The Romans were known for taking technology and advancements from other peoples they encountered and making them their own. This pattern holds true in military affairs; indeed, little of the Roman military was indigenously developed. This dissertation looks at the origins of the Roman's mainline weapons systems from the beginning of Roman Republic expansion in the fourth century BC to the abandonment of Western-style armaments in favor of Eastern style ones beginning in the late-third century AD. This dissertation determines that the Romans during that time relied predominately on the Celtic peoples of Europe for the majority of their military equipment. One arrives at this conclusion by examining at the origins of the major weapons groups: armor, shields, spears, swords, and missile weapons. This determination is based on the use of ancient written sources, artistic sources, and archaeological sources. It also uses the large body of modern scholarship on the individual weapons. The goal is to produce a unified work that addresses the origins of all weapons in order to see if there is an overarching impact on the Roman military from outside cultures. When one studies whence the weapons that ended up in Romans hands originated, a decided Celtic influence is easily found. That does not mean the Romans did not advance those weapons. The Romans proved very adroit at improving upon the basic designs of others and modifying them into new forms that met new needs. The Romans just did not develop their own technology very often. As a result, the Celts will exert a strong impact on the Roman military culture as it develops from 400 BC until it is overtaken by Eastern influences in the late 200s AD.

This thesis is an essay in the phenomenology of religion; it is not primarily a study of the literature or history of early Ireland. This thesis investigates the content and meaning of the early Irish people's language and expression as it relates to music. The culture being investigated is that of early medieval Ireland, up to and including the twelfth century. The focus of the thesis is on a Collection of music references extracted by this author from selected literature; the Collection itself is presented here as an independent Appendix volume to the main body of the thesis. The specific literature selected for this thesis is found in eight major categories of Old and Middle Irish texts: 1) tales from the Mythological Cycle; 2) Dindshenchas (Place-lore poems); 3) the tales and sagas from the Ulster Cycle; 4) the tales from the Cycles of the Kings literature; 5) the Immrama ("Voyage") literature; 6) tales from the Acallam na Senorach; 7) early Irish poetry; and 8) the early Irish saints' Lives. This thesis is divided into five major chapters--Performers, Instruments, Effects, Places, and Times. The Performers chapter examines the "supernatural" performers, the mundane performers, and those performers portrayed with some degree of Otherworld influence(s). The Instruments chapter discusses the various instruments portryed in this literature, as well as how they might relate to the Otherworld. The Effects chapter examines all of the various effects of music mentioned in the references from the Collection, and discusses how they relate to the "supernatural". The Places and Times chapters discuss the "supernatural'', liminal, and mundane places and times regarding music, as referred to in the references from the Collection. Comparative material is used from other world cultures, in each chapter, for illustratory purposes only. Arguing that music is a means by which the early Irish people test their world and register its realities, this thesis discovers in this select literature on music, an unbroken continuity between the otherworldly and the mundane, experienced and expressed through early Irish music, and this is common to both overtly primal and overtly Christian contexts.

Cette thèse explore les résurgences de motifs liés aux cultures celtiques dans les pièces de Shakespeare, c'est-à-dire la manière dont les cultures pré-chrétienne et pré-romaine des îles britanniques imprègnent l’œuvre théâtrale de William Shakespeare. Ces motifs n’apparaissent pas toujours de manière évidente à la surface du texte. Cela arrive parfois, mais ils requièrent souvent une analyse précise et approfondie. Cette question est jusqu’à présent restée relativement inexplorée ; en ce sens nous pouvons parler d’une construction de sens. Cependant, les cultures en question appartenant à un passé antique, il est possible d’accepter l’idée d’une ‘reconstruction’ d’un passé jusque là oublié. Basé sur une définition rigoureuse du terme ‘celtique’, cette étude examine en détail la présence des motifs, tout d’abord dans les chroniques auxquelles Shakespeare a pu avoir accès, sans oublier les notions d’oralité et de ‘discours’, inhérentes à l’analyse d’une culture avant tout orale. La figure du roi Arthur et la matière arthurienne, perçus comme la voie d’entrée dans le sujet, sont étudiés en relation avec les œuvres du dramaturge. Dans les pièces historiques, l’analyse des personnages venant des ‘marges’, i.e. le Pays-de-Galles, l’Irlande et l’Écosse informent sur la vision pré-moderne de ces ‘frontaliers’. Seules deux œuvres sont situées dans un contexte historique celtique : Cymbeline et Le Roi Lear, mais de nombreux motifs surgissent aussi dans d’autres pièces telles que Macbeth, Le songe d’une nuit d’été, La tempête, Le Conte d’hiver et d’autres. Ce travail de recherche révèle un substrat qui produit une nouvelle lecture enrichissante des œuvres de William Shakespeare / This dissertation explores the resurgence of motifs related to Celtic cultures in Shakespeare’s plays, that is to say the way the pre-Christian and pre-Roman cultures of the British Isles permeate the dramatic works of William Shakespeare. Such motifs do not always evidently appear on the surface of the text. They sometimes do, but most often, they require a thorough in depth exploration. This issue has thus far remained relatively unexplored; in this sense we can talk of a ‘construction’ of meaning. However, the cultures in question belong to an Ancient time, therefore, we may accept the idea of a ‘reconstruction’ of a forgotten past. Providing a rigorous definition of the term ‘Celtic’ this study offers to examine in detail the presence of motifs, first in the Chronicles that Shakespeare could have access to, and takes into account the notions of orality and discourse, inherent to the study of a primarily oral culture. The figure of King Arthur and the matter of Britain, seen as the entrance doors to the subject, are studied in relation to the plays, and in the Histories, the analysis of characters from the ‘margins’, i.e. Wales, Ireland and Scotland provides an Early Modern vision of ‘borderers’. Only two plays from the Shakespearean corpus are set in a Celtic historical context – Cymbeline and King Lear – but motifs surge in numerous other works, such as Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale and others. This research reveals a substrate that produces a new enriching reading of the plays

No description available.

Statistics show that the world wide web is dominated by a few widely spoken languages. However, in quieter corners of the web, clusters of minority language speakers can be found interacting and sharing content. This study is the first to compare three such clusters of Irish language social media users. Social network analysis of the most active public sites of interaction through Irish – the Irish language blogosphere, the Irish language Twittersphere and a popular Irish language Facebook group – reveals unique networks of individuals communicating through Irish in unique and innovative ways. Firstly, it describes the members and their activity, and the size and structure of the networks they share. Then through focused discourse analysis of the core prolific users in each network it describes how the language has been adapted to computer-mediated communication. This study found that the largest networks of Irish speakers comprised between 150-300 regular participants each. Most members were adults, male, and lived in towns and cities outside of the language’s traditional heartland. Moreover, each group shared one common trait: though scattered geographically, through regular online interaction between core members they behave like communities. They were found to have shared histories, norms and customs, and self-awareness that their groups were unique. Furthermore, core users had adapted the language in new and innovative ways through their online discourse. This study is the first comprehensive audit of who is using the Irish language socially on the web, where they are forming networks online, and how they are adapting the language to online discourse. It makes a unique contribution in re-imagining what constitutes an Irish language community in the context of the Network Society. In the process, it contributes to the growing body of sociolinguistic research into globalisation and local identity on the web.

Self-translation has become a firmly established translation practice in connection with contemporary Scottish Gaelic poetry, so much so that the corpus of contemporary Gaelic poetry might be more realistically understood as referring to a bilingual corpus of Gaelic originals and their English translations provided by the author. This was of course not always the case. Rather, today’s situation has to be seen as the result of a steady development over the past sixty years or so which began with initial attempts by Gaelic authors such as Sorley MacLean (Somhairle MacGill-Eain) and Derick Thomson (Ruaraidh MacThòmais) to enter into a professional dialogue with others involved with literary writing and appreciation in Scotland and beyond. During the 1930s and 1940s, working most intensely towards the publication of his renowned poetry collection Dàin do Eimhir, MacLean had close friends in Hugh MacDiarmid, Douglas Young, Robert Garioch and other influential Scottish poets, all of them highly aware of the importance and potential of the linguistic diversity within Scottish society. As a result, we find some of MacLean’s poetry translated into Scots by his literary friends and colleagues. Dàin do Eimhir, which was finally published in 1943, could well have been published with a selection of Young’s translations into Scots. Eventually, however, a selection of MacLean’s own prose translations into English were printed at the end of the volume. This choice indicates an approach to Gaelic poetry publishing which was to become established over the following half century, namely to be inclusive towards the Anglophone world whilst maintaining authorial authority throughout the publication.

This thesis seeks to explore the influence of Henry Jenner as one of the most prominent figures of the Celtic Revival in Cornwall and in the wider Celtic community. To contextualise this, it will examine the image of the Celts as a people in the first half of the twentieth century and the assertion of Celtic identity in that period through the Celtic Revival. The opening chapter examines the concepts of nations and nationalism, particularly Celtic nationalism. The second chapter focuses on the Victorian era as a motivating force for Henry Jenner and others to ‘write back’ against a long and insidious discourse of discrimination. Chapter Three goes on to look at how the political situation in both Britain and Ireland came to influence the nature of Celtic identity assertion and also the extent to which Jenner’s own political views impacted on the nature of Cornwall’s Celtic Revival. In Chapter Four the impact of tourism on Cornwall, and on Cornish identity, is examined, particularly how the image of Cornwall as a Celtic nation created by Jenner and others was embraced and manipulated by that industry. Chapter Five looks at the consequences of image manipulation on tourist-dependent regions. The final chapter concentrates more specifically on the work of Jenner and the Old Cornwall Societies, and the thesis concludes by appraising the influence of the ideas and beliefs of Henry Jenner on our contemporary vision of Cornwall. It focuses particularly on how the predominance of memory created a haunted identity which was embraced by the burgeoning tourist industry and examines how this identity has subsequently impacted on the economic well-being of the region. But it also concludes that Jenner’s legacy endures in so many of the positive images of, and statements about, Cornwall today.

Mae’r traethawd hwn yn archwilio’r portread o amlddiwylliannedd yn ne Cymru a geir mewn ffuglen Gymraeg a Saesneg er 1990. Trwy ddefnyddio cysyniad theoretig yr ‘arall’ a damcaniaethau ôl-drefedigaethol cysylltiedig, mae’r astudiaeth hon yn ceisio osgoi pegynu rhwng cymunedau Cymraeg a Saesneg eu hiaith Cymru, fel y mae astudiaethau eraill ar amlddiwylliannedd Cymreig wedi’i wneud. Eir ati, yn hytrach, i drafod sut y mae’n bosib i gymeriadau o unrhyw gefndir ethnig, hiliol, crefyddol neu ieithyddol brofi aralledd oherwydd safbwyntiau goddrychol gwahanol, ac oherwydd y cyfuniad o wahanol elfennau sy’n creu hunaniaeth yr unigolyn. Trwy ystyried yr hybridedd hwn a berthyn i’r cymeriadau a’r nofelau fel ei gilydd, cynigir ffordd newydd o feddwl am amlddiwylliannedd yng Nghymru. Gesyd fframwaith theoretig trwy olrhain datblygiad cysyniadau aralledd a hybridedd yng ngwaith Hegel, de Beauvoir, Fanon, Said a Bhabha, gan fanylu ar berthnasedd eu damcaniaethau i ddadleuon am amlddiwylliannedd yng Nghymru. Ceir wedyn bedair pennod o ddadansoddi testunol. Mae’r cyntaf yn tynnu ar waith Bakhtin i drafod sut y mae awduron yn defnyddio nofelau hybrid, aml-leisiol fel gofod hybrid lle y gall cymeriadau archwilio’u haralledd. Defnyddia’r ail bennod ddamcaniaethau Bhabha am yr ystrydeb drefedigaethol a phegynau deuaidd i ystyried sut y mae aralledd a hybridedd cymeriadau’r nofelau yn herio delweddau ystrydebol a phegynol o Gymreictod. Mae’r drydedd bennod yn troi at ystrydebau am y siaradwyr Cymraeg a Saesneg a thrafodir sut y mae’r cymeriadau yn defnyddio lleoliad y dafarn er mwyn eu herio. Ystyria’r bedwaredd pennod effaith mudo a mewnfudo ar aralledd y mudwyr yng ngoleuni theorïau Said am alltudiaeth. Daw’r traethawd i gasgliad ar berthynas y portread llenyddol hwn ag amlddiwylliannedd yn y byd go iawn, gan awgrymu bod darllen testunau Cymraeg a Saesneg ochr yn ochr â’i gilydd yn gallu’n annog i ddatblygu’n genedl fwy cynhwysol.

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.

This thesis traces the relation between Anglophone Welsh fiction and politics, in light of the campaign for, and introduction, of devolution. Focusing primarily on the period 1970 – 2011, the thesis analyses a range of novels, short stories and journal articles produced in this period. The Introduction begins with an analysis of the history of devolution in Wales and considers theories of nationalism proposed by theorists including Benedict Anderson and Raymond Williams, both of whom suggest that heightened awareness of a wider national community is integral to the development of a cohesive nationalist impulse. Chapter I commences with an analysis of the relation between literature and politics in the years prior to the 1979 referendum on Welsh devolution. Taking as its starting point Fredric Jameson’s theory of political allegory in literature, this chapter considers the way in which the presentation of politics in Anglophone Welsh fiction becomes gradually more overt by the close of the 1970s. Chapter II examines the way in which Anglophone Welsh fiction writers responded to the outcome of the 1979 referendum, alongside other political events of the 1980s such as the Falklands War and widespread industrial decline. Chapter III charts the development of the relation between fiction and politics in 1990s Wales, suggesting that the years preceding the 1997 referendum on devolution witnessed a more overt engagement between Anglophone Welsh fiction and politics than had been evident in the 1970s. The final chapter argues that in the wake of devolution fiction from Wales has responded by presenting an increasingly diverse and multi-faceted image of Wales, characterised by a more overt engagement with politics and nationalism. The Conclusion considers how the changes outlined in this thesis relate to wider cultural developments in Wales and suggests how this research may be expanded to incorporate broader areas of the arts in Wales.