The Renaissance and the Celtic Countries

Written by leading scholars in the field, this revealing volume sheds new light on the Renaissance in Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. The book covers a wide range of topics, including: Richard Stanihurst’s innovative interpretation of Irish history of 1584; the debate between the “old” and the “new” in Welsh poetry; the epigrams of the versatile and well–connected Welsh writer of Latin verse, John Owen; the rendering in epic style of the Psalms by the consummate Latinist, George Buchanan; and the printing press and book trade in Renaissance and Reformation Scotland. These studies show that by the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Celtic countries were an integral part of the wider European Renaissance, and demonstrate how Celtic writers, scholars and patrons contributed to the cultural developments of the period.

Note from the Series Editor. Preface. Chapters. 1. Richard Stanihurst’s De Rebus in Hibernia Gestis (John Barry). 2. John Owen the Epigrammatist: A Library and Historical Context (Byron Harries). 3. The Poetic Debate of Edmwnd Prys and Wiliam Cynwal (Gruffydd Aled Williams). 4. Classical Voices in Buchanan’s Hexameter Psalm Paraphrases (Roger P.H. Green). 5. A Spirit of Literature – Melville, Baille, Wodrow and a Cast of Thousands: The Clergy in Scotland’s Long Renaissance (Alastair J. Mann). Index.

Ceri Davies is Professor of Classics at the University of Wales, Swansea. John E. Law is Reader in History at the University of Wales, Swansea and editor of Renaissance Studies .