Celtic Revival
Encyclopedia
Celtic Revival covers a variety of movements and trends, mostly in the 19th and 20th centuries, which drew on the traditions of Celtic literature
and Celtic art
, or in fact more often what art historians call Insular art
. Although the revival was complex and multifaceted, occurring across many fields and in various countries in North-West Europe
, its best known incarnation is probably the Irish Literary Revival
(also called the "Celtic Twilight"). Here, Irish writers including William Butler Yeats
, Lady Gregory, "AE" Russell
, Edward Martyn
and Edward Plunkett (AKA Lord Dunsany) stimulated a new appreciation of traditional Irish literature
and Irish poetry
in the late 19th and early 20th century.
In many, but not all, facets the revival came to represent a reaction to modernisation. This is particularly true in Ireland, where the relationship between the archaic and the modern was antagonistic, where history was fractured, and where, according to Terry Eagleton
, "as a whole [the nation] had not leapt at a bound from tradition to modernity".
It was a corollary, and part of, the general movement of medievalism
; it came to be recognised that England too had a pre-Saxon Celtic heritage.
Perhaps the most widespread and lasting contribution of the Revival was the re-introduction of the Celtic Cross
shape used in the medieval high cross
es, which now forms a familiar part of monumental and funerary art
over most of the Westernized world.
in Wales and Charles O'Conor
in Ireland. The key surviving manuscript sources were gradually located, edited and translated, monuments identified and published, and other essential groundwork in recording stories, music and language done. The Welsh antiquarian and author Iolo Morganwg
fed the growing fascination in all things Celtic by founding the Gorsedd
, which (along with his writings) would in turn spark the Neo-druidism
movement. Interest in Scottish Gaelic culture greatly increased during the onset of the Romantic period in the late 18th century, with James MacPherson
's Ossian
achieving international fame, along with the novels of Sir Walter Scott
and the poetry and song lyrics of the London-based Irishman Thomas Moore
, Byron's friend and executor. Throughout Europe, the Romantic movement inspired a great revival of interest in folklore
, folk tales, and folk music
; even Beethoven was commissioned to produce a set of arrangements of Scottish folk-songs. As elsewhere, in what was then the United Kingdom of the whole archipelago, this encouraged and fed off a rise in nationalism
, which was especially intense in Ireland.
In the mid-19th century the revival continued, with Sir Samuel Ferguson
, the Young Ireland
movement and others in Ireland, and a great army, now almost entirely forgotten, of popularizing writers of folk tales, dubious works of history, and other material at work in all the nations with a claim to be Celtic. At the same time, archaeological and historical work was beginning to make progress in constructing a better understanding of Celtic history. Interest in ornamental Celtic art developed, and Celtic motifs began to be used in all sorts of contexts, including architecture, drawing on works like the Grammar of Ornament by (another) Owen Jones
. Imitations of the ornate Insular
penannular brooches of the 7-9th centuries were worn by Queen Victoria among others from the late 1840s, many produced in Dublin by West & Son
and other makers. Celtic motifs continue to be used in many popular contexts such as tattoo
s.
, as distinct from English culture
. This was, in part, due to the political need for an individual Irish identity. This difference was kept alive by invoking Ireland's historic past, its myths, legends and folklore.There was an attempt to re-vitalize the native rhythm and music of Irish Gaelic. Figures such as Lady Gregory, WB Yeats, George Russell
, J.M. Synge
and Sean O'Casey
wrote many plays and articles about the political state of Ireland
at the time. Gaelic revival and Irish nationalism frequently overlapped in Gaelic Revival hangouts such as An Stad
, a tobacconist on North Frederick Street owned by the writer Cathal McGarvey and frequented by literary figures such as James Joyce
and Yeats, along with leaders of the Nationalist movement
such as Douglas Hyde
, Arthur Griffith
and Michael Collins
. These were connected with another great symbol of the literary revival, The Abbey Theatre
, which served as the stage for many new Irish writers and playwrights of the time.
In 1892, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy
said,
The Celtic Revival (also often referred to as the "Celtic Twilight") was an international movement. The Irish American designer Thomas Augustus "Gus" O’Shaughnessy made a conscious choice to connect his art with Irish design roots. Louis Sullivan
the Chicago architect incorporated dense Celtic-inspired interlace in the ornament of his buildings. Sullivan's father was a traditional Irish musician and they both were step-dancers, showing how his creativity was not just rooted in his official education. Trained in stained glass and working in an Art Nouveau style, O’Shaughnessy designed a series of windows and interior stencils for Old Saint Patrick’s Church in Chicago, a project begun in 1912.
The "plastic style" of early Celtic art was one of the elements feeding into Art Nouveau
decorative style, very consciously so in the work of designers like the Man
xman Archibald Knox
, who did much work for Liberty & Co., especially for the Tudric
and Cymric ranges of metalwork, respectively in pewter and silver or gold. Many of the most extravagant examples of the plastic style come from the modern Czech Lands
, and influenced the Czech Art Nouveau designer and artist Alphonse Mucha.
Interlace, which is still seen as a "Celtic" form of decoration, somewhat ignoring its Germanic origins and equally prominent place in Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian medieval art, has remained a motif in many forms of popular design, especially in Celtic countries, and above all Ireland, where it remains a national style signature. In recent decades it had a re-revival in 1960s design, for example in the Biba
logo, and has been used worldwide in tattoos, and in various contexts and media in fantasy works with a quasi-Dark Ages setting. The Secret of Kells is an animated
feature film of 2009 set during the creation of the Book of Kells which makes much use of Insular design.
cultural Celtic revival of the early twentieth century. This was characterised by an increased interest in the Cornish language
started by Henry Jenner
and Robert Morton Nance
in 1904. The Federation of Old Cornwall Societies
was formed in 1924 to "maintain the Celtic spirit of Cornwall", followed by the Gorseth Kernow
in 1928 and the formation of the Cornish political party Mebyon Kernow
in 1951. This revival has spread across the Irish sea towards Northern England, with the attempted reconstructions of numerous types of bagpipe (such as the Lancashire Great-pipe) and an increased interest in the Northumbrian smallpipes
. There are also attempts to reconstruct the Cumbric language
, the ancient Brythonic language of Northern (particularly Northwestern) England, a remnant of the celtic kingdoms of Hen Ogledd
. The Gallaic Revival Movement is reconstructing the Gallaic language, also known as the Gallaecian language
.
Celtic literature
In the strictly academic context of Celtic studies, the term Celtic literature is used by Celticists to denote any number of bodies of literature written in a Celtic language, encompassing the Irish, Welsh, Cornish, Manx, Scottish Gaelic and Breton languages in either their modern or earlier...
and Celtic art
Celtic art
Celtic art is the art associated with the peoples known as Celts; those who spoke the Celtic languages in Europe from pre-history through to the modern period, as well as the art of ancient peoples whose language is uncertain, but have cultural and stylistic similarities with speakers of Celtic...
, or in fact more often what art historians call Insular art
Insular art
Insular art, also known as Hiberno-Saxon art, is the style of art produced in the post-Roman history of Ireland and Great Britain. The term derives from insula, the Latin term for "island"; in this period Britain and Ireland shared a largely common style different from that of the rest of Europe...
. Although the revival was complex and multifaceted, occurring across many fields and in various countries in North-West Europe
North-West Europe
North-West Europe is a term that refers to a northern area of Western Europe, although the exact area or countries it comprises varies.-Geographic definition:...
, its best known incarnation is probably the Irish Literary Revival
Irish Literary Revival
The Irish Literary Revival was a flowering of Irish literary talent in the late 19th and early 20th century.-Forerunners:...
(also called the "Celtic Twilight"). Here, Irish writers including William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
, Lady Gregory, "AE" Russell
George William Russell
George William Russell who wrote under the pseudonym Æ , was an Irish nationalist, writer, editor, critic, poet, and painter. He was also a mystical writer, and centre of a group of followers of theosophy in Dublin, for many years.-Organisor:Russell was born in Lurgan, County Armagh...
, Edward Martyn
Edward Martyn
Edward Martyn was an Irish political and cultural activist and playwright.-Early life:Martyn was the eldest son of John Martyn of Tullira and Annie Mary Josephine Smyth of Masonbrook, Loughrea, both in County Galway. He succeeded his father upon John's death in 1860...
and Edward Plunkett (AKA Lord Dunsany) stimulated a new appreciation of traditional Irish literature
Irish literature
For a comparatively small island, Ireland has made a disproportionately large contribution to world literature. Irish literature encompasses the Irish and English languages.-The beginning of writing in Irish:...
and Irish poetry
Irish poetry
The history of Irish poetry includes the poetries of two languages, one in Irish and the other in English. The complex interplay between these two traditions, and between both of them and other poetries in English, has produced a body of work that is both rich in variety and difficult to...
in the late 19th and early 20th century.
In many, but not all, facets the revival came to represent a reaction to modernisation. This is particularly true in Ireland, where the relationship between the archaic and the modern was antagonistic, where history was fractured, and where, according to Terry Eagleton
Terry Eagleton
Terence Francis Eagleton FBA is a British literary theorist and critic, who is regarded as one of Britain's most influential living literary critics...
, "as a whole [the nation] had not leapt at a bound from tradition to modernity".
It was a corollary, and part of, the general movement of medievalism
Medievalism
Medievalism is the system of belief and practice characteristic of the Middle Ages, or devotion to elements of that period, which has been expressed in areas such as architecture, literature, music, art, philosophy, scholarship, and various vehicles of popular culture.Since the 18th century, a...
; it came to be recognised that England too had a pre-Saxon Celtic heritage.
Perhaps the most widespread and lasting contribution of the Revival was the re-introduction of the Celtic Cross
Celtic cross
A Celtic cross is a symbol that combines a cross with a ring surrounding the intersection. In the Celtic Christian world it was combined with the Christian cross and this design was often used for high crosses – a free-standing cross made of stone and often richly decorated...
shape used in the medieval high cross
High cross
A high cross or standing cross is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval tradition in Ireland and Britain of raising large sculpted stone crosses, usually outdoors...
es, which now forms a familiar part of monumental and funerary art
Funerary art
Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the dead. Tomb is a general term for the repository, while grave goods are objects—other than the primary human remains—which have been placed inside...
over most of the Westernized world.
History
Antiquarian researches into the Celtic culture and history of the British Isles gathered pace from the late 17th century, with people like Owen JonesOwen Jones (antiquary)
Owen Jones was a Welsh antiquary.He was born on the Llanfihangel Glyn y Myfyr in Denbighshire. In 1760 he entered the service of a London firm of furriers, to whose business he ultimately succeeded....
in Wales and Charles O'Conor
Charles O'Conor (historian)
Charles O'Conor Don, The O'Conor Don, Prince of Connacht of Belanagare was an Irish writer and antiquarian who was enormously influential as a protagonist for the preservation of Irish culture and history in the eighteenth century...
in Ireland. The key surviving manuscript sources were gradually located, edited and translated, monuments identified and published, and other essential groundwork in recording stories, music and language done. The Welsh antiquarian and author Iolo Morganwg
Iolo Morganwg
Edward Williams, better known by his bardic name Iolo Morganwg , was an influential Welsh antiquarian, poet, collector, and literary forger. He was widely considered a leading collector and expert on medieval Welsh literature in his day, but after his death it was revealed that he had forged a...
fed the growing fascination in all things Celtic by founding the Gorsedd
Gorsedd
A gorsedd plural gorseddau, is a community or coming together of modern-day bards. The word is of Welsh origin, meaning "throne". It is occasionally spelled gorsedh , or goursez in Brittany....
, which (along with his writings) would in turn spark the Neo-druidism
Neo-Druidism
Neo-Druidism or Neo-Druidry, commonly referred to as Druidism or Druidry by its adherents, is a form of modern spirituality or religion that generally promotes harmony and worship of nature, and respect for all beings, including the environment...
movement. Interest in Scottish Gaelic culture greatly increased during the onset of the Romantic period in the late 18th century, with James MacPherson
James Macpherson
James Macpherson was a Scottish writer, poet, literary collector and politician, known as the "translator" of the Ossian cycle of poems.-Early life:...
's Ossian
Ossian
Ossian is the narrator and supposed author of a cycle of poems which the Scottish poet James Macpherson claimed to have translated from ancient sources in the Scots Gaelic. He is based on Oisín, son of Finn or Fionn mac Cumhaill, anglicised to Finn McCool, a character from Irish mythology...
achieving international fame, along with the novels of Sir Walter Scott
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
and the poetry and song lyrics of the London-based Irishman Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore was an Irish poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer, now best remembered for the lyrics of The Minstrel Boy and The Last Rose of Summer. He was responsible, with John Murray, for burning Lord Byron's memoirs after his death...
, Byron's friend and executor. Throughout Europe, the Romantic movement inspired a great revival of interest in folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
, folk tales, and folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
; even Beethoven was commissioned to produce a set of arrangements of Scottish folk-songs. As elsewhere, in what was then the United Kingdom of the whole archipelago, this encouraged and fed off a rise in nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
, which was especially intense in Ireland.
In the mid-19th century the revival continued, with Sir Samuel Ferguson
Samuel Ferguson
Sir Samuel Ferguson was an Irish poet, barrister, antiquarian, artist and public servant. Perhaps the most important Ulster-Scot poet of the 19th century, because of his interest in Irish mythology and early Irish history he can be seen as a forerunner of William Butler Yeats and the other poets...
, the Young Ireland
Young Ireland
Young Ireland was a political, cultural and social movement of the mid-19th century. It led changes in Irish nationalism, including an abortive rebellion known as the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848. Many of the latter's leaders were tried for sedition and sentenced to penal transportation to...
movement and others in Ireland, and a great army, now almost entirely forgotten, of popularizing writers of folk tales, dubious works of history, and other material at work in all the nations with a claim to be Celtic. At the same time, archaeological and historical work was beginning to make progress in constructing a better understanding of Celtic history. Interest in ornamental Celtic art developed, and Celtic motifs began to be used in all sorts of contexts, including architecture, drawing on works like the Grammar of Ornament by (another) Owen Jones
Owen Jones (architect)
Owen Jones was a London-born architect and designer of Welsh descent. He was a versatile architect and designer, and one of the most influential design theorists of the nineteenth century...
. Imitations of the ornate Insular
Insular art
Insular art, also known as Hiberno-Saxon art, is the style of art produced in the post-Roman history of Ireland and Great Britain. The term derives from insula, the Latin term for "island"; in this period Britain and Ireland shared a largely common style different from that of the rest of Europe...
penannular brooches of the 7-9th centuries were worn by Queen Victoria among others from the late 1840s, many produced in Dublin by West & Son
West Jewellers
West of Grafton Street Ltd. or West Jewellers was a jewellery store which was last located on 33 Grafton Street in Dublin, Ireland. It was considered the oldest European jewellery store and one of the oldest companies in Ireland.-History:...
and other makers. Celtic motifs continue to be used in many popular contexts such as tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
s.
1900–20
The Irish Celtic Revival movement encouraged the creation of works written in the spirit of Irish cultureCulture of Ireland
This article is about the modern culture of Ireland and the Irish people. It includes customs and traditions, language, music, art, literature, folklore, cuisine and sport associated with Ireland and Irish people today. However, the culture of the people living in Ireland is not homogeneous...
, as distinct from English culture
Culture of England
The culture of England refers to the idiosyncratic cultural norms of England and the English people. Because of England's dominant position within the United Kingdom in terms of population, English culture is often difficult to differentiate from the culture of the United Kingdom as a whole...
. This was, in part, due to the political need for an individual Irish identity. This difference was kept alive by invoking Ireland's historic past, its myths, legends and folklore.There was an attempt to re-vitalize the native rhythm and music of Irish Gaelic. Figures such as Lady Gregory, WB Yeats, George Russell
George William Russell
George William Russell who wrote under the pseudonym Æ , was an Irish nationalist, writer, editor, critic, poet, and painter. He was also a mystical writer, and centre of a group of followers of theosophy in Dublin, for many years.-Organisor:Russell was born in Lurgan, County Armagh...
, J.M. Synge
John Millington Synge
Edmund John Millington Synge was an Irish playwright, poet, prose writer, and collector of folklore. He was a key figure in the Irish Literary Revival and was one of the cofounders of the Abbey Theatre...
and Sean O'Casey
Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.- Early life:...
wrote many plays and articles about the political state of Ireland
Irish Home Rule Movement
The Irish Home Rule Movement articulated a longstanding Irish desire for the repeal of the Act of Union of 1800 by a demand for self-government within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The movement drew upon a legacy of patriotic thought that dated back at least to the late 17th...
at the time. Gaelic revival and Irish nationalism frequently overlapped in Gaelic Revival hangouts such as An Stad
An Stad
An Stad was a tobacco shop, guesthouse, restaurant and meeting place in Dublin, Ireland for members of the Irish Nationalist movement and the Gaelic Revival in the early 20th century...
, a tobacconist on North Frederick Street owned by the writer Cathal McGarvey and frequented by literary figures such as James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
and Yeats, along with leaders of the Nationalist movement
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...
such as Douglas Hyde
Douglas Hyde
Douglas Hyde , known as An Craoibhín Aoibhinn , was an Irish scholar of the Irish language who served as the first President of Ireland from 1938 to 1945...
, Arthur Griffith
Arthur Griffith
Arthur Griffith was the founder and third leader of Sinn Féin. He served as President of Dáil Éireann from January to August 1922, and was head of the Irish delegation at the negotiations in London that produced the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921.-Early life:...
and Michael Collins
Michael Collins (Irish leader)
Michael "Mick" Collins was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance and Teachta Dála for Cork South in the First Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. Subsequently, he was both Chairman of the...
. These were connected with another great symbol of the literary revival, The Abbey Theatre
Abbey Theatre
The Abbey Theatre , also known as the National Theatre of Ireland , is a theatre located in Dublin, Ireland. The Abbey first opened its doors to the public on 27 December 1904. Despite losing its original building to a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the present day...
, which served as the stage for many new Irish writers and playwrights of the time.
In 1892, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy
Charles Gavan Duffy
Additional Reading*, Allen & Unwin, 1973.*John Mitchel, A Cause Too Many, Aidan Hegarty, Camlane Press.*Thomas Davis, The Thinker and Teacher, Arthur Griffith, M.H. Gill & Son 1922....
said,
"A group of young men, among the most generous and disinterested in our annals, were busy digging up the buried relics of our history, to enlighten the present by a knowledge of the past, setting up on their pedestals anew the overthrown statues of Irish worthies, assailing wrongs which under long impunity had become unquestioned and even venerable, and warming as with strong wine the heart of the people, by songs of valour and hope; and happily not standing isolated in their pious work, but encouraged and sustained by just such an army of students and sympathizers as I see here to-day."
The Celtic Revival (also often referred to as the "Celtic Twilight") was an international movement. The Irish American designer Thomas Augustus "Gus" O’Shaughnessy made a conscious choice to connect his art with Irish design roots. Louis Sullivan
Louis Sullivan
Louis Henri Sullivan was an American architect, and has been called the "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism" He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago School, was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an...
the Chicago architect incorporated dense Celtic-inspired interlace in the ornament of his buildings. Sullivan's father was a traditional Irish musician and they both were step-dancers, showing how his creativity was not just rooted in his official education. Trained in stained glass and working in an Art Nouveau style, O’Shaughnessy designed a series of windows and interior stencils for Old Saint Patrick’s Church in Chicago, a project begun in 1912.
The "plastic style" of early Celtic art was one of the elements feeding into Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
decorative style, very consciously so in the work of designers like the Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
xman Archibald Knox
Archibald Knox (designer)
Archibald Knox , was a Manx art nouveau designer of Scottish descent....
, who did much work for Liberty & Co., especially for the Tudric
Tudric
Tudric is a brand name for pewterware made by Liberty & Co of London, the chief designer being Archibald Knox. The gold and silver ranges were known as Cymric . Liberty & Co began producing Tudric in 1902, and continued to the 1930s...
and Cymric ranges of metalwork, respectively in pewter and silver or gold. Many of the most extravagant examples of the plastic style come from the modern Czech Lands
Czech lands
Czech lands is an auxiliary term used mainly to describe the combination of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia. Today, those three historic provinces compose the Czech Republic. The Czech lands had been settled by the Celts , then later by various Germanic tribes until the beginning of 7th...
, and influenced the Czech Art Nouveau designer and artist Alphonse Mucha.
Interlace, which is still seen as a "Celtic" form of decoration, somewhat ignoring its Germanic origins and equally prominent place in Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian medieval art, has remained a motif in many forms of popular design, especially in Celtic countries, and above all Ireland, where it remains a national style signature. In recent decades it had a re-revival in 1960s design, for example in the Biba
Biba
Biba was an iconic and popular London fashion store of the 1960s and 1970s. It was started and primarily run by the Polish-born Barbara Hulanicki with help of her husband Stephen Fitz-Simon.-Early years:...
logo, and has been used worldwide in tattoos, and in various contexts and media in fantasy works with a quasi-Dark Ages setting. The Secret of Kells is an animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
feature film of 2009 set during the creation of the Book of Kells which makes much use of Insular design.
Cornwall
The term Celtic Revival is sometimes used to refer to the CornishCornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
cultural Celtic revival of the early twentieth century. This was characterised by an increased interest in the Cornish language
Cornish language
Cornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...
started by Henry Jenner
Henry Jenner
Henry Jenner FSA was a British scholar of the Celtic languages, a Cornish cultural activist, and the chief originator of the Cornish language revival....
and Robert Morton Nance
Robert Morton Nance
Robert Morton Nance was a leading authority on the Cornish language, nautical archaeologist, and joint founder of the Old Cornwall Society....
in 1904. The Federation of Old Cornwall Societies
Federation of Old Cornwall Societies
The Federation of Old Cornwall Societies was formed in 1924, on the initiative of Robert Morton Nance, with the objective of collecting and maintaining "all those ancient things that make the spirit of Cornwall — its traditions, its old words and ways, and what remains to it of its Celtic language...
was formed in 1924 to "maintain the Celtic spirit of Cornwall", followed by the Gorseth Kernow
Gorseth Kernow
Gorseth Kernow is a non-political Cornish organisation, which exists to maintain the national Celtic spirit of Cornwall in the United Kingdom.-History:...
in 1928 and the formation of the Cornish political party Mebyon Kernow
Mebyon Kernow
Mebyon Kernow is a left-of-centre political party in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It primarily campaigns for devolution to Cornwall in the form of a Cornish Assembly, as well as social democracy and environmental protection.MK was formed as a pressure group in 1951, and contained as members activists...
in 1951. This revival has spread across the Irish sea towards Northern England, with the attempted reconstructions of numerous types of bagpipe (such as the Lancashire Great-pipe) and an increased interest in the Northumbrian smallpipes
Northumbrian smallpipes
The Northumbrian smallpipes are bellows-blown bagpipes from the North East of England.In a survey of the bagpipes in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford University, the organologist Anthony Baines wrote: It is perhaps the most civilized of the bagpipes, making no attempt to go farther than the...
. There are also attempts to reconstruct the Cumbric language
Cumbric language
Cumbric was a variety of the Celtic British language spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the Hen Ogledd or "Old North", or what is now northern England and southern Lowland Scotland, the area anciently known as Cumbria. It was closely related to Old Welsh and the other Brythonic languages...
, the ancient Brythonic language of Northern (particularly Northwestern) England, a remnant of the celtic kingdoms of Hen Ogledd
Hen Ogledd
Yr Hen Ogledd is a Welsh term used by scholars to refer to those parts of what is now northern England and southern Scotland in the years between 500 and the Viking invasions of c. 800, with particular interest in the Brythonic-speaking peoples who lived there.The term is derived from heroic...
. The Gallaic Revival Movement is reconstructing the Gallaic language, also known as the Gallaecian language
Gallaecian language
The Northwestern Hispano-Celtic, Gallaecian or Gallaic, is classified as a Q-Celtic language under the P-Q system and was closely related to Celtiberian...
.
Sources
- Brown, Terence (ed.), Celticism (1996), ISBN 9051839987.
- Castle, Gregory. Modernism and the Celtic Revival. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
- Foster, R. F. (1997). W. B. Yeats: A Life, Vol. I: The Apprentice Mage. New York: Oxford UPOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
. ISBN 0-19-288085-3. - Foster, R. F. (2003). W. B. Yeats: A Life, Vol. II: The Arch-Poet 1915–1939. New York: Oxford UP. ISBN 0-19-818465-4.