Acknowledgements; Introduction Huw Pryce; 1. The uses of literacy in early medieval Wales Patrick Sims-Williams; 2. Literacy in Pictland Katherine Forsyth; 3. The context and uses of literacy in early Christian Ireland T. M. Charles-Edwards; 4. Orality, literacy and genealogy in early medieval Ireland and Wales David E. Thornton; 5. Charter-writing and its uses in early medieval Celtic societies Wendy Davies; 6. The context and uses of the Latin charter in twelfth-century Ireland Marie-Therese Flanagan; 7. Written text as performance - the implications for Middle Welsh prose narratives Sioned Davies; 8. More written about than writing? Welsh women and the written word Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan; 9. Celtic literary tradition and the development of a feudal principality in Brittany Noél-Yves Tonnerre; 10. Gaelic literacy in eastern Scotland between 1124 and 1249 Dauvit Broun; 11. Inkhorn and spectacles: the impact of literacy in late medieval Wales Llinos Beverley Smith; 12. 'This my act and deed': the writing of private deeds in late medieval north Wales A. D. Carr; 13. Literacy and the Irish bards Katherine Simms; List of works cited; Index.

'Overall the collection deserves to be consulted by non-Celtics and not merely read within its own little academic ghetto. This is a set of meticulously evidence-based studies, with an excellent bibliography: the author's insights into matters such as the social context of literacy, charters, genealogy, and gender should be of interest to medievalists whose areas of special concern lie elsewhere.' Early Medieval Europe