Author Description

The twenty-five papers, taken from a Cardiff conference in 1998, are concerned with Insular art in its broadest sense, encompassing studies of metalwork, manuscripts, sculpture and textiles, both recent discoveries and new investigations of well-known objects. They include material associated with Anglo-Saxon England as well as early Medieval Scotland, Wales and Ireland, and discoveries of Insular metalwork in Scandinavia. They are divided into five themes which reflect the many recent advances in the study of Insular art. Table of Contents Part I. Politics and Patrons 1. Patrons and politics: Art, artefact and methodology (Raghnall O Floinn) 2. The cultural and political milieu of the deposition and manufacture of the hoard discovered at Reerasta Rath, Ardagh, Co. Limerick (Edel Bhreathnach) Part II. National and regional identities 3. National and regional identities: the 'glittering prizes' (James Graham-Campbell) 4. Strap-ends and the identification of regional patterns in the production and circulation of ornamental metalwork in Late Anglo-Saxon and Viking Age Britain (Gabor Thomas) 5. Irish monumental sculpture: the dating evidence provided by linguistic forms (Catherine Swift) 6. Neo-Pelagianism, early Insular religious art, and the image of Christ (Shirley Ann Brown and Michael W. Herren) Part III: Art and Archaeology 7. The Mote of Mark: the archaeological context of the decorated metalwork (David Longley) 8. A fine quality Insular embroidery from Llan-gors Crannog, near Brecon (Hero Granger-Taylor and Frances Pritchard) 9. Galls bangles as a regional development in Early Medieval Ireland (Judith Carroll) 10. The rapid qualitative analysis of groups of metalwork: making a dream come true (Paul T. Craddock, Jonathan M. Wallis and John F. Merkel) 11. Insular belt-fittings from the Pagan Norse graves of Scotland: a reappraisal in the light of scientific and stylistic analysis