The Oldest Irish Tradition A Windo on the Iron Age [Paperback]

This lecture explores the possibility that the Ulster cycle of tales preserves an oral tradition from the third and fourth centuries AD.Kenneth Jacksons 1964 lecture, printed here, focuses on exploring medieval and earlier Irish literature. This lecture explored the possibility that the Ulster cycle of tales preserves an oral tradition of Celtic Irish society from the third and fourth centuries AD; as the background of the tales pre-dates Christian influences in the fifth century.Kenneth Jacksons 1964 lecture, printed here, focuses on exploring medieval and earlier Irish literature. This lecture explored the possibility that the Ulster cycle of tales preserves an oral tradition of Celtic Irish society from the third and fourth centuries AD; as the background of the tales pre-dates Christian influences in the fifth century.K. H. Jackson's The Oldest Irish Tradition: A Window on the Iron Age was originally delivered as the Rede Lecture at the University of Cambridge in 1964. Jackson intended to show that the heroic literature of Ireland, the Ulster cycle of tales, derived from 'pre-historic' oral traditions which flourished before the introduction of Christianity in the fifth century. By closely examining this body of heroic narrative, Jackson attempted to illustrate how different aspects of the social structures, customs, ethos, and material culture in the tales could provide a picture of Ireland in the Early Iron Age.The Rede Lecture, 1964: The Oldest Irish Tradition: a Window on the Iron Age