The power of satire in medieval Ireland: “Verbal blades have cut beneath his skin, blood has been aroused on his cheek [and] face, so that it is evident in his countenance that he has been wounded by words.” - Bretha Nemed Toísech, trans. Liam Breatnach, “Satire, Praise and the Early Irish Poet”

Is a dragon plaguing your land? A fix from medieval Wales: 1. Dig a hole, fill it w/mead, & cover w/a sheet. 2. Wait for the dragon to tire itself out & turn into a pig. 3. Let the pig fall in the hole, get wrapped in the sheet & drink all the mead. 4. Capture the drunk pig in a chest & bury it.

The power of satire in medieval Ireland: “Verbal blades have cut beneath his skin, blood has been aroused on his cheek [and] face, so that it is evident in his countenance that he has been wounded by words.” - Bretha Nemed Toísech, trans. Liam Breatnach, “Satire, Praise and the Early Irish Poet”

We look forward to welcoming everyone to 'GORWELION' over the next three days, an International Conference to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies. More 👇 www.uwtsd.ac.uk/news/gorweli...

Or some dude in the 1790s. Or by the Romans 😉

"Kensa Broadhurst, of the Institute of Cornish Studies at the University of Exeter, has written a book in which she argues that the language clung on through the 19th century, spoken by some working-class Cornish people as well as academics and others who saw value in preserving it."

Llongyfarchiadau mawr i Dr David Callander ar fod yn un o enillwyr Ysgoloriaeth Goffa Saunders Lewis eleni! tinyurl.com/bdfknnjn

When I started BretPal (almost two years ago 😪), I had one very clear research goal: to establish parameters for Breton Caroline minuscule (Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 85)

Oh my god they enshitified cake

Breaking news: The new, revised, updated Ogham in 3D website is now live: ogham.celt.dias.ie Choose "inscriptions" in the menu.

This guy doesn’t get as much love as other images in the Black Book, but he is a mood.

Congratulations to Dr Ben Guy, who has been awarded an AHRC standard grant to fund a major collaborative project on the early Welsh charters and their boundaries! www.asnc.cam.ac.uk/news/2025/09...

There's a new resource available here: celtichagiography.org/bibliography/ It is a running bibliography of publications focused on the saints in Ireland, Scotland, Man, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall, and 'Celtic' saints on the continent. While a work in progress, currently there are 500 publications

What Lady Luck had me find today: a book that I didn't even know existed. This afternoon, I discovered in an antiquariat in Dublin this 1977 edition by Dolmen Press of the Old Welsh Gododdin, with illustrations by Louis Le Brocquy. The edition was limited to 650 copies. /1

People think the hardest part of singlehood is how much more expensive things like rent and holidays are, or no go-to partner to do life with, but they're wrong. It's not having someone to compare your wealth with in bed so that you've an excuse to steal a big bull and wage war on the men of Ulster

Anna Kalinskaya has her dog, Bella, chasing tennis balls for her during her warmup

I'w gyhoeddi cyn hir - 'Lliaws Rhith'. Dyma gyfrol gyfoethog o ysgrifau Cymraeg a Saesneg yn ymwneud ag amrywiol agweddau ar lenyddiaeth Gymraeg a Cheltaidd, sy’n dathlu cyfraniad arbennig yr Athro Marged Haycock i’r ddisgyblaeth. Am fwy o wybodaeth, ewch at: 📚 www.uwp.co.uk/book/lliaws-...

This is one of my favorite fun facts to share with students 🐴

Well, BretPal is coming to a swift end as of 30 September. Between now and then, I'll be posting my favourite Breton manuscripts, starting with the iconic horse Mark from the Boulougne Gospels (Boulogne sur Mer, MS 8).

Beth yw'ch gair chi am slefren fôr neu bysgodyn jeli? Cont fôr oedd gair Lewis Morris (1754) a cheir Cont goch gan Edward Lhuyd (1684). Ond yr enw hynaf sydd gennym yn Gymraeg yw BLOBYS gan John Jones Gellilyfdy (1632). #GeirfaurFflyd @geiriadur.bsky.social

News from the European Celtic Congress Bonn 2025: After a very long gestation process, the proceedings of the 5th Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales (𝐔𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝟓) has now appeared in printed form. You cannot imagine what relief this means for my fellow editors and me, and for the authors.

This is Jack. He shocked everyone with an unhinged scream before he launched into a race… and then won. 14/10 (TT: paigephills)

In honor of #InternationalDogDay 🐾

Comhdháil lae - day conference St Deiniol and Welsh culture Bangor cathedral, Wales, 13 September 2025 Papers on St Deiniol in medieval literature, Dafydd ap Gwilym, Edmwnd Prys, Goronwy Owen and stained glass www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/deiniol-a-... @dias.ie

Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 1:00 (EDT) / 6:00 (BST). Registration is free. Come and join us for a great discussion: uark.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

In honor of #InternationalDogDay 🐾

Please help circulate widely! Assistant Professor (T-T) UC Berkeley, Language Revitalization. aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05022 Seeking candidates with research specialization in language revitalization and a broad intellectual engagement in linguistics and related fields @soclinganth.bsky.social

Y beddau a’u gwlych y glaw prisiau isel eu haddaw mor hael oedd asda aelaw

Y beddau a’u gwlych y glaw prisiau isel eu haddaw mor hael oedd asda aelaw

in britain the anchorites of asda dwell by the sacred stones, solemnly intoning the words “that’s asda price”, and performing the necessary ritual (the double bum slap) three times a day to bring about the great rolling back when we will all be redeemed

teachers! excited to share a new website at this late date of Aug 15 to try to help us collectively prepare for back to school in the interpretative humanities classroom assaulted by the AI grift, so we don't have to go it alone. take a look, share, + most importantly: CONTRIBUTE against-a-i.com

'Imagination and Innovation in Medieval Celtic Literatures' is out now Edited by Helen Fulton and Georgia Henley, this collection goes beyond the familiar canon of medieval Celtic literatures to showcase a range of texts that are compelling in their literary imagination and technical innovation.

This isn’t an impoverished regional school – this is the University of Chicago. Devastating.

Come and join us in Oxford! We're advertising for a two-year full-time departmental lecturer in Medieval Irish Language and Literature. Full details here: my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

🚨 Open-access Celtica updates! 📚 Celtica volumes 32–36 have now been published online here: journals.dias.ie/index.php/ce... 🔍 There is also now a search facility on the site (in the 'about' drop down menu) here: journals.dias.ie/index.php/ce... #DIASdiscovers #DIAS85

Shut up Willa Cather.

After a long day in the scriptorium, the scribe just couldn't resist the initial 'Q'.... BnF MS Latin 10289; Priscianus Caesariensis, Institutiones grammaticae, cum glossis; 9th century (second half); France (Brittany); f.63r @gallicabnf.bsky.social

The provisional programme of the 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 (27 to 29 August 2025), organised on behalf of Societas Celtologica Europaea, is now accessible at www.iaak.uni-bonn.de/keltologie/e.... For further questions, contact [email protected].

A thread of scribes grappling - with varying degrees of success - with the letter w. Llyfr Du o’r Waun (“The Black Book of Chirk”, NLW Peniarth MS 29, s.xiiimed), primarily an early copy of the Welsh Laws of Hywel Dda, is known for its chaotic orthography. But its w’s are fun too! #medievalsky

A thread of scribes grappling - with varying degrees of success - with the letter w. Llyfr Du o’r Waun (“The Black Book of Chirk”, NLW Peniarth MS 29, s.xiiimed), primarily an early copy of the Welsh Laws of Hywel Dda, is known for its chaotic orthography. But its w’s are fun too! #medievalsky

St Luke the Evangelist and the beginning of his Gospel The Irish Gospels of St Gall: St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 51; Irish Evangelary from St. Gall (Quatuor evangelia); around 750; Ireland; pp.128-131 (www.e-codices.ch/en/list/one/...)

CFP: New Work by Early-Career Scholars in Celtic Studies 2026 61st International Congress on Medieval Studies May 14–16, 2026, Kalamazoo, MI This session seeks proposals for twenty-minute presentations by early-career scholars working in medieval Celtic Studies.

Got to love a scribal error making headlines!

I recall doing a double take when I came across this in Laȝamon's Brut. But of course, it's perfectly sensible really because it's Welsh for Spear :

Eek. Real fail here by @britannica.com! They claim: "For those asking: Wales is a principality *within* England, whereas Scotland and England are kingdoms." But there are subtleties to this, so let's lay them out.

Ieuan ap Sulien, likening the learning of his father to golden treasure in 11th century Wales: “And staying [in Ireland] contentedly for ten years he accumulated a store (of knowledge), immense in its precious weight. Then, storing this treasure in his shrewd mind he thereafter came home, …

In a poem composed not long after Columba’s death in 597, the saint is celebrated as “learning’s pillar in every stronghold” (II.5). His knowledge and skill as a teacher are points of praise that recur throughout the elegy: “The teacher wove the word. By his wisdom he made glosses clear.” (V.2-3)

Ieuan ap Sulien, likening the learning of his father to golden treasure in 11th century Wales: “And staying [in Ireland] contentedly for ten years he accumulated a store (of knowledge), immense in its precious weight. Then, storing this treasure in his shrewd mind he thereafter came home, …

Silver #coins of Caratacus, the leader of the British resistance to Rome sought refuge among the Silures of South #Wales. He was eventually defeated and handed over to the #Romans in A.D. 51. The only insight into such an enigmatic character of British #history. Outside of Roman accounts.