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Studies in Celtic History #40
Gaelic Influence in the Northumbrian Kingdom: The Golden Age and the Viking Age
Northumbria was the most northerly Anglo-Saxon kingdom; its impressive landscape featured two sweeping coastlines, which opened the area to a variety of cultural connections. This book explores influences that emanated from the Gaelic-speaking world, including Ireland, the Isle of Man, Argyll and the kingdom of Alba (the nascent Scottish kingdom). It encompasses Northumbria's "Golden Age", the kingdom's political and scholarly high-point of the seventh and early eighth centuries, and culminates with the kingdom's decline and fragmentation in the Viking Age, which opened up new links with Gaelic-Scandinavian communities. Political and ecclesiastical connections are discussed in detail; the study also covers linguistic contact, material culture and the practicalities of travel, bringing out the realities of contemporary life. This interdisciplinary approach sheds new light on the west and north of the Northumbrian kingdom, the areas linked most closely with the Gaelic world. Overall, the book reveals the extent to which Gaelic influence was multi-faceted, complex and enduring.
Dr FIONA EDMONDS is Reader in History and Director of the Regional Heritage Centre at Lancaster University.
Dr FIONA EDMONDS is Reader in History and Director of the Regional Heritage Centre at Lancaster University.
- GenresHistory
322 pages, Hardcover
First published December 18, 2019
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About the author
Fiona Edmonds
16 booksDr Fiona Edmonds is Reader in History and Director of the Regional Heritage Centre at Lancaster University.
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July 27, 2021
Gaelic Influence in the Northumbrian Kingdom, the Golden Age and the Viking Age, Fiona Edmonds, 2019, 222 pages or 300 including bibliography and index, etc
When it comes to links between the Gaelic world and Northumbria, most people are familiar with Lindisfarne and Iona and some will have an awareness of exiled princes and Ecgfrith's raiding of Brega, but usually the head scratching commences after that. This book goes a lot further and is all the more welcome for it.
Although a large proportion of the pages are taken up by footnotes, this still feels like a big book and considering the temporal spread of the work, I was surprised to see that it wasn't a collection of specialist papers presented at a conference. It's remarkable that Edmonds has managed to produce something that is not only so comprehensive, but also so uniformly excellent throughout.
This book is extremely detailed and thorough, if not to say painstaking. Unlike some works that are mostly based on Bede, Edmonds takes full advantage of Gaelic sources that aren't always that familiar to people and this gives a much more rounded view.
Chapters include:
Preface
Concepts and Historiography
Exiles and Emperors: Gaelic-Northumbrian political relations in the Golden Age
Fragmentation and Opportunity: from the 8th century to the Viking Age
Pathways through the past: routes between the Gaelic world and the Northumbrian kingdom
A golden age of ecclesiastical contacts
Saints and seaways in the Viking Age
Medieval Multilingualism: Gaelic linguistic influence in the Northumbrian kingdom
Movement and material culture in the Northumbrian and Gaelic worlds
Conclusion
The first two chapters are based around chronological history and then others deal with systems and other facets, such as physical means of communication between the Gaelic world and Northumbria, church links throughout the age and linguistic evidence, etc. The surveys of route-ways between Northumbria and Ireland is very detailed and the examination of the proposed Clyde-Forth portage is very much a case of common-sense triumphing over implausible ideas of moving boats long distances overland.
Although the section on continued links between the Northumbrian church and Ireland was not quite so interesting as some other parts of the book, Edmonds does demonstrate, through the mechanism of obscure saint dedications, that the multicultural links between Ireland and Northumbria continued after the viking age. Taking in the wider evidence of the latter part of the book, in many ways these links increased in the aftermath of the disintegration of Northumbria.
This is a fascinating book that examines many areas that feel neglected. I'm really glad that Dr Insley recommended it.
When it comes to links between the Gaelic world and Northumbria, most people are familiar with Lindisfarne and Iona and some will have an awareness of exiled princes and Ecgfrith's raiding of Brega, but usually the head scratching commences after that. This book goes a lot further and is all the more welcome for it.
Although a large proportion of the pages are taken up by footnotes, this still feels like a big book and considering the temporal spread of the work, I was surprised to see that it wasn't a collection of specialist papers presented at a conference. It's remarkable that Edmonds has managed to produce something that is not only so comprehensive, but also so uniformly excellent throughout.
This book is extremely detailed and thorough, if not to say painstaking. Unlike some works that are mostly based on Bede, Edmonds takes full advantage of Gaelic sources that aren't always that familiar to people and this gives a much more rounded view.
Chapters include:
Preface
Concepts and Historiography
Exiles and Emperors: Gaelic-Northumbrian political relations in the Golden Age
Fragmentation and Opportunity: from the 8th century to the Viking Age
Pathways through the past: routes between the Gaelic world and the Northumbrian kingdom
A golden age of ecclesiastical contacts
Saints and seaways in the Viking Age
Medieval Multilingualism: Gaelic linguistic influence in the Northumbrian kingdom
Movement and material culture in the Northumbrian and Gaelic worlds
Conclusion
The first two chapters are based around chronological history and then others deal with systems and other facets, such as physical means of communication between the Gaelic world and Northumbria, church links throughout the age and linguistic evidence, etc. The surveys of route-ways between Northumbria and Ireland is very detailed and the examination of the proposed Clyde-Forth portage is very much a case of common-sense triumphing over implausible ideas of moving boats long distances overland.
Although the section on continued links between the Northumbrian church and Ireland was not quite so interesting as some other parts of the book, Edmonds does demonstrate, through the mechanism of obscure saint dedications, that the multicultural links between Ireland and Northumbria continued after the viking age. Taking in the wider evidence of the latter part of the book, in many ways these links increased in the aftermath of the disintegration of Northumbria.
This is a fascinating book that examines many areas that feel neglected. I'm really glad that Dr Insley recommended it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review