What is Celtic Studies? (and how to self study it!)

  I am a firm believer that with a little discipline and a lot of hard work, you don't need a degree to self-study. Of course, there are plenty of Celtic Studies degrees around the world (and quite a few here, in the UK); but to those who don't find that their path through life aligns with this, I don't think that the path to Celtic Studies should be closed! Readers of my posts featuring my interest in Celtic studies and especially my post giving a feminist perspective of the Mabinogi may have noticed that I am fascinated by Brythonic studies in particular - some of you may not even have a clear idea of what Celtic Studies is, and you don't deserve to be ridiculed or invalidated for it. Those of you that know a lot about Celtic Studies may not actually know how to access resources (yes, a LOT of resources can be accessed for free). I have focused on free resources in this blog, although I couldn't help making a few book recommendations... (also the focus here is on medieval Celtic studies. Resources are almost coming out of our ears for modern stuff). Before the Actual Academics start coming for my throat, I have vastly simplified this because it is meant for people who haven't read a thing on Celtic studies in their life, and also for you if you haven't learned how to make the Internet give you everything you want yet. There is nothing here particularly incorrect. It's just simplified. 

(On that note - if you are going to be reading/studying one book, read Wales and the Britons, by T. M. Charles-Edwards. Around 800 pages, covers EVERYTHING, and currently only around £30 on Amazon)

     I was confused the other day why the photo was labelled Celtic warrior when it should have 

clearly been labelled Dinosaur - then I realised they were pony skeletons. 

What is Celtic Studies?

The Study of the Celtic peoples and Cultures 

In Britain, the Celts were the precursors to the Romans. Not a lot is known about their culture as they pretty much did not leave any historical records. They're super interesting though - we have Roman inscriptions, burial mounds. There are records of the Celts by a number of Roman authors, such as Julius Caesar [De Bello Gallico] and [Tacitus]. Some describe the druids - despite the lurid descriptions of some contemporary Latin writers, we know very little about them. Our modern image of them is largely derived from 19th century enthusiasts.

On the Roman incursion, the Romans created civitates (kind of like states!) which were often the home of a specific Celtic people. On the collapse of the Roman area, there was some continuity between civitates and British Kingdoms. Also the Romans did not conquer Ireland.

The post-Roman Britain was basically the mythic 'dark ages'. Think King Arthur (actually he was meant to live at this time!). If you want to gain a picture of this time I recommend reading Y Gododdin (look it up on Amazon; or your library may have it). It's brilliant. You have the real Celtic kingdoms. Of course, this was also the time of the Anglo-Saxon incursion. So you can see the Britons holding out in Northern England, some of Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall. Also...Ireland is still safe-ish, although there is a lot of in-fighting. Slowly the Britons lose more ground - the strip of land containing Elmet is gone. (oops I forgot Scotland - basically Scotland was divided into the Gaelic Scots and the Pictish Kings)(nobody exactly knows what happened to the Picts after the 10th century - it's assumed they just merged and such). 

Then you have the 'classic' dark ages, with our man Alfred, and the Vikings O Lord, and the Merfynion dynasty (we stan!!))(here are my articles on Merfyn Frych, Rhodri Mawr, Anarawd ap Rhodri, and Hywel Dda) taking over almost all of Wales. The Vikings invaded for ages, settled plenty of everywhere 

Then, around 1066, Harold lost an eye and the Normans ruined everything (actually Wales held out around 200 years, had a lot of interesting kings and battles I will have to go into in another post)(as did Ireland, conquered in the 12th century)(they didn't technically conquer Scotland but they introduced a lot of Norman things)(We do not like Normans). 

And then came post-Norman history, which is not my field of expertise. I'm sure Wikipedia will tell you most of the rest, but a few notes, particularly for young/international wannabe Celticists:

• There is little actual evidence for significant particular genetic continuity between old Britons and modern Celtic peoples. As shown here. Oxford's Stephen Oppenheimer has argued a very different map that appeals to the 'Celtic sensitivities' of many but there are many problems with Oppenheimer's theory, and, having some knowledge of scientific politics, I would like to point out that data is often open to interpretation, and scientists often find what they want to find. That said, I am not a geneticist, and there certainly are variations in genetics that I would advise you to do the reading on and decide for yourself. 
• Six living Celtic languages (Welsh, Scots Gaelic, Manx, Cornish, Irish and Breton)
• Six Celtic nations (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Isle of Man, and Cornwall)

Quick Intro to Celtic Languages

All the Celtic Languages above belong to the Indo-European group of languages, which supposedly must derive from Common Celtic. This Celtic language then divided into the two main branches of Celtic languages - Gallo-Brittonic and Goidelic (Common Gaelic). The Gallo-Brittonic languages included Brittonic, the extinct Gaulish and possibly even Pictish (but the latter could have been a Brittonic language). Brittonic otherwise includes extinct Cumbric, Cornish, Welsh and Breton. The latter three are known as P-Celtic languages. Common Gaelic subdivides into the Goidelic languages - Irish, Scots Gaelic and Manx. Beautiful. 

Resources for Celtic Studies

General Beginner's Resources for Celtic Studies

• The Celtic Literature Collective was my starting point, and it is absolutely wonderful. Mary Jones is an amazing person to have published the encyclopedia (much better than many printed 'Celtic Encyclopedia' I have perused), a number of translations of texts, a number of links to resources, news, and a reading list. 
• Oddly enough, there are plenty of free online Celtic Studies courses out there - hit up FutureLearn and Coursera, the sites I use!
• You can learn about a number of weird and wacky subjects by attending online webinars e.g. those held by Maynooth Universoty in Ireland and Glasgow. To find them, I usually hit up the many Facebook groups that I am part of or search Eventbrite!
• Youtube - certainly not your sole study source but for context, and a bit of fun Finn Longman (who also runs a great blog) and History with Hilbert are great for this sort of thing, and there are also a number of lectures. Be aware that most of what you see on Wales is not very well researched. 

Celtic Studies Primary Sources

• I am not going to link the manuscript digitisation resources because there are way too many for me to cover - google the manuscript, find out what university/library it is at and search digitisation. 
• When looking for a text, search '[name] free online', and [name] free pdf, if you can't find it in any of the other resources. 
• Celtic Inscribed Stone Project, run by UCL, has proved very useful for me when looking at material resources.
• CELT online translations of Irish texts are amazing
• Celtic improvisations - a resource on Celtic coins
• Celtic Digital Initiative - which tries to make Celtic sources available online
• If you can't find something, search sites such as the Internet Archive, Gutenburg Books, and Sacred Texts. 

How to access Academic Papers free

• The obvious 'check if your institution has access' etc etc
• Check the free resources of sites such as academia.edu, jstore and google scholar
• Note Google Books is extremely searchable. If one book is unavailable to search, sometimes the same book is listed twice. 
• Just to check if it happens to be online somewhere, Google '[paper name] free' and '[paper name] free pdf'
• Join the Facebook group Celtic Studies - not only does it have academic resources, but it is also possible to ask the academics things (a lot of them were extremely nice in helping me with my coursework!). Check any other social media, Celtic groups, etc. (It's worth networking for this sort of thing)
• Email the academic. Of course, this can be awkward, but generally it's a fifty-fifty chance they will just send you it. The email address is usually easy to find. Check if their writing seems friendly first. Use grammar, don't be condescending, and if you enjoy their work, say so! (in my experience academics are very open to flattery...). If they're nice, they will often send you the paper (only do this for some papers and after you've exhausted all other options. Check their writing first for signs of pretentiousness - some of them just like to put people down. Tis human nature, and not restricted to academics. An extremely lovely academic sent me a copy of the notes for one of his lectures recently. 

Resources for Celtic Languages

Like I say, for modern Celtic languages - Irish, Welsh, Scots Gaelic - resources are coming out of our ears. But for less well known or ancient languages, the academics like to keep it a closely guarded secret...(I am sorry, academics, I am villainising you for effect, most of the Celtic academics I have been in contact with have been lovely). 

• I nearly cried when I found the online lessons in Old Irish offered by the University of Texas Austin Research centre - they also offer lessons in a number of other languages such as Hittite, Old English, Old French, Old Norse, Latin, Sanskrit, Old Russian...
• In Duil Belrai Old Irish Glossary
• Sengoidelc: Old Irish for Beginners, a course on Memrise
• Glosbe English-Old Irish Dictionary....
• Edil - electronic dictionary of the Irish Language 
• Lessons in Old Irish...this time offered by the University of Goettingen
• Reading Middle Welsh - an online coursebook based on the Welsh of the Mabinogi offered by Gareth Morgan, from the University of Texas at Austin
• Digitalmedievalist guide to studying Middle Welsh
• Medieval Welsh: a self-instruction course taught by Heather Rose Jones - she also has a number of other useful resources!
• Online lessons in Manx
• Free kesva.org online lessons in Cornish
• Breton online lessons are available here and a better one here
• Here is a collection of language resources including medieval and modern languages

For learning Celtic History

In my personal experiences, online resources aren't too great for history. Books are always going to be important. Like I say, if you buy one book, buy Wales and the Britons. Nobody is paying me - it's just really good!

• Any and all libraries you have access to. See if you can get access to more. Use the inter-library loans system to order titles to your branch. Get used to having five or six versions of the book title to find it in the catalogue. 
• I will soon be publishing a reading list for all Celtic Studies afficionados, which I will link here when done!
• Learn from online papers - my studies of the Merfynion rely largely on academic papers, because there simply are not enough books! See above - how to get academic papers free. 
• Be prepared to order a few titles. I know, free resources, but be smart with the books you order. Study them, and then move on!. 
• Try university Celtic Studies and medieval history departments for more resources. 

Thank you for Reading!

I appreciate every single one of you - do follow my Instagram, my Twitter and my Tumblr to get in on the Celtic Studies action, as well as bookmark, follow or subscribe to this blog to make sure you're the first to know about new posts (look at me, I'm doing the thing!) I am eternally grateful for all the attention, and I love you lots. Mwah <3