IMC 2017: Sessions

Session 1013: Brittany and the Atlantic Archipelago: Contact, Myth, and History

Wednesday 5 July 2017, 09.00-10.30

Sponsor:	Research Project, Leverhulme Trust
Organiser:	Fiona Edmonds, Department of History, Lancaster University
Moderator/Chair:	Julia M. H. Smith, Faculty of History, University of Oxford
Paper 1013-a	The Life of St Malo: Covering All the Bases (Language: English) Caroline Brett, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic, University of Cambridge Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Hagiography, Language and Literature - Celtic
Paper 1013-b	Brittany and the Insular World: Contacts and Confrontations during the Viking Age (Language: English) Fiona Edmonds, Department of History, Lancaster University Index terms: Language and Literature - Celtic, Politics and Diplomacy
Paper 1013-c	Rustica imbecillitas: The Rhetoric of the Otherness of Breton Personal Names in Charters (Language: English) Paul Russell, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic, University of Cambridge Index terms: Language and Literature - Celtic, Onomastics
Abstract	This session aims to investigate the links between Brittany and the Insular world during the earlier Middle Ages. There is scope for debate about the longevity and intensity of these maritime contacts. Caroline Brett examines the balance of Insular and Carolingian influences in Bili's Life of St Malo; Fiona Edmonds explores Viking-Age developments in Insular-Breton contacts; and Paul Russell examines the connotations of the names in a list of Breton witnesses. Brittany gained an air of 'Otherness' in medieval writings that emanated from both Insular and Carolingian contexts, and so this session is relevant to the IMC's overall theme.