Thomas Owen Clancy is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

academic and historian who specializes in medieval

Celtic literature Celtic literature is the body of literature written in one of the Celtic languages, or else it may popularly refer to literature written in other languages which is based on the traditional narratives found in early Celtic literature. Backgrou ...

, especially that of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. He did his undergraduate work at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, and his Ph.D at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...

. He is currently at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, where he was appointed Professor of Celtic in 2005. In 2001 and following Professor Dumville's paper in ''Gildas: new approaches'', Clancy argued that

St. Ninian Ninian is a Christian saint, first mentioned in the 8th century as being an early missionary among the Pictish peoples of what is now Scotland. For this reason he is known as the Apostle to the Southern Picts, and there are numerous dedicatio ...

was a Northumbrian spin-off of the name ''Uinniau'' (Irish St Finnian), the Irish missionary to whom

St. Columba Columba or Colmcille; gd, Calum Cille; gv, Colum Keeilley; non, Kolban or at least partly reinterpreted as (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is tod ...

was a

disciple A disciple is a follower and student of a mentor, teacher, or other figure. It can refer to: Religion * Disciple (Christianity), a student of Jesus Christ * Twelve Apostles of Jesus, sometimes called the Twelve Disciples * Seventy disciples in t ...

, who in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

was associated with

Whithorn Whithorn ( �ʍɪthorn 'HWIT-horn'; ''Taigh Mhàrtainn'' in Gaelic), is a royal burgh in the historic county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, about south of Wigtown. The town was the location of the first recorded Christ ...

. He argued that the confusion is due to an eighth century scribal spelling error, for which the similarities of "u" and "n" in the

Insular script Insular script was a medieval script system originating from Ireland that spread to Anglo-Saxon England and continental Europe under the influence of Irish Christianity. Irish missionaries took the script to continental Europe, where they found ...

of the period were responsible.Although subsequently James E. Fraser has argued that the mistake was probably deliberate. See Clancy has also done work on the ''

Lebor Bretnach ''Lebor Bretnach'', formerly spelled ''Leabhar Breathnach'' and sometimes known as the Irish Nennius, is an 11th-century historical work in Gaelic, largely consisting of a translation of the ''Historia Brittonum''. It may have originated in Scot ...

'', arguing that it was written in Scotland. His works include: * (with Gilbert Márkus), ''Iona: the earliest poetry of a Celtic monastery'', (Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, 1995) * (ed.), ''The Triumph Tree: Scotland’s Earliest Poetry, 550–1350'', (Canongate: Edinburgh, 1998) with translations by G. Márkus, J.P. Clancy, T.O. Clancy, P. Bibire and J. Jesch * "The Scottish provenance of the ‘Nennian’ recension of Historia Brittonum and the Lebor Bretnach " in: S. Taylor (ed.), ''Picts, Kings, Saints and Chronicles: A Festschrift for Marjorie O. Anderson'' (Four Courts: Dublin, 2000) 87–107 * "A Gaelic Polemic Quatrain from the Reign of Alexander I, ca. 1113" in: ''Scottish Gaelic Studies'' vol.20 (2000) 88–96 * * "Philosopher-King : Nechtan mac Der-Ilei" in: the Scottish Historical Review, 83 (2004), 125–249.

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