IMC 2010: Sessions
Session 519: Imagined Landscapes in Medieval Celtic Literature
Tuesday 13 July 2010, 09.00-10.30
Sponsor: | Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic, University of Cambridge |
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Organiser: | Philip Dunshea, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic, University of Cambridge |
Moderator/Chair: | Paul Russell, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic, University of Cambridge |
Paper 519-a | Delw y byd: Imagining the World in Medieval Wales (Language: English) Index terms: Crusades, Language and Literature - Celtic, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Mentalities |
Paper 519-b | Place and Journey: The World of Dindshenchas Érenn (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Celtic, Mentalities, Onomastics |
Paper 519-c | Some hengerdd Place Names Reconsidered: The Landscape of the 'Old North' (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Celtic, Onomastics |
Abstract | Our session will explore the geographical Weltanschauungen of the medieval Welsh and Irish as they were laid out in some of their literary manuscripts. We would like to discuss these imagined landscapes on three levels: local and national (Russell), international (Petrovskaia), and historical (Dunshea). Petrovskaia's paper will outline the main distinctive features of the Welsh tradition of the imago mundi, a geographical treatise translated into Welsh in the mid-13th century. Russell will explore how Dindshenchas Érenn constructs a coherent imaginative geography of Ireland, in which each place becomes an avatar of some socially significant issue through the themes and characters of its etymological origin story. Dunshea will look at how the medieval Welsh remembered the landscape of the North British kingdoms in their hengerdd poems. |