General Celtic Literature
[There is, of course, no Proto-Celtic
literature, though there have
been attempts to reconstruct
some of it. When I posted a similar
bibliography to medtextl back
in August, 1991, a number of
medtextlers, particularly Charlie
Wright (Irish) and Paul Schaffner
(Welsh), posted more extensive
bibliographies and additions; the
medtextl archives will contain
these, and I suggest you look
there.]
1. Bibliographies:
a. Rachel Bromwich, Medieval
Celtic Literature. A Select
Bibliography. Toronto Medieval
Bibliographies 5 (Toronto:
University of Toronto Press,
1974). Old, but she knew her business.
Mostly Irish and Welsh. Good
annotations.
b. A Celtic Bibliography, compiled
by Morfydd E. Owen and edited by
Glanville Price, in Ireland
and the Celtic Connection with A Celtic
Bibliography. The Princess Grace
Irish Library Lectures 4 (Gerrards
Cross, Buckinghamshire: Colin
Smythe, 1987), 25-47. Rather
scattered.
d. Wilfrid Bonser, An Anglo-Saxon
and Celtic Bibliography
(450-1087), 2 vols. (Berkeley:UCalPress,
1957). Mainly on history
and archaeology.
e. There is an excellent online
bibliography by the Celtic Studies
Association of America: http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~csana/.
It is
quite extensive and ought to
serve most of your needs. It begins
as of now with 1983. Watch
out for typos, especially in names and
foreign languages.
2. Surveys:
a. The best general survey, though
small, is: Georges Dottin, Les
litteratures celtiques (Paris:
Collection Payot, 1924).
b. Another short, but readable,
survey: Jean Marx, Les litteratures
celtiques. Que sais-je? 809
(Paris: PUF, 1959).
c. Still the standard uork, though
in part superseded and to be
used with care: H[enry] d'Arbois
de Jubainville, Cours da
litterature celtique, 12 vols.,
1883-1902 (Paris: Thorin;
Fontemoing, 1883-1902); repr.
Osnabrueck: Zeller, 1969). Vols. III-
IV (Les Mabinogion), IX-XI (La
metrique), by Joseph Loth. Best has
an English translation of vol.
2, The Irish Mythological Cycle
(Dublin, 1903; repr. 1912).
d. Julius Pokorny, "Keltologie,"
in Wissenschaftliche
Forschungsberichte. Geisteswissenschaftliche
Reihe 2 (Bern:
Francke, 1953), 95-199.
A remarkable survey for its day.
4. Gaul:
a. A[lbert] Grenier, Les
Gaulois (Paris: Champion, 1945). Still
the standard work, treats language,
culture, history, etc.
b. Georges Dottin, Manuel
pour servir a l'etude de l'antiquite
celtique, 2d ed. (Paris: Champion,
1915). Still usable.
c. Small, but useful: Georges
Dottin, The Celts, tr. David Macrae
(Geneva: Minerva, 1977). Good
plates.
d. For a recent general survey:
Simon James, The World of the Celts
(London: Thames & Hudson,
1993). Great plates!
e. A compendious survey, about
which I cannot say too much: The
Celts, ed. Sabatino Moscati
et al. (London: Thames and Hudson,
1991. Covers everything. Good
bibliography. Good plates. Over 700
pages.
f. Georges Dottin, La Langue
Gauloise: Grammaire, Textes et
Glossaire. Avec une preface
de Fran‡ois Falc'hun (Paris: C.
Klincksieck, 1920. Reprinted
Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, 1985).
Contains inscriptions, grammar,
interpretations, etc. There will be
a section on the Celtic languages
in WEMSK, where such things as
Whatmough's Dialects of Ancient
Gaul will be listed.
5. Classical Sources:
a. d'Arbois de Jubainville, vol.
XII: "Principaux auteurs de
l'antiquite a consulter sur
l'histoire des celtes depuis les temps
les plus anciens jusqu'au regne
de Theodore Ier".
b. W. Dinan, Monumenta
historica Celtica, Notices of the Celts in
the writings of the Greek and
Latin authors from the 10th century
BC to the 5th cent, arranged
chronologically with translations.
Vol. I (London: David Nutt,
1911), ends with Poseidonius.
c. For two recent survey articles:
Philip M. Freeman, "The Earliest
Greek Sources on the Celts,"
Etudes Celtiques 32 (1966), 10-48
(edition, commentary, translation,
bibliography), and, by the same
author: "Greek and Roman Views
of Ireland: A Checklist," Emania 13
(1995), 11-13.
6. Readers:
a. A good book to read around
in to get your feet on the ground is:
Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson, A
Celtic Miscellany. Translations from
the Celtic Literatures (Cambridge:
Harvard, 1951). Has the
advantage of including a guide
to pronunciation, 350-359, in quasi-
phonetic transcription.
A warning: "So far as this is at all
possible, the pronunciations
are intended to be those of the
period, stratum of language,
or dialect to which each document
belongs ..."
b. Celtic Spirituality, tr. Oliver
Davies (NY: Paulist Press,
1999). Broad coverage; not always
trustworthy. Good notes.
7. Collection of articles:
a. Robert O'Driscoll, ed., The
Celtic Consciousness (NY: Braziller,
1981). The list of contributors
reads like a Who's Who.
8. Periodicals:
Annales de Bretagne (Rennes,
1886-).
Be/aloideas (Dublin, 1927-).
Bulletin of the Board of Celtic
Studies (Cardiff, 1921-).
Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies.
(Cambridge, 1981-) .
Celtica (Dublin, 1946-).
E/igse (Dublin, 1939-).
E/riu (Dublin, 1904-).
Irish Historical Studies (Antrim,
1938-). Do not overlook. Good
bibliographies.
Journal of Celtic Studies (Santa
Barbara, 1949-).
Journal of the Royal Society
of Antiquaries of Ireland (Dublin,
1849-).
Llen Cymru (Caerdydd, 1950-).
Newsletter of the School of
Celtic Studies (Dublin, 1987-). [A free
newsletter from the Dublin Institute
for Advanced Studies. School
of Celtic Studies. 10 Burlington
Rd., Dublin 4, Ireland.]
Peritia (Turnhout, 1982-).
Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic
Colloquium (Cambridge, 1981-).
Proceedings of the Royal Irish
Academy (Dublin, 1836-).
Revue Celtique 1-55 (Paris,
1870-1934) / Etudes celtiques (Paris,
1936-).
Studia Celtica (Cardiff, 1966-).
Transactions of the Honourable
Society of Cymmrodorion (London,
1892-).
Welsh History Review (Cardiff,
1960-).
Y Cymmrodor (London, 1877-1935).
Zeitschrift fur celtische Philologie
(Halle, 1897-).
Old Irish Literature
[Charlie Wright has extensive
Irish bibliographies on his web site,
e. g. http//128.174.194/wright/irishmyth.htm.
There you can find
more bibliography on all sections
below.]
1. Bibliographies:
a. Richard I. Best, Bibliography
of Irish Philology and of Printed
Irish Literature (Dublin: Stationery
Office, 1913; repr. NY:
Johnson, 1970).
b. Richard I. Best, Bibliography
of Irish Philology and Manuscript
Literature: Publications 1913-1941
(Dublin: Dublin Institute for
Advaanced Studies, 1942).
c. Rolf Baumgarten, Bibliography
of Irish Linguistics and
Literature 1942-71 (Dublin:
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies,
1986). These three are reasonable
exhaustive of the secondary
material up to 1971.
d. Alan R. Eager, A Guide to
Irish Bibliographical Material. A
bibliography of Irish bibliographies
and sources of information, 2d
ed. (London: The Library Association,
1980). An excellent guide to
ancillary bibliographies and
guides.
2. Corpus: Henry d'Arbois de
Jubainville, Essai d'un catalogue de
la litterature epique de l'Irlande
precede d'une etude sur les
manuscrits en langue irlandaise
conserves dans les Iles Brittaniqes
et sur le continent, Paris,
1883. A work of great erudition, using
only three cycles and no miscellaneous
classification, to be used
only with the list of addenda
mentioned in Kenney, p. 92, cf.
Georges Dottin, "Supplement
a l'Essai d'un catalogue de la
litterature epique de l'Irlande,"
RC VIII (1912) 1-40. I once put
this on edge-punched cards,
and it was of great use in that form.
One could undoubtedly scan it
and put it on the computer.
2. History:
a. James F. Kenney, The Sources
for the Early History of Ireland:
Ecclesiastical. An Introduction
and Guide. Records of Civilization
9 (NY: Columbia University Press,
1929; repr. with addenda by
Ludwig Bieler, NY: Octagon Books,
1966). An absolutely splendid
book, which you ought to look
through, at least.
b. Edmund Curtis, History of
Ireland, 6th ed. (London: Methuen,
1957).
c. Edmund Curtis, History of
Medieval Ireland, 1110-1513, 2d ed.
(London: Macmillan, 1936).
d. T. W. Moody, ed. A New History
of Ireland, 9 vols. (Oxford:
Clarendon, 1976-)
e. Nice to page through: R. F.
Foster, ed., The Oxford Illustrated
History of Ireland (Oxford:
OUP, 1989).
3. Literary Histories:
a. Eleanor Hull, A Text Book
of Irish Literature, 2 vols. (Dublin:
Gill, 1906). Still good as a
read through. Good coverage. Not a
scholarly work.
b. Myles Dillon, Early Irish
Literature (Chicago: UChicagoP, 1948;
repr. 1969). Introductory.
c. Myles Dillon, The Cycles of the Kings (London: OUP, 1946).
d. Rudolf Thurneysen, Die irische
Helden- und Koenigssage bis zum
siebzehnten Jahrhundert (Halle:
Niemeyer, 1921). Your first port of
call for anything under this
rubric. A great book.
e. The small books in the series
Irish Life and Culture can be of
great use; see 10.3 below.
5. Compendia:
a. The Encyclopedia of Ireland,
ed. Ciaran Brady (Oxford: OUP,
2000). Don't bother with this
one, but it does have an interesting
appendix, "Web Sites," 381-388.
b. The Oxford Companion to Irish
Literature, ed. Robert Welch
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1996). Coverage
for Old and Middle Irish is
spotty. Bibliographies with
each item.
c. Da/ithi O hOga/in, Myth, Legend,
& Romance: An Encyclopedia of
the Irish Folk Tradition (London:
Ryan, 1990). Recommended highly
by Charlie Wright.
6. Introductions; learning to read Old Irish:
a. My absolute favorite is Julius
Pokorny, A Historical Reader of
Old Irish (Halle: Niemeyer,
1923). It begins with "The Power of
Women," has a phonetic transcription
of this, plus a good
philological commentary.
b. Another old standby: Longes
Mac n-Uislenn. The Exile of the Sons
of Uisliu, ed. Vernam Hull (NY:
MLA, 1949). Text, translation,
notes.
c. N[ora] Kershaw Chadwick, An
Early Irish Reader (Cambridge: CUP,
1927). Uses the Sce/l Mucci
Mic Datho/ (Story of Mac Datho's Pig)
as the basis for a thorough
introduction.
d. As you read through the journals,
you will run across an
edition, translation, commentary
of this or that text. I always
xerox these off and keep them
for reference. You could earn our
undying gratitude by doing a
text using hypertext methods. Hull's
edition of the Longes Mac n-Uislenn
would be perfect.
7. Readers and translations:
a. Ancient Irish Tales, ed. Tom
P. Cross & Clark H. Slover (Boston:
Henry Holt, 1936; repr. NY:
Barnes & Noble, 1996).
b. Standish Hayes O'Grady, Silva
Gadelica, 2 vols. (London:
Williams & Norgate, 1892;
repr. NY: Lemma, 1970). Vol. 1 = original
texts, vol. 2 = translations.
c. Gerard Murphy, Early Irish
Lyrics (Oxford: OUP, 1956). Excellent
in every way. Get this and read
it through.
8. Daily Life:
a. P. W. Joyce, A Social History
of Ancient Ireland, 2 vols., 2d
ed. (London: Longmans, Green
& Co., 1913). This serves as a sort of
guide to:
b. Eugene O'Curry, Manners and
Customs of the Ancient Irish, ed. W.
K. Sullivan, 3 vols. (London:
Williams & Norgate, 1873). With
these two, you can find out
how artefacts, customs, etc. were
called in Old Irish, for example.
9. Old Irish texts: Whitley Stokes
and John Strachan, eds.,
Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus,
2 vols. (Cambridge: CUP, 1901-1910) +
supplement (1910). The source
for Old Irish, e.g. Pangur Ban.
10. Series:
1. Early Irish Text Society (London,
1898-). The Loeb Classics of
the Irish world.
2. Medieval and Modern Irish
Series. The Dublin Institute for
Advanced Studies (1931-).
3. Irish Life and Culture (Dublin:
The Cultural Relations Committee
of Ireland, 1952-). E. g.: III.
Irish Folk Music and Song, by Donal
O'Sulivan), VIII Early Irish
Society, by Myles Dillon; Saga and
Myth in Ancient Ireland, by
Gerard Murphy; XI, The Ossianic Lore
and Romantic Tales of Medieval
Ireland, by Gerard Murphy; VI, Irish
Classical Poetry, by Eleanor
Knott.
4. Todd Lecture Series (Dublin:
Royal Irish Academy, 1889-).
11. Influence:
a. Josef Szo"ve/rffy, Irisches
Erzaehlgut im Abendland (Berlin:
Schmidt, 1957).
b. Charles D. Wright, The Irish
Tradition in Old English Literature
(Cambridge: CUP, 1993).
c. Gisli Sigurdsson, Gaelic Influence
in Iceland: Historical and
Literary Contacts: A Survey
of Research. Studia islandica 46
(Reykjavik: Bokautgafa Menningarsjods,
1988).
12. Paleography:
a. W[allace] M. Lindsay, Early
Irish Minuscule Script. St. Andrews
University Publications, No.
VI (Oxford: Parker, 1910).
b. Ludwig Bieler, "The Irish
Book of Hymns: A Palaeographical
Study," Scriptorium 2 (1948),
177-94.
c. Ludwig Bieler, "Insular Palaeography:
Present State and
Problems," Scriptorium 3 (1949),
267-94.
Welsh Literature
1. Bibliographies:
a. Thomas Parry and Merfyn Morgan.
Llyfryddiaeth Llenyddiaeth
Gymraeg (Bibliography of Welsh
Literature) (Caerdydd: Gwasg
Prigysgol Cymru, 1976). It really
should not bother you all that
much that this bibliography
is in Welsh. A companion volume is
worth consulting also: Marian
Beech Hughes and J.E.
Caerwyn-Williams, Llyfryddiaeth
Yr Iaith Gymraeg (Bibliography of
the Welsh Language) (Caerdydd:
GPC, 1988).
b. Not a bibliography of literature,
but usable: Llyfryddiaeth
Cymru. A Bibliography of Wales
(Aberystwyth: The National Library
of Wales, 1985-. Limps
behind somewhat; 1994 came out in 1999.
c. Bibliotheca Celtica. A Register
of Publications relating to
Wales and the Celtic Peoples
and Languages. Aberystwyth, 1910- .
d. See the Bulletin of the Board
of Celtic Studies for more
information.
2. Histories of Literature:
a. An excellent short survey
is that by W. J. Gruffydd in the 14th
ed. of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Lewis on Cornish and Breton is
also good.
b. A Guide to Welsh Literature,
vol. 1, ed. A[lfred] O. H. Jarman
& Gwilym Rees Hughes, 2d
ed. (Cardiff: University of Wales Press,
1992). The second edition
has an appendix updating the
bibliography to 1992. Not bad
as a first port of call, but
naturally spotty.
c. Thomas Parry, History of Welsh
Literature transl, by H. I[dris]
Bell, Oxford: OUP, 1955). First
port of call.
d. Gwyn Williams, An Introduction
to Welsh Poetry, London, 1953.
Thin.
e. Gwyn Williams, An Introduction
to Welsh Literature, 2d ed.
(Cardiff: Writers of Wales,
1992).
3. Reader:
a. Thomas Parry, The Oxford Book
of Welsh Verse (Oxford: OUP,
1962).
4. Series:
a. Mediaeval and Modern Welsh
Series (Dublin: Institute for
Advanced Studies). An
example: Vol. 3, The Poems of Taliesin, ed
and annotated by Sir Ifor Williams,
english version by J[ohn] E.
Caerwyn Williams (1968). A fine
series.
5. History:
a. J[ohn] E. Lloyd, A History
of Wales from the Earliest Times to
the Edwardian Conquest, 3 ed,,
2 vols. (1939). There is a
bibliography for Welsh history:
A Bibliography of the History of
Wales, T. Jenkins & Wm.
Rees, Cardiff, 1931;
b. R. Ian Jack, Medieval Wales.
The Sources of History (Ithaca:
Cornell UP, 1972). Good introduction,
though he assumes some
knowledge on the part of the
user. Bibliographical details are
often quite fuzzy.
6. Paleography: W[allace] M.
Lindsay, Early Welsh Script. St.
Andrews University Publications,
No. X (Oxford: Parker, 1912).
Cornish Literature
[The Year's Work in Modern Language
Studies usually gathers "Breton
& Cornish Studies" under
one heading. I mention this here, though
YMLS belongs under general bibliography,
which you should always
consult. Here, there is
some indication of what each item
contians.]
[Your first port of call ought
to be Brian Murdoch, Cornish
Literature (Cambridge: Brewer,
1993): "The purpose of this book is
to place the literature of the
Cornish into a broad literary
context for the general reader,
in partiuclar for those with an
interest in the middle ages
..." Excellent bibliography.]
1. Bibliography:
a. Charles Thomas, The Medieval
Cornish Drama. Institute of Cornish
Studies, Special Bibliography
No. 2 (Redruth: ICS, 1973).
b. Evelyn S. Newlyn, Cornish
Drama of the Middle Ages: A
Bibliography. Institute of Cornish
Studies, Special Bibliography
No. 6 (Redruth: ICS, 1987).
2. Histories of Literature:
a. A good, if old, guide: Henry
Jenner, A Handbook of the Cornish
Language (London: Nutt, 1904).
b. A nice read: P. Berresford
Ellis, The Cornish Language and its
literature (London: Routledge
and Kegan Paul, 1974). Mostly
devoted to the revival.
3. Texts and Translations:
[Most of the corpus is found
in Edwin Norris, The Ancient Cornish
Drama, 2 vols. (Oxford: OUP,
1859). He includes in an appendix the
Vocabulary, our earliest evidence
for Cornish.]
a. The Ordinalia:
1. Markham Harris, The Cornish
Ordinalia: A Medieval Dramatic
Trilogy (Catholic University
of America Press, 1969).
b. The Gwreans an bys (Creation of the World):
1. Paula Neuss, The Creacion
of the World. A critical Edition and
Translation (NY: Garland, 1983).
Her Toronto diss., 1970.
c. The Beunans Meriasek (Life of St. Meriasek).
1. Markham Harris, The Life of
St. Meriasek (Washington: Catholic
University of America Press,
1977).
2. Ray Edwards, ed. and Whitley
Stokes, trans. Beunans Meriasek:
The Life of Meriasek (Redruth:
Cornish Language Board, 1996).
d. The Pascon agan Arluth (Passion of our Lord):
1. Whitley Stokes, "The Passion.
A Middle Cornish Poem," TPS (1860-
61), Appendix, 1-100, Text and
translation.
e. The Charter Endorsement: Laurian
Toorians, ed. & tr., The Middle
Cornish Charter Endorsement.
The Making of a Marriage in Medieval
Cornwall. With a paleological
description of the manuscript by J.
P. M. Jansen (Innsbruck: Institut
f?r Sprachwissenschaft, 1991).
4. Commentaries:
a. On the Ordinalia:
1. Robert Longsworth, The Cornish
Ordinalia: Religion and
Dramaturgy (Cambridge: Harvard
U. Press, 1967). Thin, but good.
2. Jane A. Bakere, The Cornish
Ordinalia (Cardiff: University of
Wales Press, 1980). Chapter
III: Biblical and Liturgal Sources.
5. Evelyn S. Newlyn, "Middle
Cornish Drama at the Millenium; Papers
from the Second International
Conference on `Aspects of European
Medieval Drama'," in European
Medieval Drama 1997, ed. Sydney
Higgens (Camerino: Centro Linguistico
di Ateneo, 1997), 363-373.
6. The Cambridge Companion to
Medieval English Theatre, ed. Richard
Beadle (Cambridge: CUP, 1994),
has a number of articles on Cornish
literature.
Breton Literature
[It is unfortunate that Breton
literature is mostly known from its
influence, the matiere de Bretagne,
the Breton Lays, Marie de
France, the Old Norse Strengleikar,
etc.]
1. Bibliography:
a. F. Broudic, Langue et litterature
bretonnes: Dix ans de
bibliographie, 1973-1982 (Brest:
Brud Nevez, 1984).
b. F. Broudic, Langue et litterature
bretonnes: Bibliographie, II,
1983-1988 (Brest: Brud Nevez,
1990).
2. Short survey: Gwennole Le
Menn, "La Litterature en moyen-breton
de 1350 a 1650." In Questions
d'Histoire de Bretagne: Philologie et
Histoire Jusqu'a 1610, Tome
II. Actes du 107e Congres des Societes
Savantes, Brest, 1983, 89-104.
3. Another short survey: Francis
Gourvil, Langue et litterature
bretonnes, 4th ed. Que sais-je?
527 (Paris: PUF, 1976).
4. Chrestomathies:
a. Joseph Loth, Chrestomathie bretonne (Paris: Bouillon, 1890).
b. Hersart de la Villemarque/,
Poemes bretons du moyen age (Paris:
Didier, 1879). Still worth
looking at, like the Four Ancient
Books. An incunabulum from 1530.
c. Hersart de la Villemarque/,
Grand mystere de Jesus (Paris:
Didier, 1865).
5. For a list of the corpus,
see Emile Ernaut, Glossaire Moyen-
Breton. Etudes grammaticales
sur les langues celtiques 2 (Paris:
Bouillon, 1895), 1-4. There
are the Breton-French Catholicon from
1464 (printed 1499), a large
number of glosses, the Buez Santez
Nonn, the Burzu bras Jean, the
Buhez santes Barba, Tremenvan an
itron gwerches Maria (Transitus
Mariae), Pemzec levenez Maria
(Fifteen joys of Mary), Buhez
mabden (Life of Man), and the
Mellezour an Mary (Mirror of
Death), the Great Mystery of Jesus,
among others.
6. A nice survey: Leon Fleuriot,
"Breton et cornique a la fin du
Moyen Age," Annales de Bretagne
76 (1969), 705-724.
7. A splendid introduction: Histoire
litteraire et culturelle de la
Bretagne, ed. Jean Balcou and
Yves le Gallo (Paris: Champion,
1987). In three volumes; we
are interested only in the first. Good
to look through; not much with
direct bearing on our subject.
8. A German translation of Henry
Lewis's well-known handbook,
previously available only in
Welsh: Henry Lewis and J. R. F.
Piette. Handbuch des Mittelbretonischen.
Deutsche Bearbeitung von
Wolfgang Meid. Innsbrucker Beitraege
zur Sprachwissenschaft, 62.
(Innsbruck: Institut fuer Sprachwissenschaft,
1990).
9. A look through the MLA bibliography
or the periodical literature
will reveal short works on each
of the Breton works of our period,
e.g. Caroline Brett, "Breton
Latin Literature as Evidence for
Literature in the Vernacular,
A.D. 800-1300," Cambridge Medieval
Celtic Studies, 18 (1989) 1-25
-- Yann Ber Piriou, "Notes de
lecture: `La vie de Sainte Nonne',"
EC 23 (1986), 215-231 -- Noel
Hamilton, "Hineveles Ar Mabic
Jesus," ZCP 40 (1948), 228-274 --
Zdenek Hrbata, "K problematice
`bretonske literatury'," CMF 64
(1982), 9-20 -- Gwennole Le
Menn, "Dialogue avec la Mort, poeme en moyen
breton," EC 15 (1978), 633-54.