Hi all,
First of all, I am glad my remarks hit on interested ears. Thanks to Graham
Williamson-Mallaghan for augmenting my suggestion and making up for my
bibliographical laziness. I personally agree with his caveats.
Thomas presented a very critical reassessment of the Ninian- Whithorn
connection (Whithorn TRust Lecture # 1, 1993 I believe) as well. Peter
Hill's Whithorn and St. Ninian, the review of his excavations, was
published by Stroud in 1997 and sold out of its first printing very
quickly. I do not know if there are plans for a reprint.
As for Ogam, I am not familiar with Peter Brown's reference, but I believe
the connection between the Latin alphabet and the Irish alphabet has been
understood for quite a long time. Each Latin letter/ Ogam inscription is
supposed to correspond with the name of a type of tree in Irish. I refer to
an Old Irish Grammar and Reader by Pokorny (not the exact title, sorry),p.
21, which includes an explanation of the system.
>I would also like to ask what kind of work you are doing
on 12th c. scotland, not to mention the Picts, and what
resources are available at Texas for work in this field.
Margaret Cormack [log in to unmask]
Thanks for asking. My work is on the twelfth-century monastic charters of
Scotia, that is, Scotland between the Firths of Forth and Moray. I am
currently focusing on patterns of patronage and problems of ethnicity. At
one time I was very interested in 6th and 7th-century Pictland and
Dalriada, and once presented a paper on the ambivalent relationship between
the kingdoms of the Angles and the Picts. In many ways, it was the
frustrating disjunction of historical, archaeological, art-historical and
onomastic (linguistic) evidence that made me flee to the twelfth century. I
don't know if anyone will ever form a convincing synthesis on the period.
Sources in Texas are precious few, but the voluminous 19th-century editions
of printed cartularies by various antiquarian clubs can be acquired through
inter-library loan. That's why I'm moving the operation to Glasgow,
hopefully later this year, so I can get at some MSS.
Thanks
Matthew Hammond
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