The Reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth in Ireland

Abstract

Geoffrey of Monmouth’s works did not appeal to the Irish as they did to the other peoples of the North Sea.1 Although English, Welsh, French, and Norse translations of the DGB exist, no Middle Irish translation is extant, nor is there any evidence that there ever was one. Latin manuscripts of the DGB did circulate in Ireland, though in many cases it is difficult to know exactly when they reached their current archival homes in Ireland.2 Nonetheless, in comparison with Britain and northern France, the DGB does not seem to have been a particularly popular text. Uncovering Geoffrey’s influence in Ireland is also difficult because the figure of King Arthur – by whose presence Geoffrey’s influence is often revealed – was already known in early Ireland.3 A few scholars have thought it possible that British influence, possibly stemming from Geoffrey of Monmouth, can be detected in the Acallam na Sénorach (“The Colloquy of the Ancients”), a large Middle Irish compilation of Fénian stories.4 And it has been ventured that a lost Irish tale, the Aigidecht Arthúir (“The Hospitality of Arthur”), could be related to Geoffrey’s work.5 Finally, late medieval Ireland did witness a flourishing of Arthurian literature, but here the influence seems to have been through romance and not from direct engagement with Geoffrey’s work.6 There is comparatively little written on Geoffrey’s reception (or lack thereof) in Ireland. It may be that some parts of Geoffrey’s work, in particular the