Welsh Journals

Louis Gougaud, Christianity in Celtic Lands: A History of the Churches of the Celts, their origin, their development, influence and mutual relations (Four Courts Press, Dublin, 1992) 458 pp. ISBN 1 85182 097 3, £ 37.50 Dom Louis Gougaud's comprehensive and beautifully written study of Christianity in the Celtic lands from its earliest years to the twelfth century was first published in 1932 and was immediately regarded as a major contribution to its field. Although much in the Breton historian's work inevitably seems dated in the light of sixty years of continuing research, his book retains its value as a stimulus to thought and many of its insights are still worthy of consideration. The reprint of such a classic (which remains delightfully readable) is very much to be welcomed. The new edition includes a helpful introduction by Jean-Michel Picard which outlines Gougaud's career and achievements and places Christianity in Celtic Lands in the context of the scholarship of its time. There is also a select bibliography covering more recent work in the areas upon which Gougaud touches in his book. This greatly increases the usefulness of the reprint. Gougaud's primary concern was with the development of Irish Christianity and his description of the impact of Irish scholars on the development of European Christianity during the Carolingian period rekindles the reader's wonder at their astonishing achieve- ment. His account of the Britons in Armorica is also compelling and leaves the impression that more extensive research into the early Breton church may provide some helpful insights for students of the early Christian period in Wales and Cornwall. In his introduction Picard notes that 'In an effort to rectify the romantic view portrayed by Ernest Renan at the end of the nine- teenth century, Gougaud gives an excessively negative view of the pagan Celts which is at variance with the findings of modern scholar- ship.' Although his dismissive approach to pre-Christian Celtic religion is a flaw in the book it does enable him to steer clear of the sentimental pseudo-Celtic romanticism which, for some curious reason, seems to go in hundred year cycles, blossoming in the nineties