The Celtic Latin tradition of biblical style

David Howlett

The subject of this book is biblical style and its influence on Celtic Latin authors from the time of Roman Britain to the Norman Conquest and beyond. The author refers to most important works in most genres of Roman-British, Welsh, Cornish, Breton, and Irish traditions. He overturns several orthodoxies long believed but now untenable. He fixes dates and authorship of works of previously uncertain or unknown provenance; he suggests a date and place of origin for the systematic disposition of rhyme in prose and verse.

The implications of this book will entail major revisions of our perceptions of insular history, revealing a new picture of Ireland as a milieu of phenomenal literary inventiveness and sophistication.

David Howlett, Bodleian Library, Oxford, is editor of the Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, The English Origins of Old French Literature, British Books in Biblical Style, Self-Authenicating Insular Charters, Cambro-Latin Compositions: Their Competence and Craftsmanship and Caledonian Craftsmanship: The Scottish Latin Tradition (all published by Four Courts Press).