The inhabitants of early medieval Britain and Ireland shared the knowledge that the region held four peoples and the awareness that they must have originally come from 'elsewhere'. The Origin Legends of Early Medieval Britain and Ireland studies these peoples' origin stories, an important genre that has shaped national identity and collective history from the early medieval period to the present day. These multilingual texts share many common features that repay their study as a genre, but have previously been isolated as four disparate traditions and used to argue for the long roots of current nationalisms. Yet they were not written or read in isolation during the medieval period. Individual narratives were in constant development, written and rewritten to respond to other texts. This book argues that insular origin legends developed together to flesh out the history of the insular region as a whole.

‘A welcome and precious reading of the Insular origin narratives, The origin legends of early medieval Britain and Ireland proves to be a useful window on mentalities of the time. … A thoughtful and honest piece of academic writing, this book … will hopefully produce further discussion and inspiration in searching for fresh approaches toward the reading of early medieval historical and 'pseudo-historical' production.’

Donato Sitaro Source: North American Journal of Celtic Studies

‘This introduction to Insular origin legends provided by Lindy Brady should enable the reader to understand texts other than the origin legends themselves. It will thus play a valuable role not merely as an introduction to origin legends themselves but more widely.’

Thomas Charles-Edwards Source: Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies

‘The author's conclusion recalls the great merit of this work, which is to offer a study of these origin stories in the geographical context of the British and Irish Isles. She thus proves that these texts, far from being isolated, are in fact complex narratives, anchored both in an intertextual dialogue and in a cultural and intellectual context specific to a world where many different peoples coexist.’

Marcin Kurdyka Source: Moyen Âge