Welsh Literature Research Articles

Paired Adjectives in the Middle Welsh Ystorya Bown o Hamtwn

One of the stylistic devices typical for Medieval Welsh literature is the usage of paired adjectives. It occurs not only in the native tales but also in the adaptations of Continental material, such as an Old French romance of chivalry Geste de Boeve de Haumtone. Predominantly, the paired adjectives in the Welsh source Ystorya Bown o Hamtwn neither have any equivalents in the French source nor correspond to “adverb mult, tut, si, plus, bien + adjective” construction. This fact is indicative of the translator’s independence in stylistic organization of the text; it also draws our attention to the emphatic nature of paired adjectives. An adjective pair usually consists of either two synonyms or two words denoting attributes of a certain character or object: cadarn-wychyr “strong and brave”. However, there can be more than two adjectives in a “pair”; this stylistic device also covers other parts of speech.

What makes Breton lays ‘Breton’? Bretons, Britons and Celtic ‘otherness’ in medieval romance

An exploration of the semantic and cultural fields behind the term ‘Breton’ suggests that the modern word ‘Celtic’ corresponds better to what is implied by the expression ‘Breton lay’. It is commonly supposed that the Breton lays, in both Old French of the 12th century and Middle English of the 14th century, were based on songs originally sung by Breton minstrels. But the word ‘Breton’ is misleading ; while it now refers to the inhabitants of Brittany, in medieval literature ‘Breton’ and ‘Briton’ were undifferentiated, applying to the early, non-Germanic inhabitants of Britain and Armorica, whose language was Old Welsh. For the English and French, these people were ‘other’, their culture a source of mystery. Being neither English, Norman or French, the language of the Bretons, Britons, or British appeared exotic to the dominant political groups. Their poetry, often associated with the Otherworld and a belief in fairy magic, would be labelled ‘Celtic’ later in history, but that term was not available when the ‘Breton lays’ first appeared. The Anglo-Norman poet ‘Marie de France’, writing for the Plantagenet royal court in the 12th century, had at her doorstep the well-attested riches of Welsh literature as a model and inspiration, whereas no evidence exists for any independent songs or tales from Brittany at this time. It would thus be more apt to speak of ‘Celtic lays’ in Old French and Middle English, since the word ‘Celtic’ now conveys to us what medieval French and English poets meant by the word ‘Breton’.

Celtic Tigers: Recent Studies in Early Irish and Welsh Literature

Celtic Tigers: Recent Studies in Early Irish and Welsh Literature

Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature by O. J. Padel (review)

Reviewed by: Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature by O. J. Padel David James Griffiths Padel, O. J., Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature (Writers of Wales), new edn, Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 2013; paperback; pp. 166; R.R.P. US$25.00; ISBN 9780708326251. Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature is an Important Book. While slight in appearance, its survey of medieval Welsh literary references to Arthur provides a useful compendium for those whose Welsh is a little rusty or even non-existent. Certainly its importance is underscored by its academic reputation: it is a fairly standard ‘go to’ for medieval Welsh and Arthurian study, and I have a fond nostalgia for it based on its appearance on several postgraduate reading lists. The publication of a second edition underscores its ubiquitousness, but unfortunately, the overall approach to updating the text is poorly lacking. The Introduction remains a brief and satisfying frame of what O. J. Padel’s scholarship explores – namely, the various depictions of Arthur and his associated legendarium – across a variety of Welsh texts. The Introduction makes it plain that those looking for deeper analysis and further connections will need to turn to Cornish, Breton, or southern Scottish folklore. The first section of the book briefly deals with the earliest Welsh texts, the Historia Brittonum, the Gododdin and other early heroic lament poetry, and the Welsh Annals. A simple dating of each text is given, with some mention of textual issues, before the focus is shifted to the portrayal of Arthur in the given text. Padel highlights early issues, such as the contradictory portrayal of Arthur in the Historia Brittonum, and makes a few rudimentary comments about other secondary analyses of the text, before moving on. Padel only mentions other scholars to gloss over or refute their interpretations and his assessments are not adequately contextualised within the scholarly disputes. This makes it hard to assess for ourselves and underscores the limitations of the book. [End Page 243] The next section, dealing with Culhwch and the Gatekeeper poem, continues this pattern. The analysis is solid, highlighting the deficiencies in considering a Welsh literary approach that typically casts Arthur not as a central figure but as a supporting character, designed to evoke a certain ethos or suggest a certain setting. Padel uses direct quotations from the text to allow for close reading, but does not make clear which version of the text he relies upon. At this point, Padel draws connections from the overall treatment of Arthur and his band, linking them to the Irish Fianna cycle of stories, and so locates Arthur in a supernatural, monster-infested ‘band of brothers’ routine, somewhat different from the battle lord of the earlier histories. What follows is a range of Welsh texts relating to the central Middle Ages. This includes a consideration of ‘Preiddau Annwn’, various Saints’ Lives, Welsh poetry of the period, and the work of Gerald of Wales. This section also uses the Welsh prophetic poetry of the period to examine a key facet of the portrayal of Arthur: his invariably explained absence. As in the work of Gildas, the Welsh prophetic poetry does not mention Arthur, as supernatural celebrant, war leader, or once and future king. In casting others into the role of restorer of Wales, the prophetic tradition perhaps underscores the use of Arthur by Bretons or Cornish, or as some sort of formative Other to the English. These are uses that Welsh literature does not posit, but literature about the Welsh says they do. Yet the texts discussed in this section have their own complications. The Saints’ Lives cast Arthur as a secular ruler and administrator of justice; while secular he is not evil and he does not oppose the saints so much as form part of society. He is even a ‘king’, possibly. The elegiac poetry and Gerald of Wales echo previous uses of Arthur: the warrior-comparison and the supernatural folk hero, respectively. The next three sections of the survey examine dialogue poems, the matter of Britain, and the context of the Welsh material within a continuing tradition. They continue the use of quotations and analysis that have given the rest of the book its strengths and...

Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature by O. J. Padel (review)

Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature by O. J. Padel (review)

Anglocentrism within British literary studies: the reception of Edward Thomas

A decade after some measure of political devolution was achieved in Scotland and Wales, this article considers the late twentieth and early twenty-first century reception and critical positioning of the Anglophone Welsh writer, Edward Thomas, in order to expose a recalcitrant Anglocentrism which operates within a notionally devolved British literary establishment. It does so by way of Pascale Casanova's theory of world literature – in particular, her concept of ‘literary autonomy’ – the potential usefulness, and indeed the shortcomings, of which are here addressed within a British context for the first time. From the 1970s, Thomas becomes a contested figure among critics from an emergent Anglophone Welsh literature. At the same time, as the war in Ireland resumes, Thomas becomes a key writer for critics with associations to the unionist side of the Northern Irish divide. For them, Thomas becomes a means of re-telling the foundation myth of British Ulster identity: the Protestants’ ‘blood sacrifice’ for the union in the World War I. Finally, Thomas is appropriated as the key figure in a Philip Larkin and Andrew Motion-led attempt to re-centre twentieth-century poetry around an unbroken ‘English’ line of traditional poetic forms, created in opposition to the supposedly ‘foreign aberration’ of modernism.

Water under the bridge? Nature, memory and hydropolitics

Memories are not confined to those who experience them firsthand. Rather, they can be transmitted and repeated by subsequent generations as prosthetic and moral memories, not linked solely to specific geographic locations but extending to affect and inform contemporary political debates. This paper investigates how and why the 1965 flooding of the village of Capel Celyn in the Tryweryn valley, north Wales is remembered through textual analysis of Welsh literature and popular music. It also highlights the profound impact that struggles over resources can have on social, cultural and political landscapes. The flooding, arguably the most dramatic hydropolitical event in the history of the United Kingdom, created tension between the need to protect cultural identity on the one hand and on the other, the need to provide essential natural resources for industry and urban development. The memory of this event has been sustained in Wales in a number of ways. Visually, graffiti calling on the public to ‘remember Tryweryn’ has become a tangible symbol of Welsh nationalism, and a potent part of the Welsh landscape. In Welsh literature (poems and songs) the memory of Tryweryn has been expressed in terms of loss and shame and the defilement of nature. Politically, Tryweryn provided the context for the rise of Welsh nationalism and devolution and has become a regularly used symbol of a culture under threat. Crucially, the memories now influence and inform contemporary debates around precipitation, drought and any forced removal justified in the name of progress.

The Languages of British Literature and the Stakes of Anthologies

Recent scholarship has emphasized the multilingualism of the medieval British Isles, but this has yet to translate into a fully integrated teaching practice free of anachronisms or stereotypes, particularly in the treatment of Irish and Welsh literature. This article suggests both theoretical and practical responses to this situation. Appendices offer specific guidance for teaching the Celtic-language texts now in the major anthologies of English and British literature.

Apicultural requests in early welsh poems

Cywyddau gofyn (request poems) form a significant genre in medieval and early modern Welsh literature and a few of these poems contain some apicultural material. Hitherto quite unknown to beekeepers and of considerable historical interest, three of these early Welsh poems are discussed here and drawn to the attention of a wider readership unable to read the originals.

‘Y Ganrif Fawr’? Piety, Literature and Patronage in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Wales

This essay offers a reconsideration of the idea of ‘The Great Century’ of Welsh literature (1435–1535) and related assumptions of periodization for understanding the development of lay piety and literature in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Wales. It focuses on the origins of these ideas in (and their debt to) modern Welsh nationalist and Protestant and Catholic confessional thought, and their significance for the interpretation of Welsh literature and history. In addition, it questions their accuracy and usefulness in the light of contemporary patterns of manuscript production, patronage and devotional content of Welsh books of poetry and prose produced by the laity during and after this ‘golden age’ of literature. Despite the existence of over a hundred printed works in Welsh by 1660, the vernacular manuscript tradition remained robust; indeed, ‘native culture for the most part continued to be transmitted as it had been transmitted for centuries, orally or in manuscript’ until the eighteenth century. Bardic poetry’s value as a fundamental source for the history of medieval Ireland and Wales has been rightly acknowledged. However, more generally, Welsh manuscripts of both poetry and prose must be seen as a crucial historical source. They tell us much about contemporary views, interests and priorities, and offer a significant window onto the devotional world of medieval and early modern Welsh men and women. Drawing on recent work on Welsh literature, this paper explores the production and patronage of such books and the dynamics of cultural and religious change. Utilizing National Library of Wales Llanstephan MS 117D as a case study, it also examines their significance and implications for broader trends in lay piety and the nature of religious change in Wales.

Vernacularity in England and Wales, c. 1300-1550 ed. by Elisabeth Salter and Helen Wicker (review)

Reviewed by: Vernacularity in England and Wales, c. 1300-1550 ed. by Elisabeth Salter and Helen Wicker Rebecca F. McNamara Salter, Elisabeth and Helen Wicker, eds, Vernacularity in England and Wales, c. 1300-1550 (Utrecht Studies in Medieval Literacy, 17), Turnhout, Brepols, 2011; hardback; pp. vi, 335; 11 b/w illustrations, 1 b/w table; R.R.P. €70.00; ISBN 9782503528830. 'Language' is conspicuously absent from the title of Elisabeth Salter and Helen Wicker's edited collection. One realizes, however, that 'vernacularity' is indicative of the welcome scope of its contents. The vernacular receives due linguistic scrutiny, but it is also treated alongside national origin myths, devotional experience, architectural description and urban identity, and political enfranchisement. Wicker's Introduction elaborates these strands and contextualizes their place within the growing field of 'vernacular studies'. Michael Clanchy opens the volume's first section, 'Reading and Writing', with an analysis of England's ABC primers. He considers their devotional [End Page 336] and cultural functions and their differences from continental counterparts. Amanda Moss's essay explores the combined inflections of orthodox and heterodox thought found in a fifteenth-century devotional anthology. A 'Complaint of Christ' poem across six manuscripts is described by Salter to demonstrate evidence for vernacular practices within contexts of wider devotional reading. Assembled as 'Religious Experiences', contributions from Sarah James, Rob Lutton, and Stewart Mottram engage with vernacular practices of theological writing in England. James highlights 'chronic instability' in Reginald Pecock's idea of the vernacular, and Lutton breaks traditional boundaries of vernacular scholarship by discussing a multi-genre range of media devoted to the Holy Name of Jesus. Mottram contextualizes Wyatt's Penitential Psalms within contemporary prefaces to English Bibles, showing that clarity was neither the goal nor the product in many cases of vernacular translation. 'Political Issues' begins with Wicker's account of treasonable language trials alongside developing political identities and enfranchisement. Helen Fulton gives a masterful survey of medieval Welsh literature, focusing on gentry writer-patron networks and the tensions and integrations of nonnative origin myths into vernacular Welsh traditions. Our perspective of language in central English government is reoriented by Dodd's refreshing assessment of the political and linguistic nature of the records, a review that refutes the theory of a Lancastrian Chancery English standardization policy. In the volume's final section, 'Conceptual Vocabularies', Jayne Rimmer discusses housing in York and Norwich, highlighting differences and similarities in the language of urban dwellings of the wealthy and poor, and across regional areas. Andrew Butcher's analysis of a Canterbury Cathedral administration book includes an index of its English words and posits vernacular behaviour as informing the creation and collection of its documents. Concluding with remarks from Ian Johnson, this collection creatively emphasizes the vernacular aspects and the non-homogeneous nature of late medieval English and Welsh cultures. Its approaches and scope will provide valuable direction for further studies of vernacularity. [End Page 337] Rebecca F. McNamara Medieval and Early Modern Centre The University of Sydney Copyright © 2012 by the Author

The medieval world: an illustrated atlas

This lyrical adventure sweeps us through time and across Europe and the Middle East, charting the lands and events of the period known as the Middle Ages. Artworks, maps, and fine photography illuminate the key events of every century, beginning with the fall of the Roman Empire in A.D. 476 and moving forward to A.D. 1500 - the beginning of the age of discovery. Vibrant text from author John M. Thompson captures the drama and intrigue of the era, exploring wars, migrations, occupations, and inventions. Three hundred illustrations - antique paintings, magnificent portraits, illuminated manuscripts, and historical documents such as Magna Carta and the Domesday Book - lend rich immediacy. More than 60 maps, among them specially commissioned illustrated presentations and a lavishly drawn crusader map from A.D. 1170, chart important routes and events including the spread of Christianity and Islam. Twelve richly illustrated spreads chronicle the amusements, clothing, feasts, science, books, animals, and other aspects of daily life in the Middle Ages. Voices of the medieval world come alive through quotations from literature, letters, and journals that have survived the passage of time. Sidebars in every chapter examine important beliefs, arts and letters, architecture, and innovations. Biographical features introduce fascinating women and men, revealing the stories behind famous names like King Arthur, whose legend is noted in medieval Welsh literature. Joan of Arc, the teenage French peasant whose infamous trial is documented word for chilling word. Charlemagne, 8th-century ruler of an empire that encompassed Western and Central Europe. Saladin, sultan of the Arab world and enemy of the crusaders, yet respected by them for his high standards of chivalry. And his foe, Richard the Lionhearted, iconic king of England who spent most of his life elsewhere. In a unique feature that helps readers trace the march of time and progress, a world-class city is highlighted to exemplify the character and developments of each century. These key urban areas include London, Paris, Barcelona, Constantinople, and Damascus. Their histories are traced on fascinating time lines that also tie in global happenings during the century, for a rich overview of world events and progress. Painstakingly designed for accuracy and ease of use, The Medieval World is a fine reference for libraries, schools, families, and all who find fascination in this pivotal yet mysterious era of world history.

Matthew Arnold and the Canon of Medieval Welsh Literature

In 1944, Thomas Parry published, in Welsh, his ‘History of Welsh Literature to 1900’. It was a work whose scope was unparalleled by previous literary histories, covering thirteen centuries of literature in Welsh. In one volume, Parry created for Welsh speakers a comprehensive literary canon that not only defined the aspirations and identity of a cultural group but also called a nation into being. This article explores some of the reasons why the medieval is privileged in the Welsh literary canon, and how cultural and political authority, both Welsh and English, has worked to ensure the stability of the medieval canon for more than two centuries. The efforts of Welsh literary historians to naturalize the medieval Welsh canon were supported by English critical opinion in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the article looks in particular at the work of Matthew Arnold and Hector and Nora Chadwick, arguing that they played a significant role in validating the canon of medieval Welsh literature.

Empire, nation and the fate of a language: Patagonia in Argentine and Welsh literature

This article explores present-day representations, in Argentine and Welsh literature, of the utopian quest for linguistic, religious and political autonomy that drove a small group of Welsh migrants to Patagonia in the mid-nineteenth century. It proposes that Patagonia, mythologized in imperial travel accounts as civilization's antithesis and in the early discourse of the Argentine State as economically exploitable, is today subject to new claims from both sides of the Atlantic. As Welsh language initiatives in the Chubut Valley of Argentina reach new levels of popularity, Argentine fiction constructs ‘Welsh Patagonia’ as a refuge from, but rarely a challenge to, national politics. In Wales, on the other hand, Patagonia is crucial to twenty-first-century articulations of a Welsh identity that is transnational rather than British.

Textual Criticism and Text Reconstruction: Approaches to Early Russian and Welsh Poetry

The Tale of Igor’s Campaign and The Gododdin, two poetic texts crucially important for the history of Early Russian and Welsh literature respectively, have a very dark history. Both are preserved in only one reliable source and are supposed to be composed about 600 years before this edition or manuscript was created. Anna Dybo and John Koch however propose an attempt of reconstruction for the Ur-Text of these poetic masterpieces. In this article we compare the framework within which these reconstructions were created. Whereas Anna Dybo relies mainly on contemporary texts, John Koch in the absence of such monuments has to rely more on historical interpretation.

The Origins of the 'Four Branches of the Mabinogi' by Andrew Breeze

830 Reviews Looking Westward is thus perhaps not for junior students,who may be confused bymodish postcolonial remarks in it,picked up fromwriters less able and honest thanHill. Yet itdoes merit attention fromprofessional scholars. Reinterpretation of itsclues and arguments will let them see theworld of theGawain-Poet more closely: his familiaritywith luxury; his expertise inhunting; his curiosity aboutWales; and his first-hand knowledge of France, especially the Toulouse region. By working on this and other evidence, theymay determine whether or not the Gawain-Poet was (as this reviewer proposes) Sir John Stanley (d. 1414), north-western magnate, courtier, huntsman, campaigner in the French wars, Garter Knight, and valued servant ofRichard II and Henry IV. University of Navarre, Pamplona Andrew Breeze The Origins of the 'FourBranches of the MabinogV. By Andrew Breeze. Leomin ster:Gracewing. 2009. viii+155 pp. ?9-99- ISBN 978-0-85244-533-2. After publishing his hypothesis on the authorship of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi in the third chapter of his book Medieval Welsh Literature (Dublin: Four Courts, 1997), Andrew Breeze has devoted an entire book to the controversial viewpoint that awoman, namely princess Gwenllian ofDyfed, wrote one of Wales's most significant contributions tomedieval literature. First, the author cites textual evidence from the Four Branches for a female writer by evoking several striking features of the narratives. Breeze points out the dialogues where the female characters are often presented as being stronger than theirmale counterparts. Another argument in favour of a woman author consists in the lengthypassages dedicated to female interests such asmotherhood, wet-nursing, fostering, or childlessness, in contrast to the shortmentions of battles and war. In addition the author of the Four Branches shows compassion for the defeated army and is aware of the human tragedy.Having presented all arguments that hint at a female author in general, Breeze goes on to narrow down possible female candidates for a prose narrative in early twelfth-century Wales. First of all, the style of the narrative hints at an author familiarwith etiquette, who isprobably amember of a royal court. In the following section Breeze listsnineteen arguments forGwenllian's authorship and the probable time of composition. He makes use of internal textual evidence as well as references to other manuscripts of the time in bothWelsh and Irish literature, and makes a semantic comparison between poems ofHywel ab Owain Gwynedd, Gwenllian's nephew, and theFour Branches. Reaching beyond literary argumentation, Breeze backs up his theory by exploit ing archaeological and topographical evidence, e.g. the frequency of toponyms in the text.He claims that the detailed knowledge of the local geography ofGwynedd, a somewhat limited acquaintance with Dyfed, and even lesswith Ireland coincide very strongly with Gwenllian's biography as a Gwynedd princess married to a Dyfed ruler with whom she spent some time in exile in Ireland. Several of the points he makes are taken up later in the book for a detailed line of arguments. MLR, 105.3, 2010 831 The chapter entitled 'Politics and the Four Branches' argues that the evident knowledge of the system of government?including diplomacy and warfare, the function of native law, the political constellation at the time in southWales, in particular interest in the fate of Dyfed and the threat of the rise of the kingdom of England?strongly points to amember of the court ofDyfed, corroborating the previous arguments. The chapters entitled 'The Four Branches inOur Time' and 'Some Recent Views of theFour Branches' deserve special mention. In the firstBreeze reviews themajor works on the origin of these tales over the last century, among others the public ations of Sir JohnLloyd,W. J. Gruffydd, and Rachel Bromwich. The other chapter contains very detailed replies to dissenting opinions on the authorship of theFour Branches in recent papers by Fiona Winward, William Parker, and others. The book in its entirety reads like an academic detective story,approaching the case to be solved from different angles. This is apparently the author's intention when, in the introduction, he challenges his readers to sharpen theirwits, develop their opinion on the hypothesis, and, ifpossible, find evidence against it.Breeze also compares his methodology tomodern criminology and theuse of circumstan tial evidence such...

Looking Westward: Poetry, Landscape, and Politics in 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight' by Ordelle G. Hill

MLR, 105.3, 2010 829 Looking Westward: Poetry, Landscape, and Politics in 'SirGawain and theGreen Knight\ By Ordelle G. Hill. Newark: University ofDelaware Press. 2009. 203 pp. $51.50. ISBN 978-0-87413-049-2. Looking Westward is not by some fledgling doctor of philosophy, but an emeritus professor of Eastern Kentucky University. Believing that old men should be ex plorers, Ordelle Hill blazes new territory (some of itCeltic) forGawain Studies. His courage and independence thus deserve praise. However regarded, his book is an unconventional but serious contribution to knowledge. He offers four chapters, with introduction, conclusion, and appendices. We start with accounts of Welsh poetry,Henry ofGrosmont's Livre de SeyntzMedicines, and theNero manuscript. Then comes Gawain's journey throughWales and north-west England, followed by discussion of the poem's people and places (illustrated by somewhat murky pictures of Lud's Church and similar sites).We conclude with beheadings in Welsh history and legend. Most English medievalists have zero interest inmatters Celtic. So it is refreshing to find an American Gawain-scholar who takes account of the Mabinogion, or the poems ofDafydd ap Gwilym and Iolo Goch. Professor Hill's attention toHenry of Grosmont is likewise welcome. Yet ifthe aim is lofty,the results are not as compel ling as they should be. Many statements inLooking Westward require qualification. Hill should have downplayed self-reliance, and consulted Celticists and others at Harvard or UCLA. They would have corrected a simplistic view ofWelsh history, and directed him towriters ofwhom he seems unaware. Among errors ormisleading remarks are the following. Anglesey, North Wales, andWirral are not 'the only identifiable place-names in the poem' (p. 13). Lom bardy, Rome, Tintagel, and Tuscany are also locatable, while the 'Holy Head' is surelyHolywell, Flintshire.Monmouth isnot an 'English' city (p. 14). It is in Wales, as Shakespeare makes clear inHenry V. To say that it is 'difficult to locate the castle prototype' of Hautdesert (p. 21) ignores parallels of itsname with those of Monthault orMold and Disserd or Diserth. These places in north-east Wales had castles (fragments survive) known to the Gawain-Poet. Similarities in accounts of storms (p. 33) by Dafydd ap Gwilym and Sir Gawain may be due to Le Roman de la Rose, a poem read by both authors. Comments on the Stanleys ofWirral (p. 68), which cite Edward Wilson ofOxford and this reviewer,misrepresent both. For linguistic evidence on the author of Sir Gawain and theGreen Knight, see this writer's 'Sir John Stanley (c. 1350-1414) and the Gawam-Poet', Arthuriana, 14.1 (2004), 15-30, which sets out verbal similarities between the poem and one of Stanley's letters,but appears unknown toHill. For all that, Looking Westward has many merits. Its author is an energetic re searcher, labouring infieldswhere he isnot a specialist. He has scrambled up slopes in theGawam-Country; he has a careful eye for castle furnishing and architecture (pp. 94~95> 98), though the phrase 'pared out of papure' (with an equivalent in Dafydd ap Gwilym) will not bear the interpretation he puts on it. What we lack is incisive finality,assembling thematerial to provide weighty conclusions. 830 Reviews Looking Westward is thus perhaps not for junior students,who may be confused bymodish postcolonial remarks in it,picked up fromwriters less able and honest thanHill. Yet itdoes merit attention fromprofessional scholars. Reinterpretation of itsclues and arguments will let them see theworld of theGawain-Poet more closely: his familiaritywith luxury; his expertise inhunting; his curiosity aboutWales; and his first-hand knowledge of France, especially the Toulouse region. By working on this and other evidence, theymay determine whether or not the Gawain-Poet was (as this reviewer proposes) Sir John Stanley (d. 1414), north-western magnate, courtier, huntsman, campaigner in the French wars, Garter Knight, and valued servant ofRichard II and Henry IV. University of Navarre, Pamplona Andrew Breeze The Origins of the 'FourBranches of the MabinogV. By Andrew Breeze. Leomin ster:Gracewing. 2009. viii+155 pp. ?9-99- ISBN 978-0-85244-533-2. After publishing his hypothesis on the authorship of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi in the third chapter of his book Medieval Welsh Literature (Dublin: Four Courts, 1997...

Alexander Smirnov and the Beginnings of Celtic Studies in Russia

Celtic studies in Russia which have developed during the twentieth century into a recognised and respectable branch on the tree of humanities owe much to one person who undoubtedly has won a right to be called a patriarch of Celtic studies in Russia, namely Alexander Alexandrovich Smirnov. Mostly known for his pioneering translations of early Irish tales into Russian in the early days of his career he was also prominent scholar of Welsh and Breton covering many aspects of Celtic linguistics and literary studies. His biography, achievements and approach to Celtic studies in Russia deserve better attention both on the Russian side and in the view of the history of Celtic studies worldwide. We are aiming here to connect facts of his biography with his academic career in the field of Celtic studies and because of the specific aims and limits of the present conference we are not going to touch on his role as a scholar of Romance literatures and as a Shakespearean scholar. Alexander Smirnov [27.8(8.9).1883 – 16.9.1962] can be considered the first professional Celtic scholar in Russia. He was a prominent medievalist and philologist with a range of interests from early Irish and Welsh literature to Shakespearean studies. The paper is devoted to some little known facts from Smirnov’s biography especially to the early years of his academic career in Russia, France and Ireland. His earlier publications on Celtic literatures and ideas expressed therein will be brought to light and examined. Smirnov should be recognised as a ‘founding father’ of a school of Russian Celtic studies. His ideas and influence are still alive in the works of subsequent Russian scholars of Celtic.

Mishandled Vessels: Heaving Drinks and Hurling Insults in Medieval Welsh Literature and Law

“Mishandled Vessels” explores the gesture of insult in medieval Wales by means of a detailed examination of the intersection of literature, law and art. The article takes as its starting point the illustration of “sarhaed” or insult, in the mid-thirteenth-centry Welsh legal codex NLW Latin ms Peniarth 28. It then considers the attitudes which lie behind the gesture, namely those which anthropologists have identified as peculiar to cultures which feud, and charts them through select literary and legal texts. This investigation helps shed light on how the medieval Welsh dealt with the perceived shortage of honour in their culture.

Spirit and Flesh in Twentieth-Century Welsh Poetry: A Comparison of the Work of D. Gwenallt Jones and Pennar Davies

In Poetry Since 1945, a masterly assessment of Welsh poetry between 1945 and 1970 published more than thirty years ago, the then-young literary critic Dafydd Glyn Jones described the impact the Penyberth incident--the Burning of the Bombing School--had made on Welsh literature up to that time. Penyberth in North Wales's Llyn peninsula and the heartland of Welsh-speaking Wales, was where the British War Ministry had decided, in the teeth of local and national opposition, to build a testing ground for its Air Force pilots in preparation for the impending European war. On September 8, 1936, three leaders of the Welsh Nationalist Party--an academic, a schoolmaster, and a minister of religion--took it upon themselves to block the government's plans by setting the place on fire; they each received sentences of nine months in prison for their pains. That most unexpected for freedom and dignity signaled a new phase in Welsh national consciousness, when those who were committed to Wales were challenged for the first time in the modern era to act radically in order to preserve their culture and their way of life. In response to that incident, the poet Robert Williams Parry in his sonnet Cymru 1937 (Wales 1937) had voiced an almost existential plea calling on his contemporaries, whether pious secular, to do something rather than to lament impotently on the demise of their nation: O'r Llanfair sydd ar y neu Lanfair Mathafarn Chwyth ef i'r synagog neu chwyth ef i'r dafarn. (Llwyd 129) From the Llanfair on the Hill the burial place of the Methodist revivalist and hymnist Williams Pantycelyn, or Llanfair Mathafarn, the Anglesey abode of his eighteenth-century contemporary, the dissolute poetic genius Goronwy Owen, blow him to the synagogue him to the tavern (my own translation). This wind, wrote Dafydd Glyn Jones, blown through Welsh poetry ever since, and--thanks largely to the powerful voices of the two Christian poets, Saunders Lewis and D. Gwenallt Jones, against whom the still small voices of Marxism and Humanism had no earthly chance,--it has blown, almost without veering, from Llanfair ar y Bryn (47). Even in 1971 this, in the world of literature, was a most unusual situation. The twentieth century had seen the progressive secularization of Welsh life, not least among its intelligentsia. The University of Wales, its first constituent College having been established in 1872, had taken its earliest strides at the exact time when Darwinism and other humanist ideologies had undermined, to an increasing extent, the older values and orthodoxies. If the liberal theology that became so pervasive among a section of the religious leaders at the turn of the century had been, for some, a means of preserving the integrity of Christian faith in the context of the modern age, for others it was all too easy to pass beyond liberal Protestantism altogether into a full-blown secular humanism. If Christianity was merely humanism with a pious tinge, what reason was there to stay Christian at all? Just as this was occurring among the intelligentsia, the great phalanx of the working class, and not just in the industrial south, was also traveling in a secular direction under the influence of socialism and the labor movement. By the first decade of the century, the older individualism was being superseded by a class-based politics that prized workers' rights much higher than religious faith; the people's utopia became a much more potent symbol than the Kingdom of God. Following the deep tragedy of the First World War, the feeling was that the new Wales would be a secular Wales with religion having been banished to the past. And so it was, a fact exemplified during the 1930s by the poets and the novelists of the Anglo-Welsh: Rhys Davies, Idris Davies, and Dylan Thomas. It was also true of the most creative artists who wrote in Welsh: T. H. Parry-Williams and Robert Williams Parry being cases in point. …