The literary, historical, and linguistic confluence that characterized the Irish Sea region in the pre-modern period is reflected in the interdisciplinarity of these new research essays, centered on the literatures, languages, and histories of the Irish-Sea communities of the Middle Ages, much of which is still evoked in contemporary culture. The contributors to this collection dive deep into the rich historical record, heroic literature, and story lore of the medieval communities ringing the Irish Sea, with case studies that encompass Manx, Irish, Scandinavian, Welsh, and English traditions. Manannán, the famous travelling Celtic divinity who supposedly claimed the Isle of Man as his home, mingles here with his mythical, legendary, and historical neighbors, whose impact on our image and understanding of the pre-modern cultures of the Northern Atlantic has persisted down through the centuries.
- Cover
- Table of Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- Manannán and His Neighbors
- 1. Hiberno-Manx Coins in the Irish Sea
- 2. Hunferth and Incitement in Beowulf
- 3. Cú Chulainn Unbound
- 4. Ragnhild Eiríksdóttir
- Cross-cultural Sovereignty Motifs and Anti-feminist Rhetoric in Chapter 9 of Orkneyinga saga
- 5. Statius’ Dynamic Absence in the Narrative Frame of the Middle Irish Togail na Tebe
- 6. The Stanley Family and the Gawain Texts of the Percy Folio
- 7. Ancient Myths for the Modern Nation
- 8. Kohlberg Explains Cú Chulainn
- Developing Moral Judgment from Bully to Boy Wonder to Brave Warrior
- 9. Language Death and Language Revival
- Contrasting Manx and Texas German
- Index
- List of Illustrations
- Map of the Irish Sea and Northern Sea Area c. 1000–1200 CE
- Figure 1 Glenfaba hoard
- Figure 2 Hiberno-Manx coin, reverse
- Figure 3 Hiberno-Manx coin, obverse
- Figure 4 Stanley family tree