Congratulations to Dr Levi Roach and Dr Helen Foxhall Forbes (both of whom studied ASNC at undergraduate and postgraduate level), who have both been appointed to lectureships in Medieval History at the University of Exeter.
Indeed, further congratulations are due to Levi for recently winning the Royal Historical Society's Alexander Prize for his article ‘Public Rites and Public Wrongs: Ritual Aspects of Diplomas in Tenth-
and Eleventh-Century England’, Early Medieval Europe 19 (2011),
182-203.
Also, congratulations to Emily Lethbridge who has been awarded a 3-year post-doc at the new Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Iceland.
Some members (past and present) of the ASNC Department were signatories to a letter in the Irish Times protesting the proposed destruction of Carraig Breac House, former home to Celtic scholar Whitley Stokes (1830-1909). The subsequent decision not to grant permission for the demolition led to this article by Irish Times environment editor, Frank McDonald.
And finally, Dr Elizabeth Boyle has been causing trouble, as usual ...
Showing posts with label Whitley Stokes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Whitley Stokes. Show all posts
Saturday, 28 July 2012
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
New book!
Elizabeth Boyle and Paul Russell, both of the Department of ASNC, have recently published a volume of essays on the life and scholarship of the Celtic scholar and colonial jurist, Whitley Stokes (1830-1909). The volume arises from the conference which took place in September 2009 to commemorate the centenary of Stokes' death.
The wide-ranging volume includes essays on Stokes' pivotal contribution to the popularisation of Edward FitzGerald's translation of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám; Stokes' friendships with the Pre-Raphaelites; an account of his legal career in India; and an assessment, by Ananya Jahanara Kabir, of Stokes' place within the phenomenon she calls 'imperial medievalism', namely the conjunction between scholarly interest in the European Middle Ages and Britain's imperial presence in India.
Of particular interest to Celtic scholars is Pól Ó Dochartaigh's chapter on Stokes' relationship with Rudolf Thomas Siegfried; Paul Russell's chapter on Stokes' collaborations with Henry Bradshaw; Pádraic Moran's chapter on Stokes and the native Irish linguistic tradition; Thomas Charles-Edwards on Stokes and medieval Irish law; and Aderik Blom on Stokes' scholarship on Continental Celtic.
The volume is published by the leading Irish academic publisher, Four Courts Press.
Monday, 20 June 2011
Adventures in a graveyard, Part 2
Dr Elizabeth Boyle writes:
Following my adventure in search of the memorial cross erected at St Fintan's church, Sutton, Co. Dublin, to the Celtic scholar, Whitley Stokes (1830-1909), I decided to find the place where he is actually buried, in Paddington Old Cemetery, London. I was particularly interested to see whether his gravestone was similar in style, or whether it bore a similar inscription, to the cross at St Fintan's.
Following my adventure in search of the memorial cross erected at St Fintan's church, Sutton, Co. Dublin, to the Celtic scholar, Whitley Stokes (1830-1909), I decided to find the place where he is actually buried, in Paddington Old Cemetery, London. I was particularly interested to see whether his gravestone was similar in style, or whether it bore a similar inscription, to the cross at St Fintan's.
Stokes' memorial cross at St Fintan's, Sutton, Co. Dublin
Paddington Old Cemetery is located in the diverse district of Kilburn, north of Kensington (where Stokes lived after returning from India in 1882 until his death in 1909).
Paddington Old Cemetery, London
I found Stokes' grave in somewhat better condition than some of the others in its vicinity. The cross was indeed in the Celtic Revival style, although notably less ornate than the memorial cross at Sutton.
grave of Whitley Stokes (1830-1909), Paddington Old Cemetery
The inscription was also quite different from that at St Fintan's. First, there was no indication of Stokes' profession or scholarly interests.Where the St Fintan's cross had described him as 'Jurist, Scholar and Philologist', his London gravestone gave only the spare details of his name and dates, reflecting perhaps the more private, family-oriented nature of the memorial, as opposed to the more public, or scholarly, nature of the Sutton cross. The quotation chosen for the inscription was also quite different in tone. Where the St Fintan's cross stated:
DIE WAHRHEIT RUHT IN GOTT
UNS BLEIBT DAS FORSCHEN
('Truth lies with God; for us remains Research')
the Paddington memorial gave a biblical quotation, from Philippians 4:8:
WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE TRUE. WHATSOEVER THINGS
ARE HONEST. WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE JUST.
WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE PURE. WHATSOEVER THINGS
ARE LOVELY. WHATSOEVER THINGS ARE OF GOOD
REPORT. IF THERE BE ANY VIRTUE, AND IF THERE BE
ANY PRAISE, THINK ON THESE THINGS.
Stokes grave inscription
The overall effect was simple, but quite moving, and in striking contrast to the form and content of the St Fintan's memorial. But having found Stokes' grave I decided that the next challenge would be to find his house. So I left Kilburn, and set off towards one of London's most affluent districts:
Grenville Place, Kensington
Perhaps rather fittingly, Stokes' home at 15 Grenville Place technically no longer exists, since 14 and 15 Grenville Place have been knocked together and turned into separate flats. However, the house still retains the impressive frontage, including the front door (no longer in use), which it would have had in Stokes' day.
15 Grenville Place, Kensington, formerly the home of Whitley Stokes (1830-1909)
In Stokes' time, as now, this was a prosperous part of London, and emphasises the wealth which Stokes accumulated during his time as a colonial jurist in British India, where he became President of the India Law Commission. A stark contrast indeed to the penniless young barrister who had to sell his furniture in order to buy his passage to India in 1862, and a reminder of the more problematic moral complexities of the life of Ireland's greatest Celtic scholar.
Friday, 13 May 2011
Adventures in a graveyard
Dr Elizabeth Boyle writes:
In 2009, Dr Paul Russell and I held a conference in Cambridge to commemorate the centenary of the death of Whitley Stokes (1830-1909), colonial jurist and Celtic scholar. A volume arising from that conference is soon to be published by Four Courts Press, but my interest in Stokes has continued to grow, and last week it led me to a graveyard in Co. Dublin in search of a putative memorial cross which was apparently erected for Stokes shortly after his death.
Stokes, who was born in Dublin, left Ireland in 1852, at the age of twenty-two, when he went to study law in London. Although he returned to Ireland for brief visits, he never again lived there, instead travelling to India in 1862, where he spent twenty years in Calcutta and Simla, codifying Anglo-Indian law, eventually becoming President of the India Law Commission. He returned to London in 1882, and spent the rest of his life there. He was a founding fellow of the British Academy. Stokes published prolifically on medieval Celtic languages and literatures, and it remains the case that many medieval Irish texts are only available in print in Stokes's editions and translations. Stokes died in 1909, and was buried in London.
However, according to the genealogical website of a Stokes family in Australia, a memorial cross had allegedly been erected at a "St Finian's" church on the Howth peninsula, in Co. Dublin. In following up this lead, I faced two problems: first, that this cross is not referred to anywhere in the scholarly literature (e.g. in the entries on Stokes in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, or the Dictionary of Irish Biography), and so I had no more specific information to go on than one brief remark on a single website; and second, that there is no "St Finian's" church on the Howth peninsula.
It seemed most likely to me that "St Finian's" was a misreading of St Fintan's, a church located in Sutton, close to Howth, and which dates back to the early medieval period (fitting for a scholar such as Stokes, with his interest in the culture of early medieval Ireland). So, on a drizzly, overcast Thursday, I took the DART from central Dublin to Sutton, and wandered through the graveyard in search of a cross which I wasn't sure even existed.
In 2009, Dr Paul Russell and I held a conference in Cambridge to commemorate the centenary of the death of Whitley Stokes (1830-1909), colonial jurist and Celtic scholar. A volume arising from that conference is soon to be published by Four Courts Press, but my interest in Stokes has continued to grow, and last week it led me to a graveyard in Co. Dublin in search of a putative memorial cross which was apparently erected for Stokes shortly after his death.
Stokes, who was born in Dublin, left Ireland in 1852, at the age of twenty-two, when he went to study law in London. Although he returned to Ireland for brief visits, he never again lived there, instead travelling to India in 1862, where he spent twenty years in Calcutta and Simla, codifying Anglo-Indian law, eventually becoming President of the India Law Commission. He returned to London in 1882, and spent the rest of his life there. He was a founding fellow of the British Academy. Stokes published prolifically on medieval Celtic languages and literatures, and it remains the case that many medieval Irish texts are only available in print in Stokes's editions and translations. Stokes died in 1909, and was buried in London.
However, according to the genealogical website of a Stokes family in Australia, a memorial cross had allegedly been erected at a "St Finian's" church on the Howth peninsula, in Co. Dublin. In following up this lead, I faced two problems: first, that this cross is not referred to anywhere in the scholarly literature (e.g. in the entries on Stokes in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, or the Dictionary of Irish Biography), and so I had no more specific information to go on than one brief remark on a single website; and second, that there is no "St Finian's" church on the Howth peninsula.
It seemed most likely to me that "St Finian's" was a misreading of St Fintan's, a church located in Sutton, close to Howth, and which dates back to the early medieval period (fitting for a scholar such as Stokes, with his interest in the culture of early medieval Ireland). So, on a drizzly, overcast Thursday, I took the DART from central Dublin to Sutton, and wandered through the graveyard in search of a cross which I wasn't sure even existed.
Remains of the early medieval church of St Fintan's, Sutton, Co. Dublin
Monday, 8 February 2010
From Ireland to India
ELB writes:
Last September, ASNC hosted a conference to commemorate the centenary of the death of Whitley Stokes (1803-1909), the Celtic scholar and colonial jurist. Today, one of the contributors to that conference, Prof. Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, has a column on Stokes, which mentions our conference, in The Irish Times. Also, in December, another contributor to our conference, John Drew, had an article on Stokes published in Indian newspaper The Hindu. So what is about Whitley Stokes that would attract press attention from Ireland to India?
Stokes was born into one of Ireland's most prominent academic families. His father, William (1804-78), was professor of medicine at Trinity College Dublin, and an important figure in Irish cultural life. Similarly, Stokes's grandfather, also named Whitley Stokes (1763-1845), was a professor of medicine at TCD and a founding member of the Royal Irish Academy. Throughout his life, Stokes's social circle comprised many leading intellectuals, historians, artists and poets. From his earliest years these included Samuel Ferguson, George Petrie, Eugene O'Curry and Rudolf Siegfried; later, in his twenties, he became friends with William Allingham, Arthur Munby, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and others associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Stokes studied at St Columba's College, then Trinity College Dublin. He went to London to study law and was called to the bar in 1855. In 1862 Stokes travelled to India, where he worked for the legislative council; in 1879 he became president of the India Law Comission. Stokes returned to London in 1881, where he lived, at Grenville Place, Kensington, until his death in 1909.
Last September, ASNC hosted a conference to commemorate the centenary of the death of Whitley Stokes (1803-1909), the Celtic scholar and colonial jurist. Today, one of the contributors to that conference, Prof. Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, has a column on Stokes, which mentions our conference, in The Irish Times. Also, in December, another contributor to our conference, John Drew, had an article on Stokes published in Indian newspaper The Hindu. So what is about Whitley Stokes that would attract press attention from Ireland to India?
Stokes was born into one of Ireland's most prominent academic families. His father, William (1804-78), was professor of medicine at Trinity College Dublin, and an important figure in Irish cultural life. Similarly, Stokes's grandfather, also named Whitley Stokes (1763-1845), was a professor of medicine at TCD and a founding member of the Royal Irish Academy. Throughout his life, Stokes's social circle comprised many leading intellectuals, historians, artists and poets. From his earliest years these included Samuel Ferguson, George Petrie, Eugene O'Curry and Rudolf Siegfried; later, in his twenties, he became friends with William Allingham, Arthur Munby, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and others associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Stokes studied at St Columba's College, then Trinity College Dublin. He went to London to study law and was called to the bar in 1855. In 1862 Stokes travelled to India, where he worked for the legislative council; in 1879 he became president of the India Law Comission. Stokes returned to London in 1881, where he lived, at Grenville Place, Kensington, until his death in 1909.
Whitley Stokes (1830-1909)
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