Medieval Gaelic Sources (14)

by Katharine Simms

This short book is intended to serve as a practical guide to Gaelic language sources (as opposed to administrative or ecclesiastical records in Latin, French or English) for the history of various Irish communities in the high Middle Ages, laying emphasis on published texts for which English translations are available. Under six headings (annals, genealogies, poems, prose tracts and sagas, legal material, colophons and marginalia), it discusses not only the nature of the sources themselves, the purposes for which they were originally created, and their survival and availability to researchers, but also how to glean usable historical information from them.

Genres: History

131 pages, Hardcover

First published October 25, 2008

Reviews

[Heather Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

For primary sources for medieval Celtic history, one of the most useful types of tools for the beginner is a resource of this type that lays out exactly what sorts of sources are available, what they contain, and where to find them. This is more in the way of “deep background” than an exhaustive catalog. In contrast to the majority of books on medieval Irish topics, this focuses on history rather than literature.

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please see my review at Celtic Scholar's Reviews and Opinions