Foster, Idris, 1911-1984

Person

Foster, Idris, 1911-1984

• Foster, I. Ll. (Idris Llewellyn), 1911-1984
• Foster, Idris Ll. (Idris Llewellyn), 1911-1984
• Foster, Idris Llewellyn, 1911-1984

Idris Llewelyn Foster (1911-1984), Celtic scholar, was born in Carneddi, Bethesda, Caernarfonshire. After attending Bethesda County School he went to the University College of North Wales, Bangor, graduating in Latin and Welsh, and was awarded a MA in 1935. He spent time in Dublin and Bonn before being appointed Head of the Department of Celtic at the University of Liverpool in 1936. After serving in Naval Intelligence during World War Two he became Jesus Professor of Celtic at Oxford and a Fellow of Jesus College, where he stayed from 1947 until his retirement in 1978. He was noted as a scholar and teacher in the fields of Medieval Welsh and Irish. He wrote on early Welsh poetry and was pre-eminent in the study of Medieval Welsh prose, his most important research being into the tale of Culhwch ac Olwen. He wrote numerous articles and essays and co-edited the volumes Culture and Environment (1963) and Prehistoric and Early Wales (1965). His edition of Culhwch ac Olwen was published posthumously by the University of Wales Press (1992), edited by Rachel Bromwich and D. Simon Evans. He also edited the Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1954-1977. He was involved with many organisations and committees, including the Standing Commission on Museums and Galleries and Cyngor yr Iaith Gymraeg. He was Chairman of the Council and President of the Court of the National Eisteddfod, Treasurer and Vice-President of the National Library of Wales, President of the Cambrian Archaeological Association and a member of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales. He was knighted in 1977. Following his retirement he lived in Carneddi and died there in 1984.

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