Arthur in the Celtic Languages , livre ebook

ARTHUR IN THE CELTIC LANGUAGES
ARTHURIAN LITERATURE IN THE MIDDLE AGES
IX
ARTHUR IN THE CELTIC LANGUAGES
THE ARTHURIAN LEGEND IN CELTIC LITERATURES AND TRADITIONS
edited by
Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan and Erich Poppe
© The Vinaver Trust, 2019
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, University Registry, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3NS.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-78683-343-3
e-ISBN 978-1-78683-345-7
The right of the Contributors to be identified separately as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77, 78 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Cover image: King Arthur, depicted in MS Peniarth 23C (Brut y Brenhinedd), f. 75v (1485–1515) © By permission of the National Library of Wales.
PUBLISHED IN COOPERATION WITH
THE VINAVER TRUST
The Vinaver Trust was established by the British Branch of the International Arthurian Society to commemorate a greatly respected colleague and a distinguished scholar
Eugène Vinaver
the editor of Malory’s Morte Darthur . The Trust aims to advance study of Arthurian literature in all languages by planning and encouraging research projects in the field, and by aiding publication of the resultant studies .
ARTHURIAN LITERATURE IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Series Editor
Ad Putter
I
The Arthur of the Welsh , Edited by Rachel Bromwich, A. O. H. Jarman and Brynley F. Roberts (University of Wales Press, 1991)
II
The Arthur of the English , Edited by W. R. J. Barron (University of Wales Press, 1999)
III
The Arthur of the Germans , Edited by W. H. Jackson and S. A. Ranawake (University of Wales Press, 2000)
IV
The Arthur of the French , Edited by Glyn S. Burgess and Karen Pratt (University of Wales Press, 2006)
V
The Arthur of the North , Edited by Marianne E. Kalinke (University of Wales Press, 2011)
VI
The Arthur of Medieval Latin Literature , Edited by Siân Echard (University of Wales Press, 2011)
VII
The Arthur of the Italians , Edited by Gloria Allaire and F. Regina Psaki (University of Wales Press, 2014)
VIII
The Arthur of the Iberians , Edited by David Hook (University of Wales Press, 2015)
IX
Arthur in the Celtic Languages , edited by Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan and Erich Poppe (University of Wales Press, 2019)
CONTENTS
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Contributors
List of Illustrations
List of Abbreviations
Glossary of Welsh Terms
Introduction
Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan and Erich Poppe
Part One Wales
The Beginnings of Welsh Arthurian Tradition
1 Arthurian references in Early Welsh Poetry
Nerys Ann Jones
2 The Earliest Myrddin Poems
John Bollard
3 Trystan and Esyllt
Jenny Rowland
Native Welsh Arthurian Tales
4 Culhwch ac Olwen
Simon Rodway
5 Breuddwyd Rhonabwy
Catherine McKenna
Medieval Translations and Adaptations into Welsh
6 Brut y Brenhinedd
Katherine Himsworth
7 The First Adaptations from French: History and Context of a Debate
Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan and Erich Poppe
8 Owain or Iarlles y Ffynnawn
Regine Reck
9 Ystorya Geraint fab Erbin
Erich Poppe
10 Historia Peredur ab Efrawg
Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan
11 Y Seint Greal
Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan
Influences and Re-compositions
12 Arthur in Trioedd Ynys Prydain
Rebecca Shercliff
13 Arthurian References in Medieval Welsh Poetry, c .1100– c .1540
Barry Lewis
14 Later Hybrid Narrative Texts in Middle Welsh
Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan
15 Folklore and Popular Tradition
Elissa R. Henken
16 Arthurian Place-names of Wales
Scott Lloyd
17 Arthurian Tradition in Modern Welsh Literature
Llŷr Gwyn Lewis
Part Two Cornish and Breton Traditions
18 Cornwall and the Matter of Britain
Oliver J. Padel
19 Arthur in Earlier Breton Traditions
Hervé Le Bihan
20 Popular Traditions and the Work of Hersart de la Villemarqué
Fañch Postic and Hélène Bouget
21 The Arthurian Legend in Modern Breton Culture
Françoise Le Saux
Part Three The Gaelic World
Ireland
22 The Earliest Irish Material
Erich Poppe
23 Irish Translations and Romances
Aisling Byrne
Scotland
24 Scottish Gaelic Literature and Popular Traditions
Linda Gowans
Bibliography
Notes
PREFACE
This book forms part of the ongoing series Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages. The purpose of the series is to provide a reliable and comprehensive survey of Arthurian writing in all its generic and linguistic diversity. For many years, the single-volume Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages: A Collaborative History , ed. Roger Sherman Loomis (Oxford, 1959), served the needs of scholars and students of Arthurian literature admirably, but it has now been overtaken by advances in scholarship and by changes in critical perspectives and methodologies. The Vinaver Trust recognized the need for a fresh and up-to-date survey, and knew that a series of volumes would be required to do justice to the distinctive contributions made to Arthurian literature by the many different cultures of medieval Europe.
The first volume to appear in the series was the The Arthur of the Welsh: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval Welsh Literature (1991). This was a landmark study. It has been reprinted many times in hardback and paperback editions, but it too has been overtaken by the passage of time. Moreover, as indicated by its title, its primary focus was on medieval Welsh literature, and while The Arthur of the Welsh has, faute de mieux , served as a guide to students and scholars of other Celtic languages, it did not provide adequate coverage of Arthurian writings in Celtic languages other than Welsh. The Vinaver Trust felt that a new guide to Arthurian literature in all the Celtic languages was needed, one that could provide an authoritative and up-to-date overview of the wider field. To that end, Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan and Erich Poppe were invited to produce the latest volume in the series, Arthur in the Celtic Languages .
The series is mainly aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students and at scholars working in the fields covered by each of the volumes. The series has, however, also been designed to be accessible to general readers and to students and scholars from different fields who want to discover what forms Arthurian narratives took in literatures and languages that they do not know, and how these narratives influenced the linguistic and literary traditions that they do know. Within these parameters, the editors have had full control over the shape and content of their individual volumes.
Ad Putter Professor of Medieval English, University of Bristol (General Editor)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are most grateful to the following copyright holders for permission to reproduce photographs: Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru/The National Library of Wales (dust jacket and p. 96 , fig. 1 ); Fañch Postic ( p. 315 , fig. 2 ); Tugdual de Langlais and the estate of Xavier de Langlais ( p. 330 , fig. 3 ). We wish also to record our thanks to the staff at the University of Wales Press. Our greatest debt of gratitude, however, is to all our contributors, who have worked hard to meet deadlines, sometimes in difficult circumstances. It has been a pleasure to work with them.
CLlM and EP
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
John Bollard is a medievalist, editor, and translator who has published articles on The Mabinogi and other early Welsh tales and poetry. His books include The Mabinogi (2006), Companion Tales to The Mabinogi (2007), Tales of Arthur (2010) and Englynion y Beddau/The Stanzas of the Graves (2015). He has taught medieval Welsh at the universities of Massachusetts and Connecticut, at Yale, and most recently at Harvard.
Hélène Bouget is a senior lecturer in medieval French language and literature at the Université de Bretagne Occidentale (UBO), Brest, and a full member of the Centre de recherche Bretonne et Celtique (CRBC) at UBO. She has published widely on French Arthurian literature and has written several articles about the construction, the representation and the reception of the Matter of Britain from the Middle Ages to today.
Aisling Byrne is Lecturer in Medieval English Literature at the University of Reading. She is the author of Otherworlds: Fantasy and History in Medieval Literature (Oxford University Press, 2016). She has published articles on medieval romance and on translation and textual transmission in medieval Britain and Ireland.
Linda Gowans is an independent scholar working on survivals of the Arthurian legend in Scottish Gaelic oral tradition. Her publications in this field include a monograph on the Arthurian ballad Am Bròn Binn . A former British Branch bibliographer for the International Arthurian Society, her interests also include the development of Grail literature in Old French.
Elissa R. Henken teaches Folklore and Celtic studies as a Professor at the University of Georgia. Her published works include two books on Welsh saints, one on the Welsh national redeemer Owain Glyndŵr, and one on folklore and human sexuality. Other research includes Civil War legendry, Frank Lloyd Wright and developments in contemporary legend.
Katherine Himsworth ’s first degree was