The Origins of English Writing in Ireland

The first comprehensive study of vernacular English literature from medieval Ireland, this volume explores a rich yet until now relatively neglected body of work within Ireland's literary heritage. Revealing the strikingly important place occupied by Middle English in the story of Ireland's literary production, Caoimhe Whelan reveals interactions between Gaelic and English in colonial Ireland and the wider English empire, opening a new perspective on the tradition of writing in English in Ireland. Engaging in close analysis of original manuscript sources, she situates texts in their various historical, literary and cultural contexts and presents literary scholars and historians with a new way of understanding medieval colonial writing in the English lordship of Ireland.