Program with Abstracts – CSANA at StFX, 7-10 MAY 2026, Mulroney Hall 2032

Abstracts

Mulroney Hall 2032

Thursday, 7 May 2026

12:00pm-1:00pm Registration, Coffee & Pastries

1:00pm-2:30pm: Session 1
Chair: Michael Linkletter (St Francis Xavier University)

• Diùd Sampson (Dalhousie University): Dùthchas ann an Tìr nan Craobh: An Exploration of TEK, Human Ecology and Responsibility to Land Among Gaels in Mi’kma’ki

This research is based off the historical context of traditional Gaelic society having its own traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) that demonstrates a connection and responsibility to land (MacAonghuis & Newton, 2005). This can be attributed to the Gaelic word dùthchas, as part of the wider Gaelic worldview, or Sealladh nan Gàidheal (Meighan, 2022). Due to the Highland Clearances, thousands of Gaels were displaced from their traditional territory in the Highlands of Scotland. Approximately 50,000 of them resettled to Mi’kma’ki, thus playing an integral role in the colonial displacement of the Mi’kmaq (Nova Scotia, 2019). This created a complex situation as Gaels, their language, culture and worldview are now present in Mi’kma’ki, but the aspect of dùthchas that connects them to their native territory cannot be applied in the same way as they are not native to Mi’kma’ki. Through this research, I explore how Gaelic TEK and the concept of dùthchas is present outside of An t-Seann Dùthaich (the old country/Scotland) and specifically, how it has translated into Gaels in Mi’kma’ki. This exploration is based on interviews (or as I have reframed them, céilidhean) with community members and tradition bearers that were then analysed collaboratively with scholars and community leaders of Gaelic Nova Scotia. In my presentation, I will discuss the stories and narratives that emerged from this research in order to demonstrate how cultural revitalisation in settler communities (specifically Gaelic Nova Scotia) could provide an opportunity for a better understanding of Mi’kmaq ecological knowledge, our responsibility to land as settlers and ultimately, climate justice.

• Chris Greencorn (Queen's University, ON): An Gàidheal agus an t-Ìnnseanach: Race and Settler Colonialism in Gaelic Songs in Nova Scotia

Gaelic Songs in Nova Scotia (1964) was a collaborative project between Nova Scotian folklorist Helen Creighton and StFX’s first professor and chair of Celtic Studies, Calum I. N. MacLeod, of Dornie, Scotland. The book, published by the National Museum of Canada, showcased Creighton’s extensive collection of Gaelic field recordings alongside MacLeod’s translations and scholarly annotations. Nestled rather curiously among these many songs is one tale, An Gaidheal agus an t-Ìnnseanach (“The Gael and the Indian”), which tells the story of how a Highland settler in Margaree won his patch of earth fair and square. Using this singular example as a window into the collection as a whole, my paper explores conceptualizations of race and settler colonialism within the songbook as well as in the broader context of ongoing dissertation research on Creighton’s collecting across Black, Mi’kmaw, and European settler groups. More than simply “tartanism”—though both Creighton and MacLeod were major contributors to the phenomenon—Gaelic Songs in Nova Scotia speaks both to a genuine tradition of Gaelic oral literature in Nova Scotia and to the place of that tradition in the construction of a specific politics of racialized authenticity through folklore.

• Cameron Wachowich (University of Cambridge): Absolute and Conjunct: Notes from the Algonquian analogue

One of the most distinctive and, for students at least, troubling features of the Old Irish verbal system is the contrast between absolute and conjunct endings. Whereas Old Irish simple verbs take a perfectly reasonable set of personal endings – the absolute endings – when they express a positive statement, a completely separate set of endings – the conjunct endings – is required as soon as a negative or interrogative particle is placed before the verb, or the verb is used in certain kinds of relative clause. While a similar system seems to have operated in Old Welsh, this double system of verbal inflection is otherwise without parallel in Western European languages. However, further afield, some analogues are to be found. Attention has previously been called to analogues in Middle Egyptian and various Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan languages. In this paper, I will call attention to a striking typological parallel found within the verbal systems of the Algonquian languages: e.gg. Blackfoot, Cree, Ojibwe and your own local Mi’kmaq, among others. I will provide an overview of the system as it operates in Algonquian for the edification of a Celticist audience with a particular emphasis on its origins in ProtoAlgonquian and its development across the family. Finally, I will call attention to debates within the rich literature of Algonquian historical linguistics regarding its origin, and I will suggest some possible ways in which approaches and methodologies applied to the Algonquian system could shed light on the origins of the system in Old Irish or Insular Celtic.

2:30pm-2:45pm Coffee Break

2:45pm-4:15pm: Session 2
Chair: Jessica Hemming (Corpus Christi & St Mark's Colleges, BC)

• Clara O’Callaghan (St Francis Xavier University): Aquatic Monsters and the Irish Saints
   
• Ciara Ní Riain (Harvard University): Giraldus Cambrensis and the Lament for the Dead

Scholars have noted that the liveliest interest in the lament for the dead, or caoineadh, has been shown by visitors to Ireland who were outsiders in cultural and linguistic terms. One of the earliest outsider observations on the custom comes to us from Giraldus Cambrensis in his Topographia Hibernica in the late twelfth century. While the specific musical information contained in this ecclesiastic’s utterances capable of increasing our knowledge of twelfth-century Irish music is generally considered rather slight, his brief observations on the caoineadh are of importance in enhancing our understanding of Irish medieval musical practices. My goal in this paper is to establish a clearer and more complete picture of Giraldus’ statements on the caoineadh, their subsequent translation, and especially their interpretation by successive outsider scholars. I will examine Giraldus’ comments on the caoineadh not in isolation but in the wider context of his discussion of music in Topgraphia Hibernica as well as the socio-cultural conditions of the time. It is hoped this paper will provide a fuller interpretation of Giraldus’ comments on the caoineadh.

• Luke Wilkinson: Táin Bó Flidais as Remscéla and the History of Scribal Traditions in Medieval Connacht

Through the consideration of the genre of remscéala within the Ulster Cycle, a historical analysis of scribal traditions within the Connacht area of Medieval Ireland is undertaken. Specifically, this paper aims to showcase the framework utilized by Medieval scribes and scholars in their efforts to construct a representative canon of this particular era of storytelling, while simultaneously upholding the pre-existing worldview of the dominant class. This is demonstrated quite succinctly within the tale of Táin Bó Flidias, which is heavily emmeshed within both the physical and cultural milieu of Medieval Connacht. Acting as a sort of magnifying glass, this tale, and its amalgamation, bring the scribal authority used in its creation to light, exposing the political agenda hidden within the relatively obscure narrative, previously discarded as unimportant within the looming shadow of the ever-popular Táin Bó Cuailnge. 

Particular time is spent on the titular character Flidais, created to act as a foil to the most popular woman in the Ulster Cycle, Queen Medb of Connacht, as well as on King Ailill, created to further disparage Medb’s extramarital lover and Ulster exile, Fergus mac Róich. Examining both the actions and reactions to the choices made by the above-mentioned characters, the previously mentioned framework is employed in an effort to better the perception of Connacht on the national stage. This conclusion, of course, supports the initial claim of the overarching importance of remscéala within the cycle, as they shed light on previously unconsidered areas of analysis, ones that are often beyond the scope of the more popular tales.

4:15pm-4:30pm Coffee Break

4:30pm-6:00pm: Session 3
Chair: Joshua Byron Smith (University of Arkansas)

• Maio Nagashima (University of Cambridge): Beyond the Remscéla Model: The Episodic Structure of In Cath Catharda

This paper reconsiders the narrative architecture of In Cath Catharda (CCath)—a twelfth- or thirteenth-century Irish prose adaptation of Lucan’s Bellum Civile—and argues that its apparent episodic structure is best understood against the background of contemporary European scholarly practices of ordinatio instead of being primarily derived from the compositional model associated with Táin Bó Cúailnge. The transmitted text culminates in the Battle of Pharsalus and designates some of the preceding narrative units as remscéla, ‘foretales’. This structure has frequently been explained through analogy with the remscéla of the Táin and thus interpreted as an instance of nativising technique in Irish antiquity sagas. Yet such readings have seldom been reassessed in light of the contemporary experience of reading Lucan. Drawing on a systematic examination of the manuscript tradition of CCath, this paper argues that the surviving remscél-colophons are likely archetypal but not necessarily authorial, resting upon a more functional layer of episode-markers, such as Toghail dénna Arimin annso sís (382), ‘The destruction of the fortress of Ariminum here below’. When read alongside high-medieval manuscripts of Lucan that preserve paraphs, capitula and analytical glosses marking digressions and resumptions of the narrative, these Irish markers emerge as a vernacular response to contemporary scholastic practices of ordinatio. They do not consistently divide the narrative into discrete (rem)scéla, but operate within an unfolding narrative to mark shifts in subject matter. Informed by contemporary Lucanian exegesis, the learned author of CCath rendered these analytical divisions through the vocabulary of vernacular thematic tale-titles, a mediation in which his adaptive strategy becomes most apparent. By integrating hitherto little-explored manuscript evidence of both the Irish and Latin traditions, this paper situates the composition of CCath within the broader European scholarly context that shaped the reception of classical epic in the long twelfth century.

• Anna Pagé (University of Vienna): Constructing a Story World: Linking Strategies and Information Structure in Some Ulster Cycle Stories

In a 2023 article I discussed the Ulster Cycle as a story world, following the work of Sarah Iles Johnston on the story world of Greek myth. Johnston argues that one crucial feature of story worlds is that they consist of multiple stories that are interlinked and interdependent. The existence of the story world of the Ulster Cycle is clearly demonstrated by the overlapping cast of characters and the narrative focus on certain key events and relationships. However, the set of strategies used for linking the stories to one another and grounding them within the larger story world points to a more complex and rich process of world building that necessarily evolves as the story world grows. In this paper I build on my previous work by examining some of the strategies used for creating links between stories and considering how the information that establishes these links can be structured and integrated into the narratives. I offer here two case studies: 1) how the invocation of the death of Cú Roí functions as a linking device across multiple narratives and 2) how the structure of genealogical information varies and changes as the story world of the Ulster Cycle expands. I consider how these linking strategies and the structures of their associated information assist in the construction of the story world of the Ulster Cycle and suggest that they can offer insights into the relationships between stories, audiences, and storytellers.

• Natasha Sumner (Harvard University): “An expiring controversy… besprinkled with peculiarly acrid ink”: John Francis Campbell, Ossian, and the Celtic Revival

1860 marks the conventional start of the Celtic Revival in Scotland with the publication of John Francis Campbell’s first two volumes of West Highland Tales. The father of Gaelic folklore studies, Campbell orchestrated the first organized folklore collecting project in Scotland, resulting in the publication of numerous Gaelic folktales for the first time, including stories about the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill and his heroic troop of warriors. This initial foray drew Campbell into the long-simmering controversy over James Macpherson’s Ossian (1761-63), which Campbell went on to address in a variety of publications in the 1860s and 70s during a new wave of intense debate. In this presentation, I will utilize archival sources to shine new light on Campbell’s formative engagement with Gaelic Scotland’s oral and literary heritage during the country’s late nineteenth-century cultural nationalist awakening.

6:15pm: Welcome Reception & Book Celebration – North American Gaels: Speech, Story, and Song in the Diaspora, ed. Natasha Sumner & Aidan Doyle (McGill-Queen’s UP)

Friday, 8 May 2026

8:30am-9:00am: Coffee & Pastries

9:00am-10:30am: Session 4: Cultures and Identities on the Medieval March of Wales
Chair: Helen Fulton (University of Bristol)

This session examines communities in the pre-modern March of Wales, looking at identity-formation through different kinds of cultural practice. The three speakers are associated with a major research project based at the University of Bristol, ‘MOWLIT: Mapping the March: Medieval Wales and England, c. 1282–1550’, whose major objective is to build a large database showing the connections between the people, places, and manuscripts circulating in the medieval March of Wales.

The papers are arranged chronologically, from the twelfth to eighteenth centuries, and aim to show that the March of Wales was a distinctive region of medieval and early modern Britain, defined through linguistic and religious practice. The papers also demonstrate the importance of community networks throughout the March, as the means by which ideas were disseminated through written and printed documents.

Amy Jones’s paper traces the linguistic uses and development of ethnonyms for the people of Wales and how these shaped identity, from both internal and external perspectives. The paper points to the importance of naming while also demonstrating the inherent instability of ethnic descriptors whose impact depends on who is using them, and in which contexts.

Rachael Harkes’s paper is drawn from her extensive research on the Palmers Guild of Ludlow, the focus of her recently-published monograph, Forging Fraternity in Late Medieval Society. Based on a detailed analysis of guild membership, Rachael uses a number of case studies to illustrate the social and economic importance of the guild over and above its religious purpose, providing a larger template for guild membership in general. The location of the guild in Ludlow, one of the most important Marcher towns, highlights the activities of a significant Marcher community whose networks spread well beyond the region of the March.

Geraint Evans’s research on early modern printing extends beyond the time-frame of the MOWLIT project but is nevertheless important in illustrating the afterlife of communities and cultural dissemination in the medieval March. His paper on Welsh-language printing in the eighteenth century provides evidence for the Welsh-speaking communities that continued to reside in Marcher towns, including those such as Bristol which, while not normally regarded as part of the March, nevertheless functioned effectively as a border town between Wales and England.

Together, these papers illuminate the culture of the medieval March of Wales and how practices of networking and dissemination worked to create communities whose identities were defined by their distinctive border location.

• Amy Jones (University of Bristol): Defining People, Defining Boundaries: British and Welsh in the Twelfth Century

This paper proposes that the twelfth century saw a significant shift in defining identities within medieval Britain. Drawing on early medieval chronicles and literary sources from both sides of the Welsh-English border, the paper examines the origins and meanings of the three terms still used to describe the people of Wales—Britons, Welsh, and Cymry—and trace their semantic development and narrowing through to the twelfth century. The paper argues that what were previously very broad ethnonymic labels became far more sharply defined in this period and that many modern translations of Anglo-Saxon texts anachronistically impose these later definitions. The paper will stress the significance of Galfridian narrative and variants of this (such as Wace’s Roman de Brut and the Brut y Tywysogyon) as catalysts for the process of reframing regional identities as part of the vogue for the Matter of Britain. What emerges from this investigation is a pattern of identity-building through alterity as groups within the island of Britain sought to restabilise their positions following the Norman Conquest. The paper will conclude by considering the consolidation of this twelfth-century turn by the Edwardian Conquest of Wales in 1284 and its influence on modern ethnonyms (and resistance to those ethnonyms) when it comes to ‘Welsh’ borders and identity.

• Rachael Harkes (University of Bristol): Communities on the Border: Religious Guild Membership in the Welsh Marches

The Palmers’ Guild, a religious fraternity based in the small market town of Ludlow (Shropshire), counted among its brethren thousands of individuals from across Wales, England, Iberia, Ireland, and France. But its strongest recruitment happened across the breadth of the Welsh Marches. What influenced people’s decision to become a member and what do they reveal about the communities that made up late medieval society? By posing these questions, this paper charts individual and collective experiences, reconstructing the life-stages, political circumstances, and social pressures incumbent on women and men as they engaged in a moral and fiscal commitment to a guild. Over and above that, this paper reveals the existence of small, localised cliques of the Ludlow guild, operating under the larger umbrella of a socio-religious organisation in a border region.

• Geraint Evans (Swansea University): Welsh-Language Printing along the March of Wales in the Eighteenth Century

Williams Willams, Pantycelyn is the most famous and important hymn writer of the Welsh eighteenth century. His early collection of hymns, Hosanna i Fab Dafydd, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’, was first printed in Bristol with the title pages of the first two parts identifying ‘Felix Farley’ and ‘E[lizabeth] Ffarley’ as the publishers. The Farley family, who were closely associated with the early Methodist movement in Bristol, printed over forty Welsh books in the middle decades of the eighteenth century. These included books in Welsh by Daniel Rowland, John Wesley and Williams Pantycelyn, books about Wales and the Welsh language, such as Antiquae Linguae Britannicae Thesaurus (1753), and books in English which circulated in Wales such as Hymns and Sacred Poems by John and Charles Wesley.

This paper will explore the rapidly changing world of Welsh-language printing in the eighteenth century by looking at printing in the market towns which lie along and beyond the former March of Wales, many of which had significant Welsh-speaking populations. These include Bristol, Gloucester, Hereford, Worcester, Shrewsbury, Chester and Liverpool. The paper will also describe a rare surviving sammelbände which contains four Welsh- 7 language titles, published by Felix and Elizabeth Farley between 1751 and 1755, including the first two parts of Williams Pantycelyn’s Hosanna i Fab Dafydd.

10:30am – 10:45am Coffee Break

10:45am-12:15pm: Session 5: Natural Frames of Acallam na Senórach
Chair: Natasha Sumner (Harvard University)

This panel examines three different meta-textual frames that can be understood to inform the manuscript, historical, and textual context of Acallam na Senórach. The first paper, presented by Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, explores the interest of the Anglo-Normans in Irish landscapes, parsing how issue of cultural assimilation informs the production of post-thirteenth century manuscripts featuring dindshenchas, a major thematic focus of the Acallam. The second paper, presented by Jo D’Ambrosio Wolf, presents two newly edited legal texts on hunting, leveraging these texts to glean insights into the hunting as a heroic theme within the Acallam. The final paper, presented by Cian Ó Cionnfhaolaidh, tracks the textual tradition of Finn’s ‘thumb of wisdom’ in early Fenian material, using such insights to understand how the trope manifests within scenes of temporality and prophesy in the Acallam. United by themes of landscape and nature, the panel seeks to reframe our understanding of Acallam na Senórach through a comparative analysis of memory and society that ultimately produced it.

• Marie-Luise Theuerkauf (Harvard University): Gaelic Manuscripts and their Anglo-Norman Patrons: An Examination of Old English Interest in Irish Placename History

It is here argued that several Irish-language manuscripts in the Bodleian Library testify to an interest in the history of Irish places among families of Anglo-Norman stock (known as Seanghaill or ‘Old English’) between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. It is further argued that this interest was not simply antiquarian in nature, but may have been a direct response to an increased (re)production and textual synthesisation of topographical literature among Gaelic families. This occurred during the Gaelic Revival of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, a time when Anglo-Norman power in parts of Ireland was in decline. As Gaelic lords held sway on the battlefield, first stalling and then reducing, Anglo-Norman power in many areas, so, too, was their influence felt on a cultural and intellectual level. Within this context, I propose to examine two manuscripts, one from the Rawlinson and the other from the Laud collection, which I believe illustrate the cultural assimilation of Anglo-Norman lords as a result of the Revival. In my paper, I seek to shift the focus of discussion away from manuscripts as mere vessels of texts and towards a more inclusive approach which views them as important windows on historical developments. Fundamentally, I intend to show that placename history was always political in nature, and allows us to ask whether we can discern a sense of how Anglo-Normans view their own place within the Irish historical landscape while the political landscape of Ireland was constantly being renegotiated.

• Jo D’Ambrosio Wolf (University College Cork): ‘On Fish ⁊ Foul ⁊ Venison’: The mechanics of ‘netting’ in Early Irish Law

The hunting of birds and deer is a common theme in early Irish literature. Finn and Cú Chulainn both appear as a prolific hunters of birds, deer, fish, but adopt contrasting approaches. Finn is depicted in the Acallam as using hounds to drive deer to their deaths at the hands of hunters lying in wait or fishing with a spear. Cú Chulainn, on the other-hand, adopts the rather fantastical approach, snaring deer from a chariot and juggling (?) to hunt salmon. These feats, while certainly impressive and heroic, are not reflected in the broader hunting practices of early medieval Ireland, which seem to more closely match depictions preserved in the Acallam. This paper will contextualise these depictions within the framework of hunting law as revealed in my forthcoming editions of Osbretha ‘Deer Judgments’ and Bretha sēn formae ‘Judgments on nets for bird-snaring’. These two text exclusively frame hunting as an act focused on using aids (nets, hounds, etc.) to ensnare prey, and articulate the legal challenges surrounding placing nets on ‘public’ land. By leveraging this law on hunting, I aim to reframe the Acallam depictions of hunting around the realities of the practice in early Irish society.

• Cian Ó Cionnfhaolaidh (University College Cork): Salmon, wells and sore thumbs: Underlying and interwoven strands of tradition in how Find acquires his prophetic abilities

One of Find’s central characteristics is that of being a fili, who by placing his thumb in his mouth, invokes fis/imbas in order to discover the identity, or whereabouts, of certain individuals, or to learn the fate which is about to befall him or his companions. Throughout the Gaelic-speaking world, stories have been told regarding how Find acquired such prophetic knowledge with particular reference to how that knowledge was imparted upon his thumb. The tradition of Find’s knowledge may be broken into three distinct, yet interwoven, strands. The earliest of which is attested in ‘Finn and the Man in the Tree’; where Find gains knowledge by jamming his thumb in the door of sídhe. According to the second tradition, Find is said to acquire his prophetic ability by drinking a draught of water imbued with fis from the well of Segais. While the third tradition pertains to the ‘Salmon of Knowledge’, in which Find burns his thumb on a salmon’s flesh while cooking it; he thrusts his thumb into his mouth to alleviate the pain, whereupon the future is revealed to him. This essay will explore the interwoven nature of these strands, as well as tease out the various native and international leitmotifs underlining them.

12:15pm-1:30pm Lunch Break (not provided)

1:30pm-3:00pm: Session 6
Chair: Jessica Hemming (Corpus Christi & St Mark's Colleges, BC)

• Paul Russell (Harvard University): A medieval Latin poem composed by a Welsh poet?

The Latin poem, Nobile Cambrensis cecidit, composed to lament the death of the Lord Rhys in 1197 and preserved in NLW Peniarth MS 20 has attracted some attention over the last few decades. It has been translated into both Welsh and English (Pryce 1996; Henley 2012; Russell 2017) and the context of its production alongside the complex Latin and Welsh prose obituaries has been explored. But its metre and poetics have never been subject to detailed examination. This paper presents a detailed analysis of its diction from both a Latin and a Welsh perspective and argues that it was the product of someone familiar with both forms of poetical composition and capable of adjusting a Welsh marwnad to the metrical and structural demands of its Latin medium.

• Rebecca Thomas (Cardiff University): Praise and authority in Canu Heledd: reinterpreting Caranfael

This paper will offer a new interpretation of the series of englynion about Caranfael, a son of Cynddylan, that form a part of the Canu Heledd cycle (englynion 90-7 in Ifor Williams’s edition; 91-7 in Jenny Rowland’s Early Welsh Saga Poetry). Although edited as such, these englynion do not appear as a distinct poem in the manuscripts. This paper will reassess which englynion should be considered part of the narrative about Caranfael, the identity of the speaker or speakers and their presentation of Caranfael. Attention will be given to the interpretation of two unusual features in the englynion: the use of the word ffranc, appearing to describe Caranfael’s enemy; the claim that many sought Caranfael as an ynat. The use of ffranc (which is commonly interpreted as ‘freedman’ or ‘foreign mercenary’) will be reconsidered in the context of its use in the Juvencus Three, whilst the discussion of ynat (which is used infrequently of secular rulers in Welsh poetry) will bring the englynion into dialogue with a Taliesin poem in praise of Gwallawc (Poem XII in Ifor William’s Canu Taliesin). The paper will argue that the speaker (Heledd) is in fact mocking Caranfael in these englynion and will offer a new interpretation of their relationship to the other englynion in the cycle.

• Claire Lober (Bangor University): Marginalia in Brut y Brenhinedd

In manuscripts of Brut y Brenhinedd, the glossed page draws attention to the multiplicity of narratives that are contained within the Galfridian tradition. These medieval Welsh translations of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Latin pseudohistory, Historia regum Britanniae, were the site of a complex negotiation of national identity, and as such they invited much commentary from readers across the ages. Much of this commentary took place on the page: scribes, redactors, and readers fill the margins with notes, commentary, and sometimes even expressions of bafflement. The effect of layers of glossing across time is particularly strong in the ‘Proffwydoliaeth Myrddin’ section of Brut y Brenhinedd. The inclusion of glosses in numerous hands and languages, representing numerous times and perspectives, are a testament to the interpretive potential of prophetic writing; the glossed page both affirms and contests the ability of prophetic writing to be fixed to a particular interpretation.

In this paper, I argue that the high volume of glossing around the ‘Proffwydoliaeth Myrddin’ section draws forward the tension of authority that underlies prophetic writing within Brut y Brenhinedd: here, Myrddin’s voice (as a Welsh figure whose prophetic authority far exceeded his Galfridian role) is in tension with Geoffrey’s authorial voice. Glosses then add additional voices that enagage directly and critically with the idea of prophetic meaning and authority. Here, I use specific examples from manuscripts of Brut y Brenhinedd from across the medieval and early modern period to illustrate the complex interpretive strategies required to adapt the Galfridian narrative to a Welsh audience.

3:00pm-3:15pm Coffee Break

3:15pm-4:45pm: Session 7
Chair: Michael Linkletter (St Francis Xavier University)

• Kenneth MacKenzie (Memorial University of Newfoundland & Colaisde na Gàidhlig): Storytelling, Song, and Proverbs in Second-Language Pedagogy: Reconnecting Oral Traditions and Communicative Competence

Language learning methodologies like Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) focus on communicative competence and meaningful interactions in the learning environment and have become popular language learning methodologies in various contexts. However, these language learning approaches were primarily developed within Western, literate language learning contexts and don’t account for oral and community-based language learning that are common in many heritage and Indigenous languages. Oral traditions such as song, storytelling, and proverb exchange are relevant to these language learning environments. This critical literature review looks at how the two areas can be effectively combined – the use of oral traditions in communicative and task-based language learning systems. It pulls from research around second language acquisition, sociocultural theory and Indigenous learning systems and international research around specific language learning environments such as Gaelic, Welsh, Basque, and Indigenous North American to compare existing methodologies. This review shows that the use of culturally rooted oral traditions in communicative language learning environments enhances language learning outcomes, along with increasing cultural identity among learners, intergenerational learning, and cultural revitalization. The use of oral traditions in post-secondary language learning and the implications involved in that framework are also explored.

• Lewis MacKinnon (Oifis Iomairtean na Gàidhlig): Gàidhlig aig Baile: Ag ath-bheachdachadh Dòigh-ionnsachadh Nàdurra Cànain [Gaelic in Community: Revisiting a Natural Way of Learning Language]

Language acquisition and usage is a central aspect in cultural heritage and identity reclamation and renewal efforts around the world. Accompanying a brief overview of Gaelic language and cultural presence and initiatives in the Province of Nova Scotia, this talk will provide insights on the philosophical foundations the Gàidhlig aig Baile | Gaelic in Community methodological approach, supporting the efforts of many in the Gaelic community in Nova Scotia to come to fluency in Gaelic and emphasize the ongoing need for spaces for social learning, further fostering the budding Gaelic speech and identity community in the Province. The talk will include an interactive learning opportunity where session attendees can actively participate in a Gàidhlig aig Baile session.

• Heather Sparling (Cape Breton University) & Iain MacLeod (Mount Saint Vincent University): Revitalizing Nova Scotia Gaelic through Immersion: Insights from a Four-Month Gaelic Residential Program

Community-based residential immersion programs can play a transformative role in revitalizing endangered heritage languages by fostering sustained linguistic and cultural engagement while building community relationships. This paper examines An Àirigh, a four-month live-in Scottish Gaelic immersion program launched in rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, in Fall 2025. The program utilizes the Gàidhlig aig Baile (Gaelic in the home) teaching methodology, developed in the early 2000s as a Nova Scotian adaptation of Scottish language advocate Finlay MacLeod’s Total Immersion Plus System. Gàidhlig aig Baile is a social learning methodology which centres spoken, everyday language, and in which no other languages but Gaelic are allowed. It also focuses on situating the language in Gaelic history and cultural practice. Over the past twenty years, Gàidhlig aig Baile has become a valued Gaelic teaching methodology in Nova Scotia and has brought a number of adult heritage learners to fluency. While residential immersions have previously been held, none has been as long as An Àirigh, and its success may offer a roadmap for sustained Gaelic revitalization in Nova Scotia, as well as revitalization for other language communities having experienced language shift. Drawing on qualitative research—including interviews with learners and instructors and participant observation throughout the program—this paper presents initial insights into the potential of extended residential immersion as a catalyst for language and cultural renewal, including lessons learned, challenges, and tips and tricks for organizing a similar immersion program.

5:00pm-6:00pm: Keynote – John Shaw (University of Edinburgh): “John Francis Campbell of Islay: A 21st-Century Perspective”

6:00pm - Launch of Cainnt is Ceathramhan/Sruth nan Gàidheal - Heather Sparling (Cape Breton University)

Saturday, 9 May 2026

8:30am-9:00am: Coffee & Pastries

9:00am-10:30am: Session 8
Chair: Natasha Sumner (Harvard University)

• Jeff Justice (South Texas University): Creating a Celtic Linguistic Commonwealth: Applications of Hardt & Negri to Language Politics

Hardt and Negri’s Commonwealth (2009) argued that we are in a “republic of property” that lies at the praxis of modernity and anti-modernity. Their arguments stated that this apparent dialectic is altering our sense of identity and tradition, and the appropriation of natural capital is making a direct impact on language itself. This paper argues offers some commentary on whether and how to apply this theory through case studies of contemporary Celtic language activism and policy in Scotland, Ireland and Wales. The crux of the argument is that languages must remain in The Commons, and that the success of efforts to revive the fortunes of Gaelic, Irish, and Welsh mean that these efforts must focus on keeping them in the commons.

• Mairéad Byrne (Rhode Island School of Design): Gan and the Blazon in the Testimonies of the Young Woman and Old Man in Brian Merriman’s Cúirt an Mheán-Oíche (c1780)

In Brian Merriman’s late 18th century 1,026 line Gaelic language poem Cúirt an Mheán-Oíche (The Midnight Court), the two principal speakers, the Ainnir (Young Woman) and the Seanduine (Old Man), are positioned as opponents in a court of law. Yet they are more alike than not. They both argue for sexual freedom. They are both outstanding users of a unique keyword in Cúirt an Mheán-Oíche. They both make novel and groundbreaking use of the blazon. Even in their vituperation and repudiation of each other, they are twinned. They do not countenance it but they are mirror images in a way. This paper looks closely at two of the several commonalities between the Young Woman and Old Man: the frequency of their use of a specific preposition, and their deployment of the poetic device of the blazon. Astonishingly, the preposition gan, meaning “lacking” or “without,” is the third most commonly used word in The Midnight Court, surpassed in frequency only by is (the verb to be) and an (the definite article). In the speeches of the Young Woman and the Old Man, gan is the second most frequently used word, surpassed only by is. That the Young Woman and Old Man both make lavish use of the blazon is extraordinary in itself but each also presents a further innovation in the Young Woman’s blazon of her own body and the Old Man’s blazon of a newborn child. In its observation of the subversive pervasiveness of gan, a Gaelic word not easily translated into English poetry, along with the explicit display of the blazon—a poetic device not typical of Gaelic poetry, this paper raises questions about how to read and translate Cúirt an Mheán-Oíche.

• Rory Yarter (Harvard University): Broken Mirror: Welsh-Language Women’s American Civil War Poetry Did Not Reflect Their Experiences

This paper argues that Welsh-language poetry written by Welsh American women during and about the American Civil War focused on soldiers’ experiences of the war and did not reflect women’s experiences that were not about their relationships with soldiers. However, Northern women made crucial contributions to the war effort, and this paper argues that Welsh-language poetry’s focus on the experiences of soldiers and neglect of women’s war contributions was part of a larger movement across the North to downplay the contributions of women to the war as a way of policing gender roles. Another strategy of gender policing, which can also be seen in Welsh language media, was to describe women’s contributions as motivated by essentialized and gendered characteristics such as a desire to nurture. This paper considers the poem “Disgwyliad am Ryddiad y Caeth” written by Laura Griffiths in support of emancipation as a potential outlier, and how reception of her political commentary as evidenced by the elegy R.D. Thomas composed for her used the strategy of attributing her activism to innate feminine characteristics. 

This paper also considers the counterargument that this focus on soldiers’ experiences of war may have been subversive in some contexts due to the popular contemporary gender ideology of “separate spheres,” and the common belief that women were too delicate for the battlefield. Welsh-language female poets leave their “sphere” in their descriptions of battlefields, especially when they use the language of the eyewitness account like “I see,” and throw off essentialized feminine docility when they aggressively exhort soldiers to fight and fantasize about the death of Jefferson Davis.

10:30am-10:45am Coffee Break

10:45am-12:15pm: Session 9: Manuscripts and Linguistic Geography in the Medieval March of Wales
Chair: Rachael Harkes (University of Bristol)

This session represents some of the research outcomes of the large research project based at the University of Bristol, ‘MOWLIT: Mapping the March: Medieval Wales and England, c. 1282–1550’. The main objectives of the project are to build a large database showing the connections between the people, places, and manuscripts circulating in the medieval March of Wales.

The multilingualism and linguistic geography of the March infuse every aspect of the project, whether codicological, literary, or historical. This session of three papers by members of the MOWLIT team shows how we are using manuscript evidence to reconstruct the culture of the medieval March, especially its coherence as a specific region which combines elements of Welsh, English and French linguistic practices.

Matthew Lampitt’s paper is based on his extensive survey of manuscripts that were produced or circulated in the medieval March. He has compiled a large body of evidence pointing to the rich connections between these manuscripts and their owners and readers. His paper raises the important question of ‘ghost’ manuscripts, those whose existence is attested through catalogues and other evidence, but whose current existence or location are unknown. The evidence for lost manuscripts in itself becomes an important witness to the kinds of texts that were circulating.

Luciana Cordo Russo’s paper focuses on the Welsh prose text of Kedymdeithyas Amlyn ac Amic, ‘The Friendship of Amlyn and Amic’, and its close relation to Latin and French versions of the same tale. By examining the manuscript evidence for the transmission and circulation of the text, Cordo Russo argues for the importance of Marcher manuscripts as evidence for the translation of the tale into Welsh.

Helen Fulton, the Principal Investigator of the MOWLIT project, draws on administrative records to discuss the uses of French in Welsh towns. These records indicate the extent of multilingualism in the medieval March, but also imply the colonial status of towns in Wales and their importance as economic plantations by Norman and English lords.

The three papers share the objective of using manuscript evidence to explore different aspects of the linguistic geography of the March and how its essential multilingualism is a key defining factor of its border regionalism.

• Matthew Lampitt (University of Bristol): (Un)Mapping the March: Dark Networks, Ghost Data

To date, the research project ‘Mapping the March’, based at the University of Bristol, has identified some 900 extant manuscripts in Welsh, English, French, Latin, and combinations of these that were produced or circulated in the Marches of Wales between the mid-thirteenth and mid-sixteenth centuries. It is undoubtedly true, however, that many more manuscripts have not survived or become untraceable, though their former existence is implied in a number of ways—by medieval catalogues such as the Registrum Anglie de libris doctorum et auctorum ueterum (c. 1308/13–31), by translated works such as the Welsh Ystoryaeu Seint Greal (c. 1380), by post-mortem inventories (such as that of Llywelyn ‘Bren’), by the accounts of antiquarians such as John Leland (d. 1552), by lists of books belonging to collectors such as John Prise (d. 1555), Gruffydd Dwnn (d. c. 1570), and Jaspar Gryffyth (d. 1614), and so on. These ‘ghost’ books are as vital as those extant to our understanding of the literary culture and cultural geography of the Marcher region. This paper discusses some of the methodological issues—both challenges and strategies—related to the identification of non-extant sources in the medieval March and to their integration into a digital database.

• Luciana Cordo Russo (University of Bristol): The Dissemination of the Ami and Amile Story in Wales, England, and the March

This paper explores the circulation of the story of the two friends Ami and Amile in different forms and languages in Wales and England, with particular reference to the borderlands or March of Wales. Both hagiographical and secular versions of the narrative were available in medieval Britain: the Latin Vita Amici et Amelii carissimorum, a religious text representative of the first, hagiographical version, was translated into Welsh at the beginning of the fourteenth century (the text is known as Kedymdeithyas Amlyn ac Amic ‘The Friendship of Amlyn and Amic’ and it is found in the Red Book of Hergest), whilst the Anglo-Norman Amis e Amilun (c. 1200) and the Middle English Amis and Amiloun (late 13th century) belong to the romance and secular type of narratives. Interestingly, as Judith Weiss notes, one of the characters in the Anglo-Norman poem is given a Welsh name, Owain, as well as the nickname Amiraunt, which, she suggests, could be a mark of patronage in the Welsh Marches (1992, xxxiii). One of the manuscripts of the Anglo-Norman text (British Library Royal 12 C.XII) was, indeed, produced in or around Ludlow in Hertfordshire, and includes the text of Fouke le Fitz Waryn, set firmly in the Marches. Weiss further notes that the Middle English text retains the Welsh name as a ‘mark of insularity’ (1992, xxxiii). However, the other insular version of the story, Kedymdeithyas Amlyn ac Amic, shows that in this case the Latin text was preferred for translation into Welsh (despite the probable circulation of a French version of the legend before, as Hemming 1996 argues). This paper will thus investigate textual networks, manuscript contexts, and literary connections between all these texts.

• Helen Fulton (University of Bristol): Uses of French in Welsh Towns, c. 1100–1400

From the time of the Norman conquest of England and Wales, most of the towns established in Wales and the March were Norman and then English foundations. While native Welsh towns were small and marginal, servicing a local Welsh community with essential supplies, the Norman and English towns were deliberately created as hubs for trade and commerce to service the colonial lords and administrators. It is not surprising, then, that French was very often the formal language of communication in these planted towns. This paper looks at some of the evidence for the uses of French in Welsh towns, and argues that the economic demands of urban culture were a significant driver of the dissemination of French in Wales up until the late fourteenth century.

12:15pm-1:30pm Lunch Break (not provided)

1:30pm-3:00pm: Session 10
Chair: Joshua Byron Smith (University of Arkansas)

• Fañch Bihan-Gallic (Sabhal Mòr Ostaig): At the source of Pleuveur-Bodoù’s Arthurian legends

The Chevalier de Fréminville (1787-1848), while mostly forgotten by Celtic scholars today, was a pioneer of archaeology in Western Brittany. He was the first to document many sites, some of which have now disappeared, and his keen interest for folklore and its relationship to history and human geography made him one of the first to pay attention to oral tradition as more than mere entertainment – albeit without the understanding that would develop in the decades following his passing.

Among the many snippets of local legends and traditions he mentioned in his Antiquités de Bretagne (1837), there is one that stands out: A story from Pleuveur-Bodoù (Treger) that presents King Arthur in the nearby castle of Kerduel, and ties him to the small island of Enez Aval where Morgan is said to reside. This tale is now regularly mentioned in touristic and other online sources as revealing the location of Avalon. However, its true origins are obscure and it does not fit the usual way in which Arthurian legends appear in Breton folklore, possibly raising suspicion as to its authenticity.

In this paper, I propose to look at the legend in detail and, through a careful analysis of known Arthurian traditions in North-Western Brittany, to establish its authenticity and possible origins. In order to do so, I will look at other, better documented local Arthurian tales, early-modern Breton literature, late-medieval onomastic, toponymy, and hagiographical stories, hoping that triangulation will shed light on this strange, yet fascinating sample of Armorican Arthuriana.

• Matthieu Boyd (Fairleigh Dickinson University, NJ): The City of Ys in the Anglosphere

The Breton legend of the Atlantis-like City of Ys is a current book project and long-term research interest of mine (see, e.g., “What’s new in Ker-Is: ATU 675 in Brittany,” Fabula: Journal of Folktale Studies 54.3–4 [2013], 235–262). This paper considers its availability and adaptation history in English, ranging from outright retellings like "The King of Ys and Dahut the Red" by William Sharp/"Fiona Macleod" (1910), Poul and Karen Anderson's fantasy series The King of Ys (1986–88), and M.T. Anderson and Jo Rioux's The Daughters of Ys (2020), to less obvious examples like the Warlock of Ys in the Green Lantern comics (1966–), A.S. Byatt's Possession (1990), Kate Alice Marshall's Rules for Vanishing (2019), and Jennifer Allis Provost's Merrowkin trilogy (2024–25). While the Ys legend in its origins is specific to Brittany, it has begun to circulate as a story with universal appeal, a metamorphosis of an already extraordinarily mutable legend. With a focus on the most recent material, I ask what it has to say to people for whom the traditional answers related to the Breton experience are more or less inapplicable, and consider where the legend could go from here.

• Dorothy Danbury (Saint Joseph's University, PA): Motherhood and Mother Languages: Survival, Temporality, and Welsh in The Blue Book of Nebo

Manon Steffan Ros’ The Blue Book of Nebo unfolds in the rural lands of North Wales after a catastrophic event that collapses technological infrastructures and the temporal rhythms of modern life. Told through alternating diary entries by Rowenna and her son Dylan, the novel stages motherhood and the Welsh language as interwoven survival practices that anchor them in a world defined by loss, scarcity, and temporal dislocation. As Rowenna’s embodied experience of pregnancy, care work, and memory-making intersects with Dylan’s coming-of-age, their shared act of writing becomes a technology of cultural preservation—one that sustains cymreictod even as historical continuity appears ruptured. This paper argues that the novel conceptualizes the Welsh language not simply as a communicative tool but as a mother language, a temporal bridge that binds past, present, and future despite the collapse of linear time. In doing so, The Blue Book of Nebo participates in a broader tradition of Celtic postcolonial temporalities, where cultural continuity is crafted through practices of translation, inheritance, and world-making rather than through institutional structures. The text’s fragmented narrative form mirrors the characters’ disrupted temporality, yet their bilingual writing gestures toward futurity: a mode of survival grounded in relationality, linguistic persistence, and the intimate labor of storytelling. Ultimately, this paper reads Ros’ novel as a post-apocalyptic meditation on language as a survival technology—one that allows Rowenna and Dylan to imagine life beyond catastrophe and to assert the endurance of Welsh cultural memory even at the edge of the world.

3:00pm-3:15pm Coffee Break

3:15pm-4:45pm: Session 11
Chair: Ranke de Vries (St Francis Xavier University)

• Nathaniel Harrington (University of Toronto): Aisling is Trom-laighe (Dream and Nightmare)

In this paper, I examine the speculative short story “Aisling Dhomhnuill,” published pseudonymously in the Scottish Gaelic newspaper Mac-Talla in 1897. I first explore its relationship to the early modern aisling genre as well as to a broader tradition of dream-based narratives where characters receive visions of the future. Through a reading of the story’s unusual temporality — a critical portrayal of the present experienced by a character in the past as a vision of the future — I read the story as both an early example of a text that is recognizable as “speculative fiction” in Gaelic and as a challenge to both its original generic context and to current tendencies in literary criticism focused on speculative fiction and on literature from marginalized communities that approach these texts in search of tools for collective liberation.

First, by presenting its protagonist with a sharply negative vision of the future — leaving him reassured in his present, the reader’s past — I argue that “Aisling Dhomhnuill” sets out to subvert Gaelic readers’ generic expectations, prophesying not a bright, liberated, Gaelic future but rather a dismal, anglicized one. This subversion also situates it in contrast to other texts in this vein: in contrast to other, similar texts, I argue that “Aisling Dhomhnuill” functions not as a call to action, either by presenting a utopian future to be worked for or warning of a dystopian future to be worked against, but instead as a momentary interruption of the movement towards the present-future it portrays. Finally, I briefly suggest a theoretical approach to this text and other negative visions, through J.R.R. Tolkien’s conception of “fairy-stories,” as offering a kind of “consolation,” albeit one that looks markedly different from Tolkien’s.

• Emmet Taylor (University College Cork): Understanding Misunderstandings: Malignant Idol to Maggot God and Other Oddities

The malignant idol of Mag Slecht, Crom Cruach, a supposed pre-Christian deity potentially invented by Patrician hagiographers, has become a staple in popular-culture’s imagining of Celtic and Irish pasts. It has appeared in television shows, movies, novels, and comics, as well as in both tabletop and video games. Medieval sources identify Crom Cruach as an idol, or a demon within an idol, without any clear indication of what this idol looks like beyond the materials of its composition. This differs significantly from modern pieces, where Crom Cruach has been commonly depicted as a worm, maggot, or serpent for nearly a century. Similar strange misunderstandings are abundant in the modern reception of early Irish literature, such as the Fer Bolg being imagined as bovine people, the obscure character Sinann being interpreted as a fox goddess, the development of a wholly invented ocean deity named Domnu, and a cohort of ‘deer people’ being linked to the pseudo-historical settler Nemed.

This paper discusses these misunderstandings, seeking to understand where and why these ideas developed, how they proliferate, and what aspects of these ideas appeal to modern audiences. As part of this, I argue that understanding and being able to deconstruct these misunderstandings is an important part of the role of scholars as educators, as students internalize such misunderstandings before they enter our classrooms. Further, these misunderstandings are ultimately evidence of a widespread interest in works of popular culture drawing on Celtic (or imagined Celtic) sources, and that Celticists need to publish more public-facing works to feed this interest or leave such misconceptions to run rampant.

• Mark Gibbard (University of Toronto): Demons, Monsters, Idols, and Mathematicians: Demonological Interpretations of Myth in Medieval Ireland and Beyond

This paper investigates references in medieval Irish texts to mythological figures and occurrences being recast or reframed as demonological in nature. Some examples will be drawn from synthetic historical works such as Lebor Gabála Érenn and the Irish Sex aetates mundi, as well as Irish adaptations of Classical works. Particular interest will be paid to the versions of texts found in the Book of Ballymote, as it is argued that mythological interpretations tend to differ quite widely from one witness of a text to the next, even within similar recensions. Comparison will be made with wider medieval texts including polemics, other Classical adaptations, and mythographical works. This paper forms part of a wider research project on the historicisation of myth, to which it is argued that the demonisation of myth is tied as demons, monsters, and witchcraft were considered historically plausible in the medieval Christian mythos. A notable exception to this is the fact that while Euhemerism and the demonisation of myth are often conflated in many medieval polemic texts, many examples in Irish synthetic historical works in the Book of Ballymote draw explicit contrast between these ideas. It will be explored how an analysis of medieval interpretations of myth can inform our readings of those myths but also advance our understanding of how medieval Irish commentators and redactors viewed their own myths.

5:00pm-6:00pm – CSANA annual meeting

7:00pm: Conference Dinner

Sunday, 10 May 2026

8:30am-9:00am: Coffee & Pastries

9:00am-10:30am: Session 12
Chair: Emmet Taylor (University College Cork)

• Kit Treadwell (University of Cambridge): ‘A widowed countess owns the castle’ — Positions of Widows in Medieval Romance Literature

This paper explores the connections between romance literature of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and developments in inheritance law, particularly increasing acceptance of widows inheriting property. I will first examine the changing perceptions of female inheritance on each side of the Anglo-Welsh border, drawing on the work of Cavell for widowhood and J. B. Smith on dower, arguing that as Anglo-Norman precedent for women inheriting came into increasing contact with native Welsh prohibitions, a hybrid system formed. I will then discuss medieval romance as a genre associated with women, before drawing together a corpus of English, Welsh and Anglo-Norman romances which display an interest in female inheritance. These include Fouke le Fitz Waryn, Peredur, Sir Percival of Galles, and Chwedl Iarlles y Ffynnawn. Building on individual examinations of some of these texts, such as Henley’s work on Fouke and Petrovskaia’s study of Peredur, I intend to argue that these texts collectively demonstrate not only concern over but advocate for female inheritance. I will pursue a specific example to demonstrate this claim: Chwedl Iarlles y Ffynnawn. I will argue that this text in particular displays a notable sympathy with its titular countess, and that her story would have been understood by a contemporary audience as representing a space for the legitimacy of widows inheriting land to be explored. Ultimately, I will argue, the text firmly advocates for the right of widows to own land.

• Hannah Zdansky (Belmont Abbey College, NC): The Irish Resonances of Beathadh Sir Gyi o Bharbhuic

The basic plot and characters of the late-fifteenth-century Beathadh Sir Gyi o Bharbhuic are all importations via Middle English. But the scribe who penned the Irish text, Uilliam Mac an Leagha, was a clever adaptor. His version of Guy of Warwick’s narrative is unique for many reasons. Perhaps the most evident is that it incorporates material from another Middle English text, the homiletic Speculum Gy de Warewyke, a treatise that uses Guy’s narrative as a frame to discuss the sins and the sacrament of penance. Indeed, the focus of the entire text is much more penitential than in extant Middle English versions, and the language used is more poetic, particularly in the episode of Guy’s confession, which is dramatized in the Irish. When taken together, the alterations result in a more engaging and exemplary narrative, and Guy becomes much more unambiguously saintly. So clearly one lens that we can apply to the text is that of penitential saints’ lives. But another angle that has not been adequately explored is that of the geilt. While Guy is not cursed like the protagonist of Buile Shuibhne nor goes out of his mind like in Serglige Con Culainn, being “for a long time without drink or food, wandering through the mountains,” there are many similarities that would not have been lost on an Irish audience (75). The malediction leveled by St. Rónán against Suibhne takes effect upon the battlefield, and he flies away traumatized by the violence and bloodshed, afterwards commencing his wandering, his contemplation of nature, and taking on a radically altered physique. Guy, for his part, is haunted by the carnage he has wrought: he tells the holy man, Johannes de Alcino, that “until the sands of the sea are counted, and the grass of the field, and the leaves of the forest, and the stars of the sky, there will not be made a count or an estimate of the men and the innocent lives that fell at my hands because of my love for this world, to get myself honor and high repute, and to put my fame above everyone” (160). He too will wander, with hair grown long, and become unrecognizable. And while Cú Chulainn will suffer a bout of madness and wandering at the loss of the síd-woman, Fand, Guy is spiritually distraught at feeling separated from God, for when he seeks out Johannes as a confessor, he pleads in desperation, “Holy father, […] I put the charge of my soul upon thee; and hear thou my confession quickly in honor of three Persons, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. For many are my sins” (160). These parallels and more offer greater psychological as well as theological depth in the Irish text when compared to its AngloNorman and Middle English precursors.

• Mairéad Finnegan (Maynooth University): The Significance and Symbolism of the Late Medieval Irish Mantle c. 1100–1550

The brat, or mantle, was the most consistently worn fashion by the Irish in the Middle Ages. As an item of dress, the mantle was described as ‘a shaggy pile’ that was draped over the body. It was known for its durable nature, which made it ideal for the Irish climate, however, it was commonly dyed to suit the status of the wearer. By the late Middle Ages, the ‘wild’ Irish had become so synonymous with wearing these heavy mantles that the style was prohibited by the English crown in Ireland. By investigating the surviving evidence from the twelfth to sixteenth centuries, this paper will delve into how the mantle reinforced or subverted ideas of Irish identity. In the medieval world, clothing and accessories were often ‘read’ as an indicator of a person’s gender, profession or power. Therefore, how the mantle fitted into these conceptions of identity is an important question this paper will explore. In order to analyse the evidence of the Irish mantle, a multidisciplinary approach is taken where sources ranging from archaeology to visual representations to narrative texts are utilised. As the study of dress in Ireland cannot be separated from a European context, the broader material culture in which mantles are set will be examined. Ultimately, what this paper seeks to address is how the mantle functioned as a cultural symbol ‘made after the Irish fashion’.

10:30am-10:45am Coffee Break

10:45am-12:15pm: Session 13
Chair: Michael Linkletter (St Francis Xavier University)

• Samuel Puopolo (Harvard University): Narrative in Brut y Tywysogion

Unlike its Galfridian predecessor, Brut y Tywysogion (“The Chronicles of the Princes”) is in a far more annalistic style of writing, possibly pointing to its origins as a translation of several Cambro-Latin annals from the eleventh to thirteenth centuries. Yet, although much of the Brut consists of decontextualized obits and its other historical data is slotted into the overdetermining year-by-year format, it contains much historical narrative material, such as the account of Owain ap Cadwgan’s rape of Nest ferch Rhys in 1109. Even in the sparser entries from before 1000, narrative builds through recurring references to the activities of specific individuals, such as the conflicts between the sons of Hywel Dda and the sons of Idwal Foel. Finally, some narrative even breaks out of the annalistic form, such as the entry for 1275 which tells of the capture of Eleanor de Montfort in that year, but flashes forward to her marriage to Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, her death in childbirth, and their only daughter’s forced confinement in Sempringham priory, before returning back to the events of 1275. 

This paper will read the Peniarth 20 Brut y Tywysogion as literature, specifically with an eye to this latter sort of narrative when the story ranges beyond the confines of the annalistic entry. What does it mean for the Brut to go forwards and backwards in time and to break its rules? This paper is part of my ongoing dissertation project which examines literary depictions of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd’s death in 1282 through the lens of stopped time to understand how this event was overdetermined as the end of Welsh history. Given the Brut’s original, sudden ending in 1282, an exploration of narrative time in the rest of the chronicle is necessary to understand what temporal movement means throughout the entire text.

• Mac Hauser (Independent Scholar): What man is the porter?

Glewlwyd Gafaelfawr (hereafter “Glewlwyd”) is a minor character in the Arthurian Tradition perhaps best known for his appearance in the Old Welsh poem commonly titled “Pa gur”. He is found in only a handful of texts as a porter of a castle or other fortification and has been surprisingly overlooked by scholars. Yet, once given more than a cursory inspection, a number of elements from the references to him point toward a new understanding of his fundamental character, his corresponding role, and his unrealized dimensions within the Tradition. The investigation uncovers unexpected connections between Glewlwyd and both the Norse god, Heimdallr, and a porter-figure from the Irish Mythological Cycle. After a review of the source material referencing Glewlwyd, the study utilizes several sub-disciplines (including color-studies, linguistics, comparative mythology, etc.) to identify and substantiate the connections. Individually, any one piece of the puzzle gives no indication as to the potential totality of the evidence; however, when synthesized and the pieces connected, the results argue for new perspectives on traditional conclusions.

• Ethan Sabatella (Franklin Pierce University, NH): Dogs, Ghosts, and One-eyed Warriors: A Comparison of Irish Heroic Tales and Berserk’s Protagonist

The biography and traits of Guts, the protagonist of Kentaro Miura's Berserk, feature aesthetic and literary motifs comparable to Irish heroic and otherworldly stories and characters. While the development of Berserk's later story and world features elements explicitly inspired by Irish folklore and mythological literature, there is evidence throughout the narrative that have potential (likely unconscious) similarities to Irish source material. Utilizing Irish, Medieval European, and Japanese primary sources, this paper cross-examines the character of Guts with heroes and otherworldly figures from medieval Irish sagas and folklore.