Arthur in the Celtic Languages

Epub

Description

This is the first comprehensive authoritative survey of Arthurian literature and traditions in the Celtic languages of Welsh, Cornish, Breton, Irish and Scottish Gaelic. With contributions by leading and emerging specialists in the field, the volume traces the development of the legends that grew up around Arthur and have been constantly reworked and adapted from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. It shows how the figure of Arthur evolved from the leader of a warband in early medieval north Britain to a king whose court becomes the starting-point for knightly adventures, and how characters and tales are reimagined, reshaped and reinterpreted according to local circumstances, traditions and preoccupations at different periods. From the celebrated early Welsh poetry and prose tales to less familiar modern Breton and Cornish fiction, from medieval Irish adaptations of the legend to the Gaelic ballads of Scotland, Arthur in the Celtic Languages provides an indispensable, up-to-date guide of a vast and complex body of Arthurian material, and to recent research and criticism.

Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Contributors
Abbreviations
Glossary of Welsh Terms
List of Illustrations
Introduction
Part One: Wales
- The Beginnings of Welsh Arthurian Tradition
- Native Welsh Arthurian Tales
- Medieval Translations and Adaptations into Welsh
- Influences and Re-Compositions
- Popular and Later Traditions
Part Two: Cornish & Breton Traditions
Part Three: The Gaelic World
- Ireland
- Scotland

Sujets

• Literary Criticism
• Medieval
• Celtic languages

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 15 janvier 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781786833440
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 8 Mo

Extrait

ARTHUR IN THE CELTIC LANGUAGESARTHURIAN LITERATURE IN THE MIDDLE AGES
IX
ARTHUR IN THE
CELTIC LANGUAGES
THE ARTHURIAN LEGEND IN CELTIC
LITERATURES AND TRADITIONS
edited by
Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan and Erich Poppe
CARDIFF
UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS
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© The Vinaver Trust, 2019
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including
photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently
or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the
copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part
of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, University Registry,
King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3NS.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-78683-343-3
e-ISBN 978-1-78683-344-0
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asserted by them in accordance with sections 77, 78 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
Typeset by Mark Heslington Ltd, Scarborough, North Yorkshire
Printed by CPI Antony Rowe, Melksham, WiltshireU
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PUBLISHED IN COOPERATION WITH
THE VINAVER TRUST
The Vinaver Trust was established by the British Branch
of the International Arthurian Society to commemorate a
greatly respected colleague and a distinguished scholar
Eugène Vinaver
the editor of Malory’s Morte Darthur. The Trust aims to
advance study of Arthurian literature in all languages by
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and by aiding publication of the resultant studies.ARTHURIAN LITERATURE IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Series Editor
Ad Putter
I The Arthur of the Welsh, Edited by Rachel Bromwich, A. O. H. Jarman
and Brynley F. Roberts (University of Wales Press, 1991)
II The Arthur of the English, Edited by W. R. J. Barron (University of
Wales Press, 1999)
III The Arthur of the Germans, Edited by W. H. Jackson and S. A.
Ranawake (University of Wales Press, 2000)
IV The Arthur of the French, Edited by Glyn S. Burgess and Karen Pratt
(University of Wales Press, 2006)
V The Arthur of the North, Edited by Marianne E. Kalinke (University
of Wales Press, 2011)
VI The Arthur of Medieval Latin Literature, Edited by Siân Echard
(University of Wales Press, 2011)
VII The Arthur of the Italians, Edited by Gloria Allaire and F. Regina
Psaki (University of Wales Press, 2014)
VIII The Arthur of the Iberians, Edited by David Hook (University of
Wales Press, 2015)
IX Arthur in the Celtic Languages, edited by Ceridwen Lloyd- Mor gan and
Erich Poppe (University of Wales Press, 2019)CONTENTS
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xiii
List of Contributors xv
List of Illustrations xix
List of Abbreviations xxi
Glossary of Welsh Terms xxiii
Introduction 1
Ceridwen Lloyd- Morgan and Erich Poppe
Part One
Wales
The Beginnings of Welsh Arthurian Tradition
1 Arthurian references in Early Welsh Poetry 15
Nerys Ann Jones
2 The Earliest Myrddin Poems 35
John Bollard
3 Trystan and Esyllt 51
Jenny Rowland
Native Welsh Arthurian Tales
4 Culhwch ac Olwen 67
Simon Rodway
5 Breuddwyd Rhonabwy 80
Catherine McKenna
Medieval Translations and Adaptations into Welsh
6 Brut y Brenhinedd 95
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viii ARTHUR IN THE CELTIC LANGUAGES
7 The First Adaptations from French: History and Context of a Debate 110
Ceridwen Lloyd- Morgan and Erich Poppe
8 Owain or Iarlles y Ffynnawn 117
Regine Reck
9 Ystorya Geraint fab Erbin 132
Erich Poppe
10 Historia Peredur ab Efrawg 145
Ceridwen Lloyd- Mor gan
11 Y Seint Greal 158
Ceridwen Lloyd- Mor gan
12 Arthur in Trioedd Ynys Prydain 173
Rebecca Shercliff
13 Arthurian References in Medieval Welsh Poetry, c.1100–c.1540 187
Barry Lewis
14 Later Hybrid Narrative Texts in Middle Welsh 203
Ceridwen Lloyd- Mor gan
15 Folklore and Popular Tradition 214
Elissa R. Henken
16 Arthurian Place- names of W ales 231
Scott Lloyd
17 Arthurian Tradition in Modern Welsh Literature 245
Part Two
Cornish and Breton Traditions
18 Cornwall and the Matter of Britain 263
Oliver J. Padel
19 Arthur in Earlier Breton Traditions 281
Hervé Le Bihan
20 Popular Traditions and the Work of Hersart de la Villemarqué 304
Fañch Postic and Hélène Bouget
21 The Arthurian Legend in Modern Breton Culture 320
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CONTENTS ix
Part Three
The Gaelic World
Ireland
22 The Earliest Irish Material 341
Erich Poppe
23 Irish Translations and Romances 344
Aisling Byrne
24 Scottish Gaelic Literature and Popular Traditions 361
Linda Gowans
Bibliography 375
Index of Manuscripts 390
General Index 392W
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PREFACE
This book forms part of the ongoing series Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages.
The purpose of the series is to provide a reliable and comprehensive survey of
Arthurian writing in all its generic and linguistic diversity. For many years, the
single- volume Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages: A Collaborative History, ed.
Roger Sherman Loomis (Oxford, 1959), served the needs of scholars and students of
Arthurian literature admirably, but it has now been overtaken by advances in
scholarship and by changes in critical perspectives and methodologies. The Vinaver Trust
recognized the need for a fresh and up- to- date survey, and knew that a series of
volumes would be required to do justice to the distinctive contributions made to Arthurian
literature by the many different cultures of medieval Europe.
7KH ¿UVW YROXPH WR SSHDU Q WKH VHULHV DV KH The Arthur of the Welsh: The
Arthurian Legend in Medieval Welsh Literature (1991). This was a landmark study. It
has been reprinted many times in hardback and paperback editions, but it too has been
overtaken by the passage of time. Moreover, as indicated by its title, its primary focus
was on medieval Welsh literature, and while The Arthur of the Welsh has, faute de
mieux, served as a guide to students and scholars of other Celtic languages, it did not
provide adequate coverage of Arthurian writings in Celtic languages other than Welsh.
The Vinaver Trust felt that a new guide to Arthurian literature in all the Celtic
languages was needed, one that could provide an authoritative and up- to- date
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were invited to produce the latest volume in the series, Arthur in the Celtic Languages.
The series is mainly aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students and at
also been designed to be accessible to general readers and to students and scholars
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the linguistic and literary traditions that they do know. Within these parameters, the
editors have had full control over the shape and content of their individual volumes.
Ad Putter
Professor of Medieval English, University of Bristol
(General Editor)H
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are most grateful to the following copyright holders for permission to reproduce
photographs: Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru/The National Library of Wales (dust
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staff at the University of Wales Press. Our greatest debt of gratitude, however, is to all
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cumstances. It has been a pleasure to work with them.
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LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
John Bollard is a medievalist, editor, and translator who has published articles on The
Mabinogi and other early Welsh tales and poetry. His books include The Mabinogi
(2006), Companion Tales to The Mabinogi (2007), Tales of Arthur (2010) and
Englynion y Beddau/The Stanzas of the Graves (2015). He has taught medieval Welsh
at the universities of Massachusetts and Connecticut, at Yale, and most recently at
Harvard.
Hélène Bouget is a senior lecturer in medieval French language and literature at the
Université de Bretagne Occidentale (UBO), Brest, and a full member of the Centre de
recherche Bretonne et Celtique (CRBC) at UBO. She has published widely on French
Arthurian literature and has written several articles about the construction, the
representation and the reception of the Matter of Britain from the Middle Ages to today.
Aisling Byrne is Lecturer in Medieval English Literature at the University of Reading.
She is the author of Otherworlds: Fantasy and History in Medieval Literature (Oxford
University Press, 2016). She has published articles on medieval romance and on
translation and textual transmission in medieval Britain and Ireland.
Linda Gowans is an independent scholar working on survivals of the Arthurian
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on the Arthurian ballad Am Bròn Binn. A former British Branch bibliographer for the
International Arthurian Society, her interests also include the development of Grail
literature in Old French.
Elissa R. Henken teaches Folklore and Celtic studies as a Professor at the University
of Georgia. Her published works include two books on Welsh saints, one on the Welsh
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