A landscape of words: Ireland, Britain and the poetics of space, 700–1250 (Manchester Medieval Literature and Culture)

A Landscape of Words examines how medieval writers in Ireland and Britain understood place, landscape and geographical identity between roughly 700 and 1250. Focusing especially on the rich tradition of Irish topographical writing, Amy C. Mulligan explores how descriptions of land and space responded to changing political, cultural, religious and economic circumstances.

Through close readings of literary texts, the study connects medieval ideas of place with wider questions about environment, identity and the representation of the world. It also considers how writing from Ireland and Britain contributed to broader European conceptions of geography. A specialist work of medieval literary and cultural history, it will be most useful to readers interested in medieval Ireland, landscape studies and the relationship between literature and place.