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In his famous 1860 lectures ‘On the Study of Celtic Literature’, Matthew Arnold argued that the time was ripe for a reassessment of what was meant by the term ‘Celticism’. In the latter half of the century, the burgeoning of comparative science transformed the way that Celtic culture was viewed, and this development bifurcated Celticism in a way which persists to this day. The confirmation of links between Celtic and Sanskrit was both a turning and a sticking point in terms of the primitivism of Celticism. Arnold echoed much of Ernest Renan's arguments (and even his sources), but still protested his own scientism against Renan's avowed Celticism. Yet Arnold's own approach to the study of Celtic literature was far from scientific. The ‘old school’ of primitivist popular Celticism had to be put in its place if Celtology was to succeed. The Irish Revival writers were to realise the belatedness of popular Celticism only during the first decade of the 20th century, when they increasingly had recourse to Celtological versions of the past as an antidote to the idealisations of ‘Irish Ireland’.

The Introduction offers a comprehensive account of the Breton gwerz or narrative song tradition. It situates the discovery of the tradition in the context of a broader European Romantic revival of interest in popular culture, and introduces readers to the major collectors and collections of gwerziou from the early 19th century to the present day. It discusses the strengths and limitations of the corpus as it has come down us—what types of song may or may not have survived. It also examines the main generic characteristics of the Breton ballad form, comparing them briefly with narrative songs from France and the other Celtic-speaking countries. It then considers the songs’ relationship to history: what events are recorded/remembered in the songs, and how are they presented? The Introduction concludes by considering aspects of performance and the social contexts that have given these songs their cultural meaning and ensured their renewal and survival to the present day.

This chapter begins with discussion of political developments such as the Norman conquest and the division of Wales into twelve counties with the right of appropriate representation in the English parliament. It then discusses Middle Welsh literature and the Celtic contribution to world literature.

This section comprises a selection of thirty-five Breton ballads, presented in the original Breton with English translations. Each ballad text is followed by a short analysis giving, where possible, information on its provenance and exploring the literary and historical context of the events it describes. Reference is also made to other versions and occasionally to international parallels. The material covers a wide range of topics, from shipwrecks and murders to penitential journeys, the plague, scenes from war and encounters in love. It draws on themes from the European medieval literary tradition, the literature of other Celtic-speaking countries, and events from Breton history, particularly from the turbulent early modern period.