Jonas of Bobbio
Life of Columbanus, Life of John of Réomé, and Life of Vedast
Translated with Commentary by Alexander O'Hara and Ian Wood
Liverpool University Press
Reviews and Awards
"The bulk of the book is a detailed and brilliant philological examination of Jonas's Life of Columbanus and Jonas's purposes, sources, and methods. Rich with examples and insights, the book is scholarship of the highest order by an author in complete command of his subject. O'Hara includes a list of all extant manuscripts of Jonas's Life of Columbanus and an extensive bibliography. The book will be valuable for those specializing in church history and medieval thought.... Highly recommended."-- CHOICE
"This very welcome new translation is also a highly sophisticated scholarly edition. It is particularly rich in bibliography, with an extensive listing of virtually all the secondary literature on Columban and his times." --Terrence Kardong, American Benedictine Review
'Whatever the final outcome of contemporary debates about Columbanus, 'Columbanian Monasticism', and the influence of the Irish in continental Europe in the early Middle Ages, this volume will provide invaluable evidence (for both sides!) for many years to come.' Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Europe
'This very welcome addition to Liverpool University Press's Translated Texts for Historians more than lives up to expectations for this esteemed book series [...] Alexander O'Hara and Ian Wood's volume will be an essential companion for its valuable introduction, detailed footnotes, half-dozen appendices, up-to-date bibliography, and, not least of all, high-quality translation of Jonas's often challenging Latin. [...] In sum, this is an important book, not only for the early medieval texts it makes available to a much wider potential readership but also for the exceptional scholarship that went into the presentation and translation of those texts.' Westley Follett, Eolas: The Journal of the American Society of Irish Medieval Studies
"The publication of an erudite, readable, and heavily annotated translation of Jonas of Bobbio's hagiographical corpus is a cause for celebration. Although one of the recognized classics of seventh-century hagiography, Jonas's Vita Columbani until now has not been available in an unabridged English translation, while the comparatively brief lives of John of Réomé and Vedast appear for the very first time in English. [...] O'Hara and Wood thus have produced not only an invaluable teaching resource, but a significant contribution to the new wave of Columbanian studies." Gregory I. Halfond, The Mediæval Journal