Celts, Gaels, and Britons: Studies in Language and Literature from Antiquity to the Middle Ages in Honour of Patrick Sims-Williams ed. by Erich Poppe, Simon Rodway, and Jenny Rowland (review)

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• Celts, Gaels, and Britons: Studies in Language and Literature from Antiquity to the Middle Ages in Honour of Patrick Sims-Williams ed. by Erich Poppe, Simon Rodway, and Jenny Rowland
• Roderick McDonald

Poppe, Erich, Simon Rodway, and Jenny Rowland, eds, Celts, Gaels, and Britons: Studies in Language and Literature from Antiquity to the Middle Ages in Honour of Patrick Sims-Williams, ( Medieval Texts and Cultures of Northern Europe, 35), Turnhout, Brepols, 2022; hardback; pp. xviii, 362; 2 b/w illustrations; R.R.P. €90,00; ISBN 9782503598642.

When this reviewer had the opportunity to sit next to Patrick Sims-Williams at an International Celtic Congress dinner more than a decade ago he met a personable, encouraging, and erudite conversationalist, a character entirely consistent with the attributes highlighted by editor Simon Rodway in his 'Introduction' to this Festschrift. A highly respected and knowledgeable scholar in command of a wide field, Sims-Williams is now Emeritus Professor of Celtic Studies at Aberystwyth University, Fellow of the British Academy, President of the International Congress of Celtic Studies, and Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy. Rodway also notes Sims-Williams being unafraid of the fiercest of debates in the discipline, and his careful negotiation of the 'cautious road between the Celtomaniacs and the Celtosceptics' (p. xvi). Indeed, Celtic studies are prone to wilful popular misappropriation, and the wide range of contributions in this volume emphasises the ongoing scholarly work in the discipline necessary to further the field and, along the way, help address this. In this context, Sims-Williams stands exemplary, and many of the contributions take his work as a starting point.

In eighteen chapters this volume incorporates a wide array of topics typical of the scope of the field, from many prominent established scholars in Celtic linguistics and literature. As might be expected, these contributions are thorough, detailed, and occasionally very technical. Many also deal with cruces of scholarly debate at the margins of current knowledge, and these tend to offer theoretical possibilities, rather than conclusive certainties. For example, Máire Herbert titles her work 'Some Thoughts on the Life of Saint Ailbe' (p. 71), Jenny Rowland's exploration of the romanisation of British bards is 'more of an essay intended [End Page 333] to provoke discussion' (p. 113), William Mahon's chapter is 'A Note' on the medieval Welsh poem Echrys Ynys (pp. 131–38), Paul Russell's examination of late medieval Welsh scribal practice is characterised as a 'preliminary survey' (p. 270), and David Willis's syntactic analysis of conditional clauses in Welsh is a 'preliminary attempt' (p. 289). Scholarly work usually commences with a thought, a note, or a survey, and these often surface as conference papers, but it is unusual to see them in a final published form. Perhaps this is a perk reserved for the established scholar?

As suggested by the title, the works here range widely across geographic, linguistic, and social groupings, and over a wide timespan. Javier de Hoz and Alexander Falileyev each analyse Proto-Celtic inscriptions in, respectively, early Roman Iberia and the Roman province of Pannonia. Also working in an early time frame, Peter Schriver and Stefan Schumacher both discuss specific linguistic developments of Proto-Celtic speech sounds in British Celtic: Schriver focusing on the consonant cluster *st, Schumacher the diphthong *au.

Only three chapters are concerned with the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages (and even one of these draws links with British): Liam Breatnach produces an edition and translation of a previously unedited Old Irish text on kingship, Máire Herbert's contribution speculates on the relationship between British and Irish Christian practice suggested through parallels in the hagiographies of Saints Ailbe and David, and Máire Ní Mhaonaigh reassesses assumptions about possible Irish influences on Old Norse literature.

Aside from these three, the rest of the volume is concerned with Brittonic, mostly Welsh. In addition to those chapters already mentioned, Simon Rodway revisits the question as to whether the early (British) Celts would have self-identified as Celts, Bleddyn Owen Huws (in the volume's only article in Welsh) transcribes an early modern Welsh letter from Siôn Phylip (c. 1540–1620) and contextualises this in terms...