If you’re coming from MetaFilter, or more specifically, MetaTalk, my main site, Celtic Studies Resources, emphasizes Celtic medieval studies. But there are a number of more general links on things medieval there, in the Resources section. There are also some good meta sites on things medieval. Labryinth is one. Orb is another. I’m rather fond…
Other Medieval Blogs
Yes, that’s right, I’m not the only one. There’s Traveling Shoes from Dr. H. D. Miller, and Ideofact (though he claims he’s not a real medievalist, he thinks and writes like one), and the self-described “Cranky Professor, who, any crankiness aside, is well worth the reading.
Scots wha’ Hae
Dave Winer points to a BBC story: “A new dictionary is being compiled which will put tens of thousands of Scots words dating back as far as 800 years on the Internet.” Sponsored by the University of Dundee, the project will created a web site for the online dictionary that will contain illustrative quotations for…
June
Most calendars in Books of Hours show either sheep shearing or haying for the labor of June. Some June pages instead depict the crab for Cancer and a scene from scripture. The June image from the Buchanan e. 3 ms. from the Bodleian, is a Book of Hours, Use of Rouen, in Latin and French; France, Rouen;…
The Manuscripts, the Thief, and his Secret
Metafilter points to this story in the Guardian about Mont Sainte-Odile an ancient convent perched atop a 2,500ft peak in eastern France, a locked library containing a priceless collection of early printed books and illuminated manuscripts, a secret passage – and a series of spectacular and inexplicable thefts.
Calens Mai or May Day
Long before May 1 became associated with workers, it was associated with the joys of spring and the restoration of fertility to the land. The Celtic festival of Beltaine (Modern English Beltane) is the ancestor of the calens Mai, or May Day associated with May 1. I suspect the Roman floralia may have contributed or…
Medieval Puzzle
I was making one of my regular “search the web for digitized manuscripts” searches when I discovered this web-based interactive jig saw puzzle based on an image from a Parisian Book of Hours. Try it, it’s fun!
Yes, there is New Medieval Celtic Literature
Thanks to a newly discovered medieval Cornish manuscript fragment Beunans Ke (The Life Of St Ke) the amount of Medieval Cornish literature has increased by about twenty percent. The fragment was discovered among the papers of the recently deceased Celticist, J. E. Caerwyn Williams, whose papers were donated to the National Library of Wales. The…
Roman and Celtic Olfactory History
I’m working on my diss, and I notice that one of my citations lacks the publication date. I borrowed the book from a friend, and returned it long ago, so I decide to use Amazon to check the data. In the process I discover that there are, I kid you not, scratch and sniff history…
Celtic Conferences
The 24 Annual University of California Celtic Conference is this week, at UCLA. You can see the schedule here. Some of the papers from the 22nd conference are available here, in .pdf format. The 22nd (yes that’s right, UCLA was first) Harvard Celtic Colloquium is scheduled for Oct. 11, 12, and 13. The Vernam Hull…