Medieval Ireland.”
If successful, Gaelic USA’s lectureship will be hosted by the Department of English and Comparative Literature at UNC. The visiting scholar would offer four or five courses exploring literature, identity, folklore and related aspects from a Highland perspective, according to Gaelic USA’s website.
If the group doesn’t meet the goal, it will likely allocate any raised funds for scholarships for students who want to study Gaelic, according to Newton. But Gaelic USA is not focusing on that outcome, and instead is trying desperately to raise the money. A visiting lectureship – and even better, an endowed chair – would allow Scottish Gaelic studies in the United States to compete for national funding and would lay the foundation for future research into how Highlanders and their culture have shaped, and continue to shape, North America and other parts of the world where they settled.
“This visiting lectureship is a critical first step in helping to build an academic infrastructure upon which the fundamental Gaelic element of America’s Scottish Highland heritage can be supported and allowed to thrive,” according to the group’s website.
To learn more or contribute, visit gaelicusa.org.
– Jimmy P. Miller
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Announcements
A call to increase CSANA’s profile CSANA would like to raise its profile by increasing the number of panels it sponsors at conferences other than its own. We therefore encourage all members, if you are thinking of submitting a proposal for a panel at a conference on any of the myriad disciplines with which CSANA members
engage (language, literature, linguistics, history, archaeology, etc.), please to consider whether such sponsorship might be useful and appropriate. If so, please send a brief outline of the proposal to Patrick Wadden ([email protected]) for consideration by the Executive Committee and you will receive a prompt response. Please also contact Dr. Wadden with any other queries about CSANA sponsorship of panels.
CSANA launches peer-‐reviewed journal CSANA seeks article submissions for the North American Journal of Celtic Studies (NAJCS), a peer-‐reviewed publication that launched May 1. NAJCS seeks articles across all disciples and time periods that bear upon Celtic studies.
The journal, edited by Joseph F. Eska, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, will be published annually in two volumes. CSANA membership now includes a subscription to NAJCS.
Volume 1.1 of NAJCS contains: • Charlene M. Eska, “A medieval Irish legal commentary on wakes and funerals from Anfuigell
‘Wrong judgment’” • Damian McManus, “On the use of the Urlann in Deibhidhe and Séadnadh metres in Classical
Irish verse” • Paul Russell, “From plates and rods to royal drink-‐stands in Branwen and medieval Welsh law” • Katharine Simms, “Poems to the medieval O’Donnell chiefs and their historical context” • Natasha Sumner, “Fionn mac Cumhaill in twenty-‐first-‐century Ireland”
And Volume 1.2 is slated to contain:
• Matthieu Boyd, “The timeless tale of Bricriu’s feast” • Jessica Hemming, “Pale horses and green dawns: Elusive color terms in early Welsh heroic
poetry” • Catherine McKenna, “Cyfarwydd as poet in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi” • Paul Russell, “Canyt oes aruer: Gwilym Wasta and the laws of court in Welsh law” • Myriah Williams, “Ys celuit ae dehoglho: Interpreting a dream?”
For submission guidelines and ordering information, visit https://ohiostatepress.org/NAJCS.html.
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CSANA VP wins Adams Prize The American Society of Irish Medieval Studies (ASIMS) is pleased to announce that the winner of the 2017 Four Courts Press Michael Adams Prize for best article or essay in Irish medieval studies is CSANA Vice President Dr. Patrick Wadden for his article “Dál Riata c. 1000: Genealogies and Irish Sea Politics,“ published in The Scottish Historical Review, Volume XCV, 2: No. 241 (October
2016), pp 164–81. Wadden investigates tenth-‐century genealogical texts regarding the rulers of the early kingdom of Dál Riata as evidence of the political aspirations of the kings of Scotland in the face of challenges from Ireland and the Isles.
A specialist in the history and literature of the Gaelic world in the early medieval period, Wadden is Assistant Professor of History at Belmont Abbey College. He is the author of a dozen journal articles and book chapters concerned with national identity in early Ireland and cultural and political interaction around the Irish Sea. His other recent publications appear in Ériu, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies, and Peritia.
Onomasticon Goedelicum available for free download The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies has made a pdf of Edmund Hogan’s Onomasticon Goedelicum available for download. The text has been revised and corrected by Donnchadh Ó Corráin. Visit https://www.dias.ie/celt/celt-‐publications-‐2/ to download.
The Onomasticon is one of only several texts, including volumes 20-‐27 of Celtica, available free on the DIAS website.
UCC launches Cork Studies in Celtic Literatures series The Department of Early and Medieval Irish (Roinn na Sean-‐ agus Meán-‐Ghaeilge) at UCC has launched a new monograph series, Cork Studies in Celtic Literatures. The first volume in the series, Joseph J. Flahive’s The Fenian Cycle in Irish and Scots-‐Gaelic Literature, is available for purchase.
The series’ aim is to make available short studies focused on particular aspects of the vernacular pre-‐print literatures of the Celtic peoples. These might take the form of general surveys or broader thematic investigations, or may focus on individual narratives and their transmission. Inspired by such works such as Gerard Murphy’s Saga and Myth in Ancient Ireland (Dublin, 1955) and The Ossianic Lore and Romantic Tales of Medieval Ireland (Cork, 1955; revised ed. 1971), the volumes produced in the series are designed to provide convenient access points (at affordable prices) to particular topics for third-‐level students and for those interested in the specific areas under investigation.
• Visit https://www.ucc.ie/en/cscl/ for full information and to see submission guidelines for scholars interested in publishing in the series.
• To order the first volume, visit the UCC Bookstore, http://uccshop.ie/shop/fenian-‐cycle-‐irish-‐scots-‐gaelic-‐literature/.
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CSANA student paper winner Congratulations to Rebecca Shercliff, winner of the 2017 CSANA Student Paper Prize, for her talk at the recent CSANA meeting in Vancouver on "The role of Medb in Tochmarc Ferbe." Shercliff, a graduate student at Cambridge University, will receive $100 plus a one-‐year membership in CSANA, which now includes the North American Journal of Celtic Studies.
The Student Paper Prize competition is open to all students who deliver papers at the CSANA annual meeting. Next year's meeting is scheduled March 8-‐11 in Los Angeles at UCLA in conjunction with the California Celtic Colloquium.
CSANA member wins Terry Barry Prize The American Society of Irish Medieval Studies is pleased to announce that the 2017 winner of the Terry Barry Prize for Best Graduate Paper in Irish Medieval Studies is Claire Adams for her paper “From the Desert Fathers to Columban Monasticism: early medieval notions of work, sustenance, and subsistence in Ireland and Merovingian Gaul.” She presented it at the 2017 International
Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Mich. The paper comprises part of her dissertation topic.
Adams is pursuing her Ph.D. in History at Harvard University, under the primary direction of Dr. Michael McCormick. Her secondary fieldwork is in Archaeology. She received her MA from Harvard earlier this year and her BA degree in History, Art History, and Anthropology at Indiana University in 2013.
Online Diploma in Irish Studies from NUIG The National University of Ireland at Galway is accepting applications through August 4 for its two-‐year, part-‐time, online Diploma in Irish Studies, classes for which will begin in September.
Fee is €970 for EU citizens and €1,470 for non-‐EU nationals. The diploma will cover early Christian Ireland through the early 21st century.
• Visit http://www.nuigalway.ie/courses/adult-‐and-‐continuing-‐education-‐courses/irishstudiesdiploma-‐online/#course_overview for full information.
Teaching Fellow in Celtic at Edinburgh The department of Celtic and Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh, part of the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, is seeking to appoint an outstanding candidate with clear evidence in teaching in Celtic Studies.
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The appointee will contribute to undergraduate and postgraduate taught teaching, assessment and course administration in Gaelic, Celtic and Scottish Studies between September 2017 and December 2018, covering for colleagues on research leave.
This post is offered on a fixed term, full-‐time basis (35 hours per week) with no work in the months of July and August in which pay will be suspended. Salary scale is Grade UE07 £32,004 to £38,183 per annum (pro rata). Please note that you will be unpaid for July and August.
Informal queries can be emailed for the attention of Professor Rob Dunbar, Head of Celtic and Scottish Studies, to [email protected]. Closing date for receipt of applications is July 3. It is expected that interviews will take place in late July/early August 2017 (date to be confirmed).
• Further information and details on how to apply can be found at the following link: http://www.obraichean.co.uk/job/university-‐of-‐edinburgh-‐university-‐of-‐edinburgh-‐edinburgh-‐2-‐teaching-‐fellow-‐in-‐celtic/
Job opening: Dictionary of Medieval Latin from Celtic Sources The Royal Irish Academy is seeking a project assistant for the Dictionary of Medieval Latin from Celtic Sources project. The successful applicant will be a research-‐minded graduate with University-‐level Latin who will assist in the continuing preparation of the Dictionary. The successful candidate will receive full training in lexicography, but will already have shown a natural affinity with languages and grammatical concepts.
Relentless attention to detail combined with commendable patience and a good sense of humor are also mandatory characteristics of the person sought. He or she will have an ability to think logically, and to express the results in clear and precise written English. A further essential is a willingness to fit in with the project’s established procedures and to identify strongly with its objectives.
The Dictionary of Medieval Latin from Celtic Sources project (DMLCS) is tasked primarily with compiling and maintaining a full-‐text, digital archive of the corpus of Celtic-‐Latin literature, and with researching and writing an authoritative lexicon of the vocabulary found therein. In connection with these objectives the project has, over the past thirty years, produced eighteen book-‐sized publications, including two editions of the Archive and the first volume of the Lexicon, together with a slew of peer-‐reviewed scholarly articles and book-‐chapters
• Deadline for applications is July 7. Visit https://www.ria.ie/news/vacancies/vacancy-‐project-‐assistant-‐dmlcs for full details.
Celtic master’s degree in Brittany The Centre for Breton and Celtic Research (University of Western Brittany, Brest) is pleased to announce the creation of a new, two-‐year, European-‐Union certified Master’s degree course entitled “Celtic languages and Cultures in Contact.”
Thanks to partnerships with the University of Ulster (Coleraine) and the University College Dublin, this Master’s degree program is one of a few in the world to offer students the possibility of learning all of
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the Celtic languages, medieval or modern. These languages will be studied over three semesters. The fourth and final semester will be dedicated to the specialized study of one of the medieval or modern Celtic languages in a partner institution in Ireland, Wales or Scotland. Students from outside of France who prefer to concentrate on Breton have the choice of remaining in Brittany to perfect their linguistic skills and delve more deeply into the local culture.
Students can concentrate in either medieval or modern languages and cultures. In addition to language study, students will follow common courses in the history of the Celtic languages, medieval and modern Celtic literatures, as well as the history of the Celtic countries. All students will take compulsory courses in research methodology, digital humanities and will engage in professional internships (for example, translating research articles, participating in ongoing research projects in the CRBC archives, etc.).
Tuition is only €250 annually.
For more information, contact program director Dr. Gary German at [email protected].
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 Rosa Anglica: Reassessments (ed. Liam P. Ó Murchú), and forthcoming in later 2017 is Ireland and the Arthurian Legends: Reassessments (ed. John Carey). ITS also is publishing, in fascicles, the ongoing Historical Dictionary of Gaelic Placenames. ITS has also launched in recent years an occasional lecture series (see ITS website for details).
• ITS’s annual seminar for 2017 is scheduled Nov. 11 at UCC, and will be on Tóruigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne, ITS Main Series vol. 48, edited by Nessa Ní Shéaghdha. Contact Dr. Pádraigín Riggs, [email protected], for complete information.
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].
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Folklore CFP The journal Folklore invites submissions of original work not being considered elsewhere. We publish articles by scholars from a wide range of adjacent disciplines
(e.g. anthropology, Celtic studies, history, human geography, linguistics, literature, psychology, and religion), as long as the topic and approach are of interest and relevance to folklorists. CSANA members might note that Foklore published four Celtic-‐centric articles in 2015 and several reviews of Celtic Studies books in 2016.
Folklore publishes full-‐length articles (max. 12,000 words); shorter, accessibly written “Topics, Notes, & Comments” pieces (max. 5,000 words); and annotated “Text Editions” (max. 12,000 words). More information at: www.folklore-‐society.com/publications/folklore, or email the Editor at: [email protected].
Conferences
CSANA 2018 The 2018 annual meeting of CSANA will take place in conjunction with the 40th annual meeting of the University of California Celtic Colloquium, to be held on the UCLA campus, March 8-‐11, 2018. A call for papers will be issued in fall 2017.
“Healing Charms and Medicine” Conference The department of Celtic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University with support from the Committee for the Provostial Fund for the Arts and Humanities is proud to host "Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Healing Charms and Medicine," an interdisciplinary conference scheduled April 6-‐8, 2018, at Harvard. The
conference aims to present innovative and cross-‐disciplinary approaches to the study of healing charms and medicine across a wide range of cultures and geographic areas, from antiquity to the modern period.
We invite proposals for papers on any aspect of the study of healing charms and traditional medicine, in any time period or location, from any disciplinary approach, including but not limited to: folklore, history of science, medieval studies, religious studies, medicine, and anthropology.
Papers should be 20 minutes long, with a 10-‐minute period following the paper for questions. Proposals should include a title, an abstract of 200-‐300 words, and a short speaker biography, and should be sent to [email protected] before October 9, 2017.
Scheduled keynote speakers are Dr. Jacqueline Borsje (University of Amsterdam) and Prof. Richard Kieckhefer (Northwestern University).
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CFP for CSANA at the ’Zoo, ’18 As he has been doing for two decades, Prof. Fred Suppe of Ball State University will be organizing sessions on Celtic studies sponsored by CSANA at the annual International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Mich., May 10-‐13, 2018.
Two sessions are planned:
• Interactions between Celtic and non-‐Celtic societies: Juxtapositions, connections, confrontations and cross-‐influences
• New work by young Celtic studies scholars
Anyone interested in submitting papers for these panels should contact Prof. Suppe at [email protected]. Proposals are due Sept. 15 and should include both a succinct summary and explanation of the proposed topic and a completed Participant Information Form, which can be accessed online at www.wmich.edu/medievalcongress/submissions.
CSANA at SEMA 2017 CSANA is sponsoring a panel at the Southeastern Medieval Association’s annual conference, Nov. 16-‐18, in Charleston, SC. The conference theme is “Holy Cities,” and CSANA’s panel is titled “Holy Cities around the Irish Sea.” The panel will consist of:
• Patrick Wadden (Belmont Abbey College): “The Foundation Relics of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, and Hiberno-‐Scandinavian Identity”
• Lindy Brady (University of Mississippi): “Twelfth-‐Century Depictions of Viking Attacks on Irish Sea Zone Holy Cities”
• Joshua Byron Smith (University of Arkansas): “St. Davids from the Borders”
All CSANA members are encouraged to attend.
Ulidia VI / Fíanaigecht III on the Isle of Skye Proposals are being accepted for Ulidia VI Fíanaigecht III, a joint meeting of the Ulster Cycle and Finn Cycle Conferences, scheduled June 13-‐17, 2018, at Sabhal Mór Ostaig on the Isle of Skye.
Previous Ulidia (Ulster Cycle) conferences have taken place at Queen's University, Belfast (1994), Maynooth University (2005 & 2016), University of Ulster, Coleraine (2009), Queen's University, Belfast (2013). Previous Fíanaigecht (Finn Cycle) conferences have been held at the University of Cambridge (2009) and University of Glasgow (2014).
For the first time, the two conferences will come together for a joint meeting in 2018, organised by the Scottish Celtic departments at the universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow,and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI.
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Scheduled plenary speakers include:
• Dr. Joanne Findon (Trent University) on otherworld women in the Ulster and Finn Cycles • Professor William Gillies (University of Edinburgh) on the Ulster Cycle and Finn Cycle ballads in
the Book of the Dean of Lismore • Dr. Barbara Hillers (University College, Dublin) on the Ulster and Finn Cycles from a folklore
perspective • Professor Ruairí Ó hUigínn (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies) on the Cú Chulainn cycle in
medieval and modern Ireland and Scotland • Professor Erich Poppe (Philipps-‐Universität, Marburg) on the formation of cycles in medieval
literatures
Conference contributions may explore any aspect of the Ulster Cycle or Finn Cycle traditions, from the medieval to the modern. Presentations in Gaelic, Irish or English are all welcome. In addition, it is hoped that this joint meeting will facilitate exploration of
• the concept of the “cycle” as a classificatory model • the relationships between place, landscape and story in Ireland and Scotland • the antecedents and legacy of Macpherson’s Ossian within Gaelic tradition • the reception of both Ulster and Finn Cycle texts in visual art, music and theatre • contemporary responses to the Ulster Cycle and Finn Cycle characters and traditions (in
scholarship, literature including children’s literature, school curricula, art, marketing, tourism/hospitality)
Please send proposals for 20 minute papers to [email protected] by Jan. 31, 2018.
Second European Symposium in Celtic Studies Registration is open for Societas Celtologica Europea’s second European Symposium in Celtic Studies, scheduled July 31-‐Aug. 3 at Prifysgol Bangor University, Wales.
The European Symposia in Celtic Studies continue the series of five German-‐speaking symposia, which took place in 1992 (Gosen near Berlin), 1997 (Bonn), 2001 (Marburg), 2005 (Linz) and 2009 (Zurich). The First European Symposium in Celtic Studies was held in 2013 in Trier.
Registration will remain open until July 21. For registration and a full program, please visit http://escs.bangor.ac.uk/index.php.en
New approaches to Brittonic historical linguistics The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies has scheduled a symposium Aug. 31-‐Sept. 1 on “New approaches to Brittonic historical linguistics.” Full information, including registration, will be announced soon. Visit https://www.dias.ie/2017/05/17/symposium-‐new-‐approaches-‐to-‐brittonic-‐
historical-‐linguistics/ for updates.
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Augustinian Canons and Canonesses in Medieval Ireland Registration is now open for the fourth Glenstal History Conference, scheduled June 30-‐July 2 at Glenstal Abbey in Murroe, Co. Limerick.
The three-‐day conference will explore the history and the economic, religious, liturgical, pastoral and agricultural activities of the Regular Canons and Canonesses in Ireland from their emergence during the twelfth century transformation of the Irish Church to the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the mid-‐sixteenth century.
Scheduled speakers include: Edel Bhreathnach, Marie-‐Therese Flanagan, Miriam Clyne, Tracy Collins, Pádraig Ó Riain, Adrian Empey, Margaret Murphy, Rachel Moss, Frank Lawrence, Colmán Ó Clabaigh, Stuart Kinsella, and Brendan Scott.
Conference fees range from €50-‐65 and include lunches and coffee/tea.
• To register, please contact: History Conference Glenstal Abbey, Murroe, Co. Limerick V94 A725 or [email protected].
Thinking about Mythology in the 21st Century Organization is underway for the fifth annual “Thinking about Mythology in the 21st Century” conference, scheduled Nov. 10-‐11 at the University of Edinburgh. This year’s conference will not be limited to Celtic mythology, but will also include Scandinavian mythology in order to examine more closely the similarities and
differences found between the myths of the two cultural groups.
Scheduled plenary speakers include:
• Professor Stephen A. Mitchell (Harvard University), “Some Scandinavian and Celtic magical texts and practices”
• Professor Gregory Toner (Queen’s University, Belfast), “Perceiving the otherworld” • Professor Jonas Wellendorf (University of California at Berkeley), “Honey and poison:
reclaiming the pagan past at Ögvaldsnes and elsewhere” • Professor Jonathan Wooding (University of Sydney), “Celtic myth and archaeology”
Email [email protected] for more information.
Inaugural Global Irish Diaspora Congress Registration is now open for the inaugural Global Irish Diaspora Congress, scheduled Aug. 15-‐19 at University College Dublin.
The congress examines the histories, cultures, heritages and identities of Irish communities beyond Ireland’s shores. More than 70 million people worldwide can claim descent from Irish emigrants. For many decades there has been considerable scholarly interest in the history
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of emigration from Ireland, from its beginnings in the middle ages (to Britain and parts of Europe) through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (to all corners of the globe), and in how ‘Irishness’ has been and continues to be maintained and expressed by descendant communities.
However, the sheer scale of the Irish diaspora has created obstacles to an international conversation and exchange of ideas. Comparative perspectives will greatly enhance our worldwide research on subjects such as the many causes of Irish migration, the types of people who migrated, the shared or divergent experiences of the migrants in different places and times, the material remains of diaspora, the impact of migrations on host populations and cultures, and relationships between diasporic communities and Ireland.
This congress provides a stage for this long-‐needed, international exchange and discussion. Researchers from many fields and from every corner of the world are invited to Dublin to attend four days of plenaries and parallel sessions, where they can present their work, meet fellow-‐researchers, exchange ideas, and establish research networks within and across disciplinary boundaries.
For information and registration, visit http://www.ucd.ie/globalirishdiaspora/about/.
Celtic Studies in North America
This is a new feature of the CSANA newsletter. The association would like to compile a list of where Celtic Studies are taught in North America. This can be anything from full graduate degrees to places where a course or two is taught each term and someone could supervise an undergraduate or MA thesis. Eventually, we hope this information will move to the CSANA website, where it will be available for each other, prospective students, media outlets, etc. Please send any information about Celtic Studies where you teach to [email protected] for inclusion in this list.
Ball State University: Frederick Suppe in the History Department regularly offers courses on Irish History and Cultural History of the Celtic Peoples at both undergraduate and graduate levels. He can supervise undergraduate honors theses, undergraduate history major capstone papers, and MA theses on Celtic topics. He also occasionally teaches modern Welsh language to grad students. He has also served as an external committee member or consultant for Honors theses or graduate degree theses and dissertations at other universities. His research specialty includes the medieval Welsh Marches and the relationship between medieval Wales and England generally.
• Contact Information: Frederick Suppe, History Department, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306, USA [email protected]
Harvard University: In addition to an array of interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate courses in Celtic subjects, the Harvard Department of Celtic Languages and Literatures hosts a PhD program and provides a "secondary field" in Celtic for undergraduates. For more information, see our website at http://celtic.fas.harvard.edu/.
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Book Reviews
Elva Johnston, Literacy and Identity in Early Medieval Ireland (Boydell Press, 2013), vii + 238 pp. ISBN 978-‐1-‐84383-‐855-‐5. $99 (hardback).
This monograph, which arises from the author’s doctoral research at the University of Oxford, is concerned with the development and spread of literacy in early medieval Ireland and its impact on the formation of learned communities and communal senses of identity between the fifth and eleventh centuries. It offers
readers a well-‐documented and nuanced analysis of the issues surrounding the introduction and expansion of literacy in Ireland, its relationship to Latin and the wider European sphere, and the functions of those who cultivated writing in the Irish vernacular. The author places particular emphasis on evidence gleaned from annalistic sources, which are addressed both within the six main chapters of the volume and in a substantial appendix, the latter of which offers a summary and statistical analysis of entries pertaining to members of the learned elite between 797 and 1002. The volume also includes a comprehensive bibliography and an index.
The first chapter sets the groundwork for the book as a whole by placing Irish literacy in its Late Antique context. The discussion here is necessarily general, but draws attention to a number of factors that will be brought to bear on what follows, such as assumptions about the spread and use of literacy in the modern Western world, knowledge of Latin and Greek in the Late Antique period, and the impact of political and economic power on the formation and reformation of social elites. The author considers the problems inherent in assessing the “highly functional but apparently limited and specific literacy” represented by the Ogam inscriptions (p. 13), and emphasises the significance of Christianity and its associated pedagogical systems as a transformative factor in the development of intellectual and literate training amongst the Irish. She also examines some of the dominant paradigms in the history of scholarship on early medieval Ireland, such as “nativist” versus “anti-‐nativist” approaches to learning, urging us to “un-‐ask” many of the questions of origin that stand at the heart of these debates and to re-‐focus our attention on different questions “concerning intellectual formation, literary practice and dissemination” (p. 23). Here we are introduced to one of the core concerns of the book, namely the various ways in which we might investigate the social context of literacy and come to understand its relationship to oral expression and the articulation of identity and power.
The second chapter builds on these themes by looking at how Ireland responded to developments in the wider European world from the beginning of the seventh century to the middle of the ninth. It begins with a discussion of the inter-‐dependence of Latin and vernacular literary cultures that emphasises the importance of literacy as a motivating factor in conversion. Johnston surveys a range of sources that provide evidence for the interaction of Irish literati with their European neighbours, including texts that view the Irish from the outside (such as the writings of Aldhelm and Bede) and the works of Irishmen based in Carolingian circles on the Continent during the ninth century. It is of course often difficult to gauge how much direct influence such writers may have had on the cultivation of vernacular texts in Ireland itself, in part due to the paucity of surviving sources.
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Johnston is certainly right to argue, however, that we can find at least some answers to these questions by investigating “who the literate were and in what environment they operated” (p. 58), a subject to which the final three chapters of the book turn in more detail.
Before engaging with these issues more closely, however, the third chapter complements Johnston’s discussion of Irish scholars working abroad by looking at the educational formation and activities of literate individuals based in Ireland itself. The author argues that, while their literary influences emanated from both within and outside of Ireland, Irish scholars who stayed at home nevertheless operated within an intensely localised society. A central theme of this chapter is her analysis of the structure and function of ecclesiastical institutions and of their importance for the development of literacy, which highlights aspects such as the frequent proximity of monasteries and royal residences and the close connections between powerful aristocrats and church officials. She reflects on the medieval Irish concept of “community” in terms of hierarchy, geography and genealogy, drawing evidence from the early Irish law-‐tracts to illuminate gradations of status in different social and professional communities and how these changed over time.
The fourth chapter focuses on the Irish chronicles as a source for monastic literacy, and explores in particular the range of scholarship associated with ninth-‐ and tenth-‐century figures identified as sapientes, doctores, scribae and fir léigind. The author readily acknowledges the limitations of dealing with chronicles as a record of literary activity, noting that such sources often accorded unequal prominence to certain institutions and could promote ideological agendas for a given population group. Annal entries also tend to employ somewhat formulaic language, and it is often difficult to assess the extent to which we can take them at face-‐value as a testament to high-‐status individuals admired for their literate skills by contemporaries. Yet Johnston’s detailed study also highlights some of the merits of examining these sources in their broader context. She observes, for example, that around 40% of all
individuals explicitly associated with monastic learning and literacy in the chronicles during the ninth and tenth centuries are located in a few main centres such as Armagh and Clonmacnoise, a marker of the dominance that these larger churches were in the process of acquiring (pp. 94–5). In a similar vein, she suggests that the increasing number of tenth-‐century annal references to the fir léigind, who were largely confined to wealthy monasteries, may indicate real changes in pedagogical organisation during that period, including the consolidation of small-‐scale schools within larger centres (pp. 128–30).
A considerable portion of the fifth chapter focuses on the figure of the fili, a term conventionally, but not always satisfactorily, translated as “poet.” While in many ways repositories of secular knowledge, filid often bore a close connection to the ecclesiastical establishment; they were also intimately associated with the legal process and played a central role in the preservation of historical lore (senchas). Consequently, their portrayal in written sources can tell us much about the enthusiastic cultivation of secular literature by Irish Christian writers. Johnston shows, for example, how the tendency to accentuate the supernatural attributes of the filid in texts such as the Caldron of Poesy or the narrative tale Airec Menman Uraird meic Coise illustrates a certain tension between their scholarly and symbolic functions. She further suggests that this emphasis on their ‘ancient past, unique identity and access to inspiration’ could reflect a strategic attempt to maintain the
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distinctiveness of the poet’s role while filid were being absorbed into ecclesiastical ranks (p. 149). Here the author draws upon a range of sources that illuminate aspects of the fili’s educational training, such as an eleventh-‐century metrical tract concerned with the poetic curriculum, the grammatical compilation Auraicept na nÉces, and the poetico-‐legal tract Bretha Nemed Déidenach. Given the centrality of texts such as these to the theme of literacy and its acquisition by medieval Irish scholars, one might wish for rather more detail in this aspect of Johnston’s discussion, where references to more recent scholarship are sometimes limited. For example, the affinities between parts of the Auraicept’s commentary and the contents of several Hiberno-‐Latin commentaries on Donatus’ Ars maior that circulated on the Continent during the Carolingian period, an area that has been fruitfully explored by scholars such as Erich Poppe and Rijcklof Hofman, would serve as a fitting illustration of the interaction between Latin and vernacular, Continental and Insular tradition that Johnston addresses both here and in the preceding chapters. In observing how a particular section of Bretha Nemed Déidenach illustrates the rhetorical dimension of early Irish pedagogy, moreover (pp. 145 and 170–1), the author might have cited Johan Corthals’ 2007 edition of this material, which provides some useful additional commentary and contextualisation not found in the untranslated text published by Gwynn in 1940.1 On the whole, however, Johnston’s study offers a good survey of the range and variety of surviving sources on this topic that are available to modern scholars in printed editions.
The sixth and final chapter considers the so-‐called “secondary-‐oral context” of medieval Irish literary production. It begins with an overview of some of the debates surrounding the relative importance of literacy and orality with regard to the origins and dissemination of surviving literary artefacts, in particular narrative tales. What follows is an insightful discussion of the interaction between memory, oral performance and written texts in the shaping of the medieval Irish literary corpus, which ties together many of the threads of previous chapters concerning the identity and functions of various literate individuals.
The final section of the volume consists of an appendix on “The Chronicles as a Record of Literacy, 797–1002.” This comprises a catalogue and statistical analysis of annal entries identifying members of the learned elite, drawn mainly from the Annals of Ulster but supplemented by other chronicles. It illustrates some of the terminological issues addressed elsewhere in the book, such as the changing frequency with which terms such as fer léigind or scribae are used in various sources, as well as the distribution of monastic learning across different Irish centres. It need hardly be emphasised that this corpus of evidence forms only a single piece of a much larger jigsaw, and should be considered in relation to other types of textual sources. Nevertheless, Johnston’s collection of data serves as a convenient point of reference for one of the most important records of the personnel of learning in early Ireland.
The book has been proofread to a high standard, and I have noted only a few minor typographical errors. On the whole, scholars of early medieval Ireland and its neighbours will find much to 1 Johan Corthals, ‘Stimme, Atem und Dichtung: aus einem altirischen Lehrbuch für die Dichterschüler (Uraicept na Mac Sésa)’, in Kelten-Einfälle an der Donau. Akten des Vierten Symposiums deutschsprachiger Keltologinnen und Keltologen, ed. By Helmut Birkhan (Vienna, 2007), pp. 127–47; cf. E. J. Gwynn (ed.), ‘An Old-Irish tract on the privileges and responsibilities of poets’, Ériu 13 (1940–42), 1–60, 220–36.
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commend in this well-‐researched, logically structured and stimulating contribution, which grapples with the multifaceted question of medieval Irish literacy and its social context in a comprehensive and engaging way, while also presenting some fresh insights into a range of annalistic data.
Deborah Hayden Maynooth University
Pádraic Moran and Immo Warntjes (eds.), Early Medieval Ireland and Europe: Chronology, Contacts, Scholarship: a Festschrift for Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, Studia Traditionis Theologiae, Explorations in Early and Medieval Theology 14 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2015). ISBN: 978-‐2-‐503-‐55313-‐9. XXX + 729 pp. $195/€150
Professor Dáibhí Ó Cróinín is one of the foremost historians of early medieval Ireland. He has edited and translated medieval texts in both Irish and Latin, and
published widely and authoritatively on a range of topics too numerous to list. Prof. Ó Cróinín is also the editor of New History of Ireland I: Prehistoric and Early Ireland, a landmark in the historiography of the subject, and, along with Elva Johnston, currently edits Peritia, the journal of the Medieval Academy of Ireland. He has also been engaged in a range of major projects in his roles as chair of the Royal Irish Academy’s Dictionary of Medieval Latin from Celtic Sources, a member of the Irish Manuscripts Commission, and director of the Foundations of Irish Culture project. He has taught for many years at the National University of Ireland, Galway, and his textbook, Early Medieval Ireland 400–1200 – an expanded, second edition of which has recently been published – has provided many students the world over with their first encounter with medieval Ireland. The twenty-‐seven chapters supplied to this collection by his students and colleagues reflect the respect and admiration felt by so many for his contribution to the discipline. They were also clearly offered with deep and genuine fondness for a teacher and colleague whose warmth, generosity and sociable nature have made him a friend of so many within the field.
After the editors’ introduction and a biographical note, the collection proper is divided into three parts. The first recognizes Ó Cróinín’s groundbreaking work on computistics. The second, on contact between Ireland and Europe, likewise reflects the honorand’s interests and publications, including his work on relations between Ireland, Britain and the Continent in the seventh century. It is sub-‐divided into three sections, the first concerned with Ireland in the Insular world, the second with Continental influence in Ireland, and the third with Irish influences on the Continent. The final part, acknowledging Ó Cróinín’s interest in modern scholarship – according to the editors, his heroes are the great figures of the first generation of Celtic scholars, about whom he has written extensively – includes three papers on nineteenth-‐ and twentieth-‐century scholars and their work.
There is not enough space here to provide an overview of all the book’s contents. Let it suffice to say that the chapters cover a wide range of topics, from hagiography to iconography, glosses to flutes, and reading culture to tipping culture. In a collection full of excellent and engaging essays, there were several that stood out to me as highlights based on my own interests. Immo Warntjes’ authoritative discussion of the Easter controversy as it came to a head in Ireland in 689, including a survey of the sources, is one of them. This is a topic often referred to by historians of the period, though not always with precision. Warntjes sets the record straight, pointing out that that the controversy concerned
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three methods of dating Easter, not just two, so that the conversion of the churches of northern Ireland to the Dionysiac Easter in the 680s, rather than healing a rift with the “Roman” churches of the southern party, added a new dimension to the conflict. So, too, is Eric Graff’s contribution, which demonstrates the broader significance of our new understanding of the latercus Easter cycle, the text of which was discovered by Ó Cróinín. Graff argues that the “Catalogue of the Saints of Ireland,” which has been considered a ninth-‐ or tenth-‐century composition for over sixty years, ought to be taken seriously as a product of the seventh century on the basis that the author demonstrates familiarity with the eighty-‐four-‐year cycle that was abandoned by all Irish churches shortly after that date.
Jacopo Bisagni conducts a systematic and penetrating examination of the terminology of woodwind instruments in Old and Middle Irish, delving into etymologies of the names of instruments, and gleaning a remarkable amount about their identity and the status of those who played them from a small number of sources. His discussion of the difficulties involved in using iconography to support the textual analysis is further enlightening. Jean-‐Michel Picard’s examination of the use of apostolic terminology in seventh-‐century Ireland in light of a debate in late-‐antique and early medieval Europe around orthodoxy will be of interest to students of Columbanus and of Patrician hagiography alike. And Rob Meens does an excellent job of contextualizing the famous story of King Radbod of the Frisians declining baptism at the last possible moment in light of eighth-‐century debates
regarding the fate of the pagan ancestors of Christian peoples, highlighting the part played in this debate by the Irish Bishop Clemens. Mark Stansbury takes a look at the books owned by individual members of the community of the monastery of Bobbio, which provides intriguing insight into their distinct interests and standing. And Anthony Harvey examines the Latin used by literate Celts in Britain prior to the end of the twelfth century and compares it with Hiberno-‐Latin. His conclusion, delivered with characteristic eloquence, adds further weight to the evidence that Cambro-‐Romance was a living language in early medieval Britain.
In the final part of the book, Richard Sharpe has undertaken some fascinating detective work in relation to the trade in Irish manuscripts in the nineteenth century. His paper is full of interesting insights about the characters involved, including the descendants of some of the great Irish scholars of the seventeenth century, and highlights just how precarious the survival of these manuscripts sometimes was. Finally, Nicholas Carolan provides an overview of A. Martin Freeman’s collection of Irish-‐language traditional songs in Ballyvourney, Co. Cork, in 1913-‐14. Long under-‐appreciated because of peculiarities of publication, Carolan makes clear the value of Freeman’s collection, which has now been made available online. This is a particularly fitting paper with which to end this fine collection. The honorand’s father was an Irish-‐speaker from Ballyvourney, and his grandmother, Elizabeth “Bess” Cronin was a well-‐known traditional singer, whose collected songs Ó Cróinín published in 2000.
This book is not aimed at a general audience – some authors do not translate the Latin they quote, for example, and one contribution is in German – but it will be a vital part of the library for all scholars interested in early Irish history. It is unfortunate that the steep price will place it beyond the
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means of junior scholars; however, those who can afford it will certainly get bang for their buck. The editors have brought together contributions of real quality and substance in a fitting tribute.
Patrick Wadden Belmont Abbey College, NC.
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!):
• Sacred Histories: A Festschrift for Máire Herbert, ed. John Carey, Kevin Murray and Caitríona Ó Dochartaigh. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2015.
• Hugh de Lacy, First Early of Ulster: Rising and Falling in Angevin Ireland, Daniel Brown. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2016.
• Celtic Art in Europe: Making Connections, ed. Chris Gosden, Sally Crawford and Katharina Ulmschneider. Havertown: Oxbow Books, 2014.
• Latin Psalter Manuscripts in Trinity College Dublin and the Chester Beatty Library, Laura Cleaver and Helen Conrad O’Briain. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2015.
• Handbook of the Irish Revival: An Anthology of Irish Cultural and Political Writings 1891-‐1922, ed. Declan Kiberd and P.J. Matthews. University of Notre Dame Press, 2016.
• Memory, Myth and Long-‐Term Landscape Inhabitation, ed. Adrian M. Chadwick and Catriona D. Gibson. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2013.
• The 1916 Irish Rebellion: A Companion Volume to the Public Television Documentary, Bríona Nic Dhiarmada. University of Notre Dame Press, 2016.
• Englynion y Beddau: The Stanzas of the Graves, ed. John K. Bollard; photographs by Anthony Griffiths. Carreg Gwalch, 2015.
• Seamus Heaney’s Regions, Richard Rankin Russell. University of Notre Dame Press, 2014.
• Yeats and Afterwords, ed. Marjorie Howes and Joseph Valente. University of Notre Dame Press, 2014.
