Fabula Celtica Podcast

Oxford, Jesus College MS 111, fol. 130r. A drawing of a two-legged dragon in red, marking a run-on at the bottom of a page. His long tail is curled behind him and in front of him is the run-on and a red rectangle with some cross hatching. Three lines of text in Middle Welsh are visible above the dragon.

Is a dragon plaguing your land? A fix from medieval Wales:

1. Dig a hole, fill it w/mead, & cover w/a sheet.

2. Wait for the dragon to tire itself out & turn into a pig.

3. Let the pig fall in the hole, get wrapped in the sheet & drink all the mead.

4. Capture the drunk pig in a chest & bury it.

A superb exhibition! If you're in Ireland, see it while you can!

Squabbles between 19th-century literati are one of my favourite things about working on the period. "I have given the presumptuous dunce a dressing" --Sir Samuel Ferguson, commenting on his review in Blackwood of Sir William Betham's 1842 Etruria Celtica.

FOLLOWERS. Listen to me wittering on about my book.

The London-Welsh, the relationship between Welsh conquest and Welsh colonialism, scientific druids, and the politics of ancestry.

(Here too if you don't like Spotify:

newbooksnetwork.com/welsh-reviva...)

Welsh Revivalism in Imperial Britain, 1707-1819 Reframes the study of Welsh cultural revivalism, highlighting transnational and imperial contexts.

Publication day!!

Find out how C18th Welsh cultural revivalism positioned itself within an expanding British Empire and a newly-minted British state. Includes Welsh sources on slavery/abolition, settler colonialism, Indigenous America, and more

🚨🚨🚨 35% off all formats with the code BB135 🚨🚨🚨

GRMMA! 🙏

Three Ravens Series 7 launches today in earnest! 🖤

Between now and the New Year we will be exploring the history, mythology and folklore of the 13 historic counties of Wales - and we really hope you like the new logo!

Drawing of a dog, probably a greyhound, in NLW Peniarth MS 28, fol. 21r, a Latin copy of the Welsh Law of Hywel Dda. The dog appears to be running as if in chase. There are four lines of text above the dog, ending with a red rubricated title for the section on dogs. Three lines plus a cropped line of text are below the dog, beginning with a large initial rubricated with a greenish blue color.

‘The value of a dog is four cheeses’

My favorite (probable) abbreviation error, where a scribe of a Latin redaction of the Welsh Law of Hywel Dda seems to have taken the abbreviation k’ not for keiniog ‘penny’ but for kosen ‘cheese’. 🐕🧀🧀🧀🧀

Translation and analysis by Paul Russell in his 1/2

Well, BretPal is coming to a swift end as of 30 September. Between now and then, I'll be posting my favourite Breton manuscripts, starting with the iconic horse Mark from the Boulougne Gospels (Boulogne sur Mer, MS 8).

Christ 😂 Which MS is this?

A manuscript of Oidheadh Con Culainn. the words "an mbaibiolon" in the text have a symbol next to them pointing to a marginal note that reads "baibiolan .i. baibilion .i. baibiolón .i. babilón"

Do you think they might have gone to Babylon? Hard to be sure.

Art is "Macha Curses the Men of Ulster" by Stephen Reid in Eleanor Hull's The Boys' Cuchulainn (1904)

A woman in medieval garb. Image captioned "What was life like for Irish women & children in the early Middle Ages? Find out in Ep 14: Who's your Daddy? (available now!)"

Missed us? Check out this new whopper of an episode about early Irish women, children, and patriarchy (wherever you get your podcasts)!

Tomorrow evening, we are launching Old Irish: A Beginner’s Guide. Authored by Dr Rebecca Shercliff this volume offers a step‑by‑step introduction to the language and literature of medieval Ireland and is written with absolute beginners in mind.

‪@department-asnc.bsky.social‬

Painting of woman at an overflowing magical well

Apologies for the long wait, but you get an extra long episode and a new co-host for your patience! Episode 13: The Good, the Bad, & the Poetry is available now! Art: O'Byrne-Doggett, Maeve. 'The Lady Shinain at the Well of Knowledge', c. 1905-1915. Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum.

The Hobbit translated into Scots Gaelic for first time Moray Watson, a professor of Scots Gaelic and translation at the University of Aberdeen, began working on a Gaelic draft of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit prior to the first Covid-19 lockdown.

Professor of Gaelic and translation at the University of Aberdeen Moray Watson began working on a Scots Gaelic draft of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit prior to the first Covid-19 lockdown.

Episode 12 Law & Order: Royal Victims Unit available whenever you get your podcasts

Ep 12 is up! Image: "Fergus goes down into the lake", illustration by Stephen Reid in TW. Rolleston's The High Deeds of Finn (1910)

Tomorrow is Fabula Celtica's 1st anniversary 🥳 Additionally, our first episode of 2025--'Of Kings, Kin, and Cows'--is up!

Photo by Miguel Lasa of a hawk catching a fish

Photo by Uisneach.ie of the legendary "Stone of Divisions" at Uisneach, Ireland.

Check out our final episode of the year, wrapping up our writing mini-series by discussing early Irish law texts. Go raibh míle maith agaibh as éisteach agus guímid athbhlian faoi mhaise daoibh uilig. Thank you for listening and we wish a Happy New Year to you all.

The Cathach ("Battler") manuscript

The Cathach manuscript's book shrine

Surprise! New episode just (read: finally) dropped. Hopefully there will be at least one more this month (since free time suddenly exists again). Enjoy!

Ep 07: The Coming of the Faith was posted yesterday!

Have you ever wondered what #frogs and #ravens sounded like in the early medieval period?
The glosses on #Priscian in HAB, Wolfenbüttel, Cod. Guelf. 50 Weiss. are your friends! As the glossator tells us, they sounded like "coax" and "cra":

sixteenth-century handwriting that says 'holy gooste'

As we train our Handwritten Text Recognition model we are getting some chucklesome mis-transcriptions, such as the man who makes his will in the name of Father, Son and Moly Gooste...

📇 #EarlyModern

Two years ago, the OG(H)AM project declared the 8ᵗʰ of July, the birthday of Robert A.S. Macalister, the #𝓘𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓷𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓵𝓓𝓪𝔂𝓸𝓯𝓞𝓰𝓱𝓪𝓶. We encourage everyone to #ShowUsYourOgham on this day.
I start the day with a Zen Garden Ogham, using the rare Z/Sᵀ sign.
For more about R.A.S Macalister...
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Ulster Cycle meets Veggie Tales 🥒⚔️

Other incorrect auto-transcriptions this episode:
Loíguire = Luigi, lawyer, logger;
Muirchú = Murphy, America;
druid = droid;
Armagh = our maw;
Victoricus = Victoria Kiss (Gutter Margaret's less trashy drag friend)

Screenshot of an automated transcription which reads "Luigi" instead of "Loíguire".

Picture of the statue of St Patrick at the Hill of Tara and a terrified Luigi from Nintendo's Mario franchise.

Ah, yes. Who could forget the mighty Luigi, last pagan king of Tara, converted after much obstinance to Christianity by Saint Patrick.

Image of the Hill of Tara entitled Ep 6: Interview with a Deity

In Episode 6 we discuss the rather unusual job qualifications to take the kingship of Tara, according, at least, to Irish legends. Photo from Wikipedia Commons by Nemoi:
commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ta...

Amairgen as 'avoidance' and The Battle of Mortality instead of 'The Battle of Mag Tuired' earn honourable mentions.

Favourite transcription error of the upcoming episode, per Microsoft Word: Conn Cétchathach = Concave Catholic 😂