pp cxlii262 230x155mm 1997 paperback out of stock: reprint under consideration
ISBN 0-7083-1374-4
‘ . . . in its boldness and its learning The Gododdin
of Aneirin is an impressive achievement and an important, provocative
contribution to the ongoing debate . . . it is a book that serious students of
the Gododdin, and of early Welsh poetry more generally, cannot afford to
ignore.’ (Speculum)
` . . . a fine scholarly achievement.' (Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies)
' . . .an excellent piece of scholarship and as an outstanding contribution to the solution of some of the problems and to the clarification of others associated with the Gododdin.' (Studia Celtica)
A controversial new edition of a Dark-Age epic. The oldest core of the Gododdin was composed in the decades around AD 600. The version preserved for us, though ascribed to the sixth-century poet Aneirin, is found in a thirteenth-century manuscript that shows the effects of centuries of oral and scribal transmission and has thus undergone considerable changes. John Koch now investigates the historical context and the process of transmission and for the first time seeks to restore the text to its original form.
The centrepiece of the book is a new edition and translation of Aneirin's poem. It differs from earlier editions in providing a reconstructed text based on principles of textual criticism and historical linguistics, thus allowing the separation of original material from later modifications.
The editor provides a substantial historical introduction and extensive notes.
Professor Koch teaches Celtic languages and literatures at Boston College in Massachusetts.
Contents:
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
I. Purpose and scope
II. Further to the problem
III. The Battle of Catraeth: A historical reconsideration
IV. The enemies of the Godoğin
V. Ë Godoğin and the emergence of England
VI. Mynyğawc Mwynvawr: Chieftain of Din Eidïn?
VII. Gwlygawt Godoğin and Üt Eidïn Uruei Mab Golïstan
VIII. The acsription to Aneirin and the 'Reciter's Prologue'
IX. Godoğin and the title of the Corpus
X. The patron of Guarchan [Aneirin] Mab Dwywei
XI. The Ur-Text and common exemplars
XII. The theory of Strathclyde Transmision
XIII. Ur-Text and Ur-Bard
XIV. The stages of transmission: performance, text, context, and recontextualisation
XV. Historia Brittonum §§57-65: 'The Northern History'
XVI. About the reconstructed and edited texts
MAP
RECONSTRUCTED TEXT, TRANSLATION, EDITED MANUSCRIPT READINGS
The most archaic text B2
Text B1
The most innovative text A
NOTES
ABBREVIATIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
Available in North America from Celtic Studies Publications, Inc.