British history 400-1000 AD

[Stewart Potter]

> In article <28...@dog.ee.lbl.gov> mi...@fionn.lbl.gov (Michael Helm) writes:
> >I'm going to be taking a class in about a month on the archaeology
> >of the period 400-1100 AD in Britain & Ireland. I'm interested in
> >doing some reading about this period beforehand, preferably not
> >narrowly archaeological in nature (save that for the class).
> >I'd prefer good references to books on its political & cultural / art
> >history, & anything else that mite help my understanding of the
> >period.
>
> Primary sources --
>
> Bede's *History of the English Church and People*
>
> The Gododdin, the Mabinogi, the Tain Bo Culaigne, the Llywarch Hen
>
> Secondary sources --
>
> T.G.E. Powell's *The Celts*
>
> Proinsias Mac Cana's *Celtic Mythology*
>
> I.M. Stead's *Celtic Art*
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Suzanne Lucia suzanne-luc...@launchpad.unc.edu

Dear folks,

I can vouch for all of Suzannes' listings with the exception of
the Llywarch Hen, which I don't know, but will immediately chase up.
From its' title, I expect it is Brittonic in origin, but does it
refer to good old Coel Hen?

Scottish sources include the slightly outdated but nonetheless
excellent 'The Problem of the Picts,' by Wainwright, Feachem et al.
The Picts play a major part in the early history of Scotland (~200
AD to 842 AD) and are a fascinating enigma in themselves. Any of
the books by Anna Ritchie are also all very worthwhile and cover
all aspects of late Scottish pre-history. 'The Picts' by Isobel
Henderson is also a very informative book. That's all I can think
of off the top of my head, but I'll have a look and see what else
I've got.

Stewart

[Del Cotter]

In article <1993Jan7.1...@spider.co.uk> Stewart Potter writes:
> I can vouch for all of Suzannes' listings with the exception of
>the Llywarch Hen, which I don't know, but will immediately chase up.
>From its title, I expect it is Brittonic in origin, but does it
>refer to good old Coel Hen?
>

No, 'hen' just means 'old', as in 'Old King Coel'. The Welsh National
Anthem is, I think, 'Hen wlad fy n'hadi', 'Old land of my fathers'.
So, anyway, Llywarch Hen is 'Old Llywarch'.

BTW and completely off-subject. Can anyone tell me what the word for
'splendid' is? I seem to remember that Coel's title in the stories was
'Old Coel the Splendid' (Coel Hen Something). It's just been bugging me.
Mail me to save bandwidth. Advance thanks...
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