Prophecy of Berchan

This book gives a text, an English translation, and a commentary on a medieval verse history of the kings of Ireland and Scotland from the ninth to the 11th centuries. This study examines the Prophecy of Berch?n as a historical record with much to offer students of kingship among the Irish and Scots. Biographies of individual monarchs provided therein present the important events of each ones career, the length of his reign, and the circumstances of his death. This study suggests new interpretations of British and Irish history during the early middle ages.

BENJAMIN T. HUDSON is Assistant Professor of History and Medieval Studies at Pennsylvania State University. His first book wasThe Kings of Celtic Scotland (Greenwood, 1994).