This thesis examines the relationship between the character 'Deirdriu', depicted within Longes mac n- Uislenn, and the woman later referred to as Derdri, Deirdri, Deirdre or Derdrinne. It explores the initial construction and gradual evolution of this character, in relation to the manuscript tradition of Longes mac n-Uislenn and its descendants within the Ulster Cycle. It is proposed that the characterisation of Deirdriu constitutes a form of commentary upon the flawed nature of Conchobor mac Nessa’s kingship of Ulster, but that she is not a figure of sovereignty in the sense in which it has been understood by previous critics of the tradition. The thesis reassesses the contents, structure, and manuscript tradition of the textual witnesses to Longes mac n-Uislenn and Oidheadh Chloinne hUisneach, its later development, and assesses the validity of regarding both tales as primarily concerned with the portrayal of Deirdriu. It is argued that several distinct strands of material relating to the relationships between Deirdriu, the sons of Uisliu, Conchobor mac Nessa and Fergus mac Róich may be identified, ranging from the Early Medieval to the Early Modern period, and that these strands have exercised varying levels of influence upon subsequent revisions of these relationships, up to and including the period of the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Irish Renaissance. The conclusions of this thesis proceed from close textual analysis of the primary source material, supplemented, where appropriate, by narratological theory. Chapter 1 introduces the issues to be considered, and reviews the relevant literature to date. Chapter 2 outlines the methodological approaches adopted throughout the following textual analysis. Chapter 3 defines the episodic structure of Longes mac n-Uislenn, and analyses its contents. Chapter 4 presents a detailed consideration of the Glenmasan Manuscript, the earliest extant witness to Derdriu’s evolution within the Early Modern period. Chapter 5 argues that the characterisation of Deirdriu within the Ulster Cycle constitutes a form of commentary upon the flawed nature of Conchobor mac Nessa’s kingship of Ulster – within the earlier tradition – and upon the compromised honour of Fergus mac Róich within the later.

The aim of this study has been the examination of the form, structure, metre, language and style of that body of verse written in Middle Scots which is characterized by long lines whose metre is accentual and marked by alliteration in certain consecutive stressed syllables. Most of the Middle Scots works which merit this description are composed in alliterative stanzas of thirteen rhyming lines: nine long lines followed by a wheel of four short lines. The method followed has been to first submit one long poem to detailed examination and to apply the data and comparisons thus assembled, and a tailored version of the method, to an examination of the other works.

The thesis, The Bagpipe: perceptions of a national instrument, is a work offered to the University of Edinburgh for the degree of PhD by research publications, and includes a portfolio of published items and research papers, amounting in total to approximately 63,600 words, with a critical review and a CD. Research papers: 1. ‘Making a national collection of a national instrument.’ Lecture to the American Musical Instrument Society and Galpin Society Conference, 3-9 August 2003. 2. ‘The Early History of the Scottish Bagpipe’, in Ellen Hickmann, Arnd Adje Both and Ricardo Eichmann eds., Studien zur Musikarchäologie V (Papers from the 4th Symposium of the International Study Group on Music Archaeology, 19-26 September 2004) Rahden/Westf.: VML 2006, 447-461. 3. ‘Musician and Milieu: piping, politics and patronage through three centuries.’ The John Macfadyen Memorial Trust Annual Lecture, 19 March 2004. 4. ‘Traditional origins of the piping dynasties.’ RSAMD Research Seminar 31 May 2007 (publication forthcoming). 5. ‘The Pastoral or New Bagpipe: piping in the Neo-baroque’, in The Galpin Society Journal, 2007-2008 (forthcoming). 6. ‘Taste and Humour: the Union Pipe of Britain and Ireland’, in Seán Reid Society Journal Volume 3 (2007) [electronic format]. 7. ‘Donald MacDonald, Bagpipe Maker’, in Proceedings of the Piobaireachd Society Conference Volume XXXIII (2006), 10-18. These papers are discussed in a critical review whose thesis and structure is explained in the Prospectus. The critical review amounts to approximately 24,200 words and is divided into seven Sections (as listed on the Contents page) which relate specifically to their respective research papers and summarise their findings. There is some imbalance of wording between the Sections, for example there are more words in sections ‘Piping Dynasties’ and ‘the Maestros’, and this reflects a perceived need to strengthen the statements in these areas in order to deliver the arguments of the thesis more effectively.

Early Irish literature, other Celtic literatures and later folklore are rich with descriptions of personal contact with the sacred. The Otherworld, or spiritual aspect of reality, is a constant and vivid presence in the legends. This reality does not seem distant, but rather, always ready to break through into physical reality, transforming those who encounter it. In earlier times, druids, and sometimes heroes and saints, seem to function fully as shamans as described by Mircea Eliade in his definitive work on shamanism, undertaking spirit journeys into the Otherworld. and returning with gifts for their people. In later times, when overtly primal shamanic practice was increasingly repressed, personal contact with the sacred became in many cases less defined and more individual. However, we continue to see contact with the Otherworld in folklore. hagiography and the mystical experiences fostered by later spiritual movements. While scholars such as Carey, Nagy and Melia have recognised and explored some of the shamanic themes present in Early Irish literature, the full complex of these themes, along with their implications for our understanding of Early Irish and Celtic culture, have not yet been hlly examined. A holistic approach to these difficult issues indicates that one must not just dissect the texts themselves for meaning, but take into account the research of archaeologists, anthropologists, psychologists and neuroscientists as well as Celticists. By doing so, I hope to show not only the evidence for Celtic shamanism itself, but suggest possible fbnctions of shamanic experience in Early Irish, and more broadly, Celtic culture, Because shamanic traditions typically have a clear cosmology and ideas about spiritual growth, I have also considered if the early Irish and, more broadly, the Celts may have had such a cosmology and ideas of harmonising with the sacred they came into such intense contact with.

The Maclagan Manuscripts (1892–1903) are derived from transcriptions of an extensive range of oral traditional narratives collected from a large number of named loci throughout the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, but principally from Argyllshire and the Inner Hebrides. They are named after Dr R. C. Maclagan (1839– 1919), an Edinburgh doctor, who began the collection at the instigation of the British Folklore Society and continued to supervise the collectors’ work till its completion. From the multifarious number of subjects included in the manuscripts, the chosen topic of the thesis was selected for detailed research and examination because of the recorded accounts of diseases, illnesses and treatments experienced by patients and their families within the framework of traditional healing beliefs and practices derived from a distinctive Celtic ethnographic culture. The main objectives within the selected methodology of the thesis were, firstly, to present a comprehensive description of the nature of holistic beliefs and practices associated with healing named diseases; secondly, to interpret the named diseases and the likelihood of success or failure of treatment in relation to the presumed underlying causation. Finally, it was considered important to set the experiential suffering of illness and diseases against the contextual background of daily life cycle of beliefs and communal daily living as found in the manuscripts. I am confident that the first two stated objectives of the thesis have been achieved within the limits of the oral narratives; the attempt to meet the requirements of the final phase of research, while complete within the defined set limits, has clearly shown that the manuscripts, in their entirety, represent an extensive original resource of oral traditions from the Highlands and Islands which have as yet not been researched in detail (Mac-an- Tuairnear 2007). Completion of this thesis was facilitated by the formation of a Microsoft Access database inclusive of all the manuscript key subjects- samples of which can be found in the Appendix.