Download or read book The Destruction of Da Derga s Hostel written by Ralph O'Connor and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2013-02-28 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Irish saga literature represents the largest collection of vernacular narrative in existence from the early Middle Ages, using the tools of Christian literacy to retell myths and legends about the pagan past. This unique corpus remains marginal to standard histories of Western literature: its tales are widely read, but their literary artistry remains a puzzle to many even within Celtic studies. This book, the first to offer a systematic literary analysis of any single native Irish tale, aims to show how one particularly celebrated saga 'works' as a story: the Middle Irish tale Togail Bruidne Da Derga (The Destruction of Da Derga's Hostel), which James Carney called 'the finest saga of the early period'. This epic tale tells how the legendary king Conaire was raised by a shadowy Otherworld to the kingship of Tara and, after a fatal error of judgement, was hounded by spectres to an untimely death at Da Derga's Hostel at the hands of his own foster-brothers. By turns lyrical and laconic, and rich in native mythological imagery, the story is told with a dramatic intensity worthy of Greek tragedy, and the intricate symmetry of its narrative procedure recalls the visual patterning of illuminated manuscripts such as The Book of Kells. This book invites the reader to enjoy and understand this literary masterpiece, explaining its narrative artistry within its native, classical and biblical literary contexts. Against a historical backdrop of shifting ideologies of Christian kingship, it interprets the saga's possible significance for contemporary audiences as a questioning exploration of the challenges and paradoxes of kingship.

Download or read book Playing the Hero written by Ann Dooley and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Playing the Hero is a unique example of more contemporary literary methodologies – post-structuralist, feminist, historicist and beyond – being used to illuminate the Irish saga world.

Download or read book Historical Linguistics and Philology written by Jacek Fisiak and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2011-06-01 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS is a series of books that open new perspectives in our understanding of language. The series publishes state-of-the-art work on core areas of linguistics across theoretical frameworks as well as studies that provide new insights by building bridges to neighbouring fields such as neuroscience and cognitive science. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS considers itself a forum for cutting-edge research based on solid empirical data on language in its various manifestations, including sign languages. It regards linguistic variation in its synchronic and diachronic dimensions as well as in its social contexts as important sources of insight for a better understanding of the design of linguistic systems and the ecology and evolution of language. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS publishes monographs and outstanding dissertations as well as edited volumes, which provide the opportunity to address controversial topics from different empirical and theoretical viewpoints. High quality standards are ensured through anonymous reviewing.

Download or read book Hermathena written by and published by . This book was released on 1919 with total page 740 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Iona Tara and Soissons written by Michael Enright and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2011-09-08 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Gaelic Background of Old English Poetry before Bede written by Colin A. Ireland and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2022-01-19 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Saints and Scholars written by Hugh Magennis and published by DS Brewer. This book was released on 2012 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wide-ranging survey of current research in Anglo-Saxon studies - from literature and material culture to religion and politics. Anglo-Saxon literature and culture, and their subsequent appropriations, unite the essays collected here. They offer fresh and exciting perspectives on a variety of issues, from gender to religion and the afterlives of Old Englishtexts, from reconsiderations of neglected works to reflections on the place of Anglo-Saxon in the classroom. As is appropriate, they draw especially on Hugh Magennis' own interests in hagiography and issues of community and reception. Taken together, they provide a "state of the discipline" account of the present, and future, of Anglo-Saxon studies. The volume also includes contributions from the leading Irish poets Ciaran Carson and Medbh McGuckian. Dr Stuart McWilliams is a Newby Trust Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh. Contributors: Ciaran Carson, Marilina Cesario, Mary Clayton, Ivan Herbison, Joyce Hill, Malcolm Godden, Chris Jones, Christina Lee, Medbh McGuckian, Stuart McWilliams, Juliet Mullins, Elisabeth Okasha, Jane Roberts, Donald Scragg, Mary Swan, John Thompson, Elaine Treharne, Robert Upchurch, Gordon Whatley, Jonathan Wilcox

Download or read book The Mabinogi Routledge Revivals written by C. W. Sullivan III and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-03-27 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this collection, which was first published in 1996, is to provide both an overview of the major critical approaches to the Four Branches of the Mabinogi and a selection of the best essays dealing with them. The essays examine the origins of the Mabinogion, comparative analyses, and structural and thematic interpretations. This book is ideal for students of literature and Medieval studies.

Download or read book Medieval Ireland New Gill History of Ireland 1 written by Michael Richter and published by Gill & Macmillan Ltd. This book was released on 2005-09-27 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Medieval Ireland – The Enduring Tradition, the first instalment in the New Gill History of Ireland series, offers an overview of Irish history from the coming of Christianity in the fifth century to the Reformation in the sixteenth, concentrating on Ireland's cultural and social life and highlighting Irish society's inherent stability in an very unstable period. Such a broad survey reveals features otherwise not easily detected. For all the complexity of political developments, Irish society remained basically stable and managed to withstand the onslaught of both the Vikings and the English. The inherent strength of Ireland consisted in the cultural heritage from pre-historic times, which remained influential throughout the centuries discussed in Professor Michael Richter's engaging and informative book. Irish history has traditionally been described either in isolation or in the manner in which it was influenced by outside forces, especially by England. This book strikes a different balance. First, the time span covered is longer than usual, and more attention is paid to the early medieval centuries than to the later period. Secondly, less emphasis is placed in this book on the political or military history of Ireland than on general social and cultural aspects. As a result, a more mature interpretation of medieval Ireland emerges, one in which social and cultural norms inherited from pre-historic times are seen to survive right through the Middle Ages. They gave Irish society a stability and inherent strength unparalleled in Europe. Christianity came in as an additional, enriching factor. Medieval Ireland: Table of Contents - The Celts Part I. Early Ireland (before c. AD 500) - Ireland in Prehistoric Times - Political Developments in Early Times Part II Ireland in the First Part of the Middle Ages (c. AD 500-1100) - The Beginnings of Christianity in Ireland - The Formation of the Early Irish Church - Christian Ireland in the Seventh and Eighth Centuries - Secularisation and Reform in the Eighth Centuries - The Age of the Vikings Part III. Ireland in the Second part of the Middle Ages (c.1100-1500) - Ireland under Foreign Influence: The Twelfth Century - Ireland from the Reign of John to the Statutes of Kilkenny - The End of the Middle Ages - The Enduring Tradition

Download or read book The Celts 2 volumes written by John T. Koch and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2012-08-08 with total page 1358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This succinct, accessible two-volume set covers all aspects of Celtic historical life, from prehistory to the present day. The study of Celtic history has a wide international appeal, but unfortunately many of the available books on the subject are out-of-date, narrowly specialized, or contain incorrect information. Online information on the Celts is similarly unreliable. This two-volume set provides a well-written, up-to-date, and densely informative reference on Celtic history that is ideal for high school or college-aged students as well as general readers. The Celts: History, Life, and Culture uses a cross-disciplinary approach to explore all facets of this ancient society. The book introduces the archaeology, art history, folklore, history, linguistics, literature, music, and mythology of the Celts and examines the global influence of their legacy. Written entirely by acknowledged experts, the content is accessible without being simplistic. Unlike other texts in the field, The Celts: History, Life, and Culture celebrates all of the cultures associated with Celtic languages at all periods, providing for a richer and more comprehensive examination of the topic.

Download or read book How to Kill a Dragon written by Calvert Watkins and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1995-11-16 with total page 630 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In How to Kill a Dragon Calvert Watkins follows the continuum of poetic formulae in Indo-European languages, from Old Hittite to medieval Irish. He uses the comparative method to reconstruct traditional poetic formulae of considerable complexity that stretch as far back as the original common language. Thus, Watkins reveals the antiquity and tenacity of the Indo-European poetic tradition. Watkins begins this study with an introduction to the field of comparative Indo-European poetics; he explores the Saussurian notions of synchrony and diachrony, and locates the various Indo-European traditions and ideologies of the spoken word. Further, his overview presents case studies on the forms of verbal art, with selected texts drawn from Indic, Iranian, Greek, Latin, Hittite, Armenian, Celtic, and Germanic languages. In the remainder of the book, Watkins examines in detail the structure of the dragon/serpent-slaying myths, which recur in various guises throughout the Indo-European poetic tradition. He finds the "signature" formula for the myth--the divine hero who slays the serpent or overcomes adversaries--occurs in the same linguistic form in a wide range of sources and over millennia, including Old and Middle Iranian holy books, Greek epic, Celtic and Germanic sagas, down to Armenian oral folk epic of the last century. Watkins argues that this formula is the vehicle for the central theme of a proto-text, and a central part of the symbolic culture of speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language: the relation of humans to their universe, the values and expectations of their society. Therefore, he further argues, poetry was a social necessity for Indo- European society, where the poet could confer on patrons what they and their culture valued above all else: "imperishable fame."

Download or read book Plague and the End of Antiquity written by Lester K. Little and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this volume, 12 scholars from various disciplines - have produced a comprehensive account of the pandemic's origins, spread, and mortality, as well as its economic, social, political, and religious effects.

Download or read book Landscape with Two Saints written by Lisa M. Bitel and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-05-19 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lisa Bitel uses the history of two unique holy women--Genovefa of Paris (ca. 420-509) and Brigit of Kildare (ca.452-524)--to reveal how ordinary Europeans lived through Christianization at the dawn of the Middle Ages. Most converts did not have a sudden epiphany, Bitel argues. Instead they learned and lived their new religion in continuous conversation with preachers, saints, rulers, and neighbors. Together, they built their faith over many years, brick by brick, into their churches and shrines, cemeteries, houses, and even their markets and farms.

Download or read book The Irish Scholarly Presence at St Gall written by Sven Meeder and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-03-22 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Carolingian period represented a Golden Age for the abbey of St Gall, an Alpine monastery in modern-day Switzerland. Its bloom of intellectual activity resulted in an impressive number of scholarly texts being copied into often beautifully written manuscripts, many of which survive in the abbey's library to this day. Among these books are several of Irish origin, while others contain works of learning originally written in Ireland. This study explores the practicalities of the spread of this Irish scholarship to St Gall and the reception it received once there. In doing so, this book for the first time investigates a part of the network of knowledge that fed this important Carolingian centre of learning with scholarship. By focusing on scholarly works from Ireland, this study also sheds light on the contribution of the Irish to the Carolingian revival of learning. Historians have often assumed a special relationship between Ireland and the abbey of St Gall, which was built on the grave of the Irish saint Gallus. This book scrutinises this notion of a special connection. The result is a new viewpoint on the spread and reception of Irish learning in the Carolingian period.

Download or read book Ideology and Power in the Viking and Middle Ages written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2011-04-21 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ideology and power are central elements in the political, social, religious and cultural development of the North during the transition from the Viking to the Middle Ages. While the medieval European Christian ideology of rulership has been widely discussed, an analysis of the Nordic pre-Christian ideology, and of its confrontation with the new European ideals has so far been lacking. This book examines the concepts and practices associated with chieftains, earls and kings from the ninth to the thirteenth century: the myths and rituals surrounding their position in a northern European warrior culture. The analysis seems to indicate that important elements of the pre-Christian ideology of rulership survived into the Christian Middle Ages, either transformed or even simply transferred. Contributors are Ian Beuermann, Anders Hultgård, Jan Erik Rekdal, Jens Peter Schjødt, Jón Viðar Sigurðsson, Joanna Skórzewska, Gro Steinsland and Olof Sundqvist.

Download or read book The New Cambridge Medieval History Volume 1 C 500 c 700 written by Paul Fouracre and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 1022 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sample Text

Download or read book Tracing the Jerusalem Code written by Kristin B. Aavitsland and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2021-04-19 with total page 805 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the aim to write the history of Christianity in Scandinavia with Jerusalem as a lens, this book investigates the image – or rather the imagination – of Jerusalem in the religious, political, and artistic cultures of Scandinavia through most of the second millennium. Jerusalem is conceived as a code to Christian cultures in Scandinavia. The first volume is dealing with the different notions of Jerusalem in the Middle Ages. Tracing the Jerusalem Code in three volumes Volume 1: The Holy City Christian Cultures in Medieval Scandinavia (ca. 1100–1536) Volume 2: The Chosen People Christian Cultures in Early Modern Scandinavia (1536–ca. 1750) Volume 3: The Promised Land Christian Cultures in Modern Scandinavia (ca. 1750–ca. 1920)