Welsh Journals

REVIEWS LITERACY IN MEDIEVAL CELTIC SOCIETIES. Edited by Huw Pryce. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature, Vol. 33, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998. Pp.xiii, 297. £ 40.00. This volume represents the fruits of a conference held at University of Wales, Bangor, in 1994, and brings together the views of a number of leading scholars in the field of Celtic Studies. The focus is upon the uses of the written word, the contexts of written artefacts, and the implications of literacy in Wales, Ireland, Scotland and Brittany throughout much of the medieval period. The materials discussed range from genealogy and poetry to monumental inscriptions and deeds, presented in their social, political and cultural contexts. While the thirteen individual studies provide detailed analyses of specific aspects of literacy throughout the Celtic world, Dr Pryce's introduction brings together not only the methodology behind the original conference, but the common themes and implications of the volume overall. The focus is predominantly upon Wales (a situation which in itself is attractive in a field which tends to be dominated-if only for reasons of source material-by Irish evidence): the papers by Patrick Sims- Williams, Sioned Davies, Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan, Uinos Beverley Smith and A. D. Carr together provide a valuable and coherent discussion of the changing roles and implications of literacy in Wales from the very early historical period down to the end of the Middle Ages. Ireland is also fairly well served in papers byT. M. Charles-Edwards, Marie-Therese Flanagan, and Dr Katherine Simms, while David E. Thornton's study of genealogies provides a useful bridge between these two countries and their literate traditions. Scotland is represented by two studies, one on the early medieval period, by Katherine Forsyth, and one on the central Middle Ages, by Dauvit Broun. Professor Noel-Yves Tonnerre provides a detailed, wide-ranging and interesting discussion of the relationship between native literary tradition and political power in Brittany. Professor Wendy Davies's study of the Celtic charter tradition bridges all four areas and draws useful conclusions on the relationship of literacy and power.