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Celtic Britain and Ireland: Art and Society
Beautifully illustrated in color.
Hardcover
First published May 31, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 30, 2012
A book my local library actually had, but possibly a bit of a waste of time. I think I should have read Laing’s Celtic Archaeology. This was quite interesting overall, but there were long boring patches, and some bits which were just cursory glances. This book goes through Dark Age Britain (c5-9) and explains how its not really dark, despite problems dating any of the evidence. The Laings focus on Celtic areas, although they also deal with the Saxon-(Romanised)-Britain contact really well. By far the best parts of the book are those which they have previously written articles about, especially those which deal with Pictish themes, as for example their arguments about the dating of the Norrie’s Law hoard and Pictish stones (and symbols) in general. Three quotes:
{hanging bowls}
There are 95 finds of bowls or isolated bowl escutcheons, which taken to gether provide a ‘source book’ for ‘Celtic’ art of the early post-Roman centuries. As the name suggests, the assemblage comprises thing bronze bowls suspended by chains from three, sometimes four escutcheons round the rim. On the base of the bowl is usually to be found a further mount or ‘print’. The escutcheon is usually to be found a further mount or ‘print’. The escutcheon hooks are usually zoomorphic, and turned in, so that the chains do not slide off, as would have been the case with some Roman hanging vessels on which the hooks turn outwards.
{redefining Insular art}
The tendency to insist that Celtic art was synonymous with ‘Irish’ presumably arose through the desire to take as the definitive model an area of ‘pure’ Celtic tradition ‘uncontaminated’ by any other influence... Recent thinking allows greater possibility of Roman influence on Celtic art and argues that as there is very little evidence for “la Tene” culture in Ireland, by definition, there would be relatively little la Tene art.
{redefining the Saxon invasion}
for some time it has been fairly clear that the traditional picture of waves of Anglo0Saxon incomers exterminating the Britons (ex-Romans) or driving them into the Celtic West is probably a facile model born of nineteenth-century ideas about imperialism and the processes of culture change. It continued into this century in the writings of the influential historian GM Trevelyan...
...
In point of fact, it was the traditional ‘victims’ – the urban Romano-British –who had substantial advantages with their high walls and organised defences. The Anglo-Saxon settlements are notable for being undefended. This is in contrast to the other invaders such as the Romans, with their forts, fortresses and camps, or the Normans, wit their motte and bailey castles. There is no evidence whatsoever for the widespread massacre of the Romano-British population in either towns or countryside. Conversely there is a proof of close juxtaposition in both the towns and the countryside of Anglo-Saxon and Romano-British lifestyles, and for Saxons living in Britian before the fifth century, clearly tolerated by officialdom and in some cases actually invited.
{hanging bowls}
There are 95 finds of bowls or isolated bowl escutcheons, which taken to gether provide a ‘source book’ for ‘Celtic’ art of the early post-Roman centuries. As the name suggests, the assemblage comprises thing bronze bowls suspended by chains from three, sometimes four escutcheons round the rim. On the base of the bowl is usually to be found a further mount or ‘print’. The escutcheon is usually to be found a further mount or ‘print’. The escutcheon hooks are usually zoomorphic, and turned in, so that the chains do not slide off, as would have been the case with some Roman hanging vessels on which the hooks turn outwards.
{redefining Insular art}
The tendency to insist that Celtic art was synonymous with ‘Irish’ presumably arose through the desire to take as the definitive model an area of ‘pure’ Celtic tradition ‘uncontaminated’ by any other influence... Recent thinking allows greater possibility of Roman influence on Celtic art and argues that as there is very little evidence for “la Tene” culture in Ireland, by definition, there would be relatively little la Tene art.
{redefining the Saxon invasion}
for some time it has been fairly clear that the traditional picture of waves of Anglo0Saxon incomers exterminating the Britons (ex-Romans) or driving them into the Celtic West is probably a facile model born of nineteenth-century ideas about imperialism and the processes of culture change. It continued into this century in the writings of the influential historian GM Trevelyan...
...
In point of fact, it was the traditional ‘victims’ – the urban Romano-British –who had substantial advantages with their high walls and organised defences. The Anglo-Saxon settlements are notable for being undefended. This is in contrast to the other invaders such as the Romans, with their forts, fortresses and camps, or the Normans, wit their motte and bailey castles. There is no evidence whatsoever for the widespread massacre of the Romano-British population in either towns or countryside. Conversely there is a proof of close juxtaposition in both the towns and the countryside of Anglo-Saxon and Romano-British lifestyles, and for Saxons living in Britian before the fifth century, clearly tolerated by officialdom and in some cases actually invited.
August 2, 2011
A brilliant book about Celtic Art, fantastic artwork a great book for any undergraduate course.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews