THE ANNALS OF THE FOUR MASTERS

Book cover, the cover shows a monk sitting in a pew and writing. In front of him is a book with the word Annals written in cursive. Above the monk is the title of the book “ANNALS OF THE FOUR MASTERS” and the book author: Bernadette Cunningham. Under the picture are the words:”Irish history, kingship and society in the early seventeenth century”

Title: The Annals of the Four Masters

Full Title: The Annals of the Four Masters – Irish history, kingship and society in the early seventeenth century

Author: Bernadette Cunningham

Publisher: Four Courts Press

Published: 2014

ISBN: 9781846825385

Pages: 348 including Appendix, Bibliography and Index.

Synopsis:

Review: I honestly thought that I was getting an abridged version of the Four Annals when I bought this book. It was only when I started to read the book finally that I realized that this was not it. I still was not disappointed though and I will tell you why. This book is an amazing introduction to the Four Annals.

The text is made up of ten chapters, an Appendix which is an extract of the Annals of Lecan for the years 1451 to 1460, as well as an extensive Bibliography.

The first chapter is an introduction to the text. It tells you the aim of the text, who the four masters are, where the Annals are from, when they were compiled and what years they covered. Chapters two to nine analyze the Annals from the influences on the writers (political and otherwise) to the reason behind writing the history of Ireland in the form of Annals. The last chapter is a short roundup of the other chapters.

I found the Appendix with the extract from the Lecan Annals interesting to read after reading the chapters of the book. I found myself looking at the enters differently than if I was just reading them without having gone through this book.

I highly recommend reading this book first if you are going to read the Annals of the Four Masters.

FLED BRICRENN The Feast of Bricriu

I seem to have underestimated the number of little green books that I have so here are two more wonderful additions. As usual I will not be reviewing them in depth but I will talk about structure and the most interesting parts in them.

As you must have read from the title of the post the books I will be taking about today are related to the Feast of Bricriu. And there are two books for this post: Fled Bricrend (The Feast of Bricriu) and Fled Bricrenn: Reassessments.

The Irish Text Society Vol. II and Irish Texts Society Subsidiary Series 10

I’m going to start with the volume that has the main story of The Feast of Bricriu.

Title page of Irish Texts Society Vol. II

It starts with a Preface by the author and then it moves to the Introduction section. The Introduction section has two Introductions: General Introduction and a Special Introduction.

To me the Special Introduction had more information that I was interested in. It starts with the manuscripts used in the compilation of the text in the volume and who wrote them or compiled them and some interesting tidbits from them. There are five manuscripts in total. Next comes the probable date of the text and the editor uses things like grammar and loan words to figure it out.

Two pages from Irish Texts Society Vol. II

Next comes the text of the story in both Irish and English (129 pages of text). Appendix I is about Personal Names, Appendix II is about Geographical names, Appendix III is about textual notes, and finally Appendix IV is about Special Notes.

Irish Texts Society Subsidiary Series 10 title page.

The paperback has 5 essays that discuss aspects of The Feast of Bricriu. The first essay is by Bernhard Maier and it talks about the problems and parallels between the classic descriptions of Continental Celts and Fled Bricrenn. The second essay is about the significance of Fled Bricrenn within the broader Celtic context by John T. Koch. The third essay is by Nicolas Jacobs and it discusses Fled Bricrenn and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The fourth essay is about the role of Cú Roí in Fled Bricrenn and it is by Petra S. Hellmuth. Finally, the last essay is by Proinsias Mac Cana and it is about the structure and syntax in Fled Bricrenn.

For me the most interesting essays were the first, second and fourth essays. I was a little bored reading the third and fifth essays but your milage might vary.

Book Review Kings and Warriors

Full Title: Kings and Warriors in Early North-West Europe

Editors: Jan Erik Rekdal and Charles Doherty

Publisher: Four Courts Press

Published: 2016

ISBN: 978-1-84682-501-9

Pages: 480 including bibliography and index, the bibliography starts on page 433

Synopsis:

This book explores the representation of the warrior in relation to the king in early north-west Europe. These essays, by scholars from the areas of Norse, Celtic and Anglo-Saxon studies, examine how medieval writers highlighted the role of the warrior in relation to kings, or to authority, and to society as a whole. The warrior who fought for his people was also a danger to them. How was such a destructive force to be controlled? The Christian church sought to challenge the ethos of the pagan tribal warrior and to reduce the barbarism of warfare (at least its worst excesses). We can follow this struggle in the medieval literature produced in the areas under study.

Review:

This book contains the results of the research project for the academic year of 2012/13 by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. There were three groups of people invited to participate in the project. The project theme was “The representation of the warrior in relation to the king in the European Middle Ages (600 – 1200)”. The project leader was Professor Jan Erik Rekdal, from the University of Olso. 

The project concentrated on three areas: the Celtic world of Ireland and Wales, the Norse world and Anglo-Saxon England. The reason these areas were chosen was because of the similarities they had between them. They were in contact with each other, they all experienced the impact of Christianity, they each had a pre-Christian past that lived on in varying degrees in the literature produced after the adoption of Christianity, and the literature of each of these areas is rich and distinctive. They also have differences, which tells us what was important to each society.

Each chapter in the book approaches the theme of the project in its own way based on the individual responses of the researchers/authors of this project. There is a common concern among the researchers and that is the nature of primitive government embodied by the King, and the move from archaic to a medieval polity. 

The King’s duty included protecting his people, extending his rule and represent his people in times of war and peace. The King’s power derived not just from being a warrior but also from his relationship to the Otherworld. The King however, couldn’t be a king without his warriors but if he ever faced any opposition it was usually from them. They were rewarded for their loyalty but they were punished for opposition too. 

The book has 8 research papers a bibliography and an Index. 

• Living with war: poets and the Welsh experience c. 600 – 1300 by Marged Haycock. 85% of Welsh poetry is concerned with warfare, the skills of the King and some nobles and warbands. The main concern of the author was how warfare is communicated and mediated in poetry. In her quest she tells us how the treatment of warfare varies depending on genre, praise poetry versus chronicles and so on. She also tells us how to read the different discussions applied within these genres. It was really interesting to see how Welsh poetry looked at the warrior king as opposed to talking about the virtues of the king. 

• Warrior and king in early Ireland by Charles Doherty. This paper is inspired by George Dumézil’s work. The author looks at coinage, the religion of the Celts especially the gods and goddesses of war to look at the symbolisms of king and warrior. He looks at the book of Kells for the same kind of symbolisms. The author suggests that the warband evolved in relation to kingship and indicates how kingship and the church came to an uneasy accommodation leading eventually to the Europeanization of kingship in the 12^th century.  

• The medieval king: Christian king and fearless warrior by Jan Erik Rekdal Rekdal discusses the two opposite deaths in medieval Irish literature: death on a pillow and death on the battlefield. 

• Monsters of the tribe: berserk fury, shapeshifting and social dysfunction in Táin Bó Cúailnge, Egils Saga, and Hrólfs saga kraka by Ralph O’Connor. This author also uses Dumézil as a jump off point for his paper. He looks at the phenomenon of the frenzied warrior in 1 Irish tale and 2 Norse ones. 

• Warrior Time by Morgan Thomas Davies. The essay discusses Warrior Time by looking at two Sagas, The Táin and Beowulf. According to the author the two tales have a lot of similarities when it comes to motifs but differ in the way they treat time.

• The low men on the totem pole: warriors and rulers in Old Norse texts from c. 1200 by Ian Beuermann. In this essay the author looks at the relationship between rulers and warriors in tales that are concerned with the periphery of the Norse World. 

• Óláfr Haraldsson, king, warrior and saint: presentations of King Óláfr Haraldsson the Saint in medieval poetry and prose by Jon Gunnar Jorgensen. Basically, this is an essay that looks at how Óláfr Haraldsson is represented in poetry.

• The role and identity of the warrior: self-reflection and awareness in Old Norse literary and social spaces by Stefka G. Eriksen Here the author looks at how the warriors look at themselves and their attitudes towards warrior-ship and wars, and the tension between their identity as a warrior and their other social identities.

I really enjoyed this book as a whole but of course I really loved the essays that compared Irish literature to that of the Norse the most as it gave me a great look at the differences and similarities between the cultures and how their viewed their kings and warriors. I think if you were to ask me for my favorite essay it would be “Warrior and King in Early Ireland” and my second favorite one is “Monsters of the tribe”. I highly recommend this book!

The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel

Full Title: Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel: Kingship and Narrative Artistry in a Mediaeval Irish Saga

Author:  Ralph O’Connor

Publisher: Oxford University Press, Oxford

Published: May 5th 2013

ISBN: 9780199666133

Pages: Hardcover, 386. Including GlosCsary, Works Cited and Index

Cover of the Book

Synopsis:

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 monograph 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.

Review:

Ralph O’Connor’s study is the most comprehensive study of “The Destruction of Derga’s Hostel” that I have read so far. The book only has 10 chapters and yet it manages to have a comprehensive analysis of the saga. 

The first chapter talks about the textual background of the story without being too boring to the layman but still having enough interesting information to hold the interest of someone who is more interested in manuscripts. Chapters 2 to 7, provide a close reading of the text and takes the reader through the life of Conaire from his birth to his death. Chapters 8 and 9 take a close look at the Biblical dimension of the story. It looks at the classical/Biblical versus vernacular influences. And finally, Chapter 10 looks at the reception of the text by its original audience, while at the same time giving a historical framework for contemporary ideas of kingship.

The book also has a glossary of jargon, Irish and Latin terms and has tables and figures to explain the complicated structure of the story. What I loved most is that each chapter has sections which can be read alone so you don’t feel like you have to read the whole chapter in one sitting to get the full picture of what the author is trying to say. Also, the way the author challenges assumptions and revisits questions asked by other scholars before. 

I liked how the author compared the usages of the geisi in the Irish sagas to the way that prophecies are used in Greek sagas. I love the way he looks at the assumption that just because something looks like it is Biblical on the surface then it has to be of Biblical influence.

All in all, I really enjoyed everything in this book and I highly recommend it.

CATH MAIGE MUCRAMA

Full title: Cath Maige Mucrama – The Battle of Mag Mucrama (Volume # 50)

Edited by: Máirín O Daly

Publisher: Irish Text Society

Published: First published in 1975, Reprinted 1997

ISBN: 1 870 16650 7

Pages: 157 pages, includes Introduction, Appendix, Notes, Index to Notes, Names of Persons, Names of Peoples, and Names of Places.

Pretty Green Book

Title Page

Table of Contents

REVIEW: As usual with these books I’m not going to review the content of the myth rather I’m going to comment on the Introduction and the way the book is put together.

The Introduction starts by telling the reader that none of the texts that will appear in the book is appearing for the first time.

The editor then goes on to tell the reader about the texts used and when they were edited and by who. The editor then tells us why the order of the texts in the book were put in that way.

The Introduction also introduces the names and personalities of the characters in the myths. I found this section interesting but be warned Irish is used so if you don’t have Irish this section will be a bit difficult.

Another thing discussed in the Introduction are the motifs found in the stories, there are 6 of them.

Next the language of the texts is discussed along with the Archaisms preserved in the texts. Again, no Irish is going to hinder your understanding of the analysis of the language of the texts.

Finally, the editorial method is discussed briefly.

The Cath Maige Mucrama starts on page 38 and ends on page 63. Scéla Éogain begins on page 64 and ends on page 73. Scéla Mosaulum begins on page 74 and ends on page 87. Cath Cinn Abrad begins on page 88 and ends on page 93. All the stories have one page in Irish (on the left) and its translation in English (on the right). The Appendix is in Irish and the notes on the stories stat on page 102. Names of Persons starts on page 152, Names of People on page 155, and finally Names of Places on page 156.

As usual the book was a joy to read. I got to review my Irish (even though I had to break out the dictionary a lot) and enjoy some good myths along the way.

BOOK REVIEW: 2 books

Irish Text Society Books: The Book of Rights and Lebor Na Cert Reassessment

BOOK 1: Lebor Na Cert (The Book of Right)

Series: Volume XLVI

Edited by: Myles Dillon

Publisher: Irish Text Society

Published: First published 1962, Reprinted 1984, 1994, 2012

ISBN: 1 870 16646 9

Pages: 198, with 2 Appendices, Index of names and places, a map, and notes on it.

Review: There is no way I’m going to review The Book of Right of course but I will be discussing some points about it.

The book has 4 chapters: Introduction, Lebor Na Cert, Appendix A- Timna Chathaír Máir, and Appendix B – Tables of Stipends and Tributes.

The Introduction is VERY informative. It talks about what the Book of Rights is all about, and how it was written (its structure, prose and poems), who may or may not have written it, how old it really is, the value of the Book of Rights as a historical document, and how the book was edited, when and by whom and from which manuscripts. (Pages ix – xxv)

The chapter that contains the Book of Rights has both the Irish and the English translation. The Irish text is on the left page and its English translation is on the right. It has both prose and poems. The prose explains the poem to come after it. (Pages 1 – 147)

Appendix A is a chapter that contains The Testament of Cathaír Már. There is an explanation of what that is and then similar to the Book of Right there is an Irish and an English translation. (Pages 148 – 178)

Appendix B is literally a bunch of tables of stipends and tributes from Cashel, Connachta, Ailech, Ulaid, Temair, Lagin, Cruachain, and Mide. (Pages 179 – 189)

Lebor Na Cert (The Book of Rights)

BOOK 1: Lebor Na Cert Reassessment

Series: Subsidiary Series No. 25

Edited by Kevin Murray

Publisher: Irish Text Society

Published: 2013

ISBN: 1-870166-74-4

Pages: 126, with Bibliography and Index

Review: The book has 5 very interesting essays by Fergus Kelly, Thomas Charles-Edwards, Catherine Swift, Edel Bhreathnach, and Kevin Murray.

Essay 1 by Fergus Kelly is all about Myles Dillon the editor of the Book Of Rights. Kelly talks about his scholarship contributions and the importance of his work, and his reputation as a nativist.

Essay 2 by Thomas Charles-Edwards talks about the organization of Ireland in terms of clientship as seen through the lens of the Book of Rights. It is a detailed analysis of the different types of clientship found in the text.

Essay 3 by Cathrine Swift looks at the broader historical context of som of the customs and practices that are important to the Book of Rights. Especially customs involving taxes, trade and trespass. This essay was really interesting because it discusses the interactions of the Norse and the Irish population.

Edel Bhreathnach’s essay talks about the Testament of Cathaír Már. Especially the genealogical traditions of Leinster.

Finally, Kevin Murray’s essay builds on what Dillon did and looks at the language and date of the Book of Rights.

I can’t choose a favorite between the essays as each one has interesting information from a different perspective. If you read those two books together you will get a comprehensive understanding of the Book of Rights.

Lebor Na Cert Reassessment

BOOK REVIEW Language and Tradition in Ireland

Picture of the book cover.

Full Title: Language and Tradition in Ireland: Continuities and Displacements

Editors: Maria Tymoczko and Colin Ireland

Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press and American Conference For Irish Studies

Published: 2003

ISBN: 9781558494275

Pages: 240 including Notes on Contributors and Index.

Synopsis: If language and culture are intimately connected, then cultures involving people who speak more than one language must have special characteristics, as well as particular social issues to negotiate. What are the challenges faced by a people with two or more languages as their heritage? How does that multiple heritage affect cultural forms, including literature and the arts? How does linguistic difference influence the conceptualization and writing of history? And if the meeting of languages within a people has involved contestation and power, how are those conflicts negotiated?

This volume uses the tools of critical theory to explore such questions with respect to the complex, multilingual history of Ireland. Avoiding the simplistic polarized oppositions popular with cultural nationalists, the contributors examine the nexus of language, tradition, and authority in Ireland that has created such a rich, multivalent culture.

Although the linguistic interface of Irish and English has dominated cultural negotiations in Ireland over the last five hundred years, the island has an even longer history of linguistic and cultural exchange. Arguing that tradition is never static, the essays in this volume challenge the concept of a monolithic cultural origin, while insisting on the importance of inherited discourses in the continuity of culture through time and across linguistic difference. The chapters cover a broad range of topics from early Irish narratives and Latin hagiography to literary works by such writers as Yeats, Joyce, Friel, Montague, and McGahern, as well as other cultural forms, including traditional Irish music. Several chapters address issues of politics and power, from the role of interpreters in the relations between linguistic communities in Ireland to the politicization of language in Northern Ireland since the 1980s. Taken together, the essays illuminate scholarly domains as varied as postcolonial theory, the relationship between language and nation, the nature of tradition, and Irish literature of all periods.

In addition to the editors, contributors include Michael Cronin, Joanne Findon, Helen Fulton, Declan Kiberd, Jeremy Lowe, Gordon McCoy and Camille O’Reilly, Catherine McKenna, Coilin Owens, Thomas Dillon Redshaw, and Sally K. Sommers Smith.”

Review: I’m honestly not sure what I should write about this book. I bought it thinking it was one thing but it turned out to be something totally different and that is not the fault of the book but my own fault. So I’m going to write this from just of the perspective of reading the book not what I thought it was going to be about.

There are 11 essays in this book, and of these 11 I was only interested in 5. And of these 5 only 3 made any sense to me because I at least knew the material they were talking about.

The first of the three essays was actually the introduction. It was a discussion of the core issues of this volume, a little history, definitions of words like tradition and how it is used in the book and asking some good questions about language and culture.

Essay number 2 that I was interested in was about gender and power in Serglige Con Culainn and The Only Jealousy of Emer. I found this essay really informative and the discussion was an honest one about how the changes Yeats made diluted the power of women in the tale.

Finally essay number 3 was about the Tain Bo Cuailnge and the dramatization of violence and death. And a great discussion of how this tale wasn’t a simple straight forward heroic tale.

Because I wasn’t familiar with a lot of the material that the book discusses I honestly did not find this book interesting as a whole but the few essays that did interest me were really good and made me think seriously and sometimes even look at certain tales with a new fresh eye. So from that respect I enjoyed what little I knew from the book. Again this is not the book’s fault it is purely my own.

Playing the Hero

Full Title: Playing the Hero – Reading the Irish Saga Táin Bó Cúailnge

Author: Ann Dooley

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Published: 2006

ISBN: 9780802038326

Pages: 298 including notes, Bibliography, and Index

Synopsis:

Review: I have never been utterly confused by a book as much as I have been confused by this one. I don’t know if it is because the author like to complicate things, or it is the subject matter, or it is just above my pay grade.

The book is supposed to be a series of thematic essays grouped around the main saga representation of the Irish martial hero Cú Chulain. The study conducted is about the relation between Recension I and II. It is not a study that gives a complete picture of the entire saga so if you are looking to see what this saga is then this is not the book for you.

In this study the author is more interested in all the complex and varied aspects of how texts reveal themselves of how it is that they came to mean. This bit was copied word for word from the Introduction. I am not sure exactly what is meant by “come to mean”. And the whole book is like that. This was just a taste of what the writing in the book is like.

Like I said in the beginning this book is confusing to me. And based on a few reviews I read online it seems like it is confusing to a lot of people. So here is my verdict. Stay away from this book if you are : (a) a beginner, (b) an intermediate or, (c) looking for an analysis of the actual text of the Táin because this is not it.

The Otherworld Voyage

Full Title: The Otherworld Voyage In Early Irish Literature – An Anthology of Criticism

Editor: Jonathan M. Wooding

Publisher: Four Courts Press

Published: 2000

ISBN: 978-1-84682-556-9

Pages: 290, Includes an Appendix, Bibliography, and Index

Synopsis:

Prominent in the literature of early Ireland are the tales known as echtrai (adventures) and immrama (voyages), stories telling of journeys to the Otherworld of Celtic legend. These tales have long held a fascination for both scholars and general readers, but there is no satisfactory, comprehensive treatment of them in print. This anthology presents a selection of the most important studies of the subject, to which is added a number of new essays representing the current state of scholarship. A general introduction is provided and an extensive bibliography.

Containing the most important critical materials for an understanding of the Irish Otherworld Voyage legends, this anthology will be of interest and use to teachers and students of early Irish history and literature, comparative literature and mythology.

Review:

The idea for this book came during a conference at Maynooth in 1995. The attendees noted the need for a guide to Hiberno-Latin and early Irish voyage literature. They wanted a work of reference for the subject, because this kind of work was not yet available. This text is a selection of past and present criticism concerning the voyage tales and their context. “The articles are to be understood as artifacts particular to their era, though it is to be noted that nothing has been selected for purely historical interest: all the items in this volume has in some way or other provided a perspective, which has not been entirely superseded by later work” p. ix The selection of articles span nearly a century, and they discuss Irish voyage literature, its social and religious context.

Some of these articles were really short (4 pages) like “Two Observations Concerning the Navigatio Brendani” and “The Location of the Otherworld in Irish Tradition”, while others are really long like “Subversion at Sea: Structure, Style, and Intent in the Immrama” (32 pages).

I think my favorite out of all the articles was the one by John Carey, “The Location of the Otherworld in Irish Tradition.” I have to admit, I don’t have a lot of exposure to the Immrama or the Echtrai, but I found this volume very interesting. I’m going to read this book again after I read and digest that part of Irish Literature. I feel like I missed a lot because of my limited exposure to these stories. This is a must have book if you have an interest in Immrama and Echtrai.

The Great Queens

Full Title: The Great Queens – Irish Goddesses from the Morrígan to Cathleen ní Houlihan

Series: Irish Literary Studies 34

Author: Rosalind Clark

Publisher: Colin Smythe Limited

Published: 1991

ISBN: 0-86140-290-1

Pages: 277, including Notes, Bibliography, and Index

Synopsis: From GoodReads.com

Review:

The book is made up of an Introduction, four chapters and a conclusion.

The Introduction discussed the background of the Irish language and the stories the author is talking about the rest of the book.

Part One, which is made up of two chapters, discusses who the Morrígan is as a goddess and how She was portrayed by authors who wrote (or didn’t write) about Her in Myths.

Part Two, which ends with Chapter Four, discusses Sovereignty goddesses and how they turned into an allegory in Medieval times. The author then takes that one step further and discusses how They go from an allegory to peasant “ordinary” women from the end of the Middle Ages through the Irish Renaissance.

Finally, the conclusion puts it all together and ties it up with more information.

I’m a little torn about this book. It has a lot of great information on the War Goddesses but sometimes I wanted to scream at the book “nope, nope, nope!” It has more to do with how I read the myths and my own thoughts on the War Goddesses then with actual wrong information. So in the end, read the book and see if it jives with your thoughts on the subject matter…some of it certainly didn’t jive with me.