James Carney (scholar)
He pioneered an approach to early Irish texts which focused on their literary merit and their affinities with the other literatures of the medieval world.The 1955 publication of James Carney's ‘Studies in Irish Literature and History’ was seen as the beginning point of the late-twentieth century ‘anti-nativist’ movement.[7] James Carney along with Eoin MacNeill put forward the theory that Ogham was first created as a cryptic alphabet or secret language designed by the Irish at the time of Roman invasion and rule.Both historians believed that the Irish designed it in response to political, military and/or religious reasons so that those with knowledge of just Latin could not read it.Carney identified the genealogies of the Kerry poet Luccreth moccu Chiara back to the ancient people of Cíarraige, he provided extensive research on his poem Conailla Medb Míchuru’ ("Medb enjoined evil contracts"), which contains the oldest surviving reference to characters and events from the Ulster Cycle and it is strongly connected to the Táin Bó Cúailnge saga.