The Mary of the Celts by Andrew Breeze (review)

Abstract

Reviews TheMary of the Celts.By Andrew Breeze. Leominster: Gracewing. 2008. viii + 183pp. ?9.99. isbn: 978-0-85244-682-9. Comprising sixchapters arranged roughlychronologically from theAnnunciation to the Assumption, with a concluding discussion on 'The Praise of theVirgin' and a bibliog raphy of reasonable size,Andrew Breeze's book offers an exploration of aspects of Marian devotion evidenced inmedieval Celtic Literature. In the opening chapters, 'The Annunciation I:Mary, Daughter of her Son' and 'The Annunciation II: God's Sunbeam and theHoly Trinity', Breeze traces the emergence and development of a number ofMarian-related themes in a range ofmedieval texts, including themater etfiliatopos, the strikinguse of theAva/Eve paradox, the symbolic representation of theVirgin's purity in themotif of a sunbeam passing through glass, and the depiction in both literary and material culture of the three persons of theTrinity as present in theVirgin's womb. The third chapter, 'Virgin and Child', is,with the fifth, perhaps the strongest in the volume. In itBreeze discusses various perceptions of theVirgin Mary in medieval Welsh and Irish literature, perhaps most interestingly in his examina tion of thepopular legend of the 'Instantaneous Harvest', contextualized in light of the Continental evidence for the idea. Chapter 4 deals with the crucifixion, opening with an analysis of theOld English Dream of the Rood, which, sethere in the context of the patristic tradition of Virgin and Cross as instruments of redemption and contrasted with the later and popular topos of the 'tears of blood', frames Breeze's discussion of the varying motifs available for Insular writers to draw on. The following chapter, 'The Assumption and Last Judgement', returns to theVirgin's intercessory role, both in church teaching and popular folklore, in its consideration of Mary's Girdle, thrown down as she ascended to heaven, and the legend of her rosary tipping the scales of judgement in favour of mankind. The concluding chapter considers some of thewealth of material composed in praise ofMary, with a particular emphasis on the five sorrows of theVirgin in Irish and Welsh texts. Those familiar with Breeze's scholarship and expecting something new in this volume might well be disappointed. Rather,' TheMary of the Celts brings together papers published between 1983 and 1999 inBritish, Irish, French and Canadian Journals' (p.vii). No major revisions, we are told, have been made to thematerial included, and consequently, whilst all the chapters are linked through their interest in aspects of Marian devotion, it is perhaps inevitable that no clearly defined central thesis emerges. This lack of a coherent, sustained argument in the volume as a whole is frustrating, not least because Breeze's impressive 200Reviews breadth of knowledge is such that itneeds focus to avoid the occasional lapses intowhat might appear as a European-wide roll-call ofmedieval texts,with little pertinent analysis. However, the author does succeed in highlighting thewealth and richness of the Celtic material he discusses, and inmaking itaccessible to non-specialists. Finally, a number of intrusive typographical errors mar the volume, for example 'conconclusions' for 'conclusions' (p. 30), 'at' for 'as' (p. 41), 'hands' for 'hand', 'amd' for 'and' (both p. 109), among many others, though culpability for thismust liewith the editor rather than the author. So toomust the responsibil ity for the baffling inconsistency in providing translations across chapters; for example, the (surely unnecessary) glossing of the term 'topos' (p. 2), or indeed 'gloss' itself (p. 136), sits incongruously with the unelaborated citation of Latin or French material within the body of the text. Queen's University Belfast Kath Stevenson Drama and Religion inEnglish ProvincialSociety,1485-1660. By Paul Whitfield White. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. xii + 247 pp. ?50.00. isbn: 978-0-521-85669-0. Reading the Medieval in EarlyModern England. Edited byGordon MgMullan and David Matthews. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. xiv + 287 pp. ?53.00. ISBN: 978-0-521-86843-3. Paul Whitfield White's book, as the title indicates, broadly traces the relationship between religion and the theatre indrama from theTudor period up to the startof the Restoration period when King Charles II became king of England. He begins by dispelling commonly held assumptions about periodization: 'one of the problems of periodizing drama is that it...