Celtic Women: Women in Celtic Society and Literature

by Peter Berresford Ellis

Looks at the history of women in Celtic folklore, society, and civilization

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Womens, Ireland, Ancient History, Anthropology, Mythology

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1996

About the author

Peter Berresford Ellis is a historian, literary biographer, and novelist who has published over 90 books to date either under his own name or his pseudonyms Peter Tremayne and Peter MacAlan. He has also published 95 short stories. His non-fiction books, articles and academic papers have made him acknowledged as an authority on Celtic history and culture. Under Peter Tremayne, he is the author of the international bestselling Sister Fidelma mystery series. His work has appeared in 25 languages.

He began his career as a junior reporter on an English south coast weekly, becoming deputy editor of an Irish weekly newspaper and was then editor of a weekly trade journal in London. He first went as a feature writer to Northern Ireland in 1964 for a London daily newspaper which had a profound effect on him. His first book was published in 1968: Wales: a Nation Again, on the Welsh struggle for political independence, with a foreword by Gwynfor Evans, Plaid Cymru's first Member of Parliament. In 1975 he became a full-time writer. He used his academic background to produce many popular titles in the field of Celtic Studies and he has written numerous academic articles and papers in the field for journals ranging from The Linguist (London) to The Irish Sword: Journal of the Irish Military History Society (UCD). He is highly regarded by academics in his own field and was described by The Times Higher Education Supplement, London, (June, 1999) as one of the leading authorities on the Celts then writing. He has been International Chairman of the Celtic League 1988–1990; chairman of Scrif-Celt (The Celtic Languages Book Fair in 1985 and in 1986); chairman and vice-president of the London Association for Celtic Education 1989–1995, and now is an Hon. Life Member); He was also chairman of his local ward Labour Party in London, England, and was editorial advisor on Labour and Ireland magazine in the early 1990s. He is a member of the Society of Authors.

Apart from his Celtic Studies interests, Ellis has always been fascinated by aspects of popular literature and has written full-length biographies on H. Rider Haggard, W. E. Johns, Talbot Mundy as well as critical essays on many more popular fiction authors. His own output in the fictional field, writing in the genre of horror fantasy and heroic fantasy, began in 1977 when the first "Peter Tremayne" book appeared. Between 1983 and 1993 he also wrote eight adventure thrillers under the name "Peter MacAlan". Ellis has published (as of January, 2009) a total of 91 books, 95 short stories, several pamphlets, and numerous academic papers and signed journalistic articles. Under his own name he wrote two long running columns: 'Anonn is Anall' (Here and There) from 1987–2008 for the Irish Democrat, and, "Anois agus Arís" (Now and Again) from 2000–2008 for The Irish Post. His books break down into 34 titles under his own name; 8 titles under the pseudonym of Peter MacAlan and 49 titles under his pseudonym of Peter Tremayne. He has lectured widely at universities in several countries, including the UK, Ireland, American, Canada, France and Italy. He has also broadcast on television and radio since 1968. With the great popularity of his 7th Century set Sister Fidelma Mysteries, in January, 2001, an International Sister Fidelma Society was formed in Charleston, South Carolina, with a website and producing a print magazine three times a year called The Brehon. In 2006 the Cashel Arts Fest established the first three-day international gathering of fans of the series which is now held bi-annually and receives the full support of the Society

Reviews

[Emily - readingwordafterword · Rating 3 out of 5]

"...the society they [Celtic women] lived in was a truly remarkable one and women enjoyed considerable freedoms compared to their Greek and Roman sisters, not to mention the women of the restrictive, militaristic Anglo-Saxon culture."

In Celtic Women: Women in Celtic Society and Literature, Peter Berresford Ellis states that the women of ancient Celtic culture lived in a society that treated women as equals to men. Ellis supports his claim with examples from Celtic mythology, archaeological evidence, recorded history, Irish and Welsh Celtic law codes, and literature. The book gives a broad overview of what life was like for women in Celtic society, focusing mostly on ancient history, but dipping a little into the medieval period, as Ellis attempts to show how the egalitarian society slowly slipped away for the Celtic people.

I found parts of this work very interesting, while other parts not so much. The chapters I enjoyed the most were about real women from ancient history and how women were treated by the laws of the time. There are recorded accounts of Celtic women who were powerful queens, tribal leaders, and warriors. One that stood out, who I had never heard of before, was Cartimandua. She was a queen of the Brigantes who negotiated to become a client state of Rome shortly after the Roman Invasion of Britain in 43 AD, perhaps in an attempt to protect her people. Another interesting woman from history is Boudica, someone I have heard of before.

"Most people are familiar with the statue of Boudica, standing in her fanciful scythe-wheeled chariot with her two daughters, opposite of the Palace of Westminster. It is a curious place for such a thing: Boudica's Celtic descendants were conquered, reviled, and driven from their lands by the ancestors of the English, the people who now seem to venerate her as an 'English' warrior queen."

Boudica became the queen of the Iceni tribe upon the death of her husband in 60 AD and is famous for leading a rebellion against Rome. She triumphed against Rome in her first two battles, but was ultimately defeated. It's not known what happened to her, but she died by either suicide or illness shortly after her defeat.

I was really fascinated by what the two still existing, complete Celtic law codes teach us about what life was like for women in Ancient Celtic society. Women were allowed to be educated and they could join almost any profession. There were women who were judges, war leaders, physicians, artisans, magistrates, poets...the list goes on. A Celtic woman could inherit land from her father and remained the owner of her own property upon marriage. In pre-Christian Celtic society, marriage could be polygamous. Divorce was allowed and a woman could be the one to initiate it. It's mind-blowing how many freedoms a woman could enjoy living in ancient Celtic society, especially knowing how poorly women were treated in other cultures at the same time. (I'm talking about you, ancient Greek & Romans!)

All good things must come to an end, and Ellis starts to show how Celtic women gradually began to lose those freedoms over time.

"The destructive influence of the Roman empire, then of Christianity coupled with the cultures of the Anglo-Saxons and the Franks, certainly bludgeoned the Celts into change."

The fading way of the tribal community, the rise of the Roman state, and the introduction of Christianity were all contributing factors that lead to change.

Overall, I feel like I learned a lot from this book. It was very academic and a challenge for me to read at times. Some parts really captivated my interest, while others were boring or hard to follow. It does feel a little dated at times (it was published in 1995) but it gave me a basic understanding of the subject which is what I was hoping for.

[Susinok · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent reference. Not shaded by feminism.

[BeesReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written in 1995. It's very interesting and only goes to show that the 'British' history I was taught in school was, for the most part, English history. The book is mainly focused on the role of women in Ireland and Wales from pre-CE to the middle ages and to a lesser extent up to the 19th century. Cornwall and Brittany - and a little Scotland - also get a mention.
Until reading this book, I was oblivious to many of the historical events involving Ireland and Wales it covers, and also the information on Celtic mores regarding women's roles - women were found in positions of leadership - both political and military, owned property and there was a great deal of sexual freedom. They were also keen, daily bathers and very fussy over their appearance -including the men (not something I knew at all - my idea of those days is mud, glorious mud, everywhere).
The book starts with myth and tries to pick out where myth and history have merged.
The author states explicitly that he is not trying to say that women necessarily had a great life, but that in comparison with their European counterparts they were much freer.
When Christianity came to Ireland, Celtic christianity brought into it many of the social attitudes of the Celts. However, as the Roman church began to take a hold, the role of women was diminished and sexual freedoms strongly curtailed. The author is careful to point out that roles in Celtic society may have already begun to change before the Roman church became prominent.
Overall, it was a great introduction to the subject matter. I am aware, though, and the author does point out, that other historians have different views.
On the downside, in many parts it reads almost like a wikipedia list of potted biographies of prominent women. It is also packed with Irish and Welsh names and I think a really good addition would be a fold out endpage or cover with names and their pronunciation as I had no idea how to read most of them. (Irish, after all, is a language where the name Caoimhe, for example, is pronounce 'kee-va' and the name Saoirse pronounced 'seer-sha').

[Yasmin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did like this well enough, however, it is well worth to remember there is some outdated language in this book. Other than that it is well researched and a very interesting read. Mr. Ellis (a nod to the outdated language I refer to) has done a fairly commendable job at explaining how women were viewed in (in truth) British and Irish Celtic society. Although Ellis does rather brush every Celtic society more or less in the same way and therefore one does have to call into question the motives with that notion. Some may scoff that it's feminist or some say it is not, but it is something of both. Women did have high consideration within British and Irish Celtic society and there is evidence to back up such claims.

[Clara Mazzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un eccellente lavoro di organizzazione dello scarso materiale "celtico" in materia di donne. Una sorta di manuale, diviso per temi quali: le divinità, le leggi, la chiesa - e la corrispondente posizione delle donne in questi ambiti; l'evoluzione (forse però sarebbe meglio parlare di involuzione...) della donna col passare dei secoli e sopratuttto con l'introduzione del cristianesimo; le donne come autrici. Scritto in maniera scorrevolissima, fornisce dati, stralci di testi e di biografie. Molto ben strutturato.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent, studious book exploring the role women played in the Celtic world. Can get a bit parched in some of the passages, but overall a fascinating read. The obscure names of ancient Celts are entertaining enough.

[Joan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting information but it is a lot of stories with very little cohesiveness. There is also a lot of minutiae.

[Pedro · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good informative book about Celtic women. For sure Peter B. Ellis is able to present and treat this theme and bring 'celtic women' into discussion much better than other authors such as Jean Markale or M.Condren for example. The book is specially good if you don't know much about historical detail and is not familiar with the Ancient and Medieval sources.

However Ellis's work is full of problems. He gives constantly too much emphasis on some aspects and neglect other important ones, and I guess the biggest problem is that it seems that all the time the author wants to prove how Celtic women had a better status than any other women in Ancient and Medieval times. He makes hughes problematic generalisations and sometimes forget that the category of 'woman' is also a plural one and that the lifestyle of an aristocratic chief-wife or Queen is different from the rest of the women of the tribe.

Ellis narrative is great and the book is very easy reading and informative, but it misses a little bit of good scholar work and academic critical approach.