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Airy Nothings: Imagining the Otherworld of Faerie from the Middle Ages to the Age of Reason
Ever since the Middle Ages the Otherworld of Faerie has been the object of serious intellectual scrutiny. What science in the end dismissed as airy nothings was given a local habitation and a name by art. This book presents some of the main chapters from the history and tradition of otherworldly spirits and fairies in the folklore and literature of the British Isles and Northern Europe. In eleven contributions different experts deal with some of the main problems posed by the scholarly and artistic confrontation with the Otherworld, which not only fuelled the imagination, but also led to the ultimate redundancy of learned perceptions of that Otherworld as it was finally obfuscated by the clarity of an enlightened age. Contributors include: Henk Dragstra, John Flood, Julian Goodare, Tette Hofstra, Robert Maslen, Richard North, Karin E. Olsen, David J. Parkinson, Rudolf Suntrup, Jan R. Veenstra, and Helen Wilcox.
Otherworlds
This book offers a new perspective on the "otherworlds" of medieval literature. These fantastical realms are among the most memorable places in medieval writing, by turns beautiful and monstrous, alluring and terrifying. Passing over a river or sea, or entering into a hollow hill, heroes come upon strange and magical realms. These places are often very beautiful, filled with sweet music, and adorned with precious stones and rich materials. There is often no darkness, time may pass at a different pace, and the people who dwell there are usually supernatural. Sometimes such a place is exactly what it appears to be--the land of heart's desire--but, the otherworld can also have a sinister side, ...
The Gaelic Background of Old English Poetry before Bede
Seventh-century Gaelic law-tracts delineate professional poets (filid) who earned high social status through formal training. These poets cooperated with the Church to create an innovative bilingual intellectual culture in Old Gaelic and Latin. Bede described Anglo-Saxon students who availed themselves of free education in Ireland at this culturally dynamic time. Gaelic scholars called sapientes (“wise ones”) produced texts in Old Gaelic and Latin that demonstrate how Anglo-Saxon students were influenced by contact with Gaelic ecclesiastical and secular scholarship. Seventh-century Northumbria was ruled for over 50 years by Gaelic-speaking kings who could access Gaelic traditions. Gaelic literary traditions provide the closest analogues for Bede’s description of Cædmon’s production of Old English poetry. This ground-breaking study displays the transformations created by the growth of vernacular literatures and bilingual intellectual cultures. Gaelic missionaries and educational opportunities helped shape the Northumbrian “Golden Age”, its manuscripts, hagiography, and writings of Aldhelm and Bede.
Approaches to Religion and Mythology in Celtic Studies
This publication is the first interdisciplinary collection of articles focusing on religion and mythology in Celtic studies. The first part presents various current viewpoints within the field from scholars of history, art history and literary studies. In addition to more traditional approaches, the other two parts of the book illustrate the possibilities of applying new theories and methods from the discipline of Comparative Religion to the analysis of Celtic materials. They introduce previously unpublished results of the international research network “The Power of Words in Traditional European Cultures”, and the research project “Religion, Society, and Culture: Defining the Sacred in Early Irish Literature” funded by the Academy of Finland at University of Helsinki. The present collection serves as a significant contribution towards a better understanding of issues that have not been previously brought together in a single volume. As such it is of interest to scholars in Celtic studies as well as other related disciplines.
Ireland's Immortals
A sweeping history of Ireland's native gods, from Iron Age cult and medieval saga to the Celtic Revival and contemporary fiction Ireland’s Immortals tells the story of one of the world’s great mythologies. The first account of the gods of Irish myth to take in the whole sweep of Irish literature in both the nation’s languages, the book describes how Ireland’s pagan divinities were transformed into literary characters in the medieval Christian era—and how they were recast again during the Celtic Revival of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A lively narrative of supernatural beings and their fascinating and sometimes bizarre stories, Mark Williams’s comprehensive history traces how these gods—known as the Túatha Dé Danann—have shifted shape across the centuries. We meet the Morrígan, crow goddess of battle; the fire goddess Brigit, who moonlights as a Christian saint; the fairies who inspired J.R.R. Tolkien’s elves; and many others. Ireland’s Immortals illuminates why these mythical beings have loomed so large in the world’s imagination for so long.
Perceptions of Femininity in Early Irish Society
An examination of how the feminine was viewed in early medieval Ireland, through a careful study of a range of texts.
Make Peace and Take Victory
This corpus-based study examines the use of support verb constructions in Old English and Old Irish. It determines in how far these constructions can be seen as a means to offer semantic specification of existing verbal expressions. The study further investigates whether support verb constructions may be employed to create periphrastic verbal expressions to denote concepts for which no simple verb exists in the language at that stage. This latter situation may particularly arise as a consequence of contact with new cultural concepts. The approach of the study is both qualitative and quantitative. It compares the use of the Old English constructions to corresponding Old Irish structures as well as to other language varieties, especially Present Day English, which has a considerably more analytic morphological structure than either of the two medieval languages.
Iceland and the Immrama: An Enquiry into Irish Influence on Old Norse-Icelandic Voyage Literature
The question of the extent of Gaelic influence on medieval Icelandic literature and culture has fascinated scholars for many years, especially the possible relationship between Irish voyage literature and Icelandic narratives concerning journeys to the Otherworld. This book provides a fresh examination and reappraisal of the topic. It compares the Irish [i]immrama[/i] ‘voyages’, including the greatly influential Hiberno-Latin text [i]Navigatio Sancti Brendani[/i] ‘The Voyage of Saint Brendan’, and [i]echtrai[/i] ‘otherworld adventures’ with the Icelandic [i]fornaldarsögur[/i] and related material, such as the voyages of Torkillus in Saxo’s [i]Gesta Danorum[/i]. It also assesses stories about Hvítramannaland, touches on similarities in folk narratives and examines the influence of Classical and Christian literature on the tales. In conclusion, the book makes proposals to account for the parallels and differences between the two traditions and is accompanied by an extensive bibliography and several indices.
Understanding Celtic Religion
Focused in scope, and emphasizes methodological aspects of Celtic scholarship. This collection of original essays illuminates the importance of theoretical considerations in the study of early medieval sources.
