Bibliography

Brent
Miles
s. xx–xxi

11 publications between 2004 and 2023 indexed
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Works authored

Miles, Brent, An introduction to Middle Welsh: a learner’s grammar of the medieval language and reader, Toronto, 2023. URL: <https://hdl.handle.net/1807/128582>. 
abstract:

An Introduction to Middle Welsh: A Learner’s Grammar of the Medieval Language and Reader presents a complete course in reading Middle Welsh. The course is intended both for those who are working with a teacher and for self-learners, and assumes no prior knowledge of any Celtic language. A Learner’s Grammar introduces the grammatical constructions and vocabulary required for the person who wishes to read medieval Welsh prose, with exercises from authentic Welsh texts in each unit. The Reader in the second part presents long excerpts from texts from medieval Welsh literature and history. A full Glossary is included.

abstract:

An Introduction to Middle Welsh: A Learner’s Grammar of the Medieval Language and Reader presents a complete course in reading Middle Welsh. The course is intended both for those who are working with a teacher and for self-learners, and assumes no prior knowledge of any Celtic language. A Learner’s Grammar introduces the grammatical constructions and vocabulary required for the person who wishes to read medieval Welsh prose, with exercises from authentic Welsh texts in each unit. The Reader in the second part presents long excerpts from texts from medieval Welsh literature and history. A full Glossary is included.

Miles, Brent, Don tres Troí: the Middle Irish history of the third Troy, Irish Texts Society, 68, London: Irish Texts Society, 2020.
Miles, Brent, Heroic saga and classical epic in medieval Ireland, Studies in Celtic History, 30, Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2011.  
abstract:
The puzzle of Ireland's role in the preservation of classical learning into the middle ages has always excited scholars, but the evidence from the island's vernacular literature - as opposed to that in Latin - for the study of pagan epic has largely escaped notice. In this book the author breaks new ground by examining the Irish texts alongside the Latin evidence for the study of classical epic in medieval Ireland, surveying the corpus of Irish texts based on histories and poetry from antiquity, in particular Togail Troi, the Irish history of the Fall of Troy. He argues that Irish scholars' study of Virgil and Statius in particular left a profound imprint on the native heroic literature, especially the Irish prose epic Táin Bó Cúailnge (“The Cattle-Raid of Cooley”).
abstract:
The puzzle of Ireland's role in the preservation of classical learning into the middle ages has always excited scholars, but the evidence from the island's vernacular literature - as opposed to that in Latin - for the study of pagan epic has largely escaped notice. In this book the author breaks new ground by examining the Irish texts alongside the Latin evidence for the study of classical epic in medieval Ireland, surveying the corpus of Irish texts based on histories and poetry from antiquity, in particular Togail Troi, the Irish history of the Fall of Troy. He argues that Irish scholars' study of Virgil and Statius in particular left a profound imprint on the native heroic literature, especially the Irish prose epic Táin Bó Cúailnge (“The Cattle-Raid of Cooley”).


Contributions to journals

Miles, Brent, “Riss in mundtuirc: the tale of Harmonia’s necklace and the study of the Theban cycle in medieval Ireland”, Ériu 57 (2007): 67–112.  
abstract:
This article presents an edition of the Middle Irish prose text Riss in Mundtuirc, 'The tale of the necklace', which recounts episodes from the classical story of the families of the Theban king Oedipus and the Argive prophet Amphiaraus. The text draws principally on Statius's Thebaid and Ovid's Metamorphoses, as well as on Late Antique commentary. An examination is made of the character of classical learning in medieval Ireland and the place of Riss in Mundtuirc in the corpus of classical adaptations in Irish, with special reference to the extensive quotation from the Riss in Togail na Tebe, the Irish translation of Statius's Thebaid. Consideration is made of the thematic prominence of kin-murder in the Riss and contemporary classical tales in Irish.
abstract:
This article presents an edition of the Middle Irish prose text Riss in Mundtuirc, 'The tale of the necklace', which recounts episodes from the classical story of the families of the Theban king Oedipus and the Argive prophet Amphiaraus. The text draws principally on Statius's Thebaid and Ovid's Metamorphoses, as well as on Late Antique commentary. An examination is made of the character of classical learning in medieval Ireland and the place of Riss in Mundtuirc in the corpus of classical adaptations in Irish, with special reference to the extensive quotation from the Riss in Togail na Tebe, the Irish translation of Statius's Thebaid. Consideration is made of the thematic prominence of kin-murder in the Riss and contemporary classical tales in Irish.
Miles, Brent, “Branwen: a reconsideration of the German and Norse analogues”, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 52 (Winter, 2006): 13–48.

Contributions to edited collections or authored works

Miles, Brent, “The rewriting of Hiberno-Latin instruction to kings in later medieval Ireland: the Sermo ad reges and ‘The royal teaching of Solomon’”, in: Axel Harlos, and Neele Harlos (eds), Adapting texts and styles in a Celtic context: interdisciplinary perspectives on processes of literary transfer in the middle ages: studies in honour of Erich Poppe, 13, Münster: Nodus Publikationen, 2016. 245–263.
Miles, Brent, “The Sermo ad reges from the Leabhar Breac and Hiberno-Latin tradition”, in: Elizabeth Boyle, and Deborah Hayden (eds), Authorities and adaptations: the reworking and transmission of textual sources in medieval Ireland, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2014. 141–158.
Miles, Brent, “The Irish history of the ‘third Troy’ and medieval writing of history”, in: Sarah Sheehan, Joanne Findon, and Westley Follett (eds), Gablánach in scélaigecht: Celtic studies in honour of Ann Dooley, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2013. 220–237.
Miles, Brent, “The literary set piece and the imitatio of Latin epic in the Cattle raid of Cúailnge”, in: Ruairí Ó hUiginn, and Brian Ó Catháin (eds), Ulidia 2: proceedings of the Second International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales, Maynooth 24-27 July 2005, Maynooth: An Sagart, 2009. 66–80.
Miles, Brent, “Irish evidence for shared sources of classical mythology in Anglo-Saxon England and medieval Ireland”, in: Gernot R. Wieland, Carin Ruff, and Ross G. Arthur (eds), Insignis sophiae arcator: essays in honour of Michael W. Herren on his 65th birthday, 6, Turnhout: Brepols, 2006. 124–148.
Miles, Brent, “Togail Troí: the Irish Destruction of Troy on the Cusp of the Renaissance”, in: A. Shepard, and Stephen D. Powell (eds), Fantasies of Troy. Classical tales and the social imaginary in medieval and early modern Europe, Toronto: Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies, University of Toronto, 2004. 81–96.