This is the continuing of page 377 from the Encyclopaedia of the Celts Compiled and edited by Knud Mariboe , 1994. In the registered version, you will have access to the entire encyclopaedia containing 787 pages with all the great names and events placed in the 3500 entries from A to Z. So don't miss the entries of Arthur, Cuchulain and all the other heroes in the first half of this dictionary. See details for the registration terms in the attached Readme.txt file. You'll be pleasantly surprised. This shareware package, and this only, of The Encyclopaedia of the Celts may be copied and distributed freely if done so in its entirety, with all parts, including this copyright and ISBN number notice, intact. Both packages of the Encyclopaedia of the Celts are copyrighted, and none of them may be considered as Public Domain. The figures beneath each entry is referring to the the number in the BIBLIOGRAPHY which is located at the end of the entries, and may be found fast and easy through the searchtool in your editor or wordprocessor. ISBN 87-985346-1-0 GWYNN AP NUDD continued... have been the ruler of an Otherworld realm, of which Glastonbury Tor may have been a portal. # 454: He leads the Wild Hunt. In Welsh legend he is the Lord of the Dead. He abducted Creiddylad, over whom he fought with Gwythyr ap Greidawl. According to the medieval legend of Saint Collen, Gwynn inhabited an otherworld kingdom whose gateway was Glastonbury Tor. # 100: The reputed king of the underworld since the earliest of the Arthurian Romances, KILHWCH AND OLWEN, appeared in the MABINOGION. there he is listed in the Court of King Arthur, but was said also to be confined to the underworld, where it was his duty to control the imprisoned devils and prevent them from destroying mankind. He had clearly been a Celtic Pluto. As time went on he dwindled to a fairy and became king of the Plant Annwn, the subterranean fairies. Evans Wentz, in his FAIRY-FAITH IN CELTIC COUNTRIES, mentions him in his examination of King Arthur and his followers as early Celtic gods dwindled into fairies, and a more sober assessment of him is given by John Rhys in CELTIC FOLKLORE. # 24 - 100 - 156 - 272 - 346 - 439 - 454 - 562 GWYNEDD (gwin-ETH) Math, lord of Gwynedd (Wales). A medieval kingdom in North Wales, called in Latin Vendotia. The earlier kings are legendary, but about the Arthurian time are thought to have been Einion (until AD 443), Cadwallon I (AD 443-517) and the famous Maelgwyn (AD 517-47). Cadwallon is mentioned by Geoffrey as Arthur's contemporary. # 156 - 562 GWYNFYD Purity. The second of three concentric circles representing the totality of being in the Cymric cosmogony, in which life is manifested as a pure, rejoicing force triumphant over evil. See: GOD AND CYTHRAWL. # 562 GWYNHWYVAR (GWIN-hwee-var) Arthur's wife. GWYNNLYM King of Gwynllyg, he abducted Saint Gwladys whose father, Brychan, gave chase. Arthur, however, helped Gwynnlym to escape. Gwynnlym was the father of Saint Cadoc in Welsh tradition. # 156 GWYTHUR AP GREIDAWL (See also: Gwyn ap Nudd) Victor, Son of Scorcher. Combat every May-day between Gwyn ap Nudd and Gwythur ap Greidawl. He was the intended husband of Creiddylad, but she was abducted by Gwynn ap Nudd whom he fought in perpetuity. Both men aided Culhwch and Arthur in achieving thirty-nine impossible tasks set by the giant in CULHWCH AND OLWEN. # 272 - 439 - 454 - 562 GYNETH In a modern work, Sir Walter Scott's BRIDAL OF TRIERMAIN (1813), daughter of Arthur by the half-fairy Gwendolen. Because of her cruelty, Merlin had her fall into an enchanted sleep from which she was awakened by Sir Roland de Vaux. # 156 HADES (or Annwn). # 562: In a strange and mystic poem by Taliesin the Magic Cauldron of Abundance is described as part of the spoils of Hades, brought thence by Arthur, in a tragic adventure not otherwise recorded. # 730: Hades is generally spoken of as a place, but for Homer Hades was the god of the Underworld and the human subconscious, while he was also the god of the new life through cyclic rebirth. Odysseus is extremely frightened by what awaits him, for he has to go through the harsh ceremony of initiation. This is to occur on another island in the same region, the home of Hades, whose name means the 'Invisible One'. In his WHERE TROY ONCE STOOD, Iman Wilkens explain, step by step, why Hades (or the home of Hades) is placed in the northern region of what is now the Netherlands and not somewhere in Greece. During his stay on the island of Hades, Odysseus was obviously in some kind of second state of his initiation, because his environment such as the poet describes it does not exist in reality. The eternal darkness, 'never does the bright sun look down... but baneful night is spread over wretched mortals' (OD. XI, 15) describes the world of the subconscious. The three rivers are also symbolic, as their names suggest: the Periphlegethon (river of Flaming Fire), the Cocytus (river of Lamentation) and the Styx (the Terrifying One, river of irrevocable oaths by which the gods swore). The rock at the meeting place of the rivers is also imaginary for there are only dunes in the area, so that Odysseus is able to dig a big hole in the sand with his sword. Hades, in the concrete sense, is thus nothing but a hole in the sand into which Odysseus pours the blood of the sacrificial animals provided by Circe for this ritual. These animals are black, as Homer repeats, because only black animals were offered to the gods and spirits of the Underworld. # 562 - 730 HADRIAN'S WALL Hadrian's Wall is the concept of Hadrian much more than the Stanegate system is of Trajan; it is an accurate reflection of the man and his politics. Hadrian had gone through the normal career of a Roman senator, as Trajan had done. He had served with distinction as a legionary tribune, as a legionary commander, as a provincial governor. He had served Trajan faithfully, and probably had always been intended to be his successor (despite the doubts surrounding the adoption and the inevitable tensions between 'king' and 'heir-presumptive'); yet Hadrian and Trajan were far apart in thought. Hadrian intended to give the Empire permanent frontiers. His first act was to abandon the untenable conquests of Trajan in the East. Thereafter in two great journeys he visited all the armies of the Empire, inspecting them rigorously to ensure that they were kept in training and good dicipline while winning their favour by his interest in their welfare and abolition of abuses. His policy was clear and decided: peace, stable, controlled frontiers, a well-trained and diciplined army, all under the vigilant eye of an itinerant emperor. When Hadrian came to power in 117 he found trouble in Britain, and it was presumably in response to the disorders at the beginning of his reign that Hadrian decided to deal effectively with the northern frontier in Britain. His inclinations were to conserve rather than to expand, and so he chose to improve the existing frontier on the TyneSolway line rather than conquer the whole of the island of Britain or move forward to the much shorter Forth-Clyde isthmus. Hadrian visited Britain himself in 122 and, among other matters, concerned himself with the problem of the frontier. The other frontiers of the empire were usually formed by natural boundaries: a sea, or a great river such as the Rhine or Danube, or a desert as in North Africa. In North Britain there was no such clear demarcation line and therefore Hadrian decided to create an effective frontier by the construction of a wall from sea to sea, a wall which would, as his biographer put it, divide the Roman from the barbarians. The only really effective method of control was a running barrier, a wall, which would allow the army to supervise small-scale movement of people, prevent petty raiding, hinder large-scale attacks and so encourage the peaceful exploitation of the province right up to the frontier line. The purpose of the barrier was to control movement, not to prevent it, as the liberal provision of gateways demonstrates. Civilians, whether merchants, local farmers moving their cattle and sheep or simply local people visiting relatives on the other side of the Wall, would be allowed through the gateways, though only presumably when they had satisfied the guards of their peaceable intentions and on payment of customs dues. The frontier could only be crossed, unarmed, under guard and after paying a fee. The Wall was an artificial frontier, the finest Roman artificial frontier in its elaboration and in the impressiveness of its remains. Its history and developement mirrored that of the Roman frontier system in general, and though it shared the weaknesses of that system it had some success, for the barbarians from the north never made a lasting settlement within its range. - Many books have been written about Hadrian's Wall, but there are still much to know, and most pressing of all, perhaps, is the history of the people of the land, who lived with the Wall in their midst, who seemed little-affected by Rome materially but nevertheless enjoyed or endured the Pax Romana, with peace, communications, and markets as never before. # 94 HAFGAN Rival of Arawn; mortally wounded by Pwyll. The otherworldly opponent of arawn whom he was destined to fight every year. Arawn obligated Pwyll to fight his enemy for him, bidding him give but one blow since the second would revive him. Hafgan resembles closely the Green Knight and Gromer Somer Joure, the two opponents in Gawain's story. # 272 - 439 - 454 - 562 - 672 HAG # 701: The Celtic chooser of kings was the Hag of Scone, whose spirit was embodied in the famous Stone of Scone, which still rests under the coronation throne in Westminster Abbey. Christian tradition insists that she was turned to stone by a missionary's curse. But there are still indications of their former spiritual authorithy. In sixteenth-century English literature, 'hag' is a synonym for 'fairy.' The New Year festival used to be a 'Hag's Moon' (Hagmena), although clergymen insisted that the ceremony meant the devil was in the house. Like the word CRONE, hag once connoted an elder woman with the spirit of the Goddess within her, just after menopause her 'wise blood' remained within her body and brought her great wisdom. # 100: There were thought to be supernatural hags, such as those who haunted the Fen country in Mrs Balfour's story of the DEAD MOON; and giant-like hags which seem to have been the last shadows of a primitive nature goddess, the Cailleach Bheur, Black Annis or Gentle Annie. # 100 - 701 p 258 HAGS OF GLOUCESTER Nine witches who lived with their mother and father. One of them trained Peredur (Perceval) in the use of arms. They had slain Peredur's cousin whose head had been seen by Peredur on a platter. Peredur and Arthur's men destroyed them. See also: GLOUCESTER. # 156 - 346 HALLOWEEN The festival HALLOWEEN used to be the Feast of the Dead (Celtic Samhain). It was perhaps the most important of the cross-quarter days, when the 'crack between the worlds' could open up and let the spirits pass through. Therefore the ghosts of dead ancestors could revisit the earth, join their descendants at the feast, and give necromantic interviews and omens. In Ireland, all the sidh or fairy hills (grave mounds) were said to open up for the occasion. Folks insisted that it was impossible to keep the fairies underground on Halloween. Since these 'fairies' were simply pagan spirits, the church naturally insisted that demons were abroad on Halloween, summoned by witches, which was the usual term for the ancient pagan priestesses whose business it was to communicate with the dead. # 701 p 180 HALLOWS The kingly regalia or emblems of empowerment wielded by the king or hero, often the object of quest. The Hallows of Ireland were the Stone of Fal on which kings were inaugurated; the spear of Lugh, which gave victory in battle; the sword of Nuadu, which none could escape unwounded and the cauldron of Dagda from which no one came unsatisfied. These were brought from the Otherworld by the Tuatha de Danaan. The Thirteen Treasures of Britain represent a parallel tradition. The concept of the Hallows has been inherited by later traditions. Within folklore they are the pole of combat, the sword of light, the cauldron of cure and the stone of destiny. Magical tradition retains the four representative emblems of the elements: sword, spear, cup and pentacle. These emblems appear on orthodox tarot packs as the four suits. In Arthurian tradition they are: the Sword which is broken, the spear of the Dolorous Blow, the Dish on which the head of the withdrawn Grail guardian is processed, and the Grail itself as a sacramental vessel or cauldron of plenty. The modern hallows exist as the regalia of the British monarch - the Sceptre or Rod of Equity and Mercy, the Swords of State, the Ampulla of Holy Oil and the Crown itself - replacing the ancient crowning stone as the primal symbol of Sovereignty. These items were guarded inviolate in the Tower of London, and have inherited an early sovereignty myth: that as long as the ravens never leave the Tower, Britain shall never be invaded. The Tower was once called the White Mount and was the place where Bran's head were buried, to be a similar protection against invasion. It is his ravens which remain. # 56 - 104 - 439 - 453 - 454 - 461 HAMILCAR Defeat of Hamilcar at Himera, by Gelon. # 562 HAMITIC, THE Preserved in syntax of Celtic languages. # 562 HANDFASTING Handfasting was the old pagan ritual of marriage in the British Isles; it remained legal in Scotland all the way up to 1939, commonlaw marriages were quite acceptably validated by the couple themselves simply joining their hands in the presence of witnesses. After Lord Harwicke's Act for England from 1753 (marriage valid only when performed by a clergyman) the town, Gretna Green became a mecca for eloping couples who fled to handfast themselves in legal wedlock. # 701 p 180 HARE # 701: Eostre's hare was the shape that Celts imaged on the surface of the full moon, derived from old Indo-European sources. Queen Boadicia's banners displayed the Moon-hare as a sacred sign. Both hares and cats were designated the familiars of witches in Scotland, where the word Malkin or Mawkin was applied to both. # 161: Caesar said that hares were important to the early Britons and as such were not eaten. Boadicia released one at the start of each campaign; her prophetic hare was kept and fed. The lunar significance of the animal is prominent in the mythology of northern Europe. For the Celts it was an attribute of all moon deities and hunter gods, who were often depicted holding a hare. # 454: The hare has long been associated with the power of transformation, and its strange movements were utilized in ancient modes of divination. This is recorded by Tacitus in his reports about the Icenian revolt by Boudicca (Boadicia). # 161 - 454 - 701 p 377 HARLEQUIN See: HELLEKIN. HART FELL A mountain in Scotland which N. Tolstoy argues was the dwelling place of Merlin. # 156 - 673 HAVELIN See: HOEL. HAVELOCK THE DANE He was the true heir to the Danish throne but was ordered to be killed by Godard, the Usurper. He was taken by a fisherman, Grim, to England where Havelock became a byword and he was forcibly married to Princess Goldborough, the heir of King Athelstan, whose regent wished to humiliate her. Havelock came to Grimsby with his wife and she discerned the light shining from his mouth and the cross on his shoulder, and knew him to be of royal blood. He was eventually recognized and made king of England and Denmark. # 454 - 525 HAWK In medieval times, the hawk, from kestral to eagle, was flown for sport. Celtic tradition records that the oldest animal was the Hawk of Achill, who tricked the eagle into giving up her warm nest in search of the answer to the question 'who can remember the coldest winter night?'. Although the salmon is normally considered to be the oldest and wisest of beasts, the hawk was the oldest animal in this ancient oral tradition. Gawain's ancient British name was Gwalchmai or Hawk of May. # 439 - 454 HAWTHORN In Celtic tradition the tree was sacred to Olwen. It also represented fertility in the druidic alphabet, where it formed the letter H, Uath. - The Goddess as death-bringing Crone was connected with the hawthorn in the legend of CuChulain. After pronouncing her death curse on the hero, in her carrion crow shape, she settled in a hawthorn thicket on the plain of Muirthemne. Therefore, the place is known as 'the hawthorn of the Crow.' # 701 p 465 HAZEL An important food tree, producing the once-prized hazelnuts (filberts), the hazel was sacred to witches and to the Celtic sea god, Manannan. It was considered symbolic of female wisdom. Bards used to claim that their knowledge of rhymes, epic tales, secrets of magic, and poetic inspiration came from eating 'sacred hazelnuts' that dropped from the tree of wisdom symbolically, the Goddess as instructress. The tree's alphabetical letter was C (coll). Its wood came to be known as 'witch hazel' because it was the wood of choice for witches' divining rods. # 701 p 465 HEAD Mummified heads were speaking oracles in numerous Celtic tales. Bran, Lomna, Finn Mac Cumhal, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight were all heroes of the oracular head cult. Celts often made fetishes not only of real heads, but also of heads carved from stone or wood for the same purposes. The ceremoni of knighthoodtouching with a sword first one shoulder, then the other - was another remnant of earlier beheadings that made heroes or gods out of ordinary men. One of the old Celtic gods of the oracular head metamorphosed into a Christian saint named Alban, originally Albion, 'White Moon,' an archaic name for Britain. The Christianized story said that Saint Alban was beheaded in the third century AD, but this story was written three hundred years later by the monk Gildas, a great inventor of mythical sainthoods, all of them replete with marvels and miracles. Saint Alban was depicted with a fountain springing from between his feet, a common pagan symbol of esoteric knowledge. In Irish folklore the oracular spirit took the form of the Dulachan, a ghost carrying its own head, riding horseback (a Celtic symbol of apotheosis). This Irish spirit was the probable origin of Sleepy Hollow's famous headless horseman. - As among the ancient Hebrews and Celts, the mummified head was respectfully treated as a magical oracular object. The general idea was still extant in England during the fourteenth century AD, when a Southwark sorcerer was found in possession of a corpse's head, which he used for divination. # 701 p 315 ff HEATHER ALE Heather ale. Folklore had it that the recipe for this ancient drink disappeared in 1411 when the English killed the last Celtic chieftain for refusing to divulge the secret of this legendary elixir. The beleaguered Celt leaped off a sea cliff rather than allow the hated foreigners to taste the Brew of Kings. # 383 HEBRON An alternative name for Bron. It may have been invented by Robert de Boron, to make Bron sound more Hebrew, as Hebron was a place name in Palestine. # 156 HECATAEUS OF ABDERA Musical services of Celts (probably of Great Britain) described by Hecataeus of Abdera. # 562 HECATAEUS OF MILETUS First extant mention of 'Celts' by Hecataeus of Miletus. # 562 HECTOR In Greek legend, a Trojan hero, son of Priam, defender of his city against the besieging Greeks in the Trojan War. According to the text of the ROMAN DE TROIE (an Old French romance), Morgan Le Fay loved him but, spurned by him, turned against him. See also: TROY. # 156 HEDGEHOG Irish lore associated the hedgehog with witches who could take its form to suck cows dry. - The hedgehog is called the Urcheon in Heraldry, and occurs in a number of coats of arms. # 161 HEFAIDD HEN Father of Rhiannon. An underworld king who sponsored his daughter's betrothal to Gwawl. # 272 - 439 - 454 HEILYN Son of Gwyn. # 562 HEININ Bard at Arthur's court. # 562 HELAIN THE WHITE Son of Bors and the daughter of King Brandegoris. He eventually became Emperor of Constantinople. # 156 HELAIUS Nephew of Joseph of Arimathea and ancestor of Arthur on the maternal side, according to the pedigree of John of Glastonbury. # 156 - 344 HELIADES One of the allies of Mordred to whom Mordred awarded the realm of Scotland. # 156 HELIE A damsel in service to Blonde Esmere, she brought Guinglain to rescue her mistress. At first she despised Guinglain but, as time went on, her contempt turned to respect for his prowess. # 156 HELLANICUS OF LESBOS Hellanicus of Lesbos, an historian of the fifth century BC, describes the Celts as practising justice and righteousness. # 562 HELLAWES Enchantress. Lady of the Castle Nigramours (Necromancy) who attempted to win the love of Lancelot, and failing to do so, died. # 454 HELLEKIN In LI JUS ADAN (thirteenth century) a fairy king who became Morgan Le Fay's lover. He was an established figure in Germanic lore, first mentioned by Ordericus Vitalis in his ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY (eleventh-twelfth century) in which he is described as a giant with a club leading the Wild Hunt. In later times in Italy, Hellekin became the Harlequin (Arlecchino) of the Commedia dell'Arte. Harlequin actually appears in the Arthurian pantomime MERLIN (1734) by Lewis Theobald. # 156 HELMWIND A sort of cyclone which occurs in the Lake District. In Cumbrian tradition it is associated with Arthur. # 156 - 315 HELYAS In the line of the Grail Kings he was fourth in line from Celidoine, King of Scotland, from whose line in turn came both Lancelot and Galahad. # 454 HENGIST Traditionally, the leader of the Saxon invaders of Britain who took service as a mercenary with Vortigern. He brought with him his brother, Horsa. Vortigern married Ronwen, Hengist's daughter and Hengist became King of Kent. Driven out of Britain by Vortimer. When the latter died he returned and again took service under his son-inlaw. After Vortigern's death he was defeated by Ambrosius's ally, Count Eldol. This much is Geoffrey's account. The ANGLO-SAXON CRONICLE, (a medieval list of Saxons in Britain), places his death in AD 488, but does not say how he died. Some of the earlier history may be gleaned from the Anglo-Saxon poems BEOWULF and THE FIGHT AT FINN'S BURG. These mention a Hengist who may be identical with the invader. He was a follower of Hnaef, King of the Danes. When they were visiting Hnaef's brother-in-law, Finn Focwalding, King of the Frisians, a fight occured and Hnaef was killed. Hengist became the leader of Hnaef's followers and entered the service of Finn, but later killed him. Hengist is credited with sons named Hartwaker (who was thought to have succeeded him as ruler of German Saxony and to have reigned from AD 448-80)(# 17), Octa, Aesc and Ebissa, and daughters called Ronwen and Sardoine. He has generally, if not universally, been regarded as a historical character. # 17 - 156 - 484 HENRY THE COURTLY This character was the leader of the force sent to succour Jerusalem in the PROPHCIES DE MERLIN. # 156 HENWEN In Welsh tradition, a pig whose offspring were going to cause trouble for Britain. When gravid, she was pursued by Arthur and she gave birth to various progeny. She eventually dived into the sea at Penryn Awstin. See: CATH PALUG. # 104 - 156 HEREWARD THE WAKE He was said to have fought a bear and a Cornish giant and to have won a magical suit of armour. His resistance against William the Conquerer was mainly carried out in the Fenlands, where Hereward holed up with other disaffected men. His daring raids on Norman property and prowess in ambush warfare won him renown. His death was unconfirmed and it is possible that raids on the Normans persisted in his name long after his death. In the annals of British mythology, Ely is remembered as the centre of the rebellion of 'Hereward the Wake', in whose day Ely was an island set in the midst of boggy and dangerous fenland marches. Hereward is mentioned in the Doomesday book as a Lincolnshire landholder, but in fact little is known about him. What history lacks, mythology has supplied and embellished into a vast saga of derring-do. It seems that Hereward did in fact take part in a Danish raid upon Peterborough in 1070, resulting in the destruction of what had been the most wealthy of all British abbeys. Shortly afterwards he appears to have formed the centre of a rebellion against the Norman overlords by taking refuge in the swamp-surrounded Ely. So redoubtable was the courage of Hereward and his supporters, and so well-protected were they by marches and fenlands, that the Normans were unable to dislodge them, even when the wicked Ivo Taillebois called into their service the powers of an old witch (later called 'Pythonissa') who was hired to cast spells on the island defenders even as the Normans attacked. Hereward and his followers were eventually driven from Ely as a result of treason, and nothing more is heard of him from a historical standpoint. However, legend tells of his later exploits in which the supernatural plays an important part. On one occasion, while hiding in the vast forests which then stretched through Lincolnshire, he and his party found themselves completely lost. However, a huge white wolf appeared, and ran ahead of them to lead them through the labyrinth of dark trees; even as they followed, their lances began to glow like candles to light their way. The story is in some ways symbolic, for in his day the white wolf was the symbol of St Edmund, who was then the patron saint of the English and sought to guide those who fought on his behalf. Hereward is often credited as being owner of the Manor of Bourne, but this is not recorded to his name, while other manors (such as Witham-on-the-Hill) are. The mystery of the title 'the Wake' seems to be derived from an attempt, made centuries after his death, to link Hereward with a Norman family (tradition insists that he was finally reconciled to William the Conquerer), for the Norman family of Wake was established in England immediately after the Conquest. We see, then, that the title has nothing to do with the idea of Hereward being 'especially watchful or awake'; indeed, he was not called Hereward the Wake until about three hundred years after his death. As the historian Charles Kightly records, the AngloSaxon word 'wak' means 'timid', and this is almost certainly the origin of the modern 'weak' - a quite inappropriate title for such a hero as Hereward. In the legendary account of his life, Hereward died fighting manfully against impossible odds, the last Englishman to continue organized rebellion against the Norman invaders. He was reputed to have been buried in Crowland Abbey church. See also: ELY. # 454 - 525 - 702 HERLA, KING A legendary British king who, according to Walter Map, the twelfthcentury author of DE NUGIS CURIALIUM, entered the Underworld kingdom of a dwarfish king. It was placed locally on the Welsh Border, but Map's pleasing but rather diffuse account was slightly shortened by E. M. Leather in THE FOLK LORE OF HEREFORDSHIRE: Herla was the king of the Ancient Britons, and was challenged by another king, a pigmy no bigger than an ape, and of less than half human stature. He rode on a large goat; indeed, he himself might have been compared to Pan. He had a large head, glowing face, and a long red beard, while his breast was conspicuous for a spotted fawnskin which he wore on it. The lower part of his body was rough and hairy, and his legs ended in goats' hooves. He had a private interview with Herla, in which he spoke as follows: 'I am lord over many kings and princes, over a vast and innumerable people. I am their willing messenger to you, although to you I am unknown. Yet I rejoice in the fame which has raised you above other kings, for you are of all men the best, and also closely connected with me both by position and blood. You are worthy of the honour of adorning your marriage with my presence as guest, for the King of France has given you his daughter, and indeed the embassy is arriving here to-day, although all the arrangements have been made without your knowledge. Let there be an everlasting treaty between us, because, first of all, I was present at your marriage, and because you will be at mine on the same day a year hence.' After this speech he turned away, and moving faster even than a tiger, disappeared from his sight. The king, therefore, returned from that spot full of surprise, received the embassy, and assented to their proposals. When the marriage was celebrated, and the king was seated at the customary feast, suddenly, before the first course was served, the pigmy arrived, accompanied by so large a company of dwarfs like himself, that after they had filled all the seats at table, there were more dwarfs outside in tents which they had in a moment put up, than at the feast inside. Instantly there darted out from these tents servants with vessels made out of precious stones, all new and wondrously wrought. They filled the palace and the tents with furniture either made of gold or precious stones. Neither wine nor meat was served in any wooden or silver vessel. The servants were found wherever they were wanted, and served nothing out of the king's or anyone else's stores, but only from their own, which were of quality beyond anyone's thoughts. None of Herla's provisions were used, and his servants sat idle. The pigmies won universal praise. Their raiment was gorgeous; for lamps they provided blazing gems; they were never far off when they were wanted, and never too close when not desired. Their king then thus adressed Herla: 'Most excellent King, God be my witness that I am here in accordance with our agreement, at your marriage. If there is anything more that you desire, I will supply it gladly, on the condition that when I demand a return, you will not deny it.' Hereupon, without waiting for an answer he returned to his tent and departed at about cockcrow with his attendants. After a year he suddenly came to Herla and demanded the observance of the treaty. Herla consented, and followed at the dwarf's bidding. They entered a cave in a very high cliff, and after some journeying throgh the dark, which appeared to be lighted, not by the sun or moon, but by numerous torches, they arrived at the dwarf's palace, a splendid mansion. There the marriage was celebrated, and the obligations to the dwarf fittingly paid, after which Herla returned home loaded with gifts and offerings, horses, dogs, hawks, and all things pertaining to hunting and falconry. The pigmy guided them down the dark passage, and there gave them a (small) bloodhound (canem sanguinarium) small enough to be carried (portabilem), then, strictly forbidding any of the king's retinue to dismount until the dog leapt from his carrier, he bade them farewell and returned home. Soon after, Herla reached the light of day, and having got back to his kingdom again, called an old shepherd and asked news of his queen, using her name. The shepherd looked at him astonished, and said, 'Lord, I scarcely understand your language, for I am a Saxon, and you a Briton. I have never heard the name of that queen, except in the case of one who they say was Herla's wife, queen of the earliest Britons. He is fabled to have disappeared with a dwarf at this cliff, and never to have been seen on earth again. The Saxons have now held this realm for two hundred years, having driven out the original inhabitants.' The king was astonished, for he imagined that he had been away for three days only. Some of his companions descended from horseback before the dog was released, forgetful of the dwarf's commands, and instantly crumbled to dust. The king then, forbade any more of his companions to descend until the dog leapt down. The dog has not leapt down yet. One legend states that Herla for ever wanders on mad journeys with his train, without home or rest. Many people, as they tell us, often see his company. However, they say that at last, in the first year of our (present) King Henry (the second) it ceased to visit our country in pomp as before. On that occasion, many of the Welsh (Wallenses) saw it whelmed in the Wye, the Herefordshire river (Waiam Herefordiae flumen). From that hour, that weird roaming ceased, as though Herla had transferred his wandering (Errores, a pun containing the idea of error) to us, and had gained rest for himself. (A hit at contemporary politics). # 100 - 390 - 424 HERMONDINE A daughter of the King of Scotland, she married Meliador, one of Arthur's followers, after he had slayed another suitor called Camal. # 156 HERNE The antler-horned spirit who haunts Windsor Great Park. Like Gwynn ap Nudd and Arawn, he is said to lead the Wild Hunt and be a conductor of the dead to the otherworldly regions. # 454 - 486 HERODOTUS Herodotus, an historian from about the beginning of the first century AD, speaks of the Celts as dwelling 'beyond the pillars of Hercules' - and also of the Danube as rising in their country. # 562 HEROES, THE BIRTH OF Features of the birth of the heroes are specified for some of them. You will find them throughout this encyclopaedia under the name of the hero concerned. Some of the most striking features in these tales may be tabulated as follows: 1. The advent and future greatness of the hero have been foretold. 2. His advent is destined to bring death or misfortune to a presiding power, his grandfather, his uncle, or his mother. 3. Certain difficulties have to be overcome before his future mother can fulfil her destiny: (a) She is closely guarded or confined in a fortress. Or (b) She has to be induced to leave home. Or (c) Her own resistance has to be overcome by force or by cunning. Or (d) She is married, but barren. 4. There is a mystery about the hero's begetting: (a) Whether he has an earthly father or not, he is usually begotten by another - a king, a man from another race, or a supernatural being. (b) Others say he is born of incest. (c) Others again attribute his conception to a creature swallowed by his mother in water. 5. There is an auspicious time for his birth, which is heralded by signs in the natural world; his birth is delayed until the appropriate time. 6. Certain animals are associated with his birth and upbringing. 7. He is lost at birth, or an attempt is made to kill him; he is thrown into the sea or borne away in a boat. 8. At birth and in his youth he displays qualities that reveal his extraordinary nature. 9. Difficulty is sometimes experienced in securing a name for him, or he is given a name in peculiar circumstances. # 548 HEROIC FAIRIES The fairy knights and ladies that occur in the Celtic legends, are of human or more than human size and of shining beauty. The Lady Tryamour who bestowed her favours in Sir Launfal and the elfin woman who was captured by Wild Edric from her band of dancing sisters are examples of the fairy damsels; Young Tamlane, though a transformed human, is to all appearance a typical fairy knight, though he had an ulterior motive for his courtship. The truest type of all are the Daoine Sidhe of Ireland, dwindled gods, and the Fingalian knights, who spend their time in the aristocratic pursuits of hunting, fighting, riding in procession, as well as the dancing and music that are belowed by all fairies. The size of the fairies is variable, and even in the medieval times there are both tiny and rustic fairies as well as hideous and monstrous ones, just as in modern times some are still stately, but in terms of fashions in fairy-lore one tends to think of the heroic fairies as characteristic of medieval times. # 100 HERON The Heron shares the attributes and mythos of the crane in many respects. # 454 - 563 HEROWDES An emperor of Rome who went blind and consulted Merlin who told him to slay the Seven Sages who were the imperial counsellors. When he did so, he was cured. # 156 - 238 HERZELOYDE In Wolfram, the mother of Perceval. She first married Castris from whom she inherited Wales and Northgalis. She subsequently married Gahmuret, Perceval's father. # 156 - 748 HESPERIDES The paradisiac place of the gods from the classical western world, equivalent of Blessed Islands and Avalon, the apple-gardens of growth and fertility. In Irish romance Mador's father is the king of the Hesperides. In Greek mythology the Hesperides were the daughters of Atlas and their gardens were situated on Mount Atlas or on islands. # 156 - 406 HEVYDD HEN Father of Rhiannon. # 562 HIGH KINGS OF IRELAND Stone of Destiny used for crowning of High Kings of Ireland. See: STONE OF DESTINY. # 562 HILDA, SAINT (614-80) Queen of Mercia, which later founded a double monastery and hosted the Synod of Whitby, at which Celtic and Roman Christians met to decide on liturgical matters. Her lover was pagan and she herself was Christian although she favoured the Celtic faction. She had organized her monastery after the Rule of Columbanus, but accepted the decision to universalize British practices and align them with Rome. She lived all her life with her faith, at the same time strong but also constantly doubting on what to believe about herself and the outer world she was living in. Caedmon became a monk under her influence, and he acclaimed her the mother of the poor through her wisdom and generosity. She is said to have rid Eskdale of serpents by driving them off the edge of a cliff and cutting their heads off with a whip. The ammonites whose fossilized remains are to found at Whitby, are said to be the same serpents. Her feast-day is 17 November. # 454 - 692 HILL OF AIN Name of goddess Ain clings to Hill of Ain. Ain appears on a St. John's Night, among girls on Hill of Ain. # 562 HILL OF ALLEN Finn's hounds, while returning to Hill of Allen, recognise Sadbh; On his return from the Land of Youth, Oisin made at once for the Hill of Allen, where the dun of Finn was wont to be, but marvelled, as he traversed the woods, that he met no sign of The Fian hunters and at the small size of the folk whom he saw tilling the ground. (See: OISIN). Return of the Fianna to Hill of Allen, to celebrate the wedding feast of Finn and Tasha; Finn bears Grania as his bride to Hill of Allen. # 562 HILL OF KESHCORRAN Finn bewitched by hags on Hill of Keshcorran. # 562 HILL OF MACHA The name of Armagh, or Ard Macha, the Hill of Macha, enshrines the memory of the Fairy Bride and her heroic sacrifice, while the grassy rampart can still be traced where the war-goddess in the earlier legend drew its outline with the pin of her brooch when she founded the royal fortress of Ulster. # 562 HIMILCO A Carthaginian explorer, made a voyage round the west coast of Europe and explored as far as Britain and Ireland about 500 BC. An account of his expedition, giving details of the coast and the tribes who dwelt on it, written probably by himself, was known to the ancients but is now lost. Eratosthenes (c.275-195 BC), librarian to Ptolemy III, king of Egypt, translated this account into Greek, but this work too is lost. Rufus Festus Avienus, who was proconsul for Africa AD 366, and an elegant writer of Latin, had a copy of the Greek version of Himilco's work and amused himself by rendering it into Latin verse. Of this Latin translation, written 850 years after the events it narrates, we have a fragment of some 4015 lines. These have been carefully published by Alfred Holder, under the title of RUFL FESTI ARIENI CARMINA. It should be noted that at the time of Himilco's expedition the Celts had not conquered Spain. Polybius and, following him, Strabo blame Eratosthenes for stating that the Celts held all Spain except Cadiz, which belonged to the Carthaginians, and then omitting the Celts from his list of peoples occupying the west coast of Spain. There is, however, no contradiction here. Eratosthenes, writing c.240 BC, correctly states that the Celts held dominion over the greater portion of the Iberian peninsula, but when copying the account of the voyage of Himilco, which relates to 500 BC, he does not find the Celts among the tribes occupying Iberia. We must conclude they had not yet conquered the peninsula. We know, however, from Herodotus that about fifty years after the expedition of Himilco the Celts had conquered the Iberian peninsula. The conquest therefore took place in the fifth century BC. We shall see they were subsequently conquered by the Carthaginians. # 455 p 121 ff: W. Dinan: Monumenta Historica Celtica HIND Hind is another word for a doe, specifically a doe of the red deer family, which also provided images of the stag horns worn by the Horned Gods of northern Europe. As the divine consort of such a god, the Goddess naturally appeared in the form of a hind. The Celtic woodland Goddess Flidhais habitually took this form. # 701 p 377 HIND OF THE FAIRIES In Erasmo de Valvasone's LA CACCIA, an animal which led Arthur into a cave, then out on the far side of the mountain, to Morgan's palace. He was shown the heavens and the earth to give him guidance for the future. # 156 - 238 HISTORIA REGUM BRITANIAE See: GEOFFREY OF MONMOUTH. In Geoffrey's narrative there is nothing about the Holy Grail, or Lancelot, or the Round Table, and except for the allusion to Avalon the mystical element of the Arthurian saga is absent. Like Nennius, Geoffrey finds a fantastic classical origin for the Britons. His socalled history is perfectly worthless as a record of fact, but it has proved a veritable mine for poets and chroniclers, and has the distinction of having furnished the subject for the earliest English tragic drama, 'Gorborduc', as well as for Shakespeare's 'King Lear'; and its author may be described as the father - at least on its quasihistorical side - of the Arthurian saga, which he made up partly out of records of the historical DUX BELLORUM of Nennius and partly out of poetical amplifications of these records made in Brittany by the descendants of exiles from Wales, many of whom fled there at the very time when Arthur was waging his wars against the Saxons. Geoffrey's book had a wonderful succes. It was speedily translated into French by Wace, who wrote 'Li Romans de Brut' about 1155, with added details from Breton sources, and translated from Wace's French into AngloSaxon by Layamon, who thusanticipated Malory's adaptations of late French prose romances. Except a few scholars who protested unavailingly, no one doubted its strict historical truth, and it had the important effect of giving to early British history a new dignity in the estimation of Continental and of English princes. To sit upon the throne of Arthur was regarded as in itself a glory by Plantagenet monarchs who had not a trace of Arthur's or of any British blood. # 562 HJORTSPRING FIND, THE In an English Summary (#357), the Danish scholar Flemming Kaul suggest that during the fourth century BC, a great sacrifice was made to the gods in a little bog at Hjortspring on the small island of Als in south Jutland. A foreign army had tried to force its way into the island, but had been repulsed by the local inhabitants. As thanks for the victory, the weapons of the conquered army were sacrificed - more than 50 shields, 169 spears, 11 swords and several coats of chainmail. Also one of the boats which had brought the army to the island was sacrificed. This boat, a swift, 19 metre long war-canoe is the North's oldest plank-built vessel and bears witness to a shipbuilding skill of remarkably high standard in our early Iron Age. It is quite the largest single such find, but, even though it is the oldest, one must nevertheless see it as probable that it was imported from the Celts - who lived in Central Europe at that time. # 357 p 89 ff HOBGOBLIN # 701: The word Goblin means a spirit, probably derived from the same root as Kobold, a spirit of caves and mountains. A hobgoblin, however, was a spirit of the hearth (hob), a domestic ghost or ancestral guardian of the family fireside. Because of the primitive practice of burying family dead under the treshold or under the central firepit, their ghosts were long supposed to inhabit and protect the house - even when later customs made burial places elsewhere. # 100: Used by the Puritans and in later times for wicked goblin spirits, as in Bunyan's 'Hobgoblin nor foul fiend', but its more correct use is for the friendly spirits of the Brownie type. In a MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM a fairy says to Shakespeare's Puck: 'Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck, You do their work, and they shall have good luck: Are you not he?' and obviously Puck would not wish to be called a hobgoblin if that was an ill-omened word. 'Hob' and 'Lob' are words meaning tha same kind of creature as the Hobgoblin. They are, on the hole, goodhumoured and ready to be helpful, but fond of practical joking, and like most of the fairies rather nasty people to annoy. # 100 - 593 - 701 p 259 HOEL 1. King of Brittany who was brought to Britain by Arthur to help him against the Saxons. He became ill during the campaign and was left at Alclud (Dumbarton) where he was besieged by the Scots and Picts. Arthur came to relieve him. He is presumably identical with the King Hoel of Brittany who was Tristan's father-in-law. Geoffrey calls him Arthur's nephew but L. Thorpe (Arthurian scolar) argues that this is a mistake and we must read 'cousin' for 'nephew', his mother really being the sister of Ambrosius rather than Arthur. Geoffrey does not name his mother but calls his father Boudicius. The traditional dates of the Breton kings say Hoel reigned from c. AD 510-45. The BIRTH OF ARTHUR, a Welsh work of the fourteenth century, makes him a son of Arthur's sister Gwyar by Ymer Llydaw. The PROSE TRISTAN gives him a son named Runalen. He is more well known as the father of Iseult of the White Hands and her brother Kahedrin. See: GIANT OF ST MICHAEL'S MOUNT. 2. In ARTHOUR AND MERLIN, Igraine's first husband is called Hoel rather than Gorlois and their daughters are named as Blasine, Belisent and Hermisent. The VULGATE MERLIN Continuation also mentions this Hoel, giving him the title Duke of Tintagel. See: TWENTY-FOUR KNIGHTS. # 156 - 243 - 256 - 418 - 481 HOGG, JAMES (1770-1835), called 'the Ettrick Shepherd'. A selftaught man who had less than a year's schooling in his life and had been set to work at the age of seven. He began to make verses and trained himself to write them. He submitted some poems to Sir Walter Scott, who became his steady friend and employed him to collect oral material. His mother contributed many ballads to Scott's collection, but Hogg preferred to invent his own. He wrote several prose collections of stories. He knew his background extremely well, but unfortunately preferred to decorate his narrative, not believing that a simple, stragthforward style could be acceptable to an educated audience. Among his best-known prose works is THE BROWNIE OF BODSBECK; his greatest poem, 'Kilmeny', is on the well-known theme of a visit to fairyland, or the Otherworld, and the return after a supernatural passage of time, seven years in this tale. Fairyland in this poem is the land of the dead, and - unusuallyof the blessed dead. Kilmeny returns with a supernatural message to deliver, and dies when she has delivered it. The poem has the rhythm and flow of a ballad, and one verse is reminiscent of an early religious poem, 'The Faucon Hath Borne My Make Away': In yon green-wood there is a waik, And in that waik there is a wene, And in that wene there is a maike, That neither has flesh, blood, nor bane, And down in yon green-wood he walks his lane. The poem is full of overtones and undertones, and so is the curiously touching poem, 'The Mermaid', which turns on the difference between human time and fairy time, the long-lived, soulless mermaid and the short-lived mortal with an immortal soul. The mermaid mourns her human lover whose grave has been green a hundred years, and feels the Judgement Day drawing slowly nearer, when she will perish with the earth and never know a union with her resurrected true love. It is a subtle conception, simply and movingly expressed. # 100 - 314 HOLGER See: OGIER. HOLY WATER One of the chief protections against fairy thefts, spells or illwishing. See also: PROTECTION AGAINST FAIRIES. # 100 HOMER, PROPER NAMES IN Referring to his book 'Where Troy Once Stood', the author Iman Wilkens' says: On rereading the ILIAD and ODYSSEY and situating the action in western Europe, one may still have difficulty in believing that the proper names are of western European origin because 'they look so Greek' and because they are no longer given to people in this part of the world. The first problem is in many cases simply a question of spelling, while the latter is due to the fact that names generally do not remain popular for ever. Few people these days have medieval first names, although the Middle Ages are as yesterday compared to the Bronze Age. However, on closer scrutiny, it appears that many Homeric first names (surnames were not yet in use) have survived, with relatively little sound change, though the spelling looks quite different. I can mention the example of Phorcys, chief of Regiment N from Phrygia (Scotland), whose name is perpetuated in the Scottish family name Forsyth(e). In England, the Trojan name Phorbas became the surname Forbes, while in the Netherlands Altes survived unchanged to become a surname. In the United Kingdom, Marpessa is still occasionally given as first name; Peleus became Pl in Iberia and Pelle in Scandinavia; Neleus and Cloris became Nelis and Kloris in the Netherlands, surviving as somewhat old-fashioned first names in the countryside; Alastor is now Alistair in England; Rhene is now Rene in France and many other countries, while Theseus and Calais became place-names in France: Thse and Calais. The reader will discover still other examples for himself on rereading Homer. It is curious that Homer calls the girls Briseis and Chryseis after their fathers, Brises and Chryses. According to other ancient sources, their real names were Hippodamia and Astynome respectively. The former was said to be tall and dark, and the latter small and fair. # 730 HONOREE A sword unsheathed by Biausdous, the son of Gawain. This act is enabled him to wed Biautei. # 156 HONORIUS Roman Emperor of the West in the fifth century. See: CONSTANTINE. # 156 HOOPER OF SENNEN COVE, THE Bottrell, in the TRADITIONS AND HEARTHSIDE STORIES OF WEST CORNWALL, VOL. II, tells of a beneficent spirit in Sennen Cove called the Hooper who gave warning of coming storms, rather like the Manx Dooinney-Oie. It appeared like a curtain of cloud across the bay, with a dull light in the middle of it. Strange hooting sounds came from it. It always appeared before serious storms, and people who attempted to set out to sea felt an unaccountable resistance. Once a fisherman and his sons defied the warning and sailed out. The threatened storm arose, their boat was lost, and the Hooper never returned to warn the fishermen. # 84 - 100 HORN OF BRAN GALED One of the Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain, Merlin had to acquire this one if he were to be given the others. It had originally belonged to a centaur slain by Hercules and its particular property was that it could contain any drink one wished. # 104 - 156 HORNS Sometimes animals are represented with three horns or with horns ending in knobs (this has never been satisfactorily explained). This occurs in Celtic and pre-Celtic times, as does the horned Serpent which appears frequently with the Celtic Horned God. At La Tne (one of the most important archaeological sites from Iron Age, situated on what is now Lake Neuchtel) birds, swans and cormorants have horns, and there was even a bird-stag. # 161 HORSA Brother of Hengist who accompanied him to Britain. He was slain by a cousin of Vortigern. His memorial was thought to have been a flint heap near Horsted (Kent). # 156 - 243 - 717 HORSE The horse was highly important in the Celtic world and was frequently an attribute of deities such as the Celtic, Welsh and Irish war gods, and especially of the Gaulish Epona, the Divine Horse, introduced into Britain and later adopted by the Romans. She is depicted as riding a horse or accompanied by horses and foals and sometimes is horse-headed. In Celtic lore horses appear in different colours and are magical animals of the otherworld, carrying people there. Sometimes there are monster horses, capable of carrying fifteen people at a time. There are also magical water-horses which, if mounted, plunge the rider beneath the waters. Magical horses belonging to heroes can fly, cross seas, and become invisible. Many Celtic solar deities could manifest as horses. The White Horse at Uffington, in England, is associated with Celtic horse gods. There are innumerable horse-ghosts, particularly those of headless horses, and witches can adopt the horse as a disguise. There were Celtic horse-headed goblins, called Krops or Cops, who were of a savage and uncertain temper. The horse is one of the primary totem beasts of the British Isles: a fact attested to by the taboo on eating horse-meat. The reverence in which the horse was held has not lessened over the centuries as a trip to any race-course will show. Horse-breeding and discussing the points of good racers or jumpers is still the common talk in any small Irish village. The White Mare was the mount of Epona or Rhiannon, goddesses associated powerfully with the horse, whose shape she often took. The most ancient horse chalk figure, White Horse Hill in Berkshire, still testifies to the joint Celtic and Saxon reverence for this animal. The horse with its magical bridle appears throughout folklore and Arthurian legend, where many knights go in quest for it, including Gawain. When found, the beast is usually a mare who turns back into a woman. # 161 - 439 - 454 HORSES OF MANANAN White-crested waves called Horses of Mananan. # 562 HORSESHOES A horseshoe hung up above a stable or a house prevented the entrance of fairies and witches, and hence constituted a protection against fairies. # 100 HOST, THE See: SLUAGH, THE. HOSTING Bands of warriors 'went hosting', gathering together to go on warlike forays or cattle-reeving expeditions. Hosting was usually a seasonal activity. # 437 p 20 HOUND OF ULSTER See: CUCHULAIN. HOUNDS OF THE HILL, THE A name sometimes used in English for the hunting-dogs of the fairies who live in the hollow hills. As fairy dogs they are distinct from the Gabriel Hounds, the Devil's Dandy Dogs and other spectral packs whose duty it is to hunt souls rather than fairy deer. The Hounds of the Hill are generally described as white with red ears rather than dark green like the Cu Sith described by J. G. Campbell. Ruth Tongue in FORGOTTEN FOLK-TALES OF THE ENGLISH COUNTIES, reports an anecdote heard in Cheshire in 1917 and again in 1970 about a Hound of the Hill befriended by a young labourer. It was the size of a calf with a rough white coat and red ears. Its paws seemed sore, and the boy treated them with wet dock-leaves. Some time later, going through a haunted wood, he was attacked by a spectral goat and rescued by the hound. The episode has a Highland rather than a Welsh flavour.. # 100 - 131 - 674 HOWTH See: BENN ETAIR. HOWTH, THE HIDING OF THE HILL OF This is a short piece which is representative of a group of episodic narratives that arose out of the general tradition of the pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne. Cross and Slover tells us that the selection brought in their ANCIENT IRISH TALES, probably is much older than the long narrative mentioned above, but that it was either unknown to the later redactor or was omitted purposely. As it stands it is an interesting example of the stories of trickery which delighted Irish audiences during the Middle Ages, and that the short poem, much as it inevitably suffers in translation, is one of the gems of early Irish lyric poetry. # 166 HUEIL A son of Caw and brother of Gildas. He was an opponent of Arthur who eventually had him executed. Their feud began when Arthur stabbed Gwydre, Hueil's nephew. In one tale, he and Arthur fought and Arthur was wounded in the knee. Arthur told Hueil he would not slay him, provided Hueil never mentioned the wound, but he later did and Arthur had him killed. # 26 - 156 HUGH One of the Children of Lir. # 562 HUI See: UI. HUMBER Scottish writers claimed Arthur's last battle was on this river. # 156 HUNBAUT A companion of Gawain when Arthur sent the latter on a mission to the King of the Isles. In the course of their adventures together, Hunbaut tended to show more caution than Gawain. # 156 - 450 HUNCAMUNCA In Henry Fielding's TOM THUMB (1730), the name of Arthur's daughter. # 156 HUNGARY # 562: Miled's name as a god in a Celtic inscription from Hungary. # 156: Arthurian romance assigned this country several kings. In CLARIS ET LARIS it was ruled by King Saris who captured Cologne but was killed by Laris. Elsewhere the king is called Jeremiah; Gawain married his daughter. Sagremor is styled the son of the King of Hungary. King Ditas of Hungary was listed among the followers of the Roman Emperor Thereus, when the latter attacked Arthur. In fact, Hungary did not really exist as a country until about the end of the ninth century - much later than the Arthurian period - when the territory it subsequently contained was divided amongst Gepids, Heruli, etc. # 156 - 562 HUNT, ROBERT (b.1790) Hunt wrote the Preface to the third edition of POPULAR ROMANCES OF THE WEST OF ENGLAND in 1881. The book had first been published in 1865, but was a fruit of long collection. # 100 - 331 HUNTING KNIGHT A son of the King of Gascony, who came to Arthur's court to learn valour. # 156 HUON OF BORDEAUX # 156: The hero of the romance HUON DE BORDEAUX (thirteenth century), set in Carolingian times. In this tale Oberon, king of the fairies, assigned his realm to Huon. Arthur, who had been living in Fairyland since his reign, had thought the kingdom would be his and was most disturbed, but Oberon, by threatening Arthur, ensued there would be peace between him and Huon. There seem to be some confusion in the time-table for this romance. Katharine Briggs argues in her ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FAIRIES that the French romance HUON OF BORDEAUX was from the 15th century, and translated into English by Lord Berners in the 16th century. # 100: It became very popular in England, and though the earlier editions have disappeared, the third, of 1601, still remains. This is the first literary use of Oberon as the fairy king, though there are Magicians' recipes for conjuring Oberion or Oberycom into a crystal stone. He was a dwarfish or diminutive fairy, of the size of a threeyears child, though with a most beautiful face. This small size was attributed in the romance to the ill offices of an offended fairy at his birth - one of the earliest examples of a wicked fairy at a christening - but, since 'Auberon' is the French translation of the German 'Alberich', it seems likely that Oberon was dwarfish from the beginning. This Oberon haunted a part of the forest through which Huon had to pass in his eastern travels. He was a master of glamour and was regarded as a tempting devil who must on no account be answered when he spoke. Huon was most earnestly warned about this by a good hermit, but when his courtesy was too strong for him and he answered Oberon's touchingly earnest entreaties, nothing but good came of it. Oberon was deeply grateful and became Huon's constant friend. In the end, Oberon's soul was admitted to Heaven and Huon of Bordeaux was crowned king of Fairyland in his place. It is not often in folk tradition that the pendolous, immortal state of the fairies is resolved on the heavenly side. It will be remembered that Rudyard Kipling makes Huon of Bordeaux the king of the People of the Hills in PUCK OF POOK'S HILL. # 85 - 100 - 156 HURLEY A game played with sticks and balls, somewhat similar to field hockey. # 166 HY BREASIL The Irish earthly paradise. It was considered to lie in the furthest west. Later Spanish adventurers who knew the myth applied it to the land they discovered - Brazil. # 454 HYDE, DOUGLAS (1860-1949) The first of the Irish folklorists to pursue the fully scholarly methods of research initiated by J. F. Campbell. In his collection of folk-tales, BESIDE THE FIRE, he puts the Irish and the English on alternate pages for the first time in an Irish folk-tale book. His introduction was a most scolarly piece of work, criticizing keenly but not unkindly the work of his predecessors, and noticing particularly the handicap under which Lady Wilde laboured in knowing no Irish, and strongly advising all collectors to take careful note of the source of their tales. Dr. Hyde was the founder of the Irish League to promote the study of Irish Gaelic. He was a close collaborator with Yeats and Lady Gregory in their Irish renaissance, and was elected Ireland's first President in 1938. # 100 - 333 HYGWYDD A servant of Arthur who carried the cauldron of Diwrnach on his back when Arthur captured it. # 156 - 346 IBAR MAC RIANGABRA (ivar mok re-an-govra) See: RIANGABAR. IBERIANS Resemblance between Aquitani and Iberians. # 562 ICELAND This island was part of Arthur's empire. Layamon says its king was Aeleus. He was married to the King of Russia's daughter and they had a son named Escol. Aeleus voluntarily submitted to Arthur and gave him Escol to be his man. Geoffrey gives Iceland a king called Malvasius. # 156 - 243 - 697 ID MAC RIANGABRA See: RIANGABAR. IDDAWG Before Arthur's final tragic battle with Mordred at Camlann, the king sent Iddawg to Mordred with a message. However, Iddawg uttered it in such a way that it angered its recipient and he was therefore known as the Embroiler of Britain. # 156 - 346 IGRAINE IGERNE (in Welsh: Eigyr). 1. The mother of Arthur. She was the daughter of Amlawdd and she married Gorlois, by whom she had a number of daughters. (This husband is sometimes called Hoel.) Uther made her pregnant with Arthur while he was under a spell which made him resemble her husband. Later, when Gorlois was dead, Uther married her, although he was uncertain as to the fatherhood of Arthur whom he put to fosterage with Ector of the Forest Sauvage. See: GOLEUDDYDD, and RIEINGULID. 2. In the VULGATE MERLIN, the sister of Arthur with whom he committed incest. # 156 - 346 - 418 ILAX See: EREC. ILDANACH (il'dan ah) ('The All-Craftsman', or 'The Many Gifted'). Surname conferred upon Lugh Lamfada, the Sun-god. # 166 - 562 ILLAN Illan was a traditional king of Leinster (Ireland) who was thought to have conducted raids in Britain. J. Morris argues that he would have been one of the historical Arthur's enemies. The traditional regnal dates of Illan are AD 495- 511, but the history of Leinster at this period is obscure and Illan may have reigned at an earlier period or not at all. # 156 - 403 ILLTYD, SAINT # 156: He founded the monastery at Llanilltud Fawr in Wales, the great settlement of Illtyd (now Llantwit Major). He was said to have been related to Arthur and to have served as a warrior under him. See: RIEINGULID. # 678: According to a Norman clerk who wrote from that place, Illtyd's name comes from the Latin 'ille ab omni crimine tutus' ('the one safe from all evil'). The Welsh tradition, based on an early life of Cadoc, describes Illtyd's conversion as taking place when fifty soldiers under his command were swallowed into the earth. Another tradition tells us that his conversion took place after a hunting accident in which several of his friends were killed and that it was Dyfrig who was responsible for bringing Illtyd into the church. Like many other Celtic abbots, Illtyd withdrew from time to time from his monastery, seeking out a cave by the banks of the Ewenny River, sleeping each night on a cold stone and keeping himself alive by heaven-sent offerings of barley loaves and fish. # 454: All texts agree that he was the most learned Briton of his day. He was said to have been born in Brittany and his reputation credited him with being a magician. Lindsay suggests that his disciples demanded the old druidic right to exemption from taxes. He is remembered on 6 November. # 156 - 216 - 454 - 678 ILLYRIANS Towards the end of the fourth century the Celts overran Pannonia, conquering the Illyrians. # 562 IMMORTALITY In Egypt the solar boat is sometimes represented as containing the solar emblem alone, sometimes it contains the figure of a god with attendant deities, sometimes it contains a crowd of passengers representing human souls, and sometimes the figure of a single corpse on a bier. The megalithic carvings also sometimes show the solar emblem and sometimes not; the boats are sometimes filled with figures and are sometimes empty. When a symbol has once been accepted and understood, any conventional or summary representation of it is sufficient. Rolleston take it that the complete form of the megalithic symbol is that of a boat with figures in it and with the solar emblem overhead. These figures, assuming the foregoing interpretation of the design to be correct, must clearly be taken for representations of the dead on their way to the Otherworld. They cannot be deities, for representations of the divine powers under human aspect were quite unknown to the Megalithic People, even after the coming of the Celts - they first occur in Gaul under Roman influence. But if these figures represent the dead, then we have clearly before us the origin of the so-called 'Celtic' doctrine of immortality. The carvings in question are pre-Celtic. They are found where no Celts ever penetrated. Yet they point to the existence of just that Otherworld doctrine which, from the time of Caesar downwards, has been associated with Celtic Druidism, and this doctrine was distinctively Egyptian. # 562 IMMRAM Voyages to Otherworlds. The tradition of the Immram is based upon certain fundamental understandings: the voyage enacts the passage into the Otherworld, the testing of the soul, the passage into and beyond death and the empowerment of the spiritual quest. Some of the best known Immrams's is that of 'The voyage of Maelduin' (which is described in full in Chapter Two in # 437.), and Voyage of St Brendan (AD 489-?583). Also the pilgrimage and wandering mazes derives from the Immram. # 437 p 14 ff INBER AILBINE See: PLACE NAME STORIES. INCUBUS Technically, an 'Incubus' was a devil which assumed the appearance of a man and lay with a woman, as a succubus or nightmare assumed the appearance of a woman or Hagge to corrupt a man. Merlin was supposed to be the child of an incubus, and almost every 16th-century book on witchcraft mentions the Incubus. # 100 INDEG One of the mistresses of Arthur, according to TRIAD 57. She was the daughter of Garwy the Tall. # 104 - 156 INDIA Dolmens found in India; symbol of the feet is found in India, as the print of the foot of Buddha. A good example of this from Amaravati (after Fergusson) is given by Bertrand in his 'La Religion des Gaulois.' The allusion to summer and winter suggests the practice in Indian music of allotting certain musical modes to the different seasons of the year (and even to different times of day). Some scholars suggests that there might have been a close connection between the Celtic peoples and India (see: GUNDESTRUP CAULDRON, THE # 354). # 562 INDRA Hindu sky-deity corresponding to Brown Bull of Quelgny. # 562 INDRAWING SEAS See: GROCLAND. INGCEL (ing'cel) One-eyed British chief-pirate, son of King of Great Britain, an exile. He is associated with Conaire Mor's fosterbrothers in the sack of Da Derga's hostel. # 166 - 562 INIS (in'ish) An island. # 166 INIS FAIL (in'ish f il) An ancient poetic name for Ireland. See: FAL. # 166 INVASION MYTHS OF IRELAND See: MYTHS. INVASIONS, THE BOOK OF # 628: The Irish BOOK OF INVASIONS describes six waves of people or races arriving in Ireland, and attempts to merge its pagan tradition, originally derived from a lost Druidic mythical cycle of creation, with Christian pseudo-history. The six races with the Gaels as the last one, can be seen as a cosmic sequence of development or phases of the creation of the world, typified by the land of Ireland. 1. Cessair 2. Partholon 3. Nemed 4. FirBolg 5. Tuatha De Danann, and 6. The Gaels. # 166: The narratives assembled under the title 'Book of Invasions (or Occupations)' are the literary embodiment of Ireland's own impressions regarding the history of her population. For the early Irish they served somewhat the same functions as the accounts of the wanderings of Aeneas did for the Romans. To say, as some have done, that the 'Book of Invasions' is a collection of Irish mythology is to give an entirely wrong impression of its contents. Some of the characters, it is true, may be rationalized gods, but the stories as they now stand belong rather to pseudo-history than to mythology. For example, Emer, Eber, and Eremon, though represented in the narrative as ancient kings, are in fact merely fictitious personages with names made up from the ancient name for Ireland, spelled in the earliest manuscripts as RIU. Modern students of early Irish history are inclined to see underlying these obviously fictitious narratives a substratum of fact, and to regard the account as reflecting in a general way an historical record of early population groups. The version told in Cross and Slover's ANCIENT IRISH TALES is preserved only in rather late manuscripts, but the ancient origin of at least some parts of it is convincingly supported by comparison with the early forms of the British-Latin 'History of the Britons' (HISTORIA BRITONUM). The selections presented in their work are not continuous, but they form tolerably unified sections, describing the arrival of three different groups of immigrants. The first of the divisions given is preceded in the complete text by the account of the arrival of Partholon and his people. The account of the Tuatha De Danann serves as a background for 'The Second Battle of Moytura' and 'The Fate of the Children of Tuirenn'. # 166 - 628 p 126 ff INVERSKENA Ancient name of Kenmere River, so called after Skena. # 562 INVOLUTIONS Alwyn Rees and Brinley Rees in their CELTIC HERITAGE, states some interesting aspects about the involutions concerning the correlation of the provinces of Ireland (q.v). The correlations with functions and social classes, they say, is of course, symbolical. They are not suggesting that all the inhabitants of Connacht were druids, or that all the inhabitants of Munster were minstrels! There are units within units. Thus, there is a story of the division of Ireland into twentyfive parts among the children of Ugaine Mr, a division which is said to have lasted for three hundred years. Whereas the five peoples of Irish tradition symbolize the major functions in the hierarchy, there are indications that each was also a complete society in itself, a replica of the entire series. Kingship belonged pre-eminently to the central province, but every province had a king of its own. If, in the larger unity, the king of Munster's part was that of the 'Servant', in his own province his role no doubt corresponded to that of the central king. Similarly, each province had its druids, warriors, farmers and serfs. Furthermore, the social classes themselves were not homogeneous groups. Each had a structure which seems to have reproduced that of the larger society. Just as there were high-kings, provincial kings and tribal kings, so were the grades within the learned class. We hear of druids, Vates, and bards of Celtic Gaul, of whom classical writers give somewhat confusing accounts. The druids and the Vates were apparently closely related in function, though the former seem to have been held in highest honour. Both were learned philosophers, but whereas the druids, who apparently presided at sacrifices, were judges in public and private disputes, the Vates were probably seers who foretold the future by augury and the sacrifice or victims. We have already noted that the name Druid probably comes from a root meaning 'to know'. On the other hand, words cognate with Vates in other languages are connected with prophecy, inspiration and poetry. The third class, the bards, accompanied their songs with instruments resembling lyres and they praised some and reviled others, and so too in medieval Ireland, praise poems (then composed by the Fili) were sung by the bard and there was a harp accompaniment. Indeed the original meaning of the word Bard appears to have been 'singer of praise'. The preoccupation of Vates (and probably of Filid) with inspiration, with prophecy, and with the temporal, seems to connect them with the function of the warrior - Debordant, berserk - while the praises of the bard are analogous to the food-gifts of the third function and the acclamation by which the third estate confirms the actions and status of its rulers. Thus, within the learned class there were grades corresponding to those of priest, warrior, and farmer - and beneath them were disreputable entertainers such as the Crossain. With the advent of Christianity such a pattern would inevitably become blurred. The druid, as priest of the old religion, lost his function, and in the Irish laws he is degraded to the subject Nemed class, while the Fili, who seems to have inherited something of the druid's role, ranks with the upper Nemed class. Later still, the role of the Fili became assimilated to that of the bard, so that the thirteenth century Fili was above all a composer of praise poetry. However, 'The Book of Rights', compiled or edited in the eleventh century, states that 'knowledge about kings and their privileges is proper to the Fili and not to the bard'. According to other texts, the honour-price of a bard was but half that of a Fili, and moreover, a bard could claim nothing on the ground of being a man of learning but should be satisfied with what his native wit might win him. The fact that every unit, however small, tends to have a structure which mirrors that of the whole makes the over-all picture extremely complicated. Personages and sub-groups can have associations with a function other than their primary one. For example, the bard belongs to Function I, but in the subdivision of that function he corresponds to Function III; the Fiana belong to Function III, but in as much as they represent the military aspect of that function they have affinities with Function II. All this offers unlimited opportunities for confusion in the transmission and interpretation of a tradition which has been only partially preserved. And there is yet another complication to be noticed. Finn is associated chiefly with the southern half of Ireland; his principal residence is said to be the Sidhe of Almu in Leinster. His chief adversary, Goll mac Morna, on the other hand, is represented as the leader of the Connacht Fiana. That is, in the Lower cycle of stories, the oneeyed antagonist Within the Fiana is located in the North of Ireland, the hero in the South. This inversion of the relationship between North and South hitherto considered is in accord with the belief that in the Otherworld everything is inverted. For example, we have already noted, with regard to ghosts of the dead and other spirits, that our day is their night. In Hindu belief '"left" on earth corresponds to "right" in the beyond, while according to the Dyaks of Borneo, in heaven 'no means yes, black becomes white'. Such inversions have to be borne in any attempt to account for contradictionary beliefs concerning 'right' and 'left' as well as 'north' and 'south'. # 141 - 360 - 410 - 539 - 548 IOLLAN The son of Fergus mac Roigh. He went with his father to ask Deirdre and Naoisi to return to Conchobar; but they were ignorant that this was a false message, intended to entrap Deirdre and the sons of Usna. Although Iollan defended them, Conchobar's champion, Conall Cernach, mortally wounded Iollan. # 454 IOLO MORGANWG (ee-OLL-o mor-GAHN-ook) The Welsh editor, who in the late eighteenth century rewrote many of the older triads in an expanded form, with the introduction of some fresh material. See also: CRAIG-Y-DINAS. # 104 IRELAND # 156: Arthur is represented as having this country as part of his domains. Geoffrey describes how Arthur defeated the king of the country whom he names Gilmaurius. Elsewhere the king is represented as Anguish (the father of Iseult), Elidus, Marhalt or Gurmun. DURMART features an Irish queen named Fenise and informs us that the gonfalonier (royal standard-bearer) of Ireland was Procides, castellan of Limerick. Arthur overcame the Scots (Scotti), who were Irish invaders in Britain. In early Medieval Latin Scotus signifies an Irishman and, in the fifth century, many Scots from Ireland were settling in the country which today bears their name. They had also settled elsewhere in Britain. As to the actual rulers of Ireland in the Arthurian period, at that time the Irish kings of Tara had no effective, and perhaps even no theretical, supremacy. They were Niall of the Nine Hostages (generally regarded as historical), Nath I (perhaps legendary), Laoghaire, Ailill Molt and Muircheartach I, with whom the eighteenth-century antiquary Keating, in some respects the Irish equivalent of Geoffrey, says Arthur had a treaty. The names Marhalt/Marhaus in the Tristan saga may preserve some memory of him. One of the kings of the southern Irish kingdom of Munster at this period was called Oengus interestingly enough, probably a different form of the name Anguish, borne by the King of Ireland in Malory. # 562: Unique historical position of Ireland, which was never even visited, much less subjugated, by the Roman legionaries, and maintained its independence against all comers nominally until the close of the twelfth century, but for all practical purposes a good three hundred years longer. Ireland has therefore this unique feature of interest, that it carried an indigenous Celtic civilisation, Celtic institutions, art, and literature, and the oldest surviving form of the Celtic language (q.v.) right across the chasm which separates the antique from the modern world, the pagan from the Christian world, and on into the full light of modern history and observation. In the sixth century AD, a little over a hundred years after the preaching of Christianity by St Patrick, a king named Dermot mac Kerval ruled in Ireland. He was the Ard Righ, or High King, of that country, whose seat of government was at Tara, in Meath, and whose office, with its nominal and legal superiority to the five provincial kings, represented the impulse which was moviing the Irish people towards a true national unity. Name of Eriu (dative form Erinn), poetic name applied to Ireland. Children of Miled enter upon sovereignty of, but henceforth there are two Irelands, the spiritual, occupied by the Danaans, and the earthly, by the Milesians. Eremon, was the first Milesian king of all Ireland. # 156 - 562 IRELAND, PROVINCES OF Modern Ireland comprises four great provinces, Connacht, Ulster, Leinster, and Munster, whose origin lies beyond the beginning of recorded history. Yet, the Irish word for 'province' is Ciced, which means a 'fifth', not a 'fourth', and the expression 'five fifth of Ireland' is familiar to all who speak the Gaelic tongue. The antiquity of this five-fold conception cannot be doubted, but tradition is divided as to the identity of the fifth fifth. Lebor Gabla renn attributes the original division into five provinces to Fir Bolg. These settlers were led by five brothers and they shared Ireland between them. The fifth province of that division consisted of a subdivision of Munster, and in accordance with this, Ireland is represented throughout most of the early literature as consisting of Connacht, Ulster, Leinster, and 'the two Munsters' (East Munster and West Munster). It was held that all five provinces met at the Stone of Divisions on the Hill of Uisnech, which was believed to be the midpoint of Ireland. The alternative tradition is that the fifth province was Meath (Mide), 'the Middle'. This is a common belief among present-day Irishmen who are unfamiliar with the historical literature, and it is not a recent invention. A poem which is attributed to Mael Mura, a ninthcentury poet, tells of a revolt of the vassal tribes of Ireland under the kings of the four provinces, a revolt in which Fiachu, King of Tara, was killed. After a period of misrule, the legitimate dynasty was restored in the person of Fiachu's son, Tuathal Techtmar, who defeated the vassal tribes in each of the four provinces Connacht, Ulster, Leinster and Munster. According to some medieval texts, it was Tuathal who created the central province of Meath by taking a portion of each of the other provinces; Keating states that before Tuathal's conquest Meath was but a minor kingdom (tuath) around Uisnech. We must, however, consider a body of comparative evidence before accepting the view that the central province, without which no province could be called a 'fifth' in this scheme, was the result of a military conquest in the second century AD. What we have to try to understand, as the Rees' points out in their CELTIC HERITAGE, is the meaning of the subdivision of an island into four parts each of which is called a fifth, and the existence of two apparently incompatible traditions - neither of which can be shown to be more authentic than the other - which, respectively, locate the implicit fifth fifth at the centre and as an entity within one of the other four. In the Middle Irish text called 'The Settling of the Manor of Tara', which relates how the territorial divisions were confirmed at the beginning of the Christian era by a supernatural authority, both these conceptions of the five-fold structure of Ireland are re-authenticated, and there is no indication that the writer of this remarkable document was aware that the one is inconsistent with the other. The text relates that, in the reign of Diarmait son of Cerball (AD 545-565), the nobles of Ireland protested against the extent of the royal domain, and that Fintan son of Bchra was summoned to Tara, from his abode in Munster, to define its limits. Seated in the judge's seat at Tara, Fintan reviewed the history of Ireland from Cessair to the Sons of Mil, and told of a strange personage called Trefuilngid Tre-eochair who suddenly appeared at a gathering of the men of Ireland on the day when Christ was crucified. This stranger was fair and of gigantic stature, and it was he who controlled the rising and the setting of the sun. In his left hand he carried stone tablets and in his right a branch with three fruits, nuts, apples, and acorns. He inquired about the chronicles of the men of Ireland, and they replied that they had no old historians. 'Ye will have that from me,' said he. 'I will establish for you the progression of the stories and chronicles of the hearth of Tara itself with the four quarters of Ireland round about; for I am the truly learned witness who explains to all everything unknown.' And he continued: Bring to me then seven from every quarter of Ireland, who are the wisest, the most prudent and most cunning also, and the shanachies of the king himself who are of the hearth of Tara; for it is right that the four quarters (should be present) at the partition of Tara and its chronicles, that each may take its due share of the chronicles of Tara.' It will be observed that the basic idea here is that Ireland consists of four quarters and a centre - the provinces of Connacht, Ulster, Leinster, Munster, and Meath. This arrangement was confirmed by Trefuilngid, and in leaving that ordinance with the men of Ireland he gave Fintan some berries from his branch. Fintan planted them where he thought they would grow, and from them are the five trees: the Ash of Tortu, the Bole of Ross (a comely yew), the Oak of Mugna, the Bough of Dathi (an ash), and the Ash of populous Uisnech. Though the location of most of these five places is uncertain, there can be no doubt that the underlying idea is that the trees symbolize the four quarters around the centre. The confirmation of this pattern by Fintan on Trefuilngid's authority at Tara was not, however, the end of the matter. 'Then the nobles of Ireland came...to accompany Fintan to Uisnech, and they took leave of one another on the top of Uisnech. And he set up in their presence a pillar-stone of five ridges on the summit of Uisnech. And he assigned a ridge of it to every province in Ireland, for thus are Tara and Uisnech in Ireland, as its two kidneys are in a beast. And he marked out a FORRACH there, that is, the portion of each province in Uisnech, and Fintan made this lay after arranging the pillar-stone.' In the lay Fintan defines the extent of each of these five provinces of the Fir Bolg division - Connaht, Ulster, Leinster, and the two Munsters. 'So Fintan then testified that it is right to take the five provinces of Ireland from Tara and Uisnech, and that it is right for them also to take them from each province in Ireland!' Leaving the second Munster aside for the moment, it can be shown further that the four great provinces and the centre constitute a hierarchic system which corresponds to that of the invasions from Partholon to the Sons of Mil. When the representatives of the four quarters and of the Manor of Tara had been assembled together as we have just described, the supernatural Trefuilngid asked: 'O Fintan, and Ireland, how has it been partioned, where have things been therein?' 'Easy to say,' said Fintan, 'knowledge in the west, battle in the north, prosperity in the east, music in the south, kingship in the centre.' Then Trefuilngid proceeded to indicate in detail the attributes of each quarter and the middle. There is some overlapping in these descriptions which blurs the clear distinctions drawn by Fintan. The latter we will bring here in full: West (Connacht): learning (Fis), teaching, judgement, chronicles, counsels, stories, histories, science, eloquence. North (Ulster) battle (Cath), contentions, hardihood, rough places, strifes, haughtiness, unprofitableness, pride, captures, assaults, hardness, wars, conflicts. East (Leinster) prosperity (Blth), supplies, bee-hives (? ceasa), householders, good custom, good manners, splendour, abundance, dignity, wealth, householding, many arts, many treasures, satin serge, silks, cloths (?), green spotted cloth (?), hospitality. South (Munster) music (Sis), fairs (oenaigi), reavers, musicianship, melody, minstrelry, music, fidchell-playing, retinue. Centre (Meath) kingship, (not mentioned by Fintan) stewards, dignity, primacy, stability, establishments, supports, destructions, warriorship, charioteership, soldiery, principality, high-kingship, ollaveship, mead, bounty, ale, renown, fame, prosperity. Learning and Battle clearly refer to the aristocratic funtions of the druids and the warriors, and their ascription to Connacht and Ulster fully accords with what we have said about the superiority of Conn's Half. The Mythological Cycle of Tuatha De Danann was characterized by wizardry, the CuChulain Cycle by heroism and the Fenian Cycle by romance. It remains to add that Tuatha De Danann first appeared in Ireland on a mountain of Conmaicne Rin in Connacht and that Mag Tuired, the scene of the great battles which form the central theme of this cycle is also in Connacht. The warrior Cycle of CuChulain is the Ulster Cycle, while the Fenian Cycle, the tales of the ordinary people, are located mainly in the South of Ireland. The three qualities which we have discerned in these three cycles thus have their respective provenance thinking in the West, willing in the North, feeling in the South. The correlation of provinces with functions makes the great epic of the CuChulain Cycle more intelligible. It commemorates a struggle between the two aristocratic provinces of Connacht and Ulster, in which the protagonists are Queen Medb of Connacht on the one hand, and King Conchobar and his nephew CuChulain on the other. Tradition shows us that Medb personifies 'Sovereignty', and Professor Dumzil has singled that out in its magical and judicial aspects as primary attribute of Function I. It is said that Conchobar had been Medb's first husband, and her desertion of him against his will is said to have been the first cause of the tin (cattle-raid). On the other hand, the immediate cause of the tin was that Medb coveted Ulster's great bull. The bull symbolizes the warrior function both in Rome and India. Thus the tin appears as an example of the classic struggle between the priestly and the warrior classes, each of which tends to usurp the functions and privileges of the other. It may be compared with the First Battle of Mag Tuired between the Tuatha wizards and the Fir Bolg warriors. That battle belongs to the Mythological Cycle and in it the warriors are defeated, but the warriors are victorious in the struggle of the warrior Cycle. Modern historians regard the allocation of two fifths to Munster as a spurious tradition invented by the ancient historians, but we have already suggested that the analogy between what may be called the 'central fifth' and the 'outer fifth', on the one hand, and the invasions of the Sons of Mil and of Cessair on the other, is a sufficient justification for considering both traditions seriously. - Divided into two, one half of Munster symbolizes serfs, the other the Other World. But as one province it is a land of contradictions. In one of the earlier law tracts, its king is described as 'a master (ollam) over kings'. After Tuatha De Danann have repaired to the sidhe, leaving the daylight world to the Sons of Mil, it is Bodb of the Sid of Munster they have as king. The visiting high-king who instructs their rulers is not a king of Tara, but Manannan mac Lir, the god of the sea. In the occult, Munster and the powers beyond it are supreme. There, the last IS first. # 186 - 277 - 313 - 410 - 468 - 508 - 548 IRION A king, the father of Martha and father-in-law of Tristan's son Ysaie. # 156 - 198 IRISH CALENDAR CUSTOMS Calendar Custom is deeply influenced by environment, by climate, by the fertility of the soil, by the proximity of such geographical features as the sea, rivers, lakes, mountains and moors. It is intimately connected with the daily and yearly routine of work. It is associated with travel and trade. It bears upon the social traditions of the community and upon the individual lives of the community's members. It embodies devotional and religious practices, divination, healing, mythology and magic. It abounds in explanatory tale and legend, historical allusion and pious parable. It includes all manner of amusements, sports and pastimes. Furthermore, it reaches back through time into the remote and unknown depths of prehistory. It contains elements which already were of vast antiquity when the first Christian missionaries came into Ireland, as well as matter which recalls the flowering of early Irish Christianity. It has features derived from the piety as well as from the practicality of the Middle Ages. Every phase of our changing history has effected it; every body of the people who came into Ireland has added something to it; Scandinavian and Norman, English and Scots, all have left some mark upon it. Above all, it shares largely in the common tradition of Western Europe, so many of its elements being but Irish versions of practices much more widely known. Irish Calendar Custom is a vast and complicated field, how vast and complicated has been shown in the one comprehensive investigation of an Irish folk festival which has hitherto appeared. Mire Mac Neill's FESTIVAL OF LUGHNASA, a work which occupies almost 700 pages. The following is a briefing of the well-known and for most part, still celebrated fiest-days. SAINT BRIGHID'S DAY In Irish folk tradition St Brighid's Day, 1 February, is the first day of Spring, and thus the farmer's year. It is the festival of Ireland's venerated and much-loved second patron saint, who is also the patroness of cattle and of dairy work. In the JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF IRELAND, 1945, Sen Suilleabhin wrote: 'The main significance of the Feast of St Brigid would seem to be that it was a christianization of one of the focal points of the agricultural year in Ireland, the starting-point of preparations for the spring sowing. Every manifestation of the cult of the saint (or of the deity she replaced) is closely bound up in some way with foodproduction, and this must be the chief line of approach to a study of this spring festival.' A relaxation of the rigours of winter weather was expected at this time, for, according to tradition, the saint had promised: Gach 're l go maith 'm l-sa amach agus leath mo lae finigh Every second day fine from my day onward and half of my own day. CANDLEMAS A popular legend to explain why candlemas fell immediately after St Brighid's Day. Because of Our Lady's diffidence in bringing the Infant Jesus to the crowded Temple, St Brighid promised to help her by distracting the attention of the multitude. This she did by appearing with a headdress bearing many lighted candles, and Mary, in gratitude, decreed that St Brighid's festival should be celebrated on the day before that of the Purification and the Candles. Weather forecasts were made on Candlemas. A fine day was believed to be a token of wintry weather during the rest of February. SHROVE TUESDAY In former times the austerities of Lent were observed with much more rigour and much more devotion than more recently. The faithful were bound to abstain not only from meat but also, even on Sundays, from eggs and from all milk products - that is to say from milk either sweet or sour, butter, cheese, curds and 'white meats', a very severe restriction on people a large part of whose diet consisted of milk products. Nothing then, was more natural than the desire to have a 'last fling' just before the beginning of Lent. On the Continent of Europe this became a public, communal revel, the carnival, but generally in Ireland the Shrove Tuesday celebration was a household festival with the family and their friends gathered about the fire-side, when the surplus eggs, milk and butter were used up in making pancakes, and even the most thrifty housewife did not object, as otherwise these perishable foodstuffs might go to waste. Some people kept the Christmas holly for the fire which baked the pancakes. There was a common belief that to lick a lizard endowed the tongue with a cure for burns and scalds; this was especially effective if the lizard was licked on Shrove Tuesday. ASH WEDNESDAY On this, the first day of Lent many people ate only one meal and drank only water. At least one person from every household went to the church to have his or her brow marked with the penitential ashes and to bring home a pinch of the ash so that the rest of the family too could have their foreheads marked. In many places there is a tradition that the people brought their own ashes - usually a small quantity of turf ashes - to be blessed in the church. Some burned the palm from last year's Palm Sunday to make ashes for Ash Wednesday. Any unused portion of the ashes was carefully wrapped up and put away. LENT As mentioned above, the Lenten fast and abstinence were very strictly observed in Ireland, and on all the days of Lent no animal products of any kind were eaten or used in the preparation of food. For the average farming family which enjoyed some degree of frugal comfort the Lenten fast meant a small meal of bread, or porridge and black tea in the morning and again in the evening, and a midday dinner of potatoes seasoned with fish or onions. On the coast, shellfish and edible seaweed appeared as relish with the potato meal. Instead of the usual sweet or sour milk, water, to which a handful of crushed oats was added and left to stand until the fermentation of the grain gave the beverage a sour taste, was drunk. - Children, if they were over seven years old, got no milk, and even the younger ones were given it sparingly. 'The very infant in the cradle was allowed to cry three times before he got milk on the fast days', as tradition puts it. A curious sidelight on the Lenten fast is the eating of the barnacle goose (branta leucopsis) and, possibly, the brent goose (branta bernicla) as fish. This is first mentioned in Ireland by Giraldus Cambrensis, who visited the country in 1183 and again in 1185. Having described the wonderful way in which the geese came not from the eggs but from shellfish (a common belief of the time) he goes on to say (Topography of Ireland): 'Accordingly in some parts of Ireland bishops and religious men eat them without sin during a fasting time, regarding them as being flesh, since they were not born of flesh.' The tradition of the eating of these geese during Lent is well known in many parts of the west of Ireland. In Tralee, Count Kerry, it is related that the custom was kept up until quite recently, and that a well-known hotel in the town made a point of serving brent goose during Lent, mainly for the benefit of the clergy. As Edward Armstrong remarks in THE FOLKLORE OF BIRDS,: 'Vincent of Beauvais (SPEC.ANIM. xvii,40) records that at the General Lateran Council in 1215, Pope Innocent III forbade this practice, but news of this does not seem to have yet reached the west of Ireland.' SAINT PATRICK'S DAY That day is now one of Ireland's most important festivals, a national as well as a church holiday. It is celebrated with ceremonies, parades, sports, exhibitions and entertainments of many kinds, most of them having a distinctly national or 'Irish' flavour. All this is relatively new, for, when compared to the numerous and varied traditional customs and practices associated with other great festivals such as May Day or Christmas those belonging to St Patrick's Day appearfew and meagre. There are, indeed, associated with the festival of the national patron only two main customs which appear to derive from older tradition, namely, the wearing of an emblem or symbol, and the 'drowning of the shamrock'. The first of these, the wearing of an emblem in honour of the saint and of his day is first noted by an English traveller in Ireland, Thomas Dinely, in his Journal which appears to have been written in 1681. He says: 'The 17th day of March yeerly is St Patrick's, an immoveable feast when the Irish of all stations and condicions wore crosses in their hats, some of pins, some of green ribbon, and the vulgar superstitiously wear shamroges, 3-leaved grass, which they likewise eat (they say) to cause a sweet breath. The common people and servants also demand their Patrick's groat of their masters, which they goe expressly to town, though half a dozen miles off, to spend, where sometimes it amounts to a piece of 8 or cobb a piece, and very few of the zealous are found sober at night.' He does not explain why he regards the wearing of the shamrock as superstitious while inferring that the displaying of the cross is not, but he does seem to indicate some kind of social distinction between the two emblems - people of 'all stations' wear crosses, while only the 'vulgar' sport the shamrock. In 1908 we learn from the Journal of the Kildare Archaeological Society, that only girls and small children still wore the crosses in Dublin and Kildare. LADY DAY 25 March, the feast of the Annunciation, was a Holiday of Obligation on which the Lenten fast was relaxed although there was in Ireland no extensive merry-making as on St Patrick's Day. It had some legal significance for , until Britain belatedly accepted Pope Gregory's calendar in 1752, the year began officially on 25 March, which was thus of importance as regards contracts, leases, rents and so on. Apart, however, from its religious and legal significance, it had little effect on popular tradition. High winds were expected on this day, and if it coincided with Easter Sunday people feared that the following harvest would be poor, with consequent of food. THE BORROWED DAYS According to the old story AN tSEAN-BH RIABHACH, the old Brindled Cow, boasted that even the rigours of March could not kill her, whereupon March borrowed three days from April, and, using these with redoubled fury, killed and skinned the poor old cow. Henceforth the first three days of April traditionally bring very bad weather and are known as Laethanta na Riabhaiche, 'The Reehy Days,' 'the Borrowed (or Borrowing) Days', the Skinning Days' and other names. Some people reckoned the days in the Old Style, thus Amhlaoibh O Silleabhin in 1827: 'This, the twelfth day of April, is the first of the three days of the old brindled cow, namely three days which the weather of Old March took from the beginning of Old April.' In parts of the north of Ireland the story was more elaborate, with nine borrowed days instead of three: TRI L LOMARTHA AN LOINN TRI L SGIUTHANTA AN CHLAIBHREIN, AGUS TRI L NA B RIABHAIGHTE. (Three days for fleecing the black-bird, Three days of punishment for the stone-chatter, And three days for the grey cow.) 'The first nine days of April are called the "borrowing days". The old legend relates that the black-bird, the stone-chatter, and the grey cow bid defiance to March after his days were over; and that, to punish their insolence, he begged of April nine of his days, three for each of them, for which he repaid nine of his own.' (Ulster Journal of Archaeology, 1861 -2). MAY DAY May Day, the first day of Summer, was a most important landmark in the Irish countryman's year. It was a 'gale day', when his tenancy began or ended, on which a half-year's rent must be paid to the landlord; The letting and grazing and meadowing usually dated from 1 May, and farm servants and workmen were hired at this time. Signs of the weather, the appearance of the sky and of the May moon, the strength and direction of the wind, the amount of rain, were all carefully noted on May Day as indications of the coming summer's weather. In different parts of the country it was held that one should not dig, whitewash, bathe or sail on May Day, the various explanations given for these prohibitions indicate on the one hand a reluctance to engage in any activity which might seem to have a magical purpose and on the other a feeling that danger was to be avoided at a time when ill-luck or evil influence might prevail. In Ireland the principal customs and ceremonies of Maytime were those which welcomed the Summer. Whatever the origin of these, they were in recent centuries mainly of festive character, an opportunity for merrymaking and holiday fun. Nevertheless there lay behind them a slight element of the magical. The children set up their May bush in the same spirit in which the grown ups hang out our flags on a national holiday, to celebrate an occasion, but some, at least, of their parents were glad of the feeling of protection against unseen forces which the May bush gave. WHITSUNTIDE In the Irish tradition Whit Sunday (Pentecost) is a very unlucky day, a day on which all precautions must be taken against accident and ill fortune. Nobody should engage in any dangerous occupation nor should anyone set out on a journey. People, especially children, who are ill, are more likely to die at this time than at others. In parts of the midlands a counter-charm to this evil influence was the laying of a green sod on the head of the sufferer; by this mimicry of burial it was hoped that ultimely death was warded off. MIDSUMMER The midsummer ceremonies were almost all connected with the Midsummer fire, and in the greater part of Ireland were observed on 23 June, the eve of the feast of St John the Baptist. In several parts of north Connaught and west Ulster the story is told that St John was martyred by being burned alive, and that the Midsummer fires lighted on St John's Eve, are in pious commemoration of the saint's death. See also: MIDSUMMER. THE FIRST OF THE HARVEST This was a favourite time for patterns at blessed wells and other local shrines. In this it resembles other great festivals, but a number of these, held upon heights, are apparently connected with the hill gatherings. In THE FESTIVAL OF LUGHNASA, Mire Mac Neill lists and describes thirteen of these, as well as eighty blessed wells venerated at this time; See also: LUGHNASAD. # 174 IRISH CELTIC MAGICAL TRADITION, THE There is a wealth of written material still available today which is equal in its spiritual content to the well-known works of the East such as the UPANISHADS, the TAO TE CHING, the BHAGAVAD GITA, the Egyptian BOOK OF THE DEAD and the plethora of other such works very mush in vogue among today's students of things spiritual and magical. The difference is that whereas most Eastern philosophies are nowadays easily accessible mainly as a result of the wealth of books written about them which explain their more subtle points - their Western equivalents are couched in the form of stories and legends which, on the surface, appear to be no more than barbaric and fantastic accounts of rather brutal battles and the goings-on of extremely dubious characters. Consequently such works have been largely ignored by those on magical or spiritual quests, and it is very difficult to obtain any form of instruction or interpretation concerning these legends, either in written or oral form. This situation has been changing in recent years, however. There has been an upsurge of interest in the Arthuriad, the Welsh Mabinogi legends and the Matter of Britain generally. The term 'Western Mystery Tradition' has been coined to cover these areas of native research and study, and readers of Steve Blamires' book: THE IRISH CELTIC MAGICAL TRADITION will in its Bibliography find a huge list of recommended works, which have been written by authors who have not only deeply studied the Western Mystery Tradition but are also active practitioners of it. There is, however, another even more ancient and powerful system still extant in the West; details of it are to be found in the surviving legends of the Irish Celts, legends which have been preserved in ancient manuscripts and, to a certain extent, in the living oral tradition of Ireland and the West of Scotland. Several such Irish Celtic legends contain within them the seeds of the whole Celtic philosophy in general, and each individual legend demonstrates specific points and aspects of this Irish tradition in detail. Blamires' book concentrate on an examination of the ancient Irish legend of THE BATTLE OF MOYTURA. This legend contains within it the essence of the Irish Celtic spiritual and magical system as well as a great deal of practical instruction and information on the various techniques and attitudes needed to live successfully both in this world and in the Otherworld. In order to understand and appreciate fully the contents of this ancient Irish allegory it is necessary to put aside temporarily one's modern way of thinking and outlook on life and to adopt, as far as possible, the same way of thinking and understanding as was used by the ancient Irish Celts, who put this unique system together originally over two thousand years ago. To do this, two main changes in attitude have to be adopted which will help to open up a deeper understanding of the incredible of this seemingly simple tale of battles and magical feats. The first major change necessary is to do away with one's normal concept of linear time, the neat and orderly flow of events, one after the other, in a straightforward and to a certain extent predictable manner. The events described in THE BATTLE OF MOYTURA seem to the modern mind to jump forwards and backwards in time and, in some places, to be outside the effect of time altogether. This does not matter. Simply accept such passages as they are and do not try to fit them into our modern concept of time which dictates that everything must follow the neat order of Start - Middle - End. Our modern concept of linear time is very inaccurate; once this is understood and accepted a great deal of apparently puzzling or meaningless information becomes very clear and valuable. The second change in thinking, and probably the most important, is to look upon everything, absolutely everything, as existing on three distinct yet interlocking levels. These levels, for ease of reference, is called the physical level the mental level, and the spiritual level. This tripartite outlook on life is crucial to a true understanding of the Celtic philosophy and magical system, and if one can adopt this attitude initially without questioning it, then it will soon become obvious why it is necessary, and why it is in fact the most accurate way to view this world, the Otherworld, and all that both contain. The truth behind this, according to Steve Blamires, will become apparent as the inner meanings of the text are explained. See also: BATTLE OF MOYTURA, THE. # 75 IRISH ELK Fossil remains of the 'Irish Elk' from prehistoric times portray an animal six feet high with horns that sometimes measured eleven feet between the tips. The belief has persisted that this creature became extinct because its antlers were so cumbersome. This is not true. It died out because of the climate. Furthermore the Irish elk was not an elk but a species of deer. It lived not only in Ireland, but in Great Britain, northern and central Europe, and western Asia. # 118 IRISH KINGS, TALES OF THE TRADITIONAL Many of the most interesting early Irish tales deal, not with Finn and his companions, the Ulster heroes, or Ireland's early settlers, but with traditional kings of Ireland or with persons connected with them. These kings are by no means all fictitious. The existence of many of them is duly attested by historical evidence. Upon their historical deeds there has, however, often been engrafted such a mass of legend that truth is hardly distinguishable from fiction. Though these stories do not fall into any one of the main cycles of early Irish literature, we should recall that some of them come from an authentically ancient period and may originally have formed parts of other cycles that have now all but disappeared. Certainly Irish literature would be much the poorer without the spirited accounts of the Lepracaun king and of the king cured of his gluttony by the ruse of a wandering cleric. # 166 IRISH LANGUAGE, THE Documents in Irish using the normal Roman alphabet do not begin until after Christianity had been accepted by the greater part of the people of Ireland. Omitting ogham inscriptions, the earliest contemporary records to survive are glosses and marginalia in manuscripts which have been preserved on the Continent. The most important of these are the mid-eight-century glosses, or annotations, on a text of the Epistles of Paul in the Codex Paulinus at Wrzburg, and the ninth century glosses on a commentary on the Psalms in the Codex Ambrosianus at Milan. This fairly substantial body of writing is the product of a culture which Christianity and Latin learning have permeated: (i) although some native terms were available from the ogham tradition, a whole new vocabulary relating to literacy had been introduced into Irish from Latin; (ii) religious and ecclesiastical terms had, of course, been freely adopted; (iii) furthermore Irish society had been introduced to ideas and artefacts well removed from the core of Christian concepts and organisation (see Table below). As in modern literary English, all the words in an Irish sentence in these texts may be of Latin derivation: ro-lgsat canin fetarlaici 'they have read the Old Testament text'; lg- from the Latin lego; canin from Latin canon, fetarlaic- from an inflicted form (e.g. veteri legi) of the phrase vetus lex 'old law'. On the other hand, the traditional vocabulary may be entirely adequate for the expression of some concepts associated with the new learning: ar-ecar a n-ainm i ndiitius ocus ni arecar in Briathar acht i gcomsuiddigud 'The noun is found in simplex, and the verb is found only in compound'. TABLE: A sample of words of Latin origin in Old Irish (Old Irish spelling) Irish Latin English (i) terms related to literacy lebor liber book lgaid legit reads line linea line litir litera letter scribaid scribit writes (ii) religious and ecclesiastical terms aingel angelus angel altir altaria altar bendacht benedictio blessing caindleir candelarius candle-stand demon daemon demon eclais vespor vesper grd gradus order ifern infernus hell maldacht maledictio curse orit oratio prayer peccad peccatum sin relic reliquiae cemetery riagol regula rule sacart sacerdos priest umaldit humilitas (-atis) humility (iii) various other terms brc barca boat cathair cathedra chair cucann cocina kitchen metur metrium wooden vessel muilenn molinum mill saiget sagitta arrow sorn furnus furnace ungae uncia ounce The monks who wrote the glosses sometimes disgressed from their study and annotation of texts to pen verses which they had either composed themselves, or were part of their contemporary literary repertoire: Dom-Farcai Fidbaide Fl, Fom-chain Loid Luin - Lad Nd Cl as mo Lebrn, ind Linech, Fom-chain Trirech inna n-n. - 'A screen of woodland overlooks me, a blackbird's lay sings to me - I will not decline to mention it above my little book, the lined one, the twittering of the birds sings to me'. The fact is that these scholars were not succumbing to another, more powerful, culture. They were, on the contrary, the confident bearers of a vigorous tradition which, as they saw it, was through their mediation being enriched by the new religion and new learning. They were proud of the victory of Christianity and, with Oengus writing in the year 800 or so, could boast: Ro-milled in genntlecht ciarbo ligdae lethan 'Paganism has been destroyed though it was splendid and widespread'. They did evidently regard the native cultural heritage as worthy of interest and, as many of them were no doubt direct heirs to the traditional learning, it is not surprising that they devoted some of their new literary scholarship to making a record of the secular literature. The result is that Ireland possesses in the Irish language, as N. K. Chadwick, the well-known English scholar, says, 'a greater wealth of carefully preserved oral tradition from the earliest period of our era than any other people in Europe north of the Alps. For this reason the foundation of her early history from traditional materials is of general interest far beyond her geographical and political area, and second only to that of the ancient Greek and Roman world'. # 488 IRNAN Lays Finn under geise to engage in single combat; She was one of three magical hag sisters who sought to enchant the Fianna. Irnan changed into the shape of a monster and challenged any of the troop to fight with her. Fionn accepted but Goll intervened and killed her. # 454 - 562 IRON, COLD A knife, or a cross of iron, are sovereign protections against witchcraft and evil magic of all kinds. A pair of open scissors hung above a child's cradle is said to protect it from being carried off by the fairies. It is a dual protection because it is in the form of a cross, and is also made of steel. See also: PROTECTION AGAINST FAIRIES. # 100 IRON-AGE SHIP The ship a well-recognised form of sepulchral enclosure in cemeteries of the Iron-age. # 562 IRONSIDE The name of the Red Knight of the Red Lands, defeated by Gareth. He became a Knight of the Round Table and was father of Sir Raynbrown. # 156 - 418 ISCA LEGIONIS (Isca Legionum). See: CITY OF THE LEGION. ISEO In Spanish romance, the daughter of Tristan who married King Juan of Castile. See: TRISTAN THE YOUNGER. # 156 - 210 ISEULT 1. The daughter of King Anguish of Ireland who was married to King Mark of Cornwall, but also, as the result of drinking a love potion, hopelessly enamoured of Tristan. When she heard of Tristan's death, she died of a broken heart. Her name is not Irish, but derived from Ancient British Adsiltia (she who is gazed on). Attempts to associate her with Chapelizod, Dublin, are due to a false derivation of that place name. 2. Tristan's wife, whom he married when he had parted with Iseult of Ireland, was called Iseult of the White Hands. She is variously called the daughter of Hoel of Brittany and Jovelin, Duke of Aroundel. Tristan had nothing to do with her, as he still loved Iseult of Ireland, a fact she naturally resented. When Tristan was fatally wounded, he sent for Iseult of Ireland, hoping she could heal him. The ship sent for her was to have white sails if she were aboard on its return, but black sails if she had declined to come. Iseult of the White Hands, seeing the ship had white sails, lied about them to Tristan who died before his beloved's arrival, as a result of hearing the falsehood. There seem to be classical influences here - the stories of Paris and Oenone and of Theseus and Aegeus. The Icelandic version of the story says the second Iseult was Spanish and claims she was given to Tristan when he defeated the King of Spain. 3. The name of Tristan's god-daughter. 4. The Queen of Ireland, mother of Iseult, wife of Mark. # 61 - 104 - 156 - 204 - 217 - 256 ISLAND The western paradise island had many names: Isles of the Blest, Fortunate Isles, or Avalon, the Celts' Apple Isle that supported the Tree of Life. Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote: 'The Isle of Apples was also called Fortunate Isle, because all the vegetation grew there naturally with no need of cultivation... nine sisters ruled over it... and one of them surpassed all the others in beauty and power. Her name was Morgan and she taught how plants could be used to cure illness. She knew the art of changing her outward form and could fly through the air.' The GESTE REGUM BRITANNIAE said it was an island in the midst of the ocean, where people were always young, and there was no sickness, crime, war, or uncomfortable weather. 'A royal virgin, fairer than the fairest, governed that island.' Celtic island paradises were always ruled by women. The island's Cauldron of Regeneration was sought, in Celtic lore, by the god Bran or Maelduin, who went on a voyage to the western land of immortality, known as the Land of Women. He was later restyled by the Irish church into a mythical Saint Brendan, abbot of Clonfert. A spurious life of the saint was produced in the tenth century, five hundred years after his purported lifetime. There he was said to have voyaged westward in search of a magic Land of Promise. Where the earlier heroes went in search of the Land of Women, Saint Brendan went in search of paradise, showing that the land of Women is the Celtic conception of heaven. Such was the perception of sexuality as a regenerative, divine force to be channeled through women - until ascetic patriarchy relegated all such ideas to the realm of heresy and witchcraft. It is interesting to note that the semipagan ballads of the folksingers named Fairyland as neither heaven nor hell in the Christian sense, but a different place altogether. # 701 p 341 ff ISLAND OF THE EAGLE Voyage of Maelduin. Island 29. Commentary. This island brings the experience of complete renewal. The ancient eagle is restored to full vigour and is able to fly away as strong as any young bird. Diurn shares in the healing bounty of the berry-reddened lake and proclaims his experience to all people he meets thereafter by the amazing youthfullness of his form. It is often remarked that those who engage in spiritual pursuits remain miraculously youthful in appearance. This is part of the otherworldly exchange: those who uphold the harmony of the inner realms are themselves upheld by otherworldly powers in the mundane realm. # 437 p 55 ISLANDS - VOYAGE OF MAELDUIN Voyage of Maelduin. Strange adventures of Maelduin and his companions on wonderful Islands; Island of the Slayer; of the Ants; of the Great Birds; of the Fierce Beast; of the Giant Horses; of the Stone Door; of the Apples; of the Wondrous Beast; of the Biting Horses; of the Fiery Swine; of the Little Cat; of the Black and White Sheep; of the Giant Cattle; of the Mill; of the Black Mourners; of the Four Fences; of the Glass Bridge; of the Shouting Birds; of the Anchorite; of the Miraculous Fountain; of the Smithy; of the Sea of Clear Glass; of the Undersea; of the Prophesy; of the Spouting Water; of the Silvern Column; of the Pedestal; of the Women; of the Red Berries; of the Eagle; of the Laughing Folk; of the Flaming Rampart; of the Monk of Tory; of the Falcon. # 562 ISLANDS OF THE DEAD See: MANANAN. ISLE OF LIFE A place, possibly identical with the Isle of Wight, where the ancient British kings Gaddifer and Perceforest enjoyed a prolonged existence. # 156 - 198 ISLE OF MAN Supposed throne of Mananan. # 562 ITALY, NORTHERN Celts conquer Northern Italy from Etruscans; Murgen and Eimena sent to Northern Italy by Sanchan Torpest, to discover the 'Tain'. # 562 ITH # 562: Son of Bregon, grandfather of Miled; shores of Ireland perceived by Ith from Tower of Bregon; learns of Neit's slaying; welcomed by Mac Cuill and his brothers; put to death by the three Danaan Kings. # 454: He sailed from Spain to arbitrate in a quarrel about the division of Ireland between three kings of the Tuatha de Danaan. So eloquent was his speech, that they feared he might seek to be king himself, and so he was killed. Miled set out to avenge his uncle. # 454 - 469 - 562 ITHER Arthur's cousin, the son of Uther's sister, he had been raised by his uncle and became the King of Kukumarlant. He claimed Arthur's throne and stole a golden cup from him. He was killed by Perceval. # 156 - 748 ITONJE A sister of Gawain who married King Gramoflanz. # 156 - 748 IUBAR MAC RIANGABRA See: RIANGABAR. IUBDAN (youb-dan). King of the Wee Folk; Bebo, wife of Iubdan; Bebo and Iubdan visit King Fergus in Ulster. # 562 IUCHABAR (yew-ha-var) One of three sons of Turenn; Brigit, mother of Iucharba. Brother of Brian mac Tuirenn, who slew Cian, Lugh's father. # 454 - 562 IUCHAR ( ew-har) One of three sons of Turenn; Brigit, mother of Iuchar. Brother of Brian mac Tuirenn, who slew Cian, Lugh's father. # 454 - 562 IVOINE The original name, in French romance, of Moine (Constans). # 156 IVOIRE The sister of Ban who married King Constantine of Britain. They had three children: Ivoine (Constans), Pandragon (Ambrosius) and Uther. # 156 IVOR A huntsman who raised Meriadoc. # 156 IWERET The father of Iblis, wife of Lancelot, in Ulrich. He was the lord of Beforet. He raided the territory of Mabuz, Lancelot's foster-brother, and Lancelot subsequently killed him. He may be of Celtic origin, from Ywerit, the father of Bran, or is possibly identical with Ibert. # 156 - 686 JACK IN THE GREEN (The Hidden One - The Cylenchar) The Woodland spirit who, like the Wood-Wose or Wild Herdsman, guards the greenwood. He appears in many kinds of folk art, as a multi-foliate head peering through the keaves. Like the Sheela na Gig, he was especially portrayed in church decoration, usually as a roof-boss, where he was a constant reminder of earlier beliefs. See also: GREEN MAN. # 441 - 454 JACK THE GIANT KILLER A hero of nursery tales, who was thought to have flourished in Arthur's time. He commenced his career by killing a giant whom he trapped in a pit. He was then captured by the giant Blunderboar, but he killed him and his brothers. He also tricked a Welsh giant into killing himself. He became a servant of King Arthur's son and in the course of his service, obtained a cap of knowledge, a wonderful sword, shoes of swiftness and a cap of invisibility. He continued to kill giants and eventually married a duke's daughter. He was given a noble dwelling by Arthur. There is no evidence that Jack was a genuine hero of early tales, but he may be a composite of several such, invented around 1700. # 156 - 511 JAPAN Like in India, Dolmens are found as far as in Japan. # 562 JAUFR This character, possibly identical with Griflet, is the hero of a romance bearing his name which tells how Taulat came to Arthur's court, killed a knight in front of the queen and said he would return each year to do the same. Jaufr was sent after him and, following various adventures, defeated him. Jaufr married Brunissen, whom Taulat had made to suffer. See also: GRIFLET. # 30 - 156 JEANNIE OF BIGGERSDALE An evil spirit of the North Riding of Yorkshire who lived at the head of the Mulgrave Woods in Biggersdale. She was much dreaded, but one night a bold young farmer, rather flown with wine, betted that he would rouse her from her haunt. He rode up to Mulgrave Wood and called to her to come out. She answered angrily: 'I'm coming.' He made for the stream with her hard on his heels. Just as he got to the water she smote at his horse and cut it clean in two. He shot over the horse's head and landed safe on the far side, but the hindquarters of the poor beast fell on Jeannie's side of the stream. # 100 JEFFERIES, ANNE The affair of Anne Jefferies of St Teath in Cornwall and the fairies caused a great stir, even in the troubled times of the English Civil War. It is better documented than many other cases, which appeared only in pamphlets. There was even a letter about her in the Clarendon Manuscripts as early as March 1647, and in 1696, while Anne was still alive, Moses Pitt, the son of Anne's old master and mistress, wrote a printed letter to the Bishop of Gloucester in which he gives an account of Anne Jefferies' later life and of his early memories. Moses Pitt was only a boy when Anne, at the age of nineteen, came into service to his parents. In 1645 she fell into a fit, and was ill after it for some time, but when she recovered she declared that she had been carried away by the fairies, and in proof of this she showed strange powers of clairvoyance and could heal by touch. The first she healed was her mistress. Anne told of some of her fairy experiences, and these are retold by Hunt in POPULAR ROMANCES OF THE WEST ENGLAND. # 100 - 331 JEROME, SAINT Attestation of Saint Jerome on Celtic State of Galatia. # 562 JESCHUT In the story of Perceval we learn that his mother had told him to demand a kiss or a jewel from any lady he met. Chrtien tells us that, coming on a girl in a tent, Perceval demanded both. Wolfram gives us further information about the girl: her name was Jeschut and she was the daughter of King Lac and therefore a sister of Erec. Her husband was Orilus, Duke of Lalander. # 156 - 748 JESUS CHRIST Legend credits Joseph of Arimathea with bringing his young nephew, Jesus, to Britain in the course of one of his many trade-visits to these shores in search of Cornish tin. This is the source for William Blake's JERUSALEM: 'And did those feet in ancient time/Walk upon England's mountains green?' It is remarkable that all legends concerning Christ's connections with Britain should revolve around his youth and his death. The main relics of the Crucifixion were said to have been brought to Glastonbury by Joseph of Arimathea, thus establishing the Christian tradition and associations with the native Grail cult. # 454 JOAN GO-TO-'T The mother of Merlin in the Elisabethan play THE BIRTH OF MERLIN (published 1662, but written earlier), in whose composition Shakespeare may have had a hand. If so, it is possible that he was helped by W. Rowley (died 1626), although Rowley may well have written the entire play. # 156 JOHFRIT DE LIEZ The trainer of Lancelot as a warrior during his sojourn in Maidenland. # 156 - 686 JOHN'S WORT, SAINT This (Hypericum) is one of the most beneficent of the magic herbs, protecting equally against fairies and the Devil. Sir Walter Scott gives a rhyme spoken by a demon lover who could not approach a girl because she was carrying Saint John's wort and verbena: 'If you would be true love mine, Throw away John's Wort and Verbein.' See also: PROTECTION AGAINST FAIRIES. # 100 - 585 JOHN, IVOR, B. His opinion of Celtic mystical writings: 'All idea of a bardic esoteric doctrine involving pre-Christian mythic philosophy must be utterly discarded... The nonsense talked upon the subject is largely due to the uncritical invention of pseudo-antiquaries of the sixteenth to seventeenth and eighteenth centuries'. # 562 JOINT-EATER The name given by Kirk to what the Irish call 'Alp-Luachra'; but, according to Kirk, this Joint-eater is a kind of fairy who sits invisibly beside his victim and shares his food with him. In THE SECRET COMMONWEALTH he says: They avouch that a Heluo, or Great-eater, hath a voracious Elve to be his attender, called a Joint-eater or Just-halver, feeding on the Pith or Quintessence of what the Man eats; and that therefoir he continues Lean like a Hawke or Heron, notwithstanding his devouring Appetite. In Ireland this phenomenon is accounted for by the man having swallowed a newt when sleeping outside by a running stream. In Douglas Hyde's BESIDE THE FIRE, there is a detailed account of a man infested by a pregnant Alp-Luachra, and the method by which he was cleared of the thirteen Alp-Luachra by Mac Dermott the Prince of Coolavin. In all the stories the method is the same: the patient is forced to eat a great quantity of salt beef without drinking anything, and is made to lie down with his mouth open above a stream, and after a long wait the Alp-Luachra will come out and jump into the stream to quench their thirst. But this is folk-medicine, not fairylore; it is Kirk who attributes the unnatural hunger to an Elf. See: ELVES. # 100 - 333 - 370 JONAANS An ancestor of Lancelot, noted for his virtue, he left Britain and went to Gaul where he married the daughter of King Maronex, from whom he obtained his kingdom. # 156 - 434 - 604 JONAS See: CUNOMORUS, and MARK. JONES, BRYNMOR Findings of Brynmor Jones on origin of populations of Great Britain and Ireland. Approaching the subject from the linguistic side, Rhys and Brynmor Jones find that the African origin - at least proximately - of the primitive population of Great Britain and Ireland is strongly suggested. It is here shown that the Celtic languages preserve in their syntax the Hamitic, and especially the Egyptian type. From THE WELSH PEOPLE pp 616-664, where the subject is fully discussed, in an appendix by Professor J. Morris Jones: 'The pre-Aryan idioms which still live in Welsh and Irish were derived from a language allied to Egyptian and the Berber tongues.' # 562 JORAM In Wirnt von Grafenberg's WIGALOIS (a medieval manuscript), a king who left Guinevere a magic girdle, saying she could regard it as a present or else, if she preferred, he would come and fight for it. She asked him to do the latter. Joram came and defeated several champions, but to one of them, Gawain, he presented it. Gawain married Joram's niece Florie. # 156 - 746 JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA To the biblical data about him romance adds the following: He was a soldier of Pilate who gave him the cup from the Last Supper. After the Resurrection, he was thrown into a dungeon where Jesus appeared to him and gave him the cup which had fallen out of his possession. After the fall of Jerusalem to Vespasian's army, he was set free and, with his sister Enygeus and her husband, Hebron or Bron, went into exile with a group of fellow travellers. They began to suffer from a lack of food owing to sin, so they held a banquet. Those amongst the company who were not sinners were filled with the sweetness of the cup of Jesus, the Grail. Bron and Enygeus had twelve sons, eleven of whom married. The twelfth, Alan, did not, so he was put in charge of his siblings, and they went out and preached Christianity. Bron was told to become a fisherman and was called the Rich Fisher. In Robert's version, Joseph entrusted the Grail to Bron, but did not accompany him to Britain. Elsewhere, we are told that Joseph crossed to Britain on a miraculous shirt. We are also informed that he and his followers converted the city of Sarras, ruled by King Evelake who, having become a Christian, was able to defeat his enemy, King Tholomer. According to the various sources, the city of Sarras is located either in the East (Asia), or else in Britain. It may have been thought of as the place from which the Saracens derived their name. (It is not known outside romance.) John of Glastonbury claims that Joseph brought two cruets containing the blood and sweat of Jesus to Britain, but he does not mention the Grail. The romance SONE DE NAUSAY says that Joseph drove the Saracens out of Norway, married the pagan king's daughter and became king himself. God made him powerless and the land became blighted. Fishing was his only pleasure and men came to call him the Fisher King. At last he was cured by a knight. He provided for the foundation of the Grail Castle-cum-Monastery with thirteen monks, typifying Christ and his twelve apostles. The interpolations of William of Malmesbury's HISTORY OF GLASTONBURY say Joseph was sent to Britain by Saint Philip who was preaching in Gaul. With regard to Gaul, there is a tradition which says that, with Mary Magdalene, Lazarus, Martha and others, Joseph was placed in an oarless boat which was divinely guided to Marseilles. J. W. Taylor says there is an Aquitanian legend that says Joseph was one of a party which landed at Limoges in the first century and that there is a Spanish tale relating how Joseph, with Mary Magdalene, Lazarus and others, went to Aquitaine. Taylor also cites a Breton tradition that Drennalus, first bishop of Treguier, was a disciple of Joseph. Taylor adduces these traditions as part of an attempt to show that Joseph came first to Gaul, then to Britain. It is worth noting, however, that the tradition of Mary Magdalene and Lazarus coming to Marseilles is not now regarded seriously by most hagiologists. - Joseph was said, not only to have come to Britain, but to have settled at Glastonbury where he was given land by King Arviragus. A local tradition, perhaps not older than the nineteenth century says he buried the cup of the Last Supper above the spring in Glastonbury and hence the water had a red tinge. A tradition amongst certain metalworkers was that, sometime before the Crucifixion, Joseph actually brought Jesus and Mary to Cornwall. Benjamin suggests that Joseph may be identical with Joachim, the father of the Virgin Mary in the PROTEVANGELIUM OF JAMES, an apocryphal work; but the two names are quite distinct in origin. In the ESTOIRE Joseph is given a son, Josephe. In SONE DE NAUSAY he had a son named Adam, while Coptic tradition claims he had a daughter, Saint Josa. To conclude this chapter we will observe that the very first page of Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum contains an account which assumes the truth of the legend of the arrival in Britain of Joseph of Arimathea, as well as of several other statements in John of Glastonbury. It is there fore worth while to quote it in connection with the present subject. # 779: Dugdale's account commences as follows: "About sixty-three years after the Incarnation of our Lord, St Joseph of Arimathea, accompanied by eleven other disciples of St Philip, was despatched by that Apostle into Britain, to introduce in the place of barbarous and bloody rites, long exercised by the bigotted and besotted druids, the meak and gentle system of Christianity. They succeeded in obtaining from Arviragus, the British king, permission to settle in a small island, then rude and uncultivated, and to each of the twelve was assigned for his subsistence, a certain portion of land called a hide, comprising a district, denominated to this day THE TWELVE HIDES OF GLASTON. Their boundaries, as well as the names of the principal places contained in them, will be found in the Appendix (i.e. the Appendix to the Monasticon). They enjoyed all the immunities of regal dignity, from ancient times and the first establishment of christianity in this land. One peculiar privilege which this church possessed by the grant of king Canute, was that no subject could enter this district without the permission of the abbot and convent. It now includes the following parishes; Glastonbury St Benedict, Glastonbury St John, Baltonsbury, Bradley, Mere, WestPennard, and North-Wotton. "The name by which the island was distinguished by the Britons was Ynswytryn, or the Glassy Island, from the colour of the stream which surrounded it. Afterwards it obtained the name of Avallon, either from Aval, an apple, in which fruit it abounded; or from Avallon, a British chief, to whom it formerly belonged. The Saxons finally called it Glsting-byrig. Here St Joseph, who is considered by the monkish historians as the first abbot, erected, to the honour of the Virgin Mary, of wreathed twigs, the first Christian oratory in England." # 24 - 156 - 261 - 320 - 392 - 418 - 604 - 779 JOSEPHE The son of Joseph of Arimathea, first mentioned in the ESTOIRE. When Joseph and his followers crossed the sea to Britain the pure ones did so on Josephe's outspread shirt. He consecrated Alan his successor as Grail Keeper and was buried in Scotland. The QUESTE, however, has him living long enough to give Communion to Galahad. # 156 - 604 JOSHUA 1. The son of Brons and nephew of Joseph of Arimathea. He married the daughter of King Kalafes of the Terre Foraine, of which he later became king. He succeeded his brother Alan as guardian of the Grail. 2. The son of Helaius he is recorded as an ancestor of Arthur according to the pedigree of John of Glastonbury. # 156 - 344 - 604 JOVELIN In Gottfried, the Duke of Arundel and father of Iseult of the White Hands. # 156 - 256 JOYCE, DR. P. W. Reference in Rolleston's CELTIC MYTH AND LEGENDS to Dr. P. W. Joyce's 'Old Celtic Romances'. To a tale like that of Deirdre and Grania the modern taste demands a romantic and sentimental ending; and such has actually been given to it in the retelling by Dr P. W. Joyce in his OLD CELTIC ROMANCES, as it has to this tale by almost every modern writer who has handled it. According to Rolleston, Dr John Todhunter, in his THREE IRISH BARDIC TALES, of modern writers alone, has kept the antique ending of the tale of Deirdre. # 562 JOYOUS GARD Lancelot's castle in the north of England, which he captured. After he had rescued her, he took Guinevere there. It was originally called Dolorous Gard and later reverted to that name. # 156 - 418 JUBAINVILLE, M. Many references in Rolleston's CELTIC MYTH AND LEGENDS to M. Jubainville as interpreter and translator regarding Celtic traditions. # 562 JUDWAL See: MARK. JULAIN In PERLESVAUS, the husband of Yglais and mother of Perceval. # 112 - 156 KADIEN An ancestor of Arthur in the maternal pedigree found in the Welsh BONEDD YR ARWR. # 156 KADWR A paternal ancestor of Arthur in the Mostyn MS 117. # 156 KAHEDRIN The son of Hoel of Brittany. Tristan was his bosom friend and married his sister, Iseult of the White Hands. Kahedrin, however, fell in love with Iseult of Ireland and wrote letters and poems to her. She replied innocently, but Tristan misunderstood and Kahedrin had to jump from a window to avoid his wrath, landing on a chess game which Mark was playing below. Kahedrin eventually died of love for Iseult. # 64 - 156 - 256 KAI (Kay, or in Welsh, Cai) King Arthur's seneschal; accompanies Culhwch (Kilhwch) on his quest for Olwen; He refuses Peredur when the latter came to Arthur's Court, and rudely repulsed him for his rustic appearance. See: KAY. # 562 KALAALLIT NUNAAT See: GREENLAND. KALAFES King of Terre Foraine who was cured of leprosy by Alan, son of Bron. He became a Christian and took the baptismal name of Alfasein. His daughter married Joshua, another son of Bron. Kalafes was speared through the thighs for watching the Grail service and died shortly afterwards. # 156 - 604 KALEGRAS In the Icelandic TRISTRAMS SAGA, the name of Tristan's father and also Tristan's son by Iseult of the White Hands, his wife. It is said that the younger Kalegras eventually became King of England. # 156 - 355 KANAHINS Lancelot's squire. # 156 - 712 KAPALU See: CATH PALUG. KARADAWC See: KARADOC. KARADOC An ancestor of Arthur found in two pedigrees in the Welsh BONEDD YR ARWR. He is presumably the same as Kradoc and Karadawc found in other manuscripts. # 156 KATE CRACKERNUTS In Briggs ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FAIRIES, I found this very unusual Orcadian tale, which she in turn had from D. J. Robertson who had collected and published it in FOLK-LORE (sept. 1890). It is a tale of enchantment and disenchantment, and the fairy power to draw humans into their hills and to wear out their lives with dancing. Once upon a time there was a king and a queen, and they each had a daughter called Kate. But the king's Kate was far bonnier than the queen's Kate, and the queen was jealous of her stepdaughter's beauty and determined to spoil it, but the two Kates loved each other dearly. So the queen went to the hen-wife, her wicked crony, and took council with her. 'Send the bonny burd to me one morning, first thing,' said the hen-wife, 'and I'll spoil her beauty for her.' So next day the queen sent the king's Kate down to the hen-wife to fetch a basket of eggs for their breakfast. It happened that Kate was hungry, and as she passed the kitchen she snatched up a bannock and munched it on her way. She came to the hen-wife's, and asked for the eggs. 'Go in hen and lift the lid of the pot while I get them,' said the hen-wife. The king's Kate lifted the lid, and a great steam rose up, but she was none the worse for that. 'Go home to your minnie,' said the hen-wife, 'and tell her to keep her larder door better snibbit.' Next day the queen saw Kate as far as the palace door; but on the way to the hen-wife's she spoke to some reapers in the field, and they gave her some ears of corn, which she ate as she went. Again she went home scatheless, and then the hen-wife said: 'Tell your minnie that the pot winna boil if the fire's away.' The third day the queen went with her to the hen-wife's, and when Kate lifted the lid of the pot, a sheep's head rose out of it and fastened on her shoulders, covering her own pretty head. The queen was delighted, but the queen's Kate was very angry. She wrapped her sister's head in a linen cloth, and took her by the hand, and they went out together to seek their fortunes. They walked until they got to the next kingdom, and the queen's Kate went to the palace, and got work as a kitchen-maid, and leave to keep her sister in the attic. The eldest son of the king was very ill. No one knew what ailed him, and all who watched by his bed at night disappeared. When the queen's Kate heard this she offered to watch by his bed for a peck of silver. All was quiet till midnight; then the prince rose and dressed like one in a daze, and went out and mounted on his horse. Kate followed him, and jumped up behind him. They rode through a close wood of hazels, and Kate picked the nuts as she passed. Soon they came to a fairy mound, and the prince said: 'Let the prince in with his horse and hound,' and Kate said: 'And his fair lady him behind.' And a door opened in the hillside and let them in. Kate slipped off and hid behind the open door, but the prince went in and danced till he fainted with weakness. When dawn came he mounted his horse, and Kate climbed up behind him. Next night she offered to watch again for a peck of gold, and followed the prince as before. That night a little fairy boy was playing about among the dancers, astride of a silver wand. One of the dancers said to him: 'Tak tent o' that wand, for one stroke of it would give back the king's Kate her ain heid again.' When the queen's Kate heard that she began to roll the nuts she had gathered out, one by one, from behind the door, till the fairy child laid down the wand and went after them. Then she snatched it, and carried it with her when she rode back behind the prince. When the day came, and she could leave the prince, she ran up to her attic and touched the king's Kate with the wand, and her own looks came back to her, bonnier than ever. The third night Kate watched; but this night she must marry the prince for her reward. She followed the prince again, and this time the fairy child was playing with a little dead bird. 'Now mind,' said one of the dancers, 'not to lose that birdie; for three tastes of it, and the prince would be as well as ever he was.' When Kate heard that, she rolled out the nuts faster than before, and the fairy boy laid down the bird and went after them. As soon as they got home Kate plucked the bird and set it down to the fire to roast. At the first smell of it the prince sat up in bed and said: 'I could eat that birdie.' At the third mouthful he was as well as ever he had been; and he married Kate Crackernuts, and his brother married the king's Kate, and They lived happy, and they died happy, And they never drank from a dry cappie. KAY (In Welsh: Cai) Arthur's foster-brother, son of Ector. His name is often said to be a form of the Roman Caius, but it may be of Irish origin as suggested by R. Bromwich in TRIOEDD YNYS PRYDEIN. In earlier sources Kay was one of Arthur's doughtier champions but, in late romance, he is given a somewhat churlish character. Indeed, in PERLESVAUS, he murdered Arthur's son Loholt and joined Brian des Illes in a rebellion against Arthur. He claimed that it was he, not Arthur, who pulled the sword from the stone, but Ector compelled him to tell the truth. The obscure Welsh poem PA GUR may imply that he killed the Cath Palug. He married Andrivete, daughter of King Cador of Northumberland. Kay is credited with sons called Garanwyn and Gronosis and a daughter called Kelemon. His horse was named Gwinam Goddwf Hir. Geoffrey says he was made Duke of Anjou. In the CHRONIQUES D'ANJOU ET DU MAINE by J. de Bourdigne, we are told he was a Saxon who served Uther and hated other Saxons because, unlike them, he was a Christian. There are different accounts of his death: throughout Welsh literature it is claimed that he was killed by Gwyddawg who was, in turn, killed by Arthur; but he is also said to have been killed by the Romans or in the war against Mordred. See: CASTLE KEY, and GIANT OF ST MICHEL'S MOUNT. # 112 - 156 - 221 - 418 KEELTA MAC RONAN Summoned from the dead by Mongan; warrior and reciter, one of Finn's chief men; Finn whispers the tale of his enchantment to Keelta mac Ronan; Oisin and Keelta mac Ronan resolve to part; he meets St Patrick; assists Oisin bury Oscar. # 562 KEEVAN OF THE CURLING LOCKS Lover of Cleena (q.v). # 562 KEHYDIUS Form of Kahedrin used by Malory. # 156 KELEMON According to Welsh tradition, a daughter of Kay. # 156 KELLIWIC A Cornish stronghold of Arthur, it was possibly identical with Castle Killibury. Alternatively, it may have been Callington, Celliwith or Kelly Rounds. # 26 - 156 KELLS, THE BOOK OF 'Its weird and commanding beauty; its subdued and goldless colouring; the baffling intricacy of its fearless designs; the clean, unwavering sweep of rounded spiral; the creeping undulations of serpentine forms, that writhe in artistic profusion throughout the mazes of its decorations; the strong and legible minuscule of its text; the quaintness of its striking portraiture; the unwearied reverence and patient labour that brought it into being; all of which combined to make up the Book of Kells, have raised the ancient Irish volume to a position of abiding pre-eminence amongst the illuminated manuscripts of the world.' These were the beginning of the introduction to the Book of Kells, originally published by The Studio Ltd. in 1920, by Edward Sullivan. And it is almost by everyone recognized as the most brilliant and outstanding of all known illuminated manuscripts. Whether or not the famous Book of Kells, or as it is also called the Book of Colum Cille, was written and illuminated in the ancient town of Kells in County Meath in Ireland is a question still unsolved. The last few leaves of the Manuscript, which in all probability would have furnished us with full information as to scribe, illuminator, and place of origin, have been missing for many years. # 652 KELPIE The Kelpie or Each-Uisge was the best-known of the Scottish waterhorses which haunted rivers rather than lochs or the sea. He could assume the shape of a man, in which he appeared like a rough, shaggy man. In this shape he used sometimes to leap up behind a solitary rider, gripping and crushing him, and frightening him almost to death. Before storms, he would be heard howling and wailing. His most usual shape was that of a young horse. He played the ordinary Bogy or Bogey-beast trick of alluring travellers on to his back and rushing with them into the deep pool, where he struck the water with his tail with a sound like thunder and disappeared in a flash of light. He was suspected of sometimes tearing people to pieces and devouring them. A pituresque version of the story of 'The Time is Come but not the Man' is told of the river Conan in Sutherland, in which the Kelpie seems to figure as the hungry spirit of the river. In his horse form, the Kelpie sometimes had a magic bridle. Grant Stewart in his POLULAR SUPERSTITIONS tells how a bold MacGregor, nicknamed Wellox, took his bridle of the Kelpie. The Kelpie begged him to restore it. but he kept it and used it to work magic. On the other hand, the man who put a human bridle on the Kelpie could subdue him to his will. Chambers tells us that Graham of Morphie once bridled a kelpie and used him to drag stones to build his new castle. When the castle was built he took off the bridle, and the poor, galled kelpie dashed into the river, but paused in the middle to say: 'Sair back and sair banes Drivin' the Laird o' Morphie's stanes, The Laird o' Morphie'll never thrive Sae lang as the Kelpie is alive!' From then misfortune dogged the Grahams of Morphie until their lives ended. # 100 - 621 KELTCHAR ( kelt'yar) A lord of Ulster; mac Datho's boar and Keltchar. # 562 KEMPE OWEN The hero who rescues a maiden enchanted into the shape of a dragon and who can only be disenchanted by being kissed three times. The step-mother in turn becomes a dragon, and is fated never to become human again until Saint Mungo (Kentigern) comes to Britain. # 150 - 454 - 762 KENMARE RIVER In Co. Kerry; ancient name: 'Inverskena', so called after Skena. # 562 KENNETH, SAINT CAINNECH CANICE # 454: (525-600) After plague struck his monastery in Ireland he came to Wales, and visited Scotland. He was an attractively forgetful character, visiting Columba with only one shoe on and forgetting his crozier on the beach. He nevertheless restored a dead girl to life and succoured her mother after both had been lost in the snow. He was said to have been close to animals in his hermetic period, though he had to admonish the birds to be quiet on Sundays and expelled mice from his cell after they had eaten his shoes. He was something of a psychic, able to foretell coming events. His feast-day is 11 October. # 678: Shirley Toulson has him born around 516 in Keenaght, County Derry, as son of a bard who sent him to Clonard to be educated by Finnian. Later he was to go for a short while to Wales, to study under Cadoc at Llancarfan. In Ireland, Kenneth is remembered for the work he undertook as a scribe. At his monastery at Aghaboe (now known as Kilkenny), which was to become the residence of the Bishops of Ossory, he made copies of the four gospels, to which he added his own commentaries. The work was known as the CHAIN OF CANICE. # 454 - 678 KENT In Vortigern's time, the kingdom of Gwyrangon, but given by Vortigern to the Saxons. In the Arthurian period Kent would seem to have been under Anglo-Saxon rule and at this time, according to the ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE, may have been ruled by King Aesc, who may have been the son of Hengist who reigned AD 488-512. William of Malmesbury says Aesc did not enlarge his father's kingdom, but had to defend it. This implies he had a formidable foe, such as Arthur, with whom to contend. Bede says the barbarians who settled in Kent were Jutes. # 156 KENTIGERN, SAINT # 454: The patron saint of Glasgow, from which he proselytized in Cumbria. Folklore makes him the grandson of Urien of Rheged. He and his mother were set adrift in a coracle but were miracously saved. He vindicated the virtue of a queen who had given her ring to her lover: when the king demanded to see it, it was discovered in a salmon's belly. The salmon is Kentigern's device. He was reputed to have baptized Merlin before his death. This last story is borrowed from the legend of SUIBHNE GELT, who was confessed by Saint Moling after a life of paganism and madness. # 678: Jocelyn, a twelfth-century monk of Furness, who wrote a life of Kentigern, tells of the many miracles wrought by him while he was being educated at Culross, before, as a young man, he set out on his own mission. The story of his link with Glasgow came about through his friendship with Fergus, an old man whom he met soon after leaving Servanus. When Fergus came to die, he was put into a cart drawn by untamed bulls. Once these animals reached the Clyde, they refused to move further, stopping at a place which had been hallowed by Ninian, which has since become Glasgow. There Fergus was buried, and Kentigern hung his handbell on the branch of a tree to call the people to prayer. This story was partly told to explain why, at such a very young age, Kentigern should have been consecrated at Bishop of Strathclyde. Kentigern died on the Feast of Epiphany in 612, comforted, so his biographers tell us, by the glory of the Lord, and conversing to the last with his guardian angels. He is said to have reached the astonishing age of 181. He is remembered on 13 January. 454 - 678 KENVERCHYN The three hundred ravens of Kenverchyn. 'And thenceforth Owain dwelt at Arthur's Court, gratly beloved, as the head of his household, until he went away with his followers; and these were the army of three hundred ravens which Kenverchyn had left him. And wherever Owain went with these he was victorious. And this is the tale of the Lady of the Fountain. (There is no other mention of this Kenverchyn or of how Owain got his raven-army, also referred to in THE DREAM OF RHONABWY. We have here evidently a piece of antique mythology embedded in a more modern fabric.) # 562 KERRY Murna, after the defeat and death of Cumhal, took refuge in the forests of Slieve Bloom in the King's County, and there she bore a man-child whom she named Demna. For fear that the Clan Morna would find him out and slay him, she gave him to be nurtured in the wildwood by two aged women, and she herself became wife to the King of Kerry. # 562 KESAIR (kes'ER) Gaulish princess, wife of King Ugainy the Great; grandmother of Maon. # 562 KET Son of Maga; rallies to Maev's foray against Ulster; slings Conall's 'brain-ball' at Conor mac Nessa which seven years after leads to his death; the Boar of mac Datho and Ket; death of Ket told in Keating's 'History of Ireland'. # 562 KEVA OF THE WHITE SKIN Daughter of Finn, given in marriage to Goll mac Morna. # 562 KIAN CIAN Father of Lugh; brother of Sawan and Goban; the end of Kian. See: CIAN MAC CAINTE. # 562 KICVA Daughter of Gwynn Gohoyw, wife of Pryderi. # 562 KILHAM The Church of All Saints at Kilham, Humberside, has some of the most remarkable Norman magical symbols of any northern church. One collection is on the columns which support the Norman doorway (now protected by a porch) and among these is a pentagram (the ubiquitous fivepointed star) which has been invested with great significance by occultists, as well as a curious human figure holding aloft what might be a switch. Next to this figure are two roundels, now very much weathered, though it is clear that the roundel nearest to the figure contains a fish. A similar roundel on the opposite side of the doorway recalls the twelfth zodiacal image for Virgo, found on other churches of that period, and so we may reasonably suppose that these roundels are the last survivors of an astrogical tradition (which was important in that period, as the zodiac had by that time been throughly Christianized). If this is the case, the single fish in the roundel represents Pisces, reminding us that in the huge zodiacal complex of symbolism of Chartres Cathedral, Pisces is also represented by a single fish. The range of corbels on both the south and the north side of the exterior are also of great symbolic interest, incorporating reliefs from a large number of different traditions. The bear, as symbol of Christ, is from the bestiary tradition, while at least one of the armed knights (carrying a shield) appears to be connected with the image of the Giants Gog and Magog. One curious image, that of a two-headed man, does not figure often in Norman symbolism, but there is no doubt that it has an ancient origin, for similar figures are found in very early Greek and even Mesopotamian sculpture. Some specialists suggest that it may be an image of zodiacal Gemini (the sign which rules dualities) for similar images are found in some of the medieval astrological textbooks. To the south of the church is a sundial mounted upon a true image of fleeting time - an upright and empty stone coffin, which some say is prehistoric, but which is probably medieval. # 702 KILHWCH CULHWCH (kil-HUGH) Son to Kilydd and Goleuddydd; story of Olwen and Culhwch; accompanied on his quest (to find Olwen) by Kai (Kay, or in Welsh Cai), Bedwyr (Bedivere), Kynddelig, Gwrhyr, Gwalchmai(Galahad), and Menw. See: CULHWCH. # 562 KILIAN In 689, Kilian, an Irish monk from Mullagh, was martyred in Germany because he criticized the tribal king Gozbert for marrying his brother's widow. Kilian was one of the wandering Irish missionaries who ventured deeply into the Continent. He sailed up the River Main to Wurzeburg with eleven companions. His Feast Day is 8 July. # 678 KILLARNEY, LAKES OF Ancient name, Locha Lein, given to the Lakes of Killarney by Len. # 562 KILYDD Husband of Goleuddydd, father of Kilhwch (Culhwch). # 562 KIMBAY (Cimbaoth) Irish king; reign of Kimbay and the founding of Emain Macha; brother of Red Hugh and Dithorba; compelled to wed Macha. # 562 KING LEAR 'Historia Regum Britaniae' furnished the subject of King Lear. # 562 KING WITH A HUNDRED KNIGHTS One of the eleven rulers who rebelled against Arthur, this king is variously called Berrant le Apres, Aguysans and Maleginis. DUE TRISTANI seems to imply that he came from Piacenza and that his wife was called Riccarda. # 156 - 238 - 418 KING, JESSIE M. Jessie M. King was an illustrator of dreams. She created a world in which both fantasy and reality blended together to delight and arrest the mind. She drew slender knights and princesses, fairies and nymphs. She dressed them in gowns of the finest linens and armour of burnished silver from the lands of Mists and Fairies that had inspired the Celtic revival. # 722 KINGSBOROUGH, LORD 'Antiquities of Mexico,' example of cup-and-ring markings reproduced in his book. # 562 KINGSHIP A king may possess wealth in gold and silver, but the king exists for his people, and uses the wealth for the good of all, to the increase of his clan. The king does not belong to himself. His life is the life of the tribe. A true king lives out of himself, owning no life but that which he gives to his people. Thus possessing wealth just for his own sake would be an offence against sovereignty. For the true king exists only, the Sovereignty of the Land and its People. # 383 p 318 ff KIPLING, RUDYARD Kipling wrote a number of short stories on supernatural themes, ghosts, witchcraft and curses, but his great contribution to literature for fairy-lore was made in the two volumes, PUCK OF POOK'S HILL (1906) and REWARDS AND FAIRIES (1910). About certain of his books he said that his demon had been at work, so that he could not go wrong, and he rated these among them, and rightly. About the beginning of this century fairy-tales for children had fallen into a morass of prettification and sentimentality. From the 17th century onwards, the English fairies had been assailed by various hazards, owing to the vagaries of fashions in fairy lore. There was first a tendency to prettification and the diminution of the fairies. The diminutive fairies of Shakespeare (see MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM) had retained their powers and quality, Drayton's were reduced to a courtly parody, Herrick's retained some of the phallic qualities which belonged to the fairies as the guardians of fertility, but much emphasis was laid to their tiny size, and the Duchess of Newcastle's dwindled into miracles of littleness. At the end of the century came the fascinating but sophisticated stories of Perrault and Madame d'Aulnoy which proliferated into the CABINET DES FES, some seventy volumes of it, growing ever further from traditional sources. In the 18th century, with the increasing production of books specially designed for children, fairies became instruments of edification; but there was little excuse for the gauzy fairies of the early 1900s, for the beginning of the 19th century authentic fairy tradition became available, at first from Germany and Scandinavia, but very soon from all over Britain: Crofton Croker and Hyde from Ireland, J. F. Campbell, J. G. Campbell and others from the Highlands, Scott, Chambers, William Henderson from the Border Country, Hunt and Bottrell from Cornwall, John Rhys and Wirt Sikes from Wales, to mention only a few. In literary fairy tales, too, there were sturdier creations: Jean Ingelow's and Mrs Ewing's. In spite of all this good material, a sentimental attitude towards children in literature communicated itself to the fairy writing. Kipling struck a ringing blow against this. His Puck is of the real, homely Robin Goodfellow type, squat and strong and brown, broadshouldered and pointy-eared, with a hearty contempt for the modern butterfly-winged, gauzy impostors. The People Of The Hills have all gone, he says, and he is the last 'Old Thing' left in England. He brings the past back to the children who have unconsciously summoned him, but there are no fairy encounters. He tells them tales of the old gods who had sunk to fairies, of Wayland Smith in particular, and of a human foundling adopted by the Lady Esclairmonde, King Huon's Queen, and of the Dymchurch Flit, one chapter in the Departure of the Fairies. Otherwise it is the human past into which he admits them, and old Sussex that he brings to life. # 100 - 368 - 369 KIRK, ROBERT To this day, Robert Kirk, (1644-92 or 1641-92 or 1644-97) the Scottish minister and scholar, is believed to be entrapped in the mysterious Fairy realm, or Underworld, which he described in such detail in the late seventeenth century. His SECRET COMMONWEALTH was the first work of its kind to be published in the English language, and it has long been a primary source for the study of Highland Fairy lore and the Second Sight. In his work Kirk argues that there is no contradiction between contact with the Secret Commonwealth and its inhabitants, and the practice of good Christianity. The legend about Kirk also illustrate what is called the 'fairy stroke' or 'elf stroke'. Kirk was accustomed to wander round the fairy hills by night, and one morning he was found unconscious on the Fairy Knowe of the Sith Bruach at Aberfoyle. He was carried to bed, and died without fully regaining consciousness. His wife was pregnant, and the night before his child was born a kinsman, Grahame of Duchray, dreamt that Kirk appeared to him and told him that he was not dead but had been carried away into the fairy Knowe. If his child was christened in the Manse, however, he would have power to appear, and if on his appearance Grahame struck his dirk into Kirk's armchair he would be freed. It was believed that Kirk appeared as he had promised, but Grahame faltered back at the sight of him and failed to draw his dirk, so Kirk is still a prisoner in Fairyland. In 1944 it was still said that if a child was christened in the Manse, Kirk would be disenchanted if a dagger was stuck into his chair, which had never been moved from the Manse. Presumably he would have crumbled into dust, but his soul would still have been freed. While traditions of fairy thefts, fairy food, elf-shot, fairy ointment, changelings and the like remained current in England, Wales and Lowland Scotland down to the nineteenth century, actual belief in fairies and the related Second Sight survived latest among the Gaelic-speaking Highlanders of Scotland because they lived in the most inaccessible part of Britain, further out of the reach of authority and more remote from 'civilizing' influences including the English language - than the rest of the population. Kirk had an unparalleled opportunity to study their lore. A Gaelic speaker, he was minister of Balquidder for twenty-one years, before being called as minister to Aberfoyle, his birthplace, as successor to his father. His unique position in the community as pastor and as his father's son undoubtedly meant that sources of information were open to him that would have been closed to a mere passing antiquarian. But was Kirk indiscreet in telling the world what he knew? The people of Aberfoyle evidently thought so, for he had broken the age-old taboo of secrecy imposed by the fairies on those who witnessed their doings. When his body at length was found beside The Fairy Knowe (or hill) in Aberfoyle, traditionally a fairy dwelling, the rumour went round that it was only a 'stock', a simulacrum left by the fairies, and that Kirk himself had been taken to live under the Fairy Knowe. Kirk writes his account of the fairies in the flexible and distinctive prose of the seventeenth century - a prose increasingly difficult for the general reader to comprehend. Moreover, the fullest text of Kirk's work, edited by Stewart Sanderson and published by the Folklore Society (1976), is uncompromisingly scholarly. # 637: In 1990 R. J. Stewart's version ROBERT KIRK - WALKER BETWEEN WORLDS was published, and it seems to this version, which smooths out difficulties without losing the rhythms of Kirk's speech, will make him more accessible. Kirk have been argued over the length of Scotland, and with the encou-ragement of friends, will likely do so till Kirk, or for that matter King Arthur, returns. But Kirk's experience of that secret common-wealth of the Hidden People must be shared with a new generation. # 100 - 370 - 633 - 637 KLINGSOR In Wolfram, the Duke of Terre de Labur; this appears to have been in Italy as its capital was Capua. After being castrated by King Ibert of Sicily, he became a wizard. His character is not so black as it is represented by Wagner in his opera PARZIFAL. He is portrayed as courteous, a man whose word was his bond; one tradition makes him a bishop. He kept Arthur's mother and other queens captive, but they were rescued by Gawain. See: ARNIVE. # 156 - 604 KNIGHT OF THE DRAGON See: SEGURANT. KNIGHT OF THE FAIR COUNTRY A brother of Arthur, he married the daughter of Earl Cornubas of Wales and was the father of the Great Fool. # 156 KNIGHT OF THE LANTERN Slayer of the Black Knight who was the son of the King of the Carlachs. Also, the title of the son of Libearn. # 156 KNIGHT OF THE LION A name given to Owain, because of his lion companion. # 156 KNIGHT OF THE OLD TABLE See: SEGURANT. KNIGHTS OF THE FRANC PALAIS An order of knights founded by Perceforest, they were eventually wiped out by the Romans. # 156 KNOTWORK, CELTIC The magic and mystery of Celtic knotwork disappeared with the people and the artists whose last traces date back over 1,000 years. But the fascination with their brilliantly twisted and twined knots and plaits has only grown in the centuries since. Studying the subject, one will discover the simple geometry behind adapting a straight knotted pattern to fill a circle, a curve or a cross. The variations and adaptions are as infinite as the endless coils of great Celtic knotwork. This pattern is an excellent example of creative freehand geometry. The cord path is continuous. # 45 KNOWLEDGE, NUTS OF The Salmon of 'Nuts of Knowledge'. In a pool of the River Boyne, under boughs of hazel dripped the Nuts of Knowledge on the stream, and here lived Fintan the Salmon of Knowledge, and whoever ate of him would enjoy all the wisdom of ages. # 562 KOBOLD German miners used to say they saw only the eyes of the kobolds, shining in dark holes in mines and other underground places. Some said the kobolds were ruled by Alberich, who was the English fairy king Oberon, spouse of Titania - which leads to the pre-Hellenic Titans or earth giants, many of whose myths dated back to the horseriding Amazon tribes. Again, the word Kobold may have descended from Greek Kaballoi, horse-riders. # 701 p 261 KOKAPELI 'South Western trickster god, who rules over death and life, and who bears strong resemblance to the Celtic Taliesin'. From a letter written by John Matthews on a travel in New Mexico in 1992. KRADOC See: KARADOC. KUSTENHIN Kustenhin is an early Welsh form of the name Constantine, used to designate Constantine, grandfather of Arthur. Kustenin and Kustennin are variant forms. # 156 KYMIDEU KYMEINVOLL Wife of Llassar Llaesgyvnewid. # 562 KYMON A Knight of Arthur's court. # 562 KYNAN An ancestor of Arthur in the maternal pedigree found in the Welsh BONEDD YR ARWR. # 156 KYNDDELIG One of Arthur's servitors; accompanies Kilhwch on his quest for Olwen. # 562 KYNOR Variant form of Kynuawr. # 156 KYNOTUS Arthur made Kynotus Rector of Cambridge. # 156 - 476 KYNUAWR Arthur's great-grandfather on the paternal side, according to Mostyn MS 117. # 156 KYNVARCH In Welsh legend the father of Urien of Rheged by Nefyn, daugther of Brychan. # 156 KYOT (guiot) Provencal poet; Wolfram von Eschenbach tells us that he had the substance of the tale of PARZIVAL from the Provencal poet Kyot or Guiot - 'Kyot, der meister wol bekannt' - who in his turn - but this probably is a mere piece of romantic invention - professed to have found it in an Arabic book in Toledo, written by a heathen named Flegetanis. # 562 LA TEN CULTURE Relics found in Austria developed into La Tne Culture. See also: BR, THE BRONZE CAULDRON FROM. # 562 LABIANE The niece of King Mark, she was violated by him and, as a result, gave birth to Meraugis. Mark murdered the unfortunate Labiane. # 30 - 156 LABRA THE MARINER See: MAON. LABRAID LONGSEACH He became dumb after having been made to eat his own father's heart by his uncle. He lived in exile until one day his speech returned while playing hurley. While in Gaul, he fell in love with Moriath, daughter of Scoriath the King. He employed Craiftine to play a sleepinducing tune upon his harp and so slept Moriath, whom he married. He returned to Ireland and became King of Leinster. Like Mark of Cornwall, Labraid had horses' ears, for which he might have been deposed as a blemished king. He was successful in hiding this defect until his barber, though sworn to secrecy, told a tree, out of whose wood a harp was fashioned for Craiftine; it subsequently revealed the secret when played. # 208 - 454 LABRAID LUATH-LAM-AR-CLAIDIB (lou'ri loo'ah lv ar cliv') 'Lowry Swift-Hand-on-Sword.' A fairy king of Mag Mell, husband of Liban. He sent her to CuChulain to beg for his help in battle; in return for this he gave him his sister, Fand. # 166 - 266 - 454 LABYRINTHS AND SPIRALS Often scratched or carved on Stone Age monuments and grave sites, the labyrinthine design apparently represented the soul's journey into the center of the uterine underworld and its return toward rebirth. A labyrinth was not the same as a maze. A labyrinth had only one path, winding but branchless, heading inevitably toward the goal. Design of this type were common on ancient coins, tiles, floor patterns, and especially tombs and sacred caves. The expanding spiral that creates and protects the centre, and the contracting spiral which dissolves it, are both concepts implicit in the labyrinth. By the existence of the labyrinth, the centre is created and protected. When the labyrinth is penetrated, the centre is dissolved. Entry and dissolution occur only under the right conditions: only with the knowledge of the way. Although often intricate in form, the labyrinth is a spiral, and one which returns. It is a representation of the cosmos and all cosmoses, and hence of all ordered entities which correspond on the descending scale of analogy. It is therefore, at once the cosmos, the world, the individual life, the temple, the town, man, the womb - or intestines of the Mother (earth), the convolutions of the bram, the consciousness, the heart, the pilgrimage, the journey, and the Way. The earliest known labyrinth is that dating from the nineteenth century BC in Egypt; the most famous was in Minoan Crete. These, and some of the earliest spiral rock engravings from Palaeolithic times, are reminders of man's unceasing preoccupation with the spiral order and his own spiral development. As the labyrinth creates and dissolves, expands and contracts, so it reveals and conceals. It is cosmos to those who know the way, and chaos to those who lose it. It is Aridne's thread, whose windings create the world and yet enable us to unravel it - or ravel it: I give you the end of the golden string, Only wind it into a ball, It will lead you in at Heaven's Gate Built in Jerusalem's wall. William Blake, JERUSALEM. This is the same thread that runs through the argument whose clue (the 'clew' or ball of thread) we follow; and, when we do not lose it, it leads us to the point. Yet it also conceals the point, disorientates us, and is the test of our endurance and knowledge. The point or centre, in those labyrinths depicted in the pavement floors of many medieval cathedrals, is sometimes (as it originally was at Chartres) a depiction of Theseus and the Minotaur. The symbolism is that of the 'original' Cretan labyrinth - an initiatory hero test, the overcoming of death at the centre, and a subsequent return or rebirth into life, a regeneration on a higher winding. For, as it is neccessary to be born from the womb to see this world, only he who is born from himself sees the other world. 'He who is not twice born will not ascend to the Kingdom of Heaven.' Other cathedral labyrinths depicted the architect at the centre, sometimes symbolized in the person of Daedalus, builder of the Cretan maze. Since treading the maze was a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in miniature, Daedalus also represents the Divine Architect. In most labyrinths the spiral continues, and having reached the goal and centre, it either returns to the periphery and everyday life, or emerges on the other side, as it would on the vortex sphere of which this is a two-dimensional version. In classical times, the labyrinth, together with its ritual circumambulation, was essential to the creation of a city. This ritual imitated or re-enacted the original cosmic creation; for when a space is set aside or delineated it is ordered, carved out from the surrounding chaos, and so sanctified. Troia, or Troy, is still the name of many mazes - even those on English village greens. The spiral movement made chaos into cosmos, and protected the holy space thus formed from illicit entry. But according to the same law by which it both concealed and revealed, it also both protected and destroyed: hence, whereas the twice-yearly circuits of the Salii protected the city of Rome, it was seven circumambulations that razed Jericho to the ground. The spiral or labyrinth, depicted in ancient tombs, implies a death and re-entry into the womb of the earth, necessary before the spirit can be reborn in the land of the dead. But death and rebirth also mean the continuous transformation and purification of the spirit throughout life; the alchemists use the word vitriol to stand for visita interiora terrae rectificando invenies occultum lapidem. 'Visit the interior of the earth; through purification thou wilt find the hidden stone.' Such a descent into the underworld (the kingdom of Pluto) is the theme of most initiation rituals, and is comparable to the passage through the wilderness, or the 'dark night of the soul', which is experienced by mystics on their path. It is furthermore nearly always symbolized by the spiral. Those on the columns of the Treasury of Atreus (a relic of which is still to be found in the volutes of the Ionic column) have a further correspondence; by passing between two spiral columns, the initiate becomes the central axis or pillar of consciousness and equilibrium, for he has thus passed between the two opposite pillars of the Tree of Life, or between the coils of the serpents of the caduceus, and has thereby come into direct contact with the Source of Being. The labyrinth governs (and also constitutes) man's circuitous windings through space and time, by ordering, guiding, checking and growing him both from and to his source. It is none other than a model of existence as we know it, a mandala, and a two-dimensional version of the spherical vortex. # 462 - 533 - 667 - 701 LAC King of Estregales and ruler of the Black Isles. He was a Knight of the Round Table. # 156 LADIES OF THE LAKE Igraine, Guinevere and Morgan, who are Arthur's kindred; Argante, Nimue and Enid, who bring the wisdom of the Otherworld; and Kundry, Dindraine and Ragnell who manifest the compassion of the Grail. These are the Ladies of the Lake in whom the ancient Celtic Goddess is fragmented and reflected. Just as Arthur's knights assemble about the Round Table to discover their quest, so the Arthurian Ladies gather about the deep upon their innate gifts. And just as the mysterious element of water permeates all life, so does the influence of the Ladies of the Lake permeate the whole Arthurian legend. They are the empowerers, guardians and transformers whose wisdom is still accessible today. From Caitln and John Matthews' envoi in their book LADIES OF THE LAKE we read this: When we look closely at the stories of the nine Ladies of the Lake, we see that a single theme unites them all. This is one of misunderstanding, of the inability of the world of men to read the signs aright. Thus Igraine seeks to transmit her knowledge to Arthur and to her male kindred, and when this does not happen, due to her early separation from son and husband, she retires to the Castle of Maidens, where men must actively seek that knowledge. Guinevere is consistently portrayed as a betrayer, while she in fact represents the ancient Sovereignty of the land, which becomes her secret bower. Morgan mostly presents her dark face throughout the stories, only appearing in her complete form as the land's guardian and the agent of Arthur's inner transformation in Avalon. Argante's role is never wholly revealed, for she remains within, guarding the secret motherland of the Lake. Her seclusion lends her the objectivity of a neutral otherworldly observer who has full knowledge of events and their patterns. Nimu is seen as a sly and sexually-insatiable woman rather than as her true self: the opener of the ways and the true mate of Merlin. Enis is pitied as a poor, helpless victim, rather than as the delivering messenger of love who restores joy to shuttered hearts. Kundry's harsh tongue is feared, but she speaks the words that will change the face of the land from waste land into abundant growth. Dindraine is spurned as a weak woman with nothing to offer the Grail quest, but she perceives the Grail's imminence and mediates its power to all. Ragnell is a compendium of all that the world has hated: she is ugly, she is old, she is a woman. Yet she is the bright joy at the heart of all women that longs to be unchained. Each Lady of the Lake has been misrepresented in her day. The time now comes to set the record straight. The signposts to the magical realm of the Lake have been boarded over too long and the old proscriptions about travelling thither are beginning to lose their authority. The vital waters are welling up within each of us and prompting us to seek out the realm of the Lake and the ladies who sit about it. They gather about the otherworldly waters just as the ninefold sisterhood of Celtic tradition stand about the cauldron, each gifting the brew with a unique gift. Without the unique ingredients which each of the Ladies of the Lake provides, the Arthurian legends would be impoverished and savourless. These are figures as powerful as any from Classical mythology, each representing an archetypal quality which is accessible to us today. They are not, however, merely 'psychological' archetypes: their faithful abiding transcends such a narrow definition. Approach them with respect, learn to understand their message, give them grateful thanks. Those who have voyaged to the Lake or drunk of the cauldron will already know the truth and justice of this remark. We have followed a complex and often winding path to recover the stories of our ninefold sisterhood. We hope it will lead you to explore the inner life of the Arthurian legends and the vitality which the Ladies of the Lake bring to them. # 443 LADIS Ruler of Lombardy in Arthurian romance. # 156 LADRA He was the pilot of Cessair's ship and the only other man in that invasion of Ireland. He and his companion each shared the women between them, he with sixteen, the other with seventeen, which he considered an unjust division. However, he subsequently died from a surfeit of women, it was recorded. # 454 LADY See: BREAD. LADY OF THE FOUNTAIN Title of the mysterious countess in YVAIN by Chrtien de Troyes, and in THE LADY OF THE FOUNTAIN in the MABINOGION. When her husband was killed by Owain, she demanded that Owain become her husband; by this means she could remain guardian of the fountain. # 272 - 418 - 454 LADY OF THE LAKE This mysterious female gave Arthur his sword Excalibur. She stole Lancelot when a child and cured him when he went mad. She may be a Celtic lake divinity in origin, perhaps of the same kind as the Gwragedd Annwn, the queen of an isle of fairy maidens in the middle of an enchanted lake, where winter never comes and no one knows sorrow, in modern Welsh folklore. In Ulrich, the fairy who raised Lancelot is the mother of Mabuz. As Mabuz is probably identical with the Celtic god Mabon, it would seem that the fairy must be Morgan Le Fay who was, earlier, Mabon's mother, Matrona. A lady of the lake, perhaps a different one, was killed by Balin. She is an Goddess of great antiquity and is analogeous with Sovereignty as she guards the Hallows of the Land. From the Otherworld she employ the power to the future kings. See also: LADIES OF THE LAKE. # 100 - 156 - 418 - 686 LAEG (loy-h) CuChulain's friend and charioteer; sent by CuChulain to rouse men of Ulster; visits Fairyland to report on Fand; the Grey of Macha resists being harnessed by Laeg; slain by Lewy. # 562 LAERY (lay'ry) 1. Son of King Ugainy the Great; treacherously slain by his brother Covac; 2. The Triumphant; shrinks from test for the Championship of Ireland; 3. Son of Neill; sees vision of CuChulain. # 562 LAHELIN The brother of Orilus who robbed Herzeloyde of Wales and Northgalis after Gahmuret's death. His name is a German form of the Welsh Llewelyn. # 156 - 748 LAILOKEN A wild man in Celtic tradition whose career bears some resemblance to that of Merlin. He was for a time at the court of Rhydderch Hael, revealed to King Meldred that his wife was adulterous and made a prophecy concerning his own death. It is possible Lailoken was merely a nickname for Merlin, as Lailoken resembles the Welsh word for twin and Merlin was thought to have a twin sister. # 156 - 401 - 673 LAIRD O' CO, THE See: VIRTUES ESTEEMED BY THE FAIRIES. LAIRGNEN (lerg-men) Connacht chief, betrothed to Deoca; seizes the Children of Lir. # 562 LAKE DISTRICT S. G. Wildman has suggested that this picturesque region of Cumbria was the birthplace of Arthur or at least the place where he was brought up. # 156 - 729 LAKE MAIDENS See: GWRAGEDD ANNWN. LAKE OF THE CAULDRON Place where Matholwch met Llassar Llaesgyvnewid and his wife Kymideu Kymeinvoll. # 562 LAKE OF THE DRAGON'S MOUTH Resort of Caer; Angus Og joins his love, Caer, at Lake of the Dragon's Mouth. # 562 LAMBOR The King of Terre Foraine or Logres, he was killed by Brulan (Varlan) and both his and Brulan's lands were blighted, forming the Waste Land of the Grail stories. He may be identical with Lambord, Arthur's maternal great-grandfather in the pedigree of John of Glastonbury. # 156 - 344 - 604 LAMBORD An ancestor of Arthur in the pedigree of John of Glastonbury. # 156 - 344 LAMBTON WORM The Norse and Saxon word for dragon was 'worm', so the Lambton Worm were one of the North Country dragons. Even in Somerset some of the dragons were called worms, as 'The Gurt Vurm of Shervage Wood'. Occasionally one hears of a winged worm, and sometimes of a leggless one, but as a rule they are wingless and lizard-like in form. The tale of the Lambton Worm is of particular interest, for we hear of its life from the beginning to the end. William Henderson put together the particulars in FOLK-LORE OF THE NORTHERN COUNTIES from Sharpe's BISHOPRICK GARLAND. The son of Lord Lambton in the fourteenth century was a wild youth, and delighted to outrage public opinion. One fine Sunday morning he was sitting fishing in full view of all the tenants going to Brugeford Chapel on the bridge over the Wear close to Lambton Castle. He had had no luck, and just as the last of the church-goers were hurrying in, he burst out into a stream of oaths. As the church-bell stopped he had a bite, and after a fierce struggle he landed his catch. It was not a fish, but a creature so horrible that he took it off the hook and threw it into the well close at hand, still called 'Worm's Well'. A stranger passing asked what sport he had had. 'I think I've caught the Devil,' said the heir. 'Look and see what you make of him.' 'He looks like an eft,' said the stranger, 'except that he's got nine holes round his mouth. I think he bodes no good.' And he went on. The years went on, and the young lord seemed a sobered man, and after a while he went to the Holy Land. The eft grew and grew, till it was too big for the well and curled itself round Worm's Hill, whence it ravaged the country-side. They put a great trough outside the castle gates, and filled it every day with the milk of nine cows, but that did not content it. Brave knights came to destroy the worm, but when it was cut in two it joined together again as worms do, and it crushed the knights to death. At length the heir returned, a Knight of Rhodes now, and was horrified to learn what his folly had done. He was determined to destroy the worm, but when he heard how all earlier attempts had failed he went to a wise woman to learn what he should do. She scolded him fiercely for the sufferings he had caused, but in the end she told him exactly what he must do. First he must go to the chapel and vow to kill the first living creature that met him on his return from the battle with the worm. If he failed to carry this out, no Lord of Lambton for nine generations would die in his bed. Then he must go to a smith and have his armour covered with spikes, and thirdly he must take his stand on the great rock in the middle of the river Wear, and there he must fight the worm as he came down to drink at sunset. All this he did. He told the servants to loose his favourite dog as soon as he blew his trumpet after the battle; then he went down to the fight. At his first stroke the worm turned to strangle him in its folds; but the more fiercely it squeezed the more it wounded itself, till the Wear ran red with its blood. At last he cut it in pieces, and the swiftly flowing river carried them away before they could reunite. The heir staggered home with hardly strength to blow his horn. But his old father, who had been waiting in terrible suspense, ran out to greet him. The heir, in horror, blew his horn again, and the servants loosed the dog. The heir killed it with one thrust, but the condition was broken, the father had reached him first, and for nine generations no Lord of Lambton died in his bed. See also: WORM. # 100 - 302 LAMMAS Lammas means 'Feast of Bread' and derives from the pagan Lugnasad, the Celtic 'Games of Lug'. Lug was the grain god sacrificed and resurrected to honor the Harvest Mother at the beginning of August, the month of harvest. One of the 'games' celebrated at Tailteann was the special temporary marriage, supposed to last only a year and a day - the usual period of the ancient lunar calendar - after which the married couple could separate and go their own ways. - In Ireland, special 'Lammas towers' were built, and Lammas dancers circled around a female effigy representing the Harvest Mother. Because August was particularly sacred to the Goddess who gave life, the Scots considered it a propitious month to be born. Augusta gave gifted children. For a Scot to say someone was born in August was not a reference to a real birthday, but rather a compliment to a 'wellskilled person.' # 701 p 186 LAMORAK Pellinore's son, Perceval's brother and a Knight of the Round Table. He slept with Morgause and was killed by her son, Gawain. # 156 LANCE OF LONGINUS # 156: The weapon used to wound Jesus on the Cross. It was carried in the Grail Procession and was also sought by Arthur's warrior daughter, Melora. # 544: : For 2000 years the Spear of Destiny - the sword that pierced the side of Christ on the cross - has been held by the rulers of the western world. Herod the Great, Charlemagne, the Hapsburgs and, most recently and ominously, Adolf Hitler, have used the legendary powers invested in the Spear. Powers of both good and evil. Now the Spear lies in full view of all those who wish to see it, and the spiritual realities which it symbolises are open to all mankind. In his book, THE MARK OF THE BEAST, the sequal to THE SPEAR OF DESTINY, Trevor Ravenscroft reveal the results of many years of research into the history of the Spear and the history of good and evil in the western world. Research pointing to a conclusion so nearly reached at the time of World War II: that the critical phase of the apocalypse will culminate in the reappearance of the Beast who will achieve total world conquest where Hitler failed. And only then will the prophesy of the Revelation of St John be fulfilled: 'All the inhabitants of the earth will worship the Beast...' See also: GRAIL LANCE. # 156 - 543 - 544 LANCELOT # 118: The one knight of the Round Table everybody knows is not, as a matter of fact, a member of the original cast at all. There is no trace of Lancelot, or anyone like him, in the original British-Celtic legends of Arthur and his famous group. No one really knows how Lancelot made his way into the Arthurian cycle (and, of course, also into the MNAGE A TROIS which has become the dominant feature, to many readers, of the Camelot story). He shows up first in a twelfthcentury French manuscript as the hero of a series of amorous adventures, none of them, however, involving anybody like Guinevere. As the Arthurian cycle grew in popularity during the Middle Ages, Lancelot appears simply to have moved in and taken over. # 156: 1. The grandfather of Sir Lancelot of the Lake. He married the daughter of the King of Ireland. King Ban and King bors were his sons. 2. Arthur's champion and right-hand man. He was the son of King Ban by his wife Elaine. After his father's death, he was left near a lake by his mother and was taken by the Lady of the Lake, who raised him. He became Arthur's trusted companion and a Knight of the Round Table. He fell in love with Guinevere and commenced to have an affair with her; he was also the object of the affections of Elaine of Astolat who died of love for him. Another Elaine was the daughter of King Pelles and, when Lancelot visited Carbonek, he saved her from a tub of boiling water. Brisen, her nurse, arranged for her to sleep with him, while he thought she was Guinevere. As a result, Galahad was conceived. When this happened a second time, Guinevere discovered the pair IN FLAGRANTE and sent Lancelot away from Camelot. He went mad, but was cured by the Grail. When Guinevere was abducted by Meliagaunce, son of King Bagdemagus, Lancelot pursued him in a cart, a humble mode of conveyance in which the knight was reluctant to travel. He had to cross a sword bridge to reach the castle and find Meliagaunce. The two fought, but Bagdemagus pleaded with Guinevere that his son's life would be spared, so their combat was stopped, to be taken up again in a year's time. Later, Meliagaunce accused Guinevere of adultery with Kay. Lancelot fought the accuser as her champion and, once again, Bagdemagus had to plead for his son's life. Eventually, Lancelot slew Meliagaunce in combat at Arthur's court. When Lancelot and Guinevere were at last discovered together, Lancelot fled, but returned to rescue Guinevere from the stake, killing Agravain, Gaheris and Gareth in the process. War between him and Arthur followed but was broken off when Arthur had to return to deal with Mordred's rebellion. This version of Lancelot's adventures, found in French sources and Malory, differs markedly from that of Ulrich who says he was the son of King Pant of Gennewis and his wife, Clarine. Pant was killed in a rebellion and Lancelot was stolen by a fairy and raised in Maidenland. The fairy would not tell him his name until he had fought Iweret of Beforet. Johfrit de Liez trained him in the use of weaponry and he married the daughter of Galagandreiz. The fairy's son Mabuz, a wizard, was having his territory raided by Iweret. Lancelot killed Iweret and married his daughter Iblis, with whom he had four children. He eventually won back his father's kingdom. Did Lancelot originate in Celtic imagination or was he a Continental invention? It is popularly supposed that he has no Celtic counterpart. His name is generally thought to be a double diminutive of the German word Land; but R. S. Loomis has argued that Lancelot is the same character as the one called Llwch Lleminawc in PREIDDEU ANNWFN, in which he accompanies Arthur to the Otherworld. This expedition may be the same as the one to Ireland in CULHWCH in which Llenlleawc, an Irishman, aids Arthur to steal the cauldron belonging to Diwrnach. The identification of Lancelot with Llwch Lleminawc/Llenlleawc is opposed by R. Bromwich who argues that neither of these forms was used to translate Lancelot from other languages into Welsh; for this purpose the names Lanslod and Lawnslot were employed. However, this may not be so severe an objection as it might appear. It is possible that the Continentals could have translated Lleminawc/Llenlleawc into the similar-sounding Lancelot but, when Welsh writers came on this form, they may have failed to realize it represented an original Welsh name and re-translated it as Lanslod/Lawslot. Certainly the presence of Mabuz, who is probably the Celtic god Mabon, indicates a Celtic origin for Ulrich's story. It is thought that the basis saga of Lancelot may have dealt with the fairy captivity episode which is common to French and German sources. See also: COLGREVANCE, ILLE ESTRANGE and TWENTY-FOUR KNIGHTS. # 104 - 118 - 156 - 401 LANCEOR A son of the King of Ireland whom Arthur sent to inflict retribution on Balin for slaying the Lady of the Lake. Balin killed him and his distraught lover Colombe committed suicide. King Mark of Cornwall came by, saw their bodies and entombed them. # 156 - 418 LANCIEN The place of Mark's residence, now Lantyan (Cornwall). # 156 LAND FROM WHICH NO ONE RETURNS A mysterious realm ruled by Gundebald. # 156 LAND OF SHADOWS Dwelling-place of Skatha; CuChulain went overseas to find the Land of the Shadows and Skatha. Owing to the similarity of the name the supernatural country of Skatha, 'the Shadowy,' was early identified with the islands of Skye, where the CuChulain Peaks still bear witness to the legend. # 562 LAND OF THE DEAD 'Spain' a synonymous term; the western extremity of Great Britain is Land of the Dead, according to ancient writer cited by Plutarch, and also according to Procopius. # 562 LAND OF THE LIVING Land of the Living = Land of the Happy Dead; When Lugh came from the Land of the Living, he brought with him many magical gifts. There was the Boat of Mananan, son of the Sea God, which knew a man's thoughts and would travel whithersoever he would, and the Horse of Mananan, that could go alike over land and sea, and a terrible sword named Fragarach (The Answerer), that could cut through any mail. # 562 LAND OF THE WEE FOLK (otherwise Faylinn). See: WEE FOLK LAND OF THE YOUNG, THE See: TIR NAN OG. LAND OF YOUTH Identical with 'Land of the Dead', 'Land of the Living' q.v. see: MANANAN; Cleena once lived in The Land of Youth; Connla's Well in the Land of Youth visited by Sinend; to this day the Land of Youth and its inhabitants live in the imagination of the Irish peasant; mystic country of People of Dana after their dispossession by Children of Miled; lover from the Land of Youth visits Messbuachalla, to whom she bears Conary; Oisin returns from the Land of Youth. # 562 LANSDOWN HILL Near Bath, this is possibly the site of the battle of Mount Badon. It was called Mons Badonicus in early times. In the Middle Ages what was said to be Arthur's skeleton was found there. # 156 LANVAL One of Arthur's knights. He was approached by a mystery lady who became his lover, but made him promise to keep the matter a secret. Guinevere tried to seduce him and, when rebuffed, accused him of making overtures to her. He was put on trial and told to produce his lover to prove he was enamoured of someone other than the queen. He could not, but the mystery lady arrived at the last moment to save him and they left for Avalon. His story is found in Marie de France's LANVAL (twelfth century) and in the English works SIR LANDEVAL (fourteenth century), SIR LAMBEWELL (sixteenth century) and SIR LAMWELL (sixteenth century). See: BLANCHARD. # 156 - 425 LAPIS EXILLIS The name given to the Grail by Wolfram who regards it as a stone. The term means 'worthless stone' and is probably an alchemical variant of the philosopher's stone. # 156 - 748 LAPLAND According to Hakluyt's TRAVELS (sixteenth century), the eastern border of Arthur's empire. # 156 LAR The dead husband of Queen Amene. His ghost guided Wigalois on his way to aid Amene against the evil Roaz. # 156 - 746 LARIE Daughter of Lar and Amene, she married Wigalois. # 156 - 746 LARIS The son of Henry, Emperor of Germany, he is one of the heroes of CLARIS ET LARIS and was in love with Marine, daughter of Urien. The rival suitor, King Tallas of Denmark, besieged Urien, Arthur arrived and raised the siege, but Laris was captured by the Danes and had to be rescued by Claris and others. Tallas was defeated by Arthur, and Laris became King of Denmark. See: LIDOINE. # 30 - 156 LAUDINE The Lady of the Fountain, widow of Esclados, who married Owain. # 152 - 156 LAUFRODEDD The knife of Laufrodedd was one of the Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain. # 104 - 156 LAW GYFFES (low guff-EZ) LAWNSLOT See: LANCELOT. LAYAMON Translator. See: HISTORIA REGUM BRITANIAE. LEANAN SIDHE (lan-awn-shee) The Fairy Mistress who encounters poets and musicians inspiring them with her muse-like power. She appears frequently in Irish poetic tradition as the central figure of the aisling or vision, in which the poet meets her on a hillside. The music and poetry which she inspires is usually indicative of otherworldly sadness and regret for the past glories of Ireland. # 100 - 454 LEAR King of Britain, son of Bladud. In his old age he gave away parts of his kingdom as dowries to his daughters, in proportion to the amount of affection they said they felt for him. Goneril and Regan both flattered him, but Cordelia gave an honest answer, for which she was cast out, with no dowry. Both Goneril and Regan gradually stripped him of his retinue until he had only one retainer, whereupon he fled to Cordelia in France. He regained his kingdom with her help but died. Cordelia had him buried 'in a four-sided grave' on the banks of the Soar, in a chamber dedicated to Janus, to which craftsmen made pilgrimage on the first day of the year. Lear is the same as Llyr. Shakespeare's play follows the general course of the story. See also: CORDELIA. # 243 - 454 LEBORCHAM (lyev'ar ham) A female satirist; the messenger of Conchobar; guardian of Deirdre. # 166 LEGEND, THE CYCLES OF IRISH Irish mythical and legendary literature, as we have it in most ancient form, may be said to fall into four main divisions. They are in chronological order, the Mythological Cycle, or Cycle of the Invasions, the Ultonian or Conorian Cycle, the Ossianic or Fenian Cycle, and a multitude of miscellaneous tales and legends which it is hard to fit into any historical framework. # 562 LEICESTER See: LLYR. LEINSTER, BOOK OF De Jubainville draws attention most appositely to a passage from the TAIN BO CUAILGNE, in the Book of Leinster, where the Ulster heroes declare to their king, who wished to leave them in battle in order to meet an attack in another part of the field: 'Heaven is above us, and earth beneath us, and the sea is round about us. Unless the sky shall fall with its showers of stars on the ground were we are camped, or unless the earth shall be rent by an earthquake, or unless the waves of the blue sea come over the forests of the living world, we shall not give ground.' The Book of Leinster is a manuscript of the twelfth century. The version of the Tain given in it probably dates from the eight. - Ancient tract, the 'Dinnsenchus', preserved in the BOOK OF LEINSTER; traditional derivation of name, see CONNACHT; men of Leinster rally to Maev's foray against Ulster; Mesroda, son of Datho, dwelt in province of Leinster. # 562 LEIX Reavers from Leix slay Ailill Edge-of-Battle; Maelduin's desire to avenge his father send him on his voyage to Leix. # 562 LEN OF KILLARNEY Bv the Red, brother of the Dagda had, it is said, a goldsmith named Len, who 'gave their ancient name to the Lakes of Killarney, once known as Locha Lein, the Lakes of Len of the Many Hammers. Here by the lake he wrought, surrounded by rainbows and showers of fiery dew.' (O'Grady, LOC.CIT.) # 562 LEODEGRANCE King of Cameliard and father of Guinevere. It was he who gave the Round Table to Arthur, and was one of his earliest supporters against the rebellious kings. # 156 - 418 LEPRECHAUN LUPRECAN (lep'r hn) A pigmy= a leprechaun; the nation of pigmies. He is a folk-variant of the Fir Dhearga or the Red Men and, like them, indulges in jokes at mortals' expense. He is often the guardian of a treasure though, in the way of things, he rarely allows mortal adventurers to get the better of him. The modern leprechaun is almost totally obliterated under a welter of cute Irish green-wash and has been devalued for tourist use. # 166 - 454 LETH CUINN (lyeh coo'in) 'Conn's Half.' The northern part of Ireland. # 166 LETHA (lye'ha) Brittany. Sometimes the Continent in general. # 166 LEUDONUS See: LOT. LEVANDER A servant of the King of Africa, he was sent by the King to help Arthur's daughter Melora on her quest. # 156 - 406 LEVARCAM LEVARCHAM Deirdre's nurse; Conor questions Levarcam, re sons of Usna; See also: LEBORCHAM. # 562 LEWY LUGAID Son of Curoi, CuChulain's foe; slays CuChulain outright; slain by Conall of the Victories. See also: LUGAID. # 562 LEY LINES In Hamish Miller's and Paul Broadhurst's book THE SUN AND THE SERPENT, John Michell writes in his introduction: ...Travelling west from Glastonbury towards Taunton, we came across a great mound of a hill, the Mump at Burrowbridge, also topped by a ruined church of St Michael. The road makes directly for it and then skirts its base in a curve. From the summit of the Mump, Glastonbury Tor is visible in the distance about 12 miles away. The spiritual link between these two hills is obvious. They appear in some way to be in communication, and not merely between themselves but as points in a more extensive chain of communication, conveying a type of spirit which the early Christians in Britain associated with St Michael. Visions of Michael, as reported at St Michael's Mount in the fourth century, are traditionally in the form of glowing apparitions, and this suggested a possible connection between the Michael spirit and the strange lights which we had seen floating over Glastonbury Tor. As well as both being dedicated to St Michael, the Tor and the Mump have another feature in common, their orientation. The axis of the Mump is directed towards the Tor, where the line is continued by the old pilgrims' path along the ridge of the Tor to St Michael's tower. This line drew attention to itself and demanded further investigation, so I extended it further east, and the result confirmed its significance. The line went straight to the great stones at the entrance to the megalithic temple at Avebury. In the other direction, westward, it pointed towards St Michael's Mount by way of other prominent Michael sanctuaries. The accuracy of this alignment, precisely between the entrance to Avebury and the summits of the Tor and Mump, was later confirmed through geodetic calculations by Robert Forrest. Also on the line, a few miles east of Avebury, he located the church at Ogbourne St George (St George, according to Rudolf Steiner and Tudor Pole, representing an earthly aspect of St Michael), and his calculations showed that the western end of the line was not St Michael's Mount, which it bypasses a short distance to the north, but a point on the coast beside Land's End, the extreme western tip of Cornwall. From there it runs across country to bulge of East Anglia, virtually the extreme eastern point of England. Almost half-way up the line is the great temple of Avebury. In his book on Avebury, first published in 1743, William Stukeley was inspired to identify it as a winged serpent temple. The serpent was formed by the two curved avenues of standing stones which met within the Avebury circle. At the eastern end of the serpent was its head, represented by two concentric stone rings which Stukeley called the Sanctuary. It stood on a ridge of Hackpen Hill, a name which Stukeley translated as Serpent's Head. He interpreted the overall design as an alchemical symbol of sacred energy, created by the Druid priests as a means of attracting divine influences and sanctifying the whole countryside. Other associations between the serpent, as a symbol of the earth spirit, and the Avebury landscape are mentioned in Michael Dames' very perceptive book of 1977, THE AVEBURY CYCLE. It seems natural to extend the serpent imagery to the St Michael Line which has Avebury as its mid-point. On an early visit to Glastonbury I painted a large mural across a wall of Gino's Abbey Caf, showing the line as the spine of a giant earth figure, a reference to William Blake's ALBION, with its eye at Eye in Suffolk, other CHAKRA points at Avebury and Glastonbury and its feet at Land's End. Twirling round the spine were serpents symbolising its vital energies. The only reason for mentioning this crude effort is that it was the first illustration of the St Michael Line, and even at that early stage in its conception it had attracted to itself the imagery of the serpent. This appeared spontaneously and I sought for no particular meaning in it. In this book the same symbolism reappears in connection with the St Micahel Line across England, but this time it is shown that it does indeed have meaning. Paul Broadhurst and Hamish Miller have opened a new dimension to studies of the St Michael Line. THE SUN AND THE SERPENT is one of the strangest, most stirring books I have ever read, and it may prove through its implications to be one of the most important. For if the authors are correct in what they affirm, they have uncovered in the English landscape the most remarkable of ancient secrets. If the authors are correct... That is obviously the first thing one wants to know on reading this amazing book. Are they deceiving us, or deluding themselves, and can their findings be checked and reproduced by other people? The first part of this question is easy to answer. I have known Paul and Hamish long enough and well enough to be absolutely confident in saying that they are entirely honest and straight-forward. Everyone I have met who also knows them says just the same. They are without guile and quite incapable of wilfully misleading anyone. Could they themselves, then, have been misled? Dowsing is an intuitive practice and therefore to some extent subjective. Beginners soon learn how easy it is for results to be conditioned by one's own, and even by other people's thoughts and wishes. Hamish, however, is not a beginner. He is an experienced, self-critical dowser, much respected by the dowsing fraternity, and he is professionally alert to the constant possibility of delusion. The fact that he is confident enough to stake his reputation on the findings reported in this book is impressive to those who know the worth of that reputation. Paul's good name is also at stake here. He is well aware of this, and he has watched Hamish narrowly on their journeys along the St Michael Line, needing to be sure in his own mind that the dowsing results were genuine. Often, unknown to Hamish, he set him tests, taking him on unfamiliar roads to see where he would pick up the line of energy. Always the spot found was on the continuation of the line as previously established. I too have seen Hamish at work on a section of the St Michael Line, and was impressed by his certainty. On that occasion, other dowsers, who had acquired the 'feel' of the energy line being followed, were able independently to confirm his results. This brings us to the question of whether other, neutral dowsers, outside the influence of our authors, will be able to detect the energies of the St Michael Line as and where Hamish Miller has done. Science likes experiments to be repeatable, and if the phenomenon here described is to have scientific standing, other people also must find it. With that in mind, and to facilitate detailed investigation of their claims, the authors offer to provide interested readers with local maps, marked with the lines of current which thay have found. From what has been said above, there is surely a case prima facie for taking this book at face value and allowing that there may be an energy pattern in connection with the St Michael Line. Some readers will probably not be inclined to accept that without further evidence. Others will hear in it the ring of truth and find that it coincides with their intuition. Whatever one's attitude, there is plenty to enjoy in these pages. In the entire literature of antiquarian ramblings there has never been one like this! How lucky we are in England to inhabit such a diverse, mysterious, symbolically rich landscape. Finally we must come down to brass tacks and ask the hard question. It is, of course, about meaning. Granted that the straight pole of St Michael Line, from the furthest western to the furthest eastern point in England, is entwined by serpentine earth energies, what are we supposed to think or do about it? Since I have been asked to write this Introduction, I presume that I am allowed, even required, to contribute some personal notions. Here they are, then. We are living through a period of revelation. In response to the dire necessities of this apocalyptic time, answering the demand for real knowledge and wisdom, our minds and senses are receiving messages from naturefrom Gaia as the Lovelockians have it. Jung predicted this in his Flying Saucer book. In the thirty years since he wrote it, the portents he foresaw have grown ever more numerous and insistent. The UFO phenomenon has solidified from mere lights and rumours, now leaving its physical marks every summer in the form of energized 'crop circles' in the field around Avebury, Warminster and other ancient parts of Wiltshire. Here again the question of meaning arises; and it arises also in connection with modern discoveries of aligned sacred sites ('leys') throughout the world, of temples orientated astrologically to receive light and energies from certain heavenly bodies, of the mystical science of geomancy and of the cosmological patterns and formulae which sustained ancient civilizations. Revelations abound. Individually, and in terms of modern rationalistic conventions, they appear meaningless. But together they amount to a statement, given directly by nature; a statement that our present way of understanding and treating the earth is wrong, that we inhabit a living planet and we must give it the respect due to any living creature. From that follows a quite different perception of our relationship to nature, leading to the rediscovery of the ancient spiritual sciences. We do not know why serpentine energies spiral around the course of the line of St Michael sites from the far west to the far eastern end of England. Others before us have recognized the phenomenon, and they have made their sanctuaries and pilgrimage routes in relation to the earth energies. The ancients, as Plato reminds us, were simple people. They did not ask reasons from nature, but accepted things as they were, so that if a certain rock was known for giving dreams and true oracles, they listened to it. Plato also emphasizes that everything, all human science, knowledge and wisdom, originates in divine revelation. Those of us who, from a rational point of view, have assessed the likelihood of human survival under the present regime of thought reckon it a lost cause. Yet the rational point of view gives no prospect of revelation, and thus prevents us from seeing what has been going on in recent years. The signs of an approaching climax of revelation are rapidly increasing, and this book is one of them. It was not written by the authors' own decision or for their own benefit. They were impelled to do it by those forces in nature which are now active in disclosing knowledge, long hidden, to a generation that desperately needs it and is now ready to accept it. "Is not that Sun thy husband and the Moon thy glimmering veil? Are not the Stars of heaven thy children? art thou not Babylon? Art thou Nature, Mother of all?" William Blake. In the previous pages we have drawn from the text of only one specific book about the subject, Ley Lines. We could easily have chosen several others just as remarkable as the literature is rich and is rapidly growing. In the 1920s the Danish writer, Martinus, experienced a cosmic baptism of fire through which he became his own source of light, and where he saw the Earth as a living being with the human's as its cerebral cells, and with energy-lines throughout. What he saw through the years to come in his now permanent cosmic conciousness, he wrote down in what is called THE THIRD TESTAMENT, LIVETS BOG in seven volumes. This new world-picture also in details describes the chemical processes of the living planet Earth. In 1992 the twelfth book about Earth energies or Ley lines by Paul Devereux was published as SYMBOLIC LANDSCAPES with the subtitle, 'The Dreamtime Earth and Avebury's Open Secrets.' Its about ancient worldviews, how they differed from ours, and why. This topic is taken both figuratively AND literally - how did our ancestors ACTUALLY PERCEIVE the landscape. Ancient people are still offering us their wisdom, through their sacred sites and landscapes where they have become extinct, or through the knowledge and traditions still nurtured by their decimated descendants. This in effect amounts to a kind of transcultural, perennial manual of how to understand our minds and our planet - the two sides of the same coin, as this book argues. The wisdom is being offered, if we are prepared to pay attention. The baton is being passed on: can we take hold of it? - If we do not, then we miss our last chance, for the time of traditional and indigenous peoples is now drawing to a close, so let us from now study the Earth as a living creature with the LEYS as its meridian lines. # 11 - 184 - 431 - 471 - 473 - 639 - 705 LIA (lee'a) Lord of Luachar, treasurer to the Clan Morna; slain by Finn; father of Conan. # 562 LIA FAIL, THE (lee'a fawl) See: STONE OF DESTINY. LIADIN She was a poet whom Cuirithir fell in love with. He remarked that a child of their union would be famous, which offended her so much that she forsook poetry and became a nun. Cuirithir then became a monk. Both regretted their hasty action and, though they loved each other until death, they were never again united in the flesh. The cycle of poems telling of their pain and love is as touching and bitter as that correspondence between the tragic lovers Abelaird and Heloise. # 454 LIAGAN (lee'a-gan) A pirate slain by Conan mac Morna. # 562 LIANOUR A duke, ruler of the Castle of Maidens. # 156 LIATH MACHA (le'ah ma'ha) 'The Grey of Macha.' One of CuChulain's chariot horses. # 166 LIBAN (le'van) # 156: 1. A daughter of King Ban and mother of illegitimate twins by Pandragus. # 166: Messenger of Fann; wife of Labraid. # 100: 2. Liban was one of the daughters of Eochaid and presumably of Etain. In the year 90 a sacred spring which had been sacrilegiously neglected overflowed its bounds and formed the great water of Lough Neagh. Eochaid and all his family were overwhelmed and drowned, except his two sons, Conang and Curman, and his daughter Liban. Liban was indeed swept away by the waters, but she and her pet dog were supernaturally preserved and carried into a subaqueous cave where she spent a year in her bower with no company except her little dog. She grew weary of this after a time, and prayed to God that she might be turned into a salmon and swim around with the shoals of fish that passed her bower. God so far granted her prayer as to give her the tail of a salmon, but from the navel upwards she retained the shape of a beautiful woman. Her dog was turned into an otter, and the two swam round together for 300 years or more. In this time Ireland had become Christian and St Comgall had become Bishop of Bangor. One day Comgall dispatched one of his clergy, Beoc, to Rome to consult Pope Gregory about some matters of order and rule. As they sailed they were accompanied by a very sweet voice singing from under the water. It was so sweet that Beoc thought that it must be an angel's voice. At that Liban spoke from under the water and said: 'It is I who am singing. I am no angel, but Liban the daughter of Eochaid, and for 300 years I have been swimming the seas, and I implore you to meet me, with the holy men of Bangor, at Inver Ollarba. I pray you tell St Comball what I have said, and let them all come with nets and boats to draw me out of the sea.' Beoc promised to do as she asked, pressed on on his errand, and before the year was over had returned from Rome, in time to tell St Comgall of Liban's prayer. On the appointed day a fleet of boats was there, and Liban was drawn out of the water by Beoan, son of Inli. They half-filled the boat in which she was caught with water, and crowds of people came to see her swimming around. A dispute arose as to who had the right to her. St Comgall thought she was his as she was caught in his diocese; Beoc claimed her because she had made her appeal to him; and even the man who had drawn her out of the sea staked his claim. To avoid dissension all the saints of Bangor embarked on a night of fasting and prayer. An angel spoke to them and said that on the next morning a yoke of two oxen would come to them. They were to put Liban into a chariot and harness the oxen to it; wherever they stopped, that was the territory. It was a method employed in many saints' legends to settle the place where a church should be erected, and the expedient did not fail this time. The oxen drew their chariot undoubtingly to Beoc's church, Teo-da-Beoc. There she was given her choice whether to die immediately and ascend at once to heaven or to stay on the earth as long as she had lived in the sea, and to ascend to heaven after 300 years. She chose immediate death. St Comgall baptized her by the name of Murgen, or 'sea-born', and she made her entry into heaven. She was accounted one of the Holy Virgins, and signs and wonders were done through her means in Teo-daBeoc. # 100 - 156 - 166 - 351 LIBEARN The stepmother of Alexander, Prince of India, she turned him by magic into the Crop-Eared Dog. # 156 LICAT ANIR A mound at Archenfield which marked the burial place of Arthur's son, Amr. The length of the mound was said to vary each time it was measured. # 156 - 494 LICONAUS See: ENID. LIDOINE In CLARIS ET LARIS, the sister of Laris and daugther of Henry, Emperor of Germany. Her first husband was King Ladon of Gascony, a man of advancing years, after whose demise she was captured by Savari, King of Spain. Arthur rescued her and she married Laris' companion, Claris. # 30 - 156 LIGESSAC A fugitive from Arthur who took sanctuary with Saint Cadoc for ten years. # 156 LIGHT OF BEAUTY See: SGEIMH SOLAIS. LIGHTNING Lightning became the 'Golden Lance,' Lanceor, an archaic name for Lancelot in the Grail cycle of myths. It was also the sword Excalibur, which Geoffrey of Monmouth called Caliburn, from the Welsh Caledvwich, Irish Caladbolg: old names for the lightning. # 701 p 343 LILE The lady of Avalon who brought to Arthur's court a sword that only Balin could drawn from its scabbard. When he had done so, she asked him to return it. When he refused, she foretold it would bring about his destruction and kill his dearest friend. # 1 - 44 LINNUIS The scene of four of Arthur's battles in the catalogue of Nennius. It may be identical with Lindsey. # 156 LINTON WORM A worm or dragon supposed in the twelfth century to have infested the small parish of Linton in Roxburghshire. It was probably a legless worm and had a poisonous breath, which destroyed the cattle and men which it devoured. It was destroyed by Somerville of Lariston, who thrust a peat dipped in burning pitch down the throat of the monster. This not only neutralized its poisonous breath but burned out its entrails. The spiral ridges on Wormington Hill still bear witness to the worm's dying agonies. In the same way, Assipatle killed the Meister Stoorworm. Further details of the Linton Worm are given by William Henderson in FOLK LORE OF THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. # 100 - 302 LION Lions occur in various Arthurian tales. Although the animal is unknown in Britain, Boece, a historian who lived in Scotland in the sixteenth century, claims that lions once existed in Scotland. Breunor slew one, as did Gawain. Owain had a lion as a companion and the story of Androcles may have been an influence here. The lions mentioned as having been slain by Kay on Anglesey in PA GUR may have been creatures of a supernatural nature. # 156 LIONEL The son of the elder Bors and the brother of the younger Bors, he was a fierce character to whom Arthur gave the throne of Gaul. After Arthur's death, he was slain by Melehan, son of Mordred. See: COLGREVANCE, and ILLE ESTRANGE. # 156 - 418 LIONES The kingdom ruled by Meliodas, Tristan's father, thought by some to be identical with Lyonesse. In the VULGATE VERSION, Lot is said to be its king; if this is the case then Liones is also Lothian. Its early history is supplied by the PROSE TRISTAN: one of its kings, Pelias, was succeeded by his son, Lucius. Lucius was succeeded by Apollo who unwittingly married his mother but later wed Gloriande. by whom he became the father of Candaces the later king of Liones and Cornwall. # 156 - 243 - 604 - 712 LIONORS The daughter of Sevain, she was the mother of Arthur's son, Loholt. Malory calls her the mother of Arthur's illegitimate son Borre, possibly identical with Loholt. See: LOHOLT. # 156 - 418 - 604 LIR (leer) 1. Sea-god, father of Mananan, and Lodan and grandparent of Sinend. 2. Cymric deity Llyr corresponds with Lir. Lir appears in two distinct forms. In the first he is a vast, impersonal presence commensurate with the sea; in fact, the Greek Oceanus. In the second, he is a separate person dwelling invisibly on Slieve Fuad in Co. Armagh. We hear little of him in Irish legend, where the attributes of the sea-god are mostly conferred on his son, Mananan. # 562 LISMORE In 'The Dean of Lismore's Book,' by James Macgregor, Dean of Lismore is described. # 562 LISS An area surrounded by a wall; usually the enclosure between the wall and the houses of a fortified place; the outer court of a chieftain's dun. # 166 LISTINOISE A kingdom that became the Waste Land when its monarch, Pellehan, was given the Dolorous Stroke. # 156 LIT MERVEILLE A wondrous bed. Gawain went to rescue certain captives from a palace and, on entering, he saw the bed scudding around on its own. Gawain jumped onto it and it shot from wall to wall dashing itself against them. When it ceased its gallivanting 500 pebbles were unleashed at Gawain from slingstaves. Crossbow bolts were then aimed at him but happily his armour was sufficient to protect him. # 156 LITTLE OLD MAN OF THE BARN, THE See: BODACHAN SABHAILL. LITTLE SALKELD STONE CIRCLE Near the village of Little Salkeld in Cumbria, is the ancient stone circle dominated by a vast outlier called Long Meg. The circle of 65 stones was probably constructed about 2,500 years ago, and is now associated with many witchcraft legends, such as how Long Meg and her daughters, once living witches, were petrified and stuck on this headland for all time. # 702 LITTLE WASHER BY THE FORD A euphemistic name for the Banshee and the Bean-Nighe. # 100 LLACHEU A son of Arthur mentioned in Welsh tradition. He was identified with Loholt, but they were probably different characters originally. Arthur's illegitimate son by Lysanor, according to ancient Welsh texts. Nothing is known of him except for a later medieval story which tells of his murder by Kay. His head was sent to Arthur and Guinevere in a wooden casket. He is also called Borre or Boare in other versions. # 104 - 156 - 454 LLAMHIGYN Y DWR (thlamheegin er doorr) (The Water-Leaper) The Water-Leaper was the villain of Welsh fishermen's tales, a kind of water-demon which broke the fishermen's lines, devoured sheep which fell into the rivers, and was in the habit of giving a fearful shriek which startled and unnerved the fisher man so that he could be dragged down into the water to share the fate of the sheep. Rhys, from a second-hand account of it given him by William Jones of Llangollen, learned that this monster was like a gigantic toad with wings and a tail instead of legs. # 100 - 554 LLAMREI Arthur's mare. # 156 LLASSAR LLAES GYFNEWID (HLASS-ar lyze GUNG-wud) Husband of Kymideu Kymeinvoll, giver of magic cauldron to Bran. A giant who lived under a lake in Ireland and emerged bearing the Cauldron of rebirth on his back. His wife Cymidei Cymeinfoll, was twice as big as he and bore a child every six weeks. Within six more weeks each child was as big as a fully-armed warrior. Matholwch took them both in but soon grew tired of them and had the whole family confined in an iron house which was then heated from without. Only Llassar and his wife escaped with the cauldron, which they then gave to Bran, with whom they settled peaceably. # 272 - 439 - 454 - 562 LLENLLEAWC or LLWCH LLAWWYANAWC or LLEMINAWC or LLENLLAWC. The name of a companion of Arthur in CULHWCH. An Irishman, he helped Arthur to seize the cauldron which belonged to Diwrnach. He is to be identified with Llwch Lleminawc in PREIDDU ANNWFN. There is a possibility he was the prototype of Lancelot. Equivalent to Llew and Lugh. # 156 - 260 - 346 LLEU (hlye) See: LOT. LLEVELYS - LLEFELYS (hlev-ELL-iss) Son of Beli; story of Ludd (Nudd) and Llevelys. (THE MABINOGION). King of France. See: DINAS EMRYS, and LLUDD. # 156 - 562 LLEW LLAW GYFFES (hluu hlow guff-EZ) Otherwise 'The Lion of the Sure Hand.' A hero the subject of the tale 'Math Son of Mathonwy'; identical with the Gaelic deity Lugh of the Long Arm; the flowerwife of Llew Llaw Gyffes, named Blodeuwedd; slays Gronw Pebyr, who had betrayed him. The infant was brought up under Gwydion's protection. Like other solar heroes, he grew very rapidly; when he was four he was as big as if he were eight, and the comeliest youth that ever was seen. One day Gwydion took him to visit his mother Arianrhod. She hated the children who had exposed her false pretensions, and upbraided Gwydion for bringing the boy into her sight. 'What is his name?' she asked. 'Verily,' said Gwydion, 'he has not yet a name.' 'Then I lay this destiny upon him,' said Arianrhod, 'that he shall never have a name till one is given him by me.' On this Gwydion went forth in wrath. It must be remembered that Gwydion is, in the older mythology, the father of Arianrhod's children. He was resolved to have a name for his son. Next day he went to the strand below Caer Arianrhod, bringing the boy with him. Here he sat down by the beach, and in his character of a master of magic he made himself look like a shoemaker, and the boy like an apprentice, and he began to make shoes out of sedges and seawood, to which he gave the semblance of Cordovan leather. Word was brought to Arianrhod of the wonderful shoes that were being made by a strange cobbler, and a couple of times she sent her measures for a pair. But Gwydion either made them too big or too small, so that she eventually had to show up herself to be fitted. While this was going on, a wren came and lit on the boat's mast, and the boy, taking up a bow, shot an arrow that transfixed the leg between the sinew and the bone. Arianrhod admired the brilliant shot. 'Verily,' she said, 'with a steady hand (llaw gyffes) did the lion (llew) hit it.' 'No thanks to thee,' cried Gwydion, 'now he has got a name. LLew Llaw Gyffes shall he be called henceforward.' We have seen that the name really means the same thing as the Gaelic Lugh Lamfada, Lugh (Light) of the Long Arm; so that we have here an instance of a legend growing up round a misunderstood name inherited from a half-forgotten mythology. # 562 LLONGAD GRWRM FARGOD EIDYN The killer of Addaon, son of Taliesin. # 156 - 346 LLONGBORTH Arthur's men took part in a battle here. The Red Book of Hergest says Gereint was killed in this fracas, but the preferred text of the Black Book of Carmarthen does not mention this. # 156 LLUAGOR Caradoc Briefbras's horse. # 156 LLUDD (hlooth) (See also: NUDD.) Son of Beli, brother to Llefelys. He was King of Britain and rebuilt London Town, which is named after him. Three plagues came upon Britain: a race called the Coronians who knew what-ever was spoken; a shriek which was heard on May Eve and which blighted crops, killed animals and children and made women barren; and the disappearance of the King's provisions. Lludd sought the counsel of Llefelys, who told him that the Coronians could be overthrown by their drinking an infusion of crushed insects in water; that the shriek was caused by dragons who were trapped at the exact centre of Britain, and who could be overcome by strong mead then buried there; and that the thief of the provisions was a man of power who cast sleep on the court and stole the food. Lludd overcame all three. - The story of the dragons is analogous to those in Merlin's story, while the thief of provisions is perhaps associated with Gwyddno Garanhir. These plagues are due to the reign of an unworthy king. # 272 - 454 LLWCH LLEMINAWC See: LANCELOT, and LLENLLEAWC. LLWYD AP CIL COED # 454: The cousin of Gwawl. He set the land of Dyfed under enchantment and spirited away both Pryderi and Rhiannon to a period of servitude in the Underworld. He was defeated by Manawyddan. # 562: Son of Kilcoed, an enchanter; removes magic spell from seven Cantrevs of Dyfed, and from Pryderi and Rhiannon. # 454 - 562 LLYCHLYN Welsh name for Scandinavia but, like the analogous Irish Lochlann, it may originally have signified an Otherworld realm. Blaes, a character in the TRIADS who is apparently identical with Blaise, the master of Merlin, is called the son of the Earl of Llychlyn. # 156 LLYN BARFOG A lake in Gwynedd where Arthur is said to have fought an afanc. # 156 LLYR # 562: (thleer) In Welsh legend, father of Manawyddan; Irish equivalents, Lir and Mananan; Llyr-cester (now Leicester) once a centre of the worship of Llyr; house of Llyr corresponds with Gaelic Lir; Penardun, daughter of Dn (Don), wife of Llyr. # 454: Also the father of Bran, Branwen, Efnissien and Nissien, according to BRANWEN, DAUGHTER OF LLYR. His name means 'of the sea'. He is cognate with the Irish Lir and King Lear of Geoffrey of Monmouth and Shakespeare, but there seems to be no correspondence in the stories of Llyr and King Lear by Shakespeare. He is said to be one of the three notable prisoners of Britain in the TRIADS. He is also called Lludd Llaw Ereint (Silver Hand), analogous to Nuadu and Nodens. # 100 - 104 - 272 - 439 - 454 - 562 LLYR MARINI An ancestor of Arthur, both paternal and maternal, who occurs in Welsh pedigrees. In origin he may have been a divinity of the sea (Welsh: llyr) who was regarded as the ancestor of a number of royal houses. He would seem to be the original of Shakespeare's King Lear. See: CARADOC - and CARADOC BRIEFBRAS and MANAWYDAN. # 57 - 156 LLYS Llys is an old Briton word for court-designating either the place of meeting, or the meeting itself. # 383 p 166 ff LLYWARCH HEN A celebrated Welsh poet who may have flourished about the year AD 600. He was said to have been a cousin of Urien of Rheged. Traditions variously place him among the North Britons or in Powys. He may once have figured in independent tales but later been drawn into the Arthurian circle. He was listed as one of the Twenty-Four Knights of Arthur. # 156 LOATHLY LADY The figure of the hag, cailleach or Loathly Lady is widespread in Celtic literature from early times up to the Arthurian cycle. Her appearance in these later stories attests to the persistent tradition of Sovereignty, who is the personification of the land and in whose gift lies its kingship. She appears to the kingly-candidate as a hag of hideous appearance and asks him to kiss her: his acceptance as king is thus shown, since he is willing to embrace all that kingship entails, and the Loathly Lady becomes a fair maiden once more, becoming his consort. In later Arthurian tradition, she appears as the Grail messenger: Sovereignty disguised as a hag who walks the land, guiding and testing the Grail candidate. She rebukes Perceval for failing to ask the Grail Question. She appears as Ragnell and marries Gawain (Arthur's champion and heir), helping Arthur to successfully answer the question 'What is it women desire most?'- the answer being Sovereignty (diminished to 'her own way' in later versions). In Parzival she becomes Cundrie in whom her capacity for wisdom is most marked. See: NIALL OF THE NINE HOSTAGES, and LADIES OF THE LAKE. # 152 - 185 - 438 - 454 - 461 - 507 LOCH Son of Mofebis, champion sent by Maev against CuChulain; wounds CuChulain, but is slain by him. # 562 LOCH ASHIE, HIGHLAND To the north-western end of Loch Ashie (north-east of Dores) is a large boulder called by the locals 'Fingal's Seat'. It is said that in ancient times the legendary Fingal (see STAFFA) led his Fianna into battle at this spot against the Norsemen (the men of Lochlann) under their leader Ashie. According to local tradition, this battle is re-enacted as a silent phantom-play soon after dawn on the first of May. When the ghostly battle was observed in 1870, the curious happening was 'explained' in terms of its being a long-distance 'mirage reflection' of men who were even at that time fighting in the Franco-Prussian war. The same phantom battle was also seen during the First World War. An equally 'phantom' battle was said to have been seen near a small well on the road from Uig to Portree in Skye, on 15 April 1746, with the ghost of a young man watching the battle and lamenting. On the following day the battle of Culloden was fought, and the Scots defeated. A few days later, the fleeing Prince Charles drank at the same small well, and the locals immediately took the earlier vision as a presage of the disaster which occurred at Culloden. # 702 LOCH DERGDEIRC See: PLACE NAME STORIES. LOCH GARA Lake in Roscommon; mac Cecht's visit to Loch Gara. # 562 LOCH RURY Fergus mac Leda was never tired of exploring the depths of the lakes and rivers of Ireland; but one day, in Loch Rury, he met with a hideous monster, the MUIRDRIS, or river-horse, which inhabited that lake, and from which he barely saved himself by flying to the shore. With the terror of this encounter his face was twisted awry; but since a blemished man could not hold rule in Ireland, his queen and nobles took pains, on some pretext, to banish all mirrors from the palace, and kept the knowledge of his condition from him. One day, however, he smote a bondmaid with a switch, for some negligence, and the maid, indignant, cried out: 'It were better for thee, Fergus, to avenge thyself on the river-horse that hath twisted thy face than to do brave deeds on women!' Fergus bade fetch him a mirror, and looked in it. 'It is true,' he said; 'the river-horse of Loch Rury has done this thing.' The conclusion may be given in the words of Sir Ferguson's fine poem on this theme. Fergus donned the magic shoes, took sword in hand, and went to Loch Rury: 'For a day and night Beneath the waves he rested out of sight, But all the Ultonians on the bank who stood Saw the loch boil and redden with his blood When next at sunrise skies grew also red He rose-and in his hand the MUIRDRIS' head. Gone was the blemish! On his goodly face Each trait symmetric had resumed its place: And they who saw him marked in all his mien A king's composure, ample and serene. He smiled; he cast his trophy to the bank, Said, 'I, survivor, Ulstermen!' and sank.' This fine tale has been published in full from an Egerton MS., by Standish Hayes O'Grady, in his SILVA GADELICA. The humorous treatment of the fairy element in the story would mark it as belonging to a late period of Irish legend, but the tragic and noble conclusion unmistakingly signs it as belonging to the Ulster bardic literature, and it falls within the same order of ideas, if it were not composed within the same period, as the tales of CuChulain. # 504 - 562 LOCH RYVE Maev retires to island on Loch Ryve, and is slain there by Forbay. # 562 LOCRINUS Eldest son of Brutus. He ruled over Loegria or England. He fell in love with Estrildis, daughter of the King of Germany, forsaking his wife Guendolena who subsequently defeated him in battle. His name is the basis for the name of England which is used in Arthurian legend and in modern Welsh: Loegres or Logres. # 243 - 454 LODAN Son of Lir, father of goddess Sinend. # 562 LOEG (leekh) LOEGAIRE # 454: He was CuChulain's charioteer and, with him, one of the heroes whom Bririu baited at his feast, he visited Mag Mell and there rescued its queen, Fiachna's wife from abductors. In reward, Loegaire was given Sun-Tear for his wife. He remained in the Otherworld for a year before becoming homesick. Fiachna gave him a horse on which to return home but before he dismounted, he realized how much better was Mag Mell. In a variant text, he stopped a spear intended for CuChulain and died. # 166: Sedland, son of Riangabar, was the charioteer of Loegaire, and Loeg mac Riangabra, Sedland's brother was CuChulain's charioteer. See also: LOEGAIRE BUADACH and LOEGAIRE MAC NEILL. # 166 - 266 - 454 LOEGAIRE BUADACH (la' re boo'yah) 'Leary the Triumphant.' A famous hero of Ulster; son of Connad mac Iliach. # 166 LOEGAIRE MAC NEILL (la' re moc na'il) Leary mac Neil, king of Ireland in the fifth century; converted by St Patrick. # 166 LOGRES The name of England in Arthurian romance. It comes from Lloegr, the Welsh name for England, perhaps derived from Anglo-Saxon Legor, an element found in the place name of Leicester (See also LLYR). The derivation of this Legor is puzzling. Logres remains the name for the 'inner' Britain as the secret heart of the land. See: LOCRINUS. # 153 - 156 - 185 - 434 - 454 - 461 LOHENGRIN # 156: The son of Perceval in Wolfram and one of the Grail community. Lohengrin went to Brabant in a boat drawn by an angel, disguised as a swan, to aid Elsa the duke's daughter against Frederic de Telramund, who claimed she had promised to marry him. Lohengrin defeated Telramund in combat and married Elsa but cautioned her not to ask his name. They had two children but Elsa eventually posed the forbidden question, whereupon Lohengrin left her. Lohengrin subsequently married Princess Belaye of Lizaborye, but he was murdered by armed men sent by her parents who thought he had enchanted her. Belaye died of grief. The country's name was changed to Lothringen (Lorraine) in his honour. Lohengrin's adventures are told by Wolfram and in a subsequent anonymous poem (RIGOMER). # 562: Loherangrain, Knight of the Swan. Son of Parzival. # 156 - 562 LOHOLT A son of Arthur, he was a Knight of the Round Table. He is variously called the son of Guinevere or of Lionors. He was murdered by Kay in PERLESVAUS, the author of which may have invented this episode. See: LLACHEU. # 112 - 156 LOMBARDY In Arthurian romance, the territory of King Ladis. This region had not yet been conquered by the Lombards, however, in the Arthurian period. # 156 LONDON, LEGENDARY HISTORY In 'The Aquarian Guide to Legendary London' (p 21), Nigel Pennick says: Various London legends exist concerning the prehistoric kings of Britain, who, although recorded in medieval chronicles, are considered by the historians of today to be nothing more than fables. For example, Bladud, father of Leir, prototype of Shakespeare's King Lear, was reputed to be the first British monarch to die in an aviation accident. According to THE BRITISH HISTORY, TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH FROM THE LATIN OF JEFFREY OF MONMOUTH by Aaron Thompson, London 1743, 'This prince was a very ingenious Man, and taught Necromancy in his Kingdom, nor left off pursuing his Magical Operations, till he attempted to fly to the upper Region of the Air with Wings he had prepared, and fell down upon the Temple of Apollo in the City of Trinovantium (London), where he was dashed to pieces.' His burial-place is not recorded, but that of King Lud is. In the nineteenth century, 'King Lud' was the pseudonym used by machinebreakers in their vain attempts to stem the tide of the Industrial Revolution. But, unlike an alternative name for machine-breakers, 'Captain Swing', this name was taken from one of the prehistoric kings of Britain, after whom London was supposed to be named. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, 'When Lud died, his body was buried in the above-mentioned city (London), near the gateway which in the British language is still called after him "Porthlud", though in Saxon it bears the name Ludgate.' Although the legend is discounted now, in 1260 the gate was repaired and statues of Lud and his two sons, Androgeus and Tenuantius, were erected there. Not far away, Billingsgate, for many centuries London's fish market, is said to be named after King Belinus, for, when he died, his ashes were placed in a bronze (or golden) urn on top of the gate. It is probable that the site of Lud's burial was the sepulchre of the old kings of Britain, now occupied by the church of St Martin's within-Ludgate. This is indicated by a strange legend which tells of the body of the Welsh king, Cadwal II (Cadwallon II of Gwynedd), penultimate King of Britain, being taken there for burial after his death in battle. He fell with his Welsh warriors fighting on the side of the pagan Mercians against the Christian Northumbrians at the Battle of Hefenfelth in the year 634. At the time, London was officially pagan, having expelled Mellitus, the Archbishop, on the death of King Sebert, first Christian king of the East Saxons, when London was re-paganized. Because of this, the archbishopric of the south of England, which followed the old Roman imperial organization in having London as its centre, was set up at Canterbury, where it remains to this day. If the Cadwal story is true, then it was the last recognition that a British king should be buried at the traditional site, despite the change in rulership of London from Britain to Saxon. An earlier royal burial, that of the Icenian queen, Boudicca, is reputed to be located under platform 10 at King's Cross main-line station. The place where the station was built by the Great Northern Railway in 1852 was called Battle Bridge, the alleged site of her last, fatal, battle with the Roman army. Another of her reputed sepulchres, however, was a tumulus on Primrose Hill which in 1811 was used by the Masonic architect John Nash as a survey-point for laying out Regent's Park. # 460 LONDON, WILLIAM BLAKE'S Bernard Nesfield-Cookson contribute with an essay entitled 'William Blake's Spiritual Four-fold City', in The Aquarian Guide to Legendary London (p 48). William Blake born 28 November 1757, in London, and died, in London, on 12 August, 1827, saw the city of London as being ruled by a rigid system of oppression, as a manifestation of a closed system in which every aspect of life is codified. No freedom of expression, creative energy, individual feeling, thought and will, is permitted. Thus, for instance, the priest of organized religion in Blake's poem, 'A little Boy Lost', makes a martyr of a child who cannot comprehend and accept an abstract God somewhere above the clouds, but sees the divine both within himself and in 'the little bird/That picks up crumbs around the door'. Any attempt to break through the rigid boundaries of dogma and tradition is regarded by the Establishment as being dangerous. It is impossible to know whether Blake had already begun the poem at Felpham, and, if so, how much was written there. But as surely as Milton breathes the atmosphere of the paradisal cottage, JERUSALEM reflects the sombre grandeur of London: In Felpham I heard and saw the Visions of Albion I write in South Molton Street what I both see and hear In regions of Humanity, in London's opening streets. This great poem, with its superb engraved pages, was to be Blake's companion over many years. During the years in South Molton Street, JERUSALEM was Blake's life, but not his livelihood. When he left Felpham it was understood that he was to continue to work for Hayley, and there was much correspondance on the plates of the LIFE OF ROMNEY which was to follow Cowper's LIFE. The bitterest irony in the story of Blake's failures and humiliations is that he was never unknown; on the contrary, he was in the heart of London's art world, and knew all the most famous artists and engravers of his day. And yet he failed where they succeeded, ousted by men of inferior talents and passed over by lifelong friends. Against the really new the passive resistance of every society is mustered; and Blake's (or Swedenborg's) New Age is even now still only in its birth-pangs. One of the stories of his last days tells us - 'his glance fell on his loving Kate, no longer young or beautiful, but who had lived with him in these and like humble rooms, in hourly companionship, ever ready helpfulness, and reverent sympathy, for now forty-five years... "Stay!" he cried, "Keep as you are! YOU have ever been an angel to me: I will draw you!" And a portrait was struck off by a hand which approaching death - few days distant now - had not weakened nor benumbed.' The last work to come from Blake's hand was this hasty pencil drawing (now lost) of the faithful companion of his life's hard journey. He died singing his own songs of praise and joy in the vision which illuminated his death, as it had sustained and inspired his life. # 460 - 538 LONGHCREW Great tumulus at Loughcrew supposed burying-place of Ollav Fola. # 562 LORD See: BREAD LORE The Lady of Garadigan who brought a swordbelt to Arthur's court and asked everyone to try unfasten it. Meriadeuc was the only one able to do this. # 30 - 156 LORETE The sister of Griflet. # 156 LORICA LUIRECH A breastplate. # 166 LOST CELTIC CHRISTIANITY See: CELTIC CHRISTIANITY, LOST. LOST LANDS AND SUNKEN CITIES 'Everyone who has ever studied geography at school knows the familiar outline of the British coast; an outline that appears on modern maps showing topographical, meteorological, administrative and historical information. But although we can be certain that on historical maps, every place-name, road and trackway has been painstakingly checked and re-checked by eminent archaeologists, historians and archivists, the familiar coastal outline is ever-present. Despite the meticulous research behind them, modern historical maps of prehistoric or Roman Britain are invariably inaccurate for they fail to take account of far-reaching changes in the coastline. Apart from the more-or-less legendary lost lands like Lyonesse, which is said to have existed between Cornwall and the Scillies, large tracts of coastal land have vanished from mainland Britain over the last two thousand years.' These words commences the introduction in Nigel Pennick's book LOST LANDS AND SUNKEN CITIES (1987), and the author continues: 'Whilst some of these territories are remembered only in folklore or legend, others are well documented, having disappeared in the last few centuries. In some places the coastline is now several miles inland of its former position. Flourishing towns have been obliterated, coastal farmland overwhelmed, and forest eradicated. The singular lack of readily available information on coastal changes has made historians loath to admit their far-reaching significance, yet, without the study of lost legends, many historical documents remain incomprehensible, and the peculiar geographical patterns inland of now-lost territories remain anomalous. This lack of recognition may have been born of ignorance of geophysical processes, of a false assumption that the status quo represents an eternal state, or even from reasons of nationalistic pride; for what patriot would care to admit that Britain, in whose defence he would die rather than yield a square inch of territory, annually lost many acres to the sea? Whatever the reasons for this serious omission, it is a fact that the coastline has altered drastically over the years. The data in this book has been collated from many sources: old chronicles, ancient legends, folk-tales, Inquisition and surveys, old maps and hydrographic charts, parish records and county histories. Sometimes fragmentary, sometimes with a wealth of detail, these accounts all testify to the incessant battle of the sea against the land, a battle continuing at this very moment. Modern scholarship has often found it fashionable to attempt to discredit the testimony of tradition, yet time and again local lore has been exonerated by archaeological excavation. In the case of legendary 'treasures' in burial mounds, this verification has been easy, but with lost lands and vanished towns the gleaning of evidence of that kind is much more difficult. Sometimes, actual fragments of buildings are found. In June 1981, divers studying the site of the lost city of Dunwich found a stone capital from a medieval building over a quarter of a mile from the present shore. But such finds are rare (# 515). Comparison of old maps with the present-day geography is usually more fruitful. Many ancient maps, despite the relative unsophistication of ancient instruments, were tolerably accurate, and provide indicators towards areas of study. Ptolemy's map of the British Isles, for instance, whilst considerably inaccurate for the coast of Scotland, tallies reasonably well with the rest of the country, and has the added bonus of possessing a record of latitudes and longitudes for important promontories. From Ptolemy's map we can adduce some interesting observations pertinent to the understanding of coastal changes since 150 AD. Although the map shows the Isle of Wight, it omits Anglesea, which in Roman times was separated from the mainland only by a fordable creek. Cornwall, too, is shown considerably larger than at present, presumably because Lyonesse was in existence then. The Merceyside geomantic researcher Edward Cox showed the correspondences between Ptolemy's map and the traditional extent of the lost lands bordering the Irish Sea: Morecambe Bay, too, is scarcely shown on Ptolemy's map, which fit in precisely with the known late date of its formation. Many ancient and Renaissance maps show a geography considerably different from that of today. During the last couple of centuries, this varience has been viewed as fanciful invention or just plain inaccuracy, yet several modern archaelogical cartographers have pointed out the uncanny correspondences between these ancient maps and the Earth's geography thousands of years ago. The maps of Ptolemy, Piri Re'is, Andreas Benincasa, Oroniaus Finaeus and Haji Ahmed have all been shown to contain features lost to knowledge in their day but re-discovered during the twentieth century. The Zeno brothers' Map, dating, it is said, from an exploratory voyage undertaken by the Venetians in 1380, shows much of the coastline of northern Europe including Iceland and Greenland. In the seas around Iceland, the Zeno brothers depict several islands that today are no more than sandbanks known for their fishing potential. According to the map, some of these islands were inhabited with towns and cities. Perhaps we have here the last relics of more ancient maps from which were copied the sites of Thule, Numinor and Hy-Brasil, now lost beneath the waves and relegated to the realm of myth. In addition to maps, there are written sources. For example, it is recorded that as late as the fourth century, the Scillies, now an archipelago of many islets, was but a single large island. In the year 387, a heretic was banished there by the would-be Emperor Maximus. Geomantic and geographical evidence is found in the patterns formed by seaside roads that now lead nowhere but to the cliff or beach, which, formerly, were access to towns. The unusual distribution of megalithic chambered tombs in Wales and Lancashire also points to the existence of lands now engulfed by the ocean. Relics of lost lands may still be found today in the intertidal zone at low tide. The remains of forests, universally termed 'submarine forests' have been reported on the coasts of Wales, Lancashire, Holderness, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Kent and Sussex. The anchorage of Selsey Bill in Sussex, known as the Park, was formerly real parkland, full of game, presided over by a great Saxon cathedral that has long since sunk beneath the waves. The notorious Goodwin Sands, graveyard of many a ship, formerly farmland, was overwhelmed in a great flood, and all around the coasts were towns which once flourished and lived the colourful lives of ports, trading centres and fishing communities. Some perished rapidly, engulfed by the raging elements, whilst others fought a protracted rearguard action against the inexorable onward march of the waves, until the last building was grudgingly abandoned to the victorious sea. With all the lost villages, towns and cities documented here, it is not surprising that a whole mythology and folklore of lost lands has been built up. Despite sometimes fanciful details, the legends almost certainly record actual events. For example, several tell of a man riding on horseback in front of a rapidly-advancing tidal wave overwhelming his homeland. Such a tale may appear to be an embellishment until one finds that comparable details were recorded about the 1953 and 1978 East Anglian flood disasters. Unless they had occurred in modern times and had been documented, they would have been dismissed as myth; like those towns whose sole relics are their names, handed down from antiquity to the present day. Even though the construction of scientifically-designed sea walls over the last hundred years or so has diminished the incidence of coastal destruction, there is still much evidence of erosion. Villages stand on cliff-tops, pale fragments of their former selves. Roads lead nowhere but over the edges of cliffs. Parishes, without churches, are reduced to a handful of fields, and cliff-falls periodically inform us that part of these islands are still disappearing into the sea. During the nineteenth century, it was estimated that the sea around the coast of Britain washed away land equivalent in area to that of the old county of London. Worldwide, the estimate is twelve square miles a year. In an era when coastal defences were less perfect, even absent, it is apparent that a not inconsiderable area of our coastline has been claimed by the sea, and with a large number of towns and villages, each with their own peculiar history and character. Perhaps in the distant future, some British coastal cities, whose names are familiar in every household, might also be remembered only as 'lost cities', engulfed in some cataclysm yet to come. There is a wealth of lore and recorded history concerning lost Britain, but space precludes comprehensive details of every known event and anecdote. In the following pages, however, beginning at Chapter Six, we explore the major areas of coastal losses, with their associated legends and histories, and attempt to mention most of the known lost towns and villages that once graced these inconstant shores.' # 515 - 521 LOT The King of Lothian, Orkney and Norway, father of Gawain and his brothers, husband of Arthur's sister Anna (according to Geoffrey) or Morgause (according to Malory). In Geoffrey he is represented as a supporter of Arthur, already King of Lothian, whom Arthur placed on the throne of Norway. The idea that he was King of Orkney seems a later development. Elsewhere, however, it is stated that he took part in the rebellion against Arthur at the start of his reign. He was killed by Pellinore and a resultant discord existed between Lot's sons and those of Pellinore. - The name Lot (in its earlier form Leudonus) simply means 'Lothian-ruler' and need not to be taken as a personal name (see also GWYAR). It seems certain that there was a king in the Lothian area in the fifth century whose headquarters were at Traprain Law, near Edinburgh. - Lot's sons in Arthurian lore included Gawain, Gaheris, Agravain, Gareth and Mordred, and his daughters were Soredamor and Clarrisant. The ENFANCES GAUVAIN says that the young Lot was a page at Arthur's court and that he had an intrigue with Morgause, as a result of which Gawain was conceived. The LIFE OF ST KENTIGERN says that he was the father of Thaney, Kentigern's mother - assuming that the same Lot is being referred to. Boece claims Lot was the king of the Picts. As to his ancestry, John of Fordun in his CHRONICA GENTIS SCOTORUM claims he was descended from Fulgentius, one of Geoffrey's early kings of Britain. However, John of Glastonbury gives the line of descent from Petrus, one of Joseph of Arimathea's companions. # 156 LOVEL A son of Gawain who was one of the party that surprised Lancelot and Guinevere together. He was slain by the escaping Lancelot. # 156 LUCAN # 562: Triad of deities mentioned by Lucan. # 156: Arthur's butler and one of his knights. He was the Duke of Gloucester and brother of Bedivere. After Arthur's final battle, he tried to help Bedivere to lift the king but as he was so badly wounded, he fell dead. A variant of this is that Arthur embraced him but he was so badly wounded that the embrace killed him. # 156 - 418 - 562 LUCHAD (loo-chad) Father of Luchta. # 562 LUCHTA (looh-ta) Son of Luchad; the carpenter of the Danaans. # 562 LUCIUS 1. The Roman emperor who fought against, and was defeated by Arthur. Geoffrey is rather vague as to his actual status and calls him PROCURATOR; he implies he was inferior to the Emperor Leo in Constantinople. Wace and Malory both style him emperor. 2. An early King of Liones, son of Pelias. See: ALIFATIMA. # 156 - 243 - 418 LUD See also LLUDD. He was the eldest brother of Cassivelaunus. He renamed Trinovantum as Caer Lud or Caerlundein, later called London. He was buried near a gateway in the capital called Porthlud or Ludgate. # 243 - 454 LUDGATE For derivation see: NUDD. # 562 LUGAID LEWY (loo'he) Son of Cu Roi and Blanaid. He was known as the 'Son of Three Dogs' because Blanaid was believed to have lain with Conall Cernach and CuChulain as well as her husband (Cu or Conn means dog). He gave the death blow to CuChulain but as he struck off his head, the sword fell and cut off his own hand. Conall Cernach avenged CuChulain's death by fighting Lugaid in single combat during which, for fairness, he agreed to have one hand tied behind his back. See also: LEWY. # 166 - 266 - 454 LUGAID SRIAB NDERG (loo'he sre'av nyrg) 'Lugaid of the Red Stribes.' An Ulster warrior who married Dervogil, daughter of Ruad; later king of Ireland. # 166 LUGH (looh), or Lugus. # 562: 1. See Apollo; the god of Light in Gaul and Ireland as Lugh; 2. Son of Cian, the Sun-god PAR EXCELLENCE of all Celtica, the coming of Lugh; other names, Ildnach (The AllCraftsman) and Lugh Lamfada (Lugh of the Long Arm); his eric from sons of Turenn for murder of his father, Cian; slays Balor and is enthroned in his stead; fiery spear of Lugh; his worship widely spread over Continental Celtica; father, by Dectera, of CuChulain; Cymric deity Llew Llaw Gyffes corresponds with Lugh. # 238: Lugh, the Lord of Light! - The Celtic Mercury played an important part in the lives of the Celts, being patron of (according to Caesar) all the arts, travelling and influence in commerce. A god of many skills, or perhaps the god of the essence and distribution of skill, as war was included as an artistic skill by the Celts; we can see this in the CuChulain saga, where the warrior's ability and his weapons and costume are described in high poetry. # 454: The grandson of Balor, born of Ethniu and Cian, and fostered by Manannan and Tailtiu. He was the guardian of the spear of Gorias which killed all opponents. When the Tuatha de Danaan were oppressed by the Fomorians, he came to their aid. He was refused entrance to the hall of their king, Nuadu, but eventually was allowed in because he combined many skills in one person, for which he was called Samildanach (Many-Skills). He became the Tuatha's substitute king in place of Nuadu who was a blemished or Wounded King because he had lost his hand in battle. After Nuadu's death Lugh himself became the Tuatha's rightful king. He killed his grandfather Balor by piercing him through his baleful eye. He was the spiritual father of CuChulain, and fought in his son's place in order to give him rest during his lone combat at the ford. Lugh is analogous to Llew and to the warrior Llwch Llawwynawc who helped Arthur obtain the cauldron from Annwn. His mythos passed partially into that of Lancelot. His many epithets describe him as being skilful with weapons and crafts. Everything about him is of the light and of the victorious sun over darkness. # 166: Lugh was called Lamfhada ('of the long arm') or Samildanach ('many-skilled'). He was handsome and polished, unlike his father, the Dagda, who was a more primitive deity. # 100 - 166 - 173 - 238 - 439 - 454 - 469 - 562 LUGH OF THE LONG ARM See also LUGH. Invincible sword of Lugh; Bres, son of Balor, and Lugh; husband of Dectera and father of Cuchulain; appears to Cuchulain and protects the Ford while his son rests; fights by his son's side; Cymric hero Llew Llaw Gyffes corresponds with Lugh of the Long Arm. # 562 LUGH, THE BIRTH OF On Tory Island dwelt a robber, Balor, who had one eye in the middle of his forehead and another, which would cause the death of those he looked upon, in the back of his head. It had been revealed, by a druid, that he would be slain by his grandson, and so confined his daughter Ethne (Ethniu) in a high tower and set twelve women to see that she learned nothing about men. Balor coveted Glas Gaivlen, the marvellous cow of Gavida the smith who lived on the mainland with his two brothers, Mac Samthainn and Mackinealy (Mac Cennfaelaidh), the latter being the lord of that district. By trickery, Balor stole the cow. Then Mackinealy, helped by a druid and a fairy, succeeded in gaining access to Ethne and in due time she gave birth to three boys. These Balor gave to a servant to drown, but one of them fell out of the sheet in which they were wrapped and he was taken to Mackinealy and brought up as a smith by Gavida. Mackinealy was captured by Balor and killed. (In another version, Mackinealy sleeps with the twelve women as well; their children fall into the water and become seals. Ethne's child does not thrive until it is taken back to Tory Island to be nursed. In yet another version, Cian, the child's father, is told by his druid helper that the boy will not thrive until his grandfather calls him by name. Cian engages himself as a gardener to Balor who, however, does not like having any child near him. One day the boy very nimbly picks up some apples that have fallen to the floor and Balor cries 'Away with you Lui* Lavada ('little longhand').' 'Oh, he has the name now,' says Cian. After that, the boy grows wonderfully.) The remainder of the story is concerned with the death of Balor. See also: LUGH. * Lui=Lugaid, a derivative of Lug. # 270 - 548 LUGHNASAD Harvest time, marked by the Autumn games of Sovereignty, when the Summer and Winter Kings often fight. Celebrated on 1 August, this Celtic festival marked the season of harvest. Although it is named after the god, Lugh, its origins are more closely associated with Lugh's foster-mother, Tailtiu, who laboured to clear the plains of Ireland for agrarian use and so died. Sacred games were held in her honour at Teltown and temporary marriages were lightly entered into, with no binding contract, though many such unions endured. Farm-hands were hired and animals sold at this time. The reason for attaching Lugh's name to this feast is presumably due to his association with the goddess of Sovereignty, with whom he mystically entered into marriage and with whom he ruled from the Otherworld. Tailtiu was clearly a type of the Goddess of the Land. # 438 - 454 LUIDEAG (lootchak) This name, which means 'The Rag', belonged to a murderous female demon who haunted a lochan (the Lochan of the Black Trout) in Skye. She was as squalid in appearance as she was evil in disposition and an account of her can be found in Mackenzie: SCOTTISH FOLK LORE AND FOLK LIFE. # 100 - 415 LUIN (loo'in) The name of a famous spear found at the Battle of Moytura and owned, at various times, by Celtchair and other warriors. # 166 LUNANTISHEE Evans Wentz was told by an informant, Patrick Waters, who was enumerating the different types of fairies, that the Lunantishee are the tribe that guards the blackthorn bushes, and will allow not a stick to be cut on 11 November (originally All Hallows Day) or on 11 May (originally May Day). If you cut blackthorn on those days, some misfortune will befall you. Blackthorn is one of the Fairy Trees. # 100 - 711 LUNED LUNET LINET Maiden who rescued Owain; Owain rescues her. In YVAIN by Chrtien de Troyes and LADY OF THE FOUNTAIN in the MABINOGION, she is the servant of the Lady of the Fountain who frequently rescues the hero from death and who appears to be possessed of magical powers. She is in turn rescued from imprisonment under a stone by Owain/Yvain. # 153 - 272 - 454 - 562 LUNETE Nimue's cousin. She learned magic from Nimue and put up a fountain in the Forest of Broceliande, to be defended by her lover. # 156 LYBIUS DESCONUS An illegitimate son of Gawain, his mother kept his ancestry a secret. He went to Arthur's court and was made a knight. He was sent to rescue the Lady of Sinadone, which he did, accompanying the damsel Ellen. This character is identical with Guinglain, Lybius being his nickname. Lybius Desconus means 'the Fair Unknown One'. # 156 LYNETTE Her sister, Lyonesse, was besieged by the Red Knight of the Red Lands. She obtained Gareth from Arthur's court to rescue her but at first her manner towards Gareth was derisory, and improved only as the adventure progressed. See: LAUREL. # 156 - 418 LYONESSE 1. A lady besieged by the Red Knight of the Red Lands. Gareth rescued her and in due course she married him. 2. A lost land said to have existed beyond Cornwall. Some thought it identical with Liones, the kingdom of Tristan's father, but this may originally have been Lothian (Leoneis), later confused with a region of Brittany (Leonais). As to the lost land itself, a legend told that, when Arthur had fallen in his last battle, Mordred pursued the remnant of his army into Lyonesse. The ghost of Merlin appeared, the land sank and Mordred's forces were destroyed. Arthur's men, however, reached what are now the Isles of Scilly and survived. Did such a land exist? Reference is made to it in Camden's SURVEY OF CORNWALL (1602). Earlier, the medieval Arab geographer Idrisi uses the word Dns for a place that is perhaps the Scillies. Dns may be a scribal mistake for Lns (Lyonesse). In Roman times the Scillies seem to have been a single island partially overrun by the sea. Maybe the legends origin? See also: LOST LANDS AND SUNKEN CITIES. # 156 - 418 MAB The Queen of Faery. The etymology of the name is uncertain, although it has been suggested that it may be associated with Maeve or the Welsh 'mab' for baby, since she is called the 'fairies midwife', which is her name in Shakespeare's ROMEO AND JULIET, but in this play, she is a much less dignified person than his Titania in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. # 100 - 454 MABIN OF THE MABINOGION, THE In republishing the work with the above title, the 'Research Into Lost Knowledge Organisation,' hope to bring the attention of thoughtful readers a remarkable collection of knowledge which has been overlooked. It is known that Tyndale during his work on translation of the Bible was astonished to discover the correspondance between old Welsh and the Hebrew language. This in turn owed much to the connection of the Hebrews with Chaldea, and to this day the folklore, customs and modes of expression in Britain show remarkable similarities with the Near East, especially so in the west of Britain, Wales, Cornwall, the Scottish Highlands and Ireland, to which the original people were driven by later invaders. That several of the papers collected in the MABIN OF THE MABINOGION will scandalise some of today's scholars is more than likely, but when we recollect how many times even in the last hundred years or so statements of opinion have had to be altered or repudiated, we think the more liberal minded readers who are not easily alarmed by the unfamiliar, will welcome the book and gain a deeper understanding of the appellation "Britain the Great". These were the words by Elizabeth Leader, Founder Member of R.I.L.K.O., and here is some extracts from the Introduction by the author Morien O. Morgan: ... 'We learn that the Rock at Horeb, which yielded "Water" to the nation in the Wilderness, was the symbol of Christ-Messiah. (1. Cor. x. 2, 3, 4). The great apostle tells the Corinthians, who were familiar with the Ambrosia, for in their Vintage feast in honour of the Sun's fertilising heat, under the name of Bacchus, they partook of the portion of the wine consecrated and named Ambrosia. When St Paul states that the Rock "followed" the nation in the wilderness, he asserts, mystically, that the Divine essence - "Water" - the Divine Ambrosia - the basis of all created things, and, therefore, of the said Rock itself, had followed as a river. To this day in Wales it is said of a dried up fruit of the earth. "It is devoid of Rhinwedd" (virtue) or Ambrosia. They therefore understood perfectly Paul's meaning. ... The Druids called Ambrosia Rhin, or Virtue, of all nourishing essences, but instead of the juice of grapes, they used the juice of apples, as well as oil, as Ambrosia. In India Ambrosia is called Amrita, and as a fertilizer, descending through the sun, it is called in the Bible the food of the angels, by the Gentiles, the food of the Gods, but by the Druids was regarded as the food of Fairies. Carnal creatures take it mixed with solids and water. The "fruit" of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is alluded to by the serpent as the food of Elohim, or Gods. (Gen. iii. 4). The reader is reminded also of Elijah's circle of twelve stones on Mount Carmel, and then, states the Septuagint, "poured a sea around its outward circular trench" (VIDE Homer's Iliad xviii), like that around Stonehenge, Avebury, and each of the ancient Mounds on Salisbury Plain.' The foregoing examples, agreeing with Druidism as a creed, induced the author to make researches with the object of discovering the common source of the two great creeds. the results are the MABIN OF THE MABINOGION, or as it was originally published, THE ROYAL WINGED SON OF STONEHENGE AND AVEBURY. # 777 MABINOGION, THE (ma-bin-OG-eon) In the MABINOGION we meet the only genuine Welsh Arthurian story we possess, the story of Culhwch and Olwen. The tales of the MABINOGION are mainly drawn from the fourteenth century manuscript entitled 'The Red Book of Hergest'. The MABINOGION is the work in which the chief treasures of Cymric myth and legend were collected by Lady Charlotte Guest and published in 1849, given to the world in a translation which is one of the masterpieces of English literature. MABINOGION is the plural form of MABINOGI, which means a story belonging to the equipment of an apprentice-bard. Strictly speaking, the MABINOGI in the oldest volume are only the four tales given first, and which were entitled FOUR BRANCHES OF THE MABINOGI. Later other tales were added. One of them, the romance of Taliesin, came from another source, a manuscript of the seventeenth century. The four oldest tales in the Mabinogion are supposed by scholars to have taken their present shape in the tenth or eleventh century. The following tales are listed in the Mabinogion: Pwyll Lord of Dyfed- Branwen Daughter of Llyr - Manawydan Son of Llyr Math Son of Mathonwy - The Dream of Maxen - Lludd and Llevelys Culhwch and Olwen - The Dream of Rhonabwy Owain or The Lady of the Fountain - Peredur Son of Efrawg Gereint and Enid - and alone of the tales in the collection called by Lady Charlotte Guest, the story of Taliesin q.v. Four Branches of the Mabinogi: Pwyll, Branwen, Manawydan and Math, form most important part of it. But as J. Gantz says: 'While we in fact posses only one version of each tale, it is quite possible that other, substantially different, versions also existed at one time.' # 100: Katharine Briggs: In Culhwch and Olwen we are half-way back to the mythological Arthur and in the land of fairy-tales where the hero is accompanied by a picked band of strong men with magical, specialized powers to aid him in the performance of his quest. These manuscripts appear to represent the material used by the Welsh bards or cyfarwydd's. This was transmitted by word of mouth, and it would be centuries before it was written down, and therefore these tales were probably very ancient indeed, as can be judged by the customs and linguistic turns which are built into them. The word Mabinogi means: 'story of youth' or 'story'. # 100 - 237 - 562 - 772 - 773 MABON The Young Son of Light. Mabon or Maponus, the Celtic god of liberation, harmony, unity and music. He may have been one of the most universally worshipped deities in the Celtic world, and was at the centre of the Druidic magical cosmology as the original Being, pre-existent, Son of the Great Mother. He is represented in myth and legend as both a prisoner and a liberator; many other heroic and divine figures are related to Mabon. # 562: Son of Modron - released by Arthur. # 156: In the poem PA GUR two of Arthur's followers are so called: one the son of Modron, described as the servant of Uther Pendragon, and the other the son of Mellt. This may be a duplication, the same character having Modron for a mother and Mellt for a father. CULHWCH says he was abducted when he was three nights old. It was necessary for Culhwch to find him, as part of his quest. Arthur attacked his prison, while Kay and Bedivere rescued him. Similarly named characters are Mobonagrain in Chrtien's EREC ET ENIDE and Mabuz in Ulrichs LANZELET. In origin, these characters are perhaps all the same. Mabon, the son of Modron, is undoubtedly the Celtic god Maponus (perhaps the equivalent of the Irish Mac ind oc) Modron originally being the Celtic goddess, Matrona, and Mellt perhaps a hypothetical god called Meldos. C. Matthews regards the story of Mabon as a mystery cycle. G. Ashe argues that Merlin may have acted as a prophet of the god Maponos, while J. Matthews feels that the history of Gawain replays the story of the god. Mabon is also referred to as a sorcerer. See: BLONDE ESMERE, and MARSIQUE. # 439: The mystery of Mabon is hard to disentangle and restore. The main textual source appears in CULHWCH AND OLWEN. Where textual evidence is meagre it is possible to assume further facts about Mabon from his many aliases who appear as heroes within the MABINOGION and related literature, although we must be circumspect when drawing from secondary sources. Yet texts alone do not give us a full picture. The cult of the Divine Youth, Maponus, was localised in both Gaul and Northern Britain. Two place names survive: Lochmaben, a village, and Clochmabenstane, a prehistoric stone, both in Dumfriesshire. The stone was a tribal assembly point (#564). - The Romans swiftly identified many native deities as aspects of their own, as well as recognising the genii loci of the land in their own right. Maponus was soon identified as a type of Apollo - a Greek aspect which the Romans retained, although they renamed his sister Artemis as Diana. In Greek tradition, the name of Apollo, or Apple-Man, recalled the hidden youth of Britain whose mysteries were celebrated within a circular temple, and whose cult was associated with music and the paradisal Otherworld(#258). Apollo the Harper, has been identified closely with Maponus (#564). - Mabon and Modron are merely titles and not names; they are honorifics. Initiates of a particular cult always spoke of their gods in such a guarded manner, while preserving the secret names and inner titles from the profane. - Within British tradition, 'Mabon is not only the Great Prisoner, he is also the Immemorial Prisoner, the Great Son who has been lost for aeons and is at last found' (# 564). - Mabon is the Wondrous Youth of Celtic tradition: like Merlin, he is the child of otherworld and earthly parents. His cult was widespread in north-west Britain, along Hadrian's Wall. Like Angus, he is the god of youth. His name merely means 'son' and so is a mystery title which is ascriable to many suitable local deities (# 454). # 26 - 156 - 258 - 269 - 439 - 450 - 454 - 455 p 70 - # 562- 564 MABONAGRAIN An opponent of Erec, Mabonagrain was a prisoner of sorts in a castle with an airy wall and he was the lover of a lady who dwelt there. When Erec overcame hime, Mabonagrain told him to blow a horn and this freed him from his imprisonment. It seems likely that Mabon is the original of this character, especially as the motif of liberation from imprisonment occurs in the story. # 152 - 156 MABUZ In Ulrich, the son of the Lady of the Lake. His territory was being raided by Iweret and Lancelot came to succour him. He is very likely identified with Mabon; this would, in turn, identify the Lady of the Lake with Modron/Morgan. # 156 - 686 MAC CECHT (mc ceht') Danaan king, husband of Fohla; member of Conary's retinue at Da Derga's Hostel. Mac Cecht has rushed over Ireland in frantic search for water. But the Fairy Folk, who are here manifestly elemental powers controlling the forces of nature, have sealed all the sources against him. He tries the Well of Kesair in Wicklow in vain; he goes to the great rivers - they all hide away at his approach; the lakes deny him also; at last he finds a lake, Loch Gara, which failed to hide itself in time, and thereat he fills his cup. He returned to the Hostel finding a reaver with Conary's head. He slew the reaver, and mac Cecht, taking up his master's head, poured the water into his mouth. Thereupon the head spoke, and praised and thanked him for the deed. # 166 - 562 MAC CONGLINNE, THE VISION OF This story stands almost alone as perhaps the only extended piece of vernacular narrative from the earlier Middle Ages that was composed expressly for humorous purposes. It is one of the wildest extravaganzas of all literature; in fact we find nothing quite so preposterous again until we come to Rabelais. The writer adopts the conventional literary form of those who wrote for religious edification, and composes an uproarious satire on hagiography, ecclesiastical mendicancy, and royal gluttony. In his higher moments he throws overboard his satirical purpose for the sake of his gastronimical cadenzas. The piece is at least as old as the twelfth century and perhaps even more ancient. The vigor of the burlesque spirit is closely akin to that in THE FEAST OF BRICRIU, one of the earlier tales of the Ulster cycle. # 166 MAC CUILL (QUILL) Danaan king, husband of Banba. # 562 MAC DATHO (moc' da ho') A king in Leinster; owner of a famous hound. # 166 MAC DATHO'S PIG, THE STORY OF # 166: This is a remarkably picturesque narrative. The action is swift, the dialogue spirited, and the climatic arrangement of the episodes highly effective. The plot is based on the ancient Celtic practice of assigning the choicest portion at feasts to the guest who could most successfully establish his superiority over his fellows. It is of interest to note that the author, writing as early as the ninth or tenth century, thought of the enmity between Ulster and Connacht as extending back into remote antiquity. Incidentally, 'The Story of Mac Datho's Pig' is one of the few sagas of the Ulster cycle in which CuChulain does not appear. The scene was laid in Leinster, and the saga is brought in Cross' and Slover's ANCIENT IRISH TALES. # 236: Although 'The Tale of Macc Da Th's Pig' (The title in Irish, as Jeffrey Gantz put it in his 'Early Irish Myths and Sagas), with its feasting and fighting, may seem the quintessential Ulster Cycle story, its antiquity is open to doubt. Every other important figure of the Ulster Cycle Ailill, Medb and Cet of the Connachta; Conchobar, Fergus, Loegure, Conall Cernach and all the Ulaid warriors- is present; but CuChulain is not only absent, he is not even mentioned. One could argue (as Cross and Slover does it above) that CuChulain is a late addition to the traditions of the Ulaid and that this story predates his arrival. There are, however, other puzzling elements. The pig of the title is so large that forty oxen can be laid across it; such a beast could be mythic in origin, but it could also be satiric. In 'The Cattle Raid of Cuailnge', Ulaid and Connachta go to war over a mythic beast, the finest bull in Ireland; in this tale, the two provinces fall out over a dog. Macc Da Tho promises the dog to both Ulaid and Connachta, then feigns innocence when they show up to collect on the same day. During the bragging contest for the right to carve the pig, the Ulaid warriors - the heroes of any ordinary Ulster Cycle story - not only are shamed but are made to look ridiculous: Loegure has been speared and chased from the border, Oengus's father has had his left hand cut off, Eogan has had an eye put out, and so on. And Fer Loga's demand that the nubile women of Ulaid sing 'Fer Loga Is My Darling' to him every night is so comical its inclusion cannot possibly be inadvertent. Some of the rhetorical verse is old and obscure; but it is hard to resist the conclusion that 'The Tale of Macc Da Th's Pig' is a later story, a parody of the Ulster Cycle in general and of 'The Cattle Raid of Cuailnge' in particular. # 166 - 236 MAC GREN Danaan king, husband of Eriu. Mythical name of the Son of the Sun. # 562 MAC IND OC (moc' in og') See: ANGUS. MAC KERVAL, DERMOT Rule of Dermot mac Kerval in Ireland, and the cursing of Tara. See: DERMOT. # 562 MAC PHERSON Pseudo-Ossian poetry by Mac Pherson. # 562 MAC ROTH Maeve's steward named Mac Roth, and the Brown Bull of Quelgny. He said to Maeve: 'The Brown Bull of Quelgny, that belongs to Dara son of Fachtna, is the mightiest beast that is in Ireland'. And after that Maeve felt as if she had no flocks and herds that were worth anything at all unless she possessed the Brown Bull of Quelgny. The Brown Bull is the Celtic counterpart of the Hindu sky-deity, Indra, represented in Hindu myth as a mighty bull, whose roaring is the thunder and who lets loose the rains 'like cows streaming forth to pasture.' # 562 MACHA (mak-kha) An aspect of the Morrighan. Macha herself appeared in three guises: 1. Macha, wife of Nemed; 2. Macha the Red, 3. Macha, wife of Crunnchu. The last mentioned was the silent wife of a farmer who came from the Otherworld. She imposed one condition upon her husband that he should not mention her to anyone. The king boasted that his horses were the swiftest but Crunnchu said that Macha was faster. She was made to run a circuit against the horses when she was about to give birth. She won the race, and after delivering her two children, cursed Ulster saying that when its greatest need was upon it, all its warriors would suffer the weakness of a woman in childbirth for five days and four nights, to the ninth generation. It was so that CuChulain defended Ulster single-handed, because he was not descended from the stock of Ulster. Emain Macha (The Twins of Macha in the centre at the foundation of the kingdom of Ulster) was named after her, and the name is redolent to the Irish student of legendary splendour and heroism. Macha the Red was the battle-aspect of the Morrigan and it was upon the Pole of Macha that the heads of slaughtered men were stuck. The legend of Macha tells that she was the daughter of Red Hugh, an Ulster prince who had two brothers, Dithorba and Kimbay. They agreed to enjoy, each in turn, the sovereignty of Ireland. Red Hugh came first, but on his death Macha refused to give up the realm and fought Dithorba for it, whom she conquered and slew. She then, in equally masterful manner, compelled Kimbay to wed her, and ruled all Ireland as Queen. Macha was no mere woman, but a supernatural being offering support for the worthy, but cursed the unworthy with magical spells. One of the triple forms taken by the ancient Irish war goddess Badb. All are in the shape of Royston or hoodie crows. Macha is a fairy that 'riots and revels among the slain', as Evans Wentz puts it in his analysis of Badb's triple form. # 100 - 166 - 367 - 439 - 454 - 562 MACSEN WLEDIG See: MAXEN WLEDIG. MADAGLAN A king in PERLESVAUS, who, after the death of Guinevere, demanded that Arthur yield him the Round Table as he was Guinevere's relation; otherwise, he required Arthur to marry his sister. He was twice defeated by Lancelot. # 112 - 156 MADOC In the poem YMDDIDDAN ARTHUR A'R ERYR, Arthur's nephew, Eliwlod, appears in the shape of an eagle. Eliwlod's father is called Madoc, implying that Madoc was Arthur's brother-in-law. A possible reference to Madoc, son of Uther, appears in the BOOK OF TALIESIN. A Madoc or Maduc appears as an opponent of Arthur in French romance. See: TALIESIN. # 156 MADOC AP OWAIN GWYNEDD A Welsh prince who discovered America in the twelfth century. Southey wrote a long poem about this legend. George Catlin, the nineteenthcentury artist who lived among the indians of the Mid-West, found supposed traces of European ancestors among their customs. # 454 MADOR # 156: A Knight of the Round Table and Grail quester, surnamed de la Porte (of the Door). In EACHTRA MHELORA he is called the son of the King of the Hesperides. # 454: Cousin of Sir Patrice, a knight who was murdered, his death blamed on Guinevere. In fury and anguish at his cousin's death he challenges the knights who defend the Queen, but fortunately the real culprit is discovered and slain by Lancelot, and Guinevere willingly forgives her would-be accuser. # 156 - 418 - 454 MADRUN MATRIANA (fifth century) She was said to be the daughter of Vortimer, Vortigern's son who fled with her son Ceidio, from Caerwent to Cornwall where she died. Her story may be vaguely derived from the lost myth of Modron. Madrun is depicted fleeing from battle carrying her son. Her feast-day is 9 April. # 454 MAELDUIN, THE VOYAGE OF The Immram upon which the CELTIC BOOK OF THE DEAD is based is Immram curaig Maelduin inso or The Voyage of Maelduin's boat. This text was transcribed in the eight or ninth century, although later transcriptions exist. Apart from the VOYAGE OF BRAN, it is the earliest immram story. Many incidents in the VOYAGE OF ST BRENDAN are reworkings of scenarios found in the Maelduin story. The son of a nun who was raped by his father, Ailill Edge of Battle. He desired to go in search of his father's murderers, and so made a skin-boat and sailed on a great voyage among the Blessed Islands q.v. where he encountered many islands q.v., including Tir na mBan, where he and his crew would have stayed, but for their homesickness for Ireland. Many of the islands are similar to those visited by Brendan. See: BRAN, and BRENDAN, and ISLANDS, and BLESSED ISLANDS. # 282 - 416 - 437 p 18 ff - # 454 MAELGWYN See: MELKIN. MAEN ARTHUR The name of a stone which can no longer be identified which had a hollow in it where Arthur's horse had stepped. It was in the vicinity of Mold (Clwyd). Another stone called Maen Arthur Wood near Llanafan (Dyfed). # 156 MAEVE MEDB # 562: Queen of Connacht; Angus Og seeks aid of Maeve; debility of Ultonians manifested on occasion of Cattle-raid of Quelgny; Fergus seeks aid of Maeve; her famous bull Finnbenach, and her efforts to secure the Brown Bull of Quelgny; host of Maeve spreads devastation through the territories of Bregia and Murthemney; she offers her daughter Findabair of Fair Eyebrows to Ferdia if he will meet CuChulain; Conor summons men of Ulster against Maeve; She is overtaken but spared by CuChulain; she makes seven years peace with Ulster; vengeance of Maeve against CuChulain; Maeve retires to island of Loch Ryve; she is slain by Forbay. # 454: She was originally the woman of Conchobar whom she left for Ailill. She coveted the Brown Bull owned by the Ulsterman Daire. When he refused to give it to her she appointed the disaffected Ulster warrior, Fergus mac Roigh to attack Ulster. They succeeded in their attempt to raid the Bull because the Ulstermen were suffering from the debility brought upon them by Macha's curse. Only CuChulain was able to hold the ford against them and he was eventually killed by the help of the daughters of Calatin. Maeve was renowned for her lust for men, taking her lovers indiscriminately. In antiquity she may have represented the earthly Sovereignty in her own person. # 769: Medb's very promiscuity marks her as a goddess, symbolic of the fertility of Ireland. She is the personification of the land itself and its prosperity. Other indications of her divinity include her ability to shape-shift between young girl and aged hag: in the story of Niall of the Nine Hostages, Medb appears to Niall as a crone guarding a well. She gives him water, and he agrees to mate with her; she is immediately transformed into a beautiful young woman, who grants him the kingship of Ireland. The goddess of sovereignty could also be a deity of death, and Medb possesses this characteristic also. She brings about the death of CuChulain and of her own husband Ailill, infuriated (though hardly fairly) by his infidelity. She incites the former Ulster hero, Conall Cernach, to murder him on the Feast of Beltaine. Medb has other supranormal traits: she has animal attributes, in the form of a bird and a squirrel who perch on her shoulder; she can run very fast; and she is able to deprive men of their strength simply by her presence. Medb's death is described in an 11th century text: she is killed by her nephew, Furbaidhe, whose mother, Clothra, has been murdered by Medb. Her death is somewhat bizarre: she is killed by a sling-shot with a lump of hard cheese. # 100 - 166 - 266-367 - 454 - 562 - 769 MAG (my) A plain. # 166 MAG BREG (my brg) 'The Plain of Bray'. A district formerly comprising most of eastern Meath; said to have been named after Breaga, son of Breogan and uncle of Mil. # 166 MAG MELL The pleasant plain in which gods and immortal heroes lived and sported. Manannan speaks of it to Bran mac Febal as the 'plains' of the sea wherein otherworldly folk move as on land: its fish are its flocks, its vegetation are its forests, while its chariots are ships. The fairy Otherworld; a beautiful land of perpetual spring and sunshine, the Land of Youth (Tir na n-Og). # 166 - 434 - 454 MAG MOR The great plain: the heartland of the gods where men and maidens lived together without shame, where music always sounded, where possessions were unknown and where the ale was more intoxicating than the best produced in Ireland. # 454 MAG MUIRTHEMNE (my moor'hev ni) A plain extending from the River Boyne to the mountains of Cualgne; CuChulain's inheritance. # 166 MAG SLECHT (moy slackd) MAG TUIREADH (moy-TOO-ra) MAG TURED, THE SECOND BATTLE OF The central heroic tale of the group dealing with the Tuatha De Danann and the so-called Mythological Cycle is THE SECOND BATTLE OF MAG TURED (MOYTURA). The text, though not so early in date as most of the stories of the Ulster cycle, still preserves much of the rugged strength and directness for which the older tales are admired. It also exhibits something of the rough exaggerated humor of the earlier texts. The diversity of material, the repetitions, and the contradictions all go to show thet the story as we now have it is a compilation made up of a number of independent narratives. # 166 MAGA Daughter of Angus Og, wife of Ross the Red. Also wedded to Druid Cathbad. # 562 MAGIC # 160: Celtic magic is an ancient practice firmly rooted in the Celtic pantheon, Nature and the Elements, and just the words Celtic Magic conjure up pictures of Druids and mystical oak groves, daring Irish warriors existing cheek to cheek with fairies, elves and ancient deities who took an active part in the lives of their worshippers. # 562: Traces of magic found in Megalithic monuments. Clan Calatin learn magic in Ireland. Alba and Babylon magic to practise against CuChulain. # 612: The tradition of the arcane and the mysterious cleaves to certain races so naturally as to make it seem an inherent and inalienable possession. The magic of Arabia, the secret doctrines of India and the runic mysteries of Scandinavia are salient expressions of racial affinity with the mystical and the marvellous. But to na race, Lewis Spence maintain, was it given to cultivate a higher or keener sense of spiritual vision or of the fantastically remote than to the Celtic. It has indeed justified the claim by the production of a literature which casts back to the seventh and eighth centuries of our era, and is unsurpassed in fantasy and weirdly delicate invention. Later Celtic popular stories and folk-tales reflect and continue this distinction in the primitive yet brilliant simplicity and remote strangeness of their subject-matter and narrative quality. And as if unexhausted by the conception in its Irish sphere of a series of sagas unmatched for magical charm among the world's mythologies, the Celtic tradition addressed itself in its later heyday in the island of Britain to the transformation of these older materials into a body of romance which, because of its noble excellence, its amazement of marvel and incident and its almost divine sentiment of chivalry, made every land in Europe its spiritual tributary. To the Celtic sense of wonder and the generous ideals which accompanied it as expressed in the Arthurian epic, the folk of the Empire of Britain, both in these islands and in the Britain oversea, are vastly more indebted than even the wisest among us suspects. The writers of antiquity were at one in realizing the native superiority of the Celtic mind in the science of Magic. Pliny remarks that the Britain of his day (the first among the new centuries) "celebrates them with such ceremonies that it might seem possible that she taught Magic to trhe Persians". Diodorus Siculus, Timagenes, Hippolytus and Clement of Alexandria were unanimous in believing that Pythagoras had received his mystical philosophy from the Celtic priests of Gaul, rather than they from him. Valerius Maximus, in the Second Book of his 'Stromata', issues a warning that if one should jeer at the notions of the Druids respecting immotality, he must also laugh at those of Pythagoras. The ancient world was assuredly almost as deeply impressed by the doctrines and mysteries of ancient Britain as it was by those of Egypt or Chaldea. In the pages of THE MAGIC ART AMONG THE CELTS, Lewis Spence indicate that a very complete system of Magic, associated with a definite body of mystical dogma and arcane thought, was practised by the Magi of ancient Britain and Ireland is apparent from trustworthy evidence. # 160 - 562 - 612 MAGICIANS Those learned men who, like Dr Dee, stretched the area of their learning to include magic and intercourse with spirits. Some of them restricted their studies to theurgic magic, in which they approached God by intensive prayer, and sought intercourse with angels; others called up the spirits of the dead in a kind of refinement of necromancy called 'sciomancy'. A step lower was to reanimate a corpse- true necromancy - as Edward Kelly was said to have done. Others engaged in more dangerous experiments still and tried to call up devils and confine them into a stone or magic circle. This was an exeedingly tedious, and was felt to be a highly dangerous, proceeding, for if the spirit raised succeeded in frightening the magician to the edge of his ring, so that a step backward would cause a fold of his robe or the heel of his foot to protrude, he would be liable to be seized and carried down to Hell. It was tediousness and danger of these efforts to control the Devil that induced some magicians to take the last step down the slippery slope and sign the Diabolic Contract, thus becoming Wizards. There was an alternative to raising devils, and that was 'Traffic with the Fairies', of which we have mentions in the Scottish witch trials and in the North of England. To the Puritans as a whole, all fairies were devils, but the country people generally took a more lenient view of the 'Good Neighbours.' # 100 MAGNUS (1075-1116) Earl of Orkney. When King Magnus Barefoot of Norway invaded Orkney, Magnus fled to Scotland, returning when the king died. However, his cousin Haakon was in possession of Orkney. The rival earls decided to divide the islands between them. After a few years of uneasy peace, a conference was called on Egilsay, each earl bringing an equal shipload of retainers. It was clear that Haakon intended to murder Magnus, and Haakon's cook, Lifolf, was bidden to strike the blow. Magnus is remembered on 16 April. # 108 - 454 MAGPIE The most 'talkative' of birds, the magpie was often credited with oracular announcements and the communication of secrets to those who could understand the mystical bird language. Like other relatives of the crow, magpies could learn to imitate human speech when kept in captivity. For centuries the chattering of magpies was said to foreshadow the arrival of guests. Two or more magpies prophesied a happy occasion; one magpie meant sorrow. The bird was sacred to 'MAGOG.' # 701 p 404 MAID OF THE NARROW WOOD She fell in love with Gawain but, when the latter did not reciprocate her sentiments, she tried to kill him. # 156 MAIDENLAND The country where Lancelot was raised by his foster-mother, a waterfairy. It parallels the Irish Celtic Otherworld land called Tir na mBan (Land of Women). See: JOHFRIT DE LIEZ. # 156 - 686 MAIMED KING One of the two characters into whom the Fisher King was divided in the VULGATE VERSION. He is called Parlan, Pelleam, Pellehan or Pelles. His injury was variously ascribed to a wound by Balin or to a punishment for drawing the Sword of Strange Hangings. # 156 MAINE (ma'ni) A name borne by seven sons of Ailill and Medb (Maeve). # 166 MALDUC A wizard who said he would free Guinevere from the clutches of Valerin if given Erec and Gawain as prisoners. He freed Guinevere and duly received the prisoners but they were rescued by Lancelot. # 156 - 710 MALEDISANT Wife of Bruno le Noir (La Cote Mail-Taile) who begins by accompanying him on a dangerous adventure rebuking him mercilessly all the time for his ragged and ill-fitting clothes and apparent lack of money. In the end she falls in love with him, and perhaps as the similar tale of Gareth and Linet should have ended, marries him. Her name, which means 'ill speech' clearly reflects her acid tongue. # 454 MALEGINIS See: KING WITH A HUNDRED KNIGHTS. MALEHAUT A city of Arthurian Britain. The Lord of Malehaut was called Danain the Red. His wife, Bloie, the Lady of Malehaut, was the lover of Galehot and the mother of Dodinel. Elsewhere, Noie is called Eglante, see Dodinel. The city was supposedly in the realm of the King with a Hundred Knights. # 156 MALLOLWCH (ma-HLOL-lukh) MALMESBURY, WILLIAM OF Here follow the author, William of Malmesbury's epistle to Robert Earl of Gloucester, Son of King Henry the First. To my respected lord, the renowned earl Robert, son of the king, greeting; and, if aught they may avail, his prayers, from William, monk of Malmesbury. The virtue of celebrated men holds forth as its greatest excellence, its tendency to excite the love of persons even far removed from it: hence the lower classes make the virtues of their superiors their own, by venerating those great actions to the practice of which they themselves cannot aspire. Moreover it redounds altogether to the glory of exalted characters, both that they do good, and that they gain the affection of their inferiors. To you therefore, princes, it is owing that we act well; To you, indeed, that we compose anything worthy of remembrance: your exertions incite us to make you live for ever in our writings, in return for the dangers which you undergo to secure our tranquillity. For this reason I have deemed it proper to dedicate the History of the Kings of England, which I have lately published, more especially to you, my respected and truly amiable lord. None surely can be a more suitable patron of the liberal arts than yourself, in whom combine the magnanimity of your grandfather, the munificence of your uncle, the circumspection of your father; more especially as you add to the qualities of these men, whom while you equal in industry, you resemble in person, this characteristic peculiarly your own, a devotion to learning. Nor is this all: you even condescend to honour with your notice, those literary characters who are kept in obscurity either by the malevolence of fame, or the slenderness of their fortune. And as our nature inclines us not to condemn in others what we approve in ourselves, therefore men of learning find in you manners which are congenial to their own; for, without the slightest indication of moroseness, you regard them with kindness, admit them with complacency, and dismiss them with regret.* Indeed, the greatness of your fortune has made no difference in you, except that your beneficence can now almost keep pace with your inclination. Accept then, most illustrious sir, a work in which you may contemplate yourself as in a glass, where your highness's sagacity will discover that you have imitated the actions of the most exalted characters, even before you could have heard their names. The preface to the first book declares the contents of the work; on deigning to peruse which, you will briefly collect the whole subject-matter. Thus much I must request from your excellency, that no blame may attach to me because my narrative often wanders wide from the limits of England, since I design this as a compendium of many histories, although, with reference to the larger portion of it, I have entitled it an 'History of the Kings of England.' In two MSS. (D.E.) this dedication occurs at the end of the third book; in two others (C.K.) it appears at the commencement of the work; but in others (A.G.H.L.) it is not found at all. Robert earl of Gloucester was one of the natural children of Henry I. He married Maud, or Mabell as she is sometimes called, the eldest co-heir of Robert Fitz-Hamon, and in her right had the honour of Gloucester. He died on the 31st of October, 1147. Dugd.Baron i. 534. An allusion probably to Robert duke of Normandy, to whose munificence Malmesbury more than once alludes in this work. * V. R. 'with presents.' # 731 MAN, ISLE OF In Arthurian times, this island was ruled by various Celtic kings about whom we know very little. According to Arthurian romance, Gromer, an enchanted knight, became King of Man with the help of Gawain. It was at Castle Rushden on the island that Merlin was said to have defeated giants and buried them in the caves beneath the castle. There has been a recent attempt to identify the Isle of Man with Avalon. # 156 - 255 MANANNAN MAC LIR # 166: (m'nan an moc ler') # 454: The sea-deity of Ireland, older than the Tuatha de Danaan, although he is reckoned as one of them. He prepared the Sidhe for their occupation after the coming of the sons of Miled. He was the foster-father of many gods including Lugh. He lost his wife, Fand to CuChulain. He became the father of Mongan, his earthly incarnation, by visiting Caintigerna in the shape of her husband, Fiachna. He is the guardian of the Blessed Islands: these have been identified with the Isle of Arran (Emain Abhlach) and the Isle of Man. In his crane-bag, he kept the earliest forms of the Hallows, including his magical coracle and the cup of truth, which Cormac journeyed to find. In the Irish version of Nennius, Manannan is mentioned as one of the Grail guardians with Pryderi. He was a great shape-shifter and nightvisitor of women, often assuming the shape of a sea-bird or heron. He is analogous to Manawyddan. # 628: In Irish tradition the best-documented sea god is Manannan mac Lir, whose name means, simply, Manannan Son of the Sea. He may be relatively local to the Isle of Man area, and is not an overall ocean god. He is also called Barinthus. A primal god of the ocean deeps, who is also associated with stellar navigation. In the VITA MERLINI he ferries the wounded King Arthur, accompanied by the prophet Merlin and the bard Taliesin, to the Otherworld for his cure. # 562: The magical boat with Horse of Manannan, and sword Fragarach, brought by Lugh from the Land of the Living. He is the most popular deity in Irish mythology. The Lord of Sea beyond which Land of Youth or Islands of the Dead were supposed to lie. The Cymric deity Manawyddan corresponds with Irish Manannan. # 166 - 416 - 454 - 469 - 562 - 628 p 74 ff and 120 ff. MANAWYDAN MANAWYDDAN (man-OW-eeth-an) # 156: The son of Llyr. He is mentioned in CULHWCH as a follower of Arthur, but is in origin a Celtic sea-god corresponding to the Irish Manannan mac Lir. The MABINOGION calls him the brother of Bendigeid Vran (Bran the Blessed). # 454: He was left landless on the death of Bran and became the husband of Rhiannon. He helped break the enchantments upon Dyfed, caused by Llwyd in revenge for Gwawl's rough treatment at the hands of Rhiannon's first husband, Pwyll. Manawyddan is a man of cunning and a master craftsman, able to earn his own living when the land is enchanted. As instructor and man of power, he stands in the place of father to Pryderi, and inherits the qualities of Pwyll. # 104 - 156 - 272 - 346 - 439 - 454 MANESSIER A continuator of Chrtien de Troyes # 562 MAN ER H'OECK Remarkable tumulus in Brittany. # 562 MANS Seven outlawed sons of Ailill and Maeve, who rallies to Maeve's foray against Ulster. # 562 MANGOUN The King of Moraine, he sent Caradoc a horn which would expose any infidelity on the part of his wife. # 156 - 604 MANTLE OF INVISIBILITY Arthur's mantle became one of the Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain. # 104 - 156 MANX See: MAN, ISLE OF MAON (may'un) Son of Ailill. Brutal treatment of Maon by Covac; has revenge on Ailill by slaying him and all his nobles; weds Moriath and reigns over Ireland; equivalent, 'Labra the Mariner.' # 562 MAPONOS MAPONUS # 156: An early Celtic god, son of Matrona, the original of Mabon in Arthurian lore. # 454: Dedications to him occur as far apart as Gaul and Dumfriesshire. He assimilated the attributes of Apollo and appears on a relief with Diana, who is likely to have taken on the attributes of Modron in that locality. # 156 - 264 - 439 - 454 - 563 MARA MERA An old English name for a demon, which survives in 'night-mare' and 'mare's nest'. Gillian Edwards, in HOBGOBLIN AND SWEET PUCK, discussing the origin of 'Mirryland', mentioned in ballads and sometimes in the witch trials, accepts D. A. Mackenzie's explanation of it as deriving from 'Mera'. # 100 - 202 MARDOC A character who appears on the Arthurian bas-relief in Modena Cathedral where he is represented on the battlements with Winlogee (possibly Guinevere). He may be identical with Mordred. # 156 - 238 MARHALT King of Ireland and father of Marhaus (according to Malory). The chronology in Malory is a little odd: when Marhaus fought Tristan he was the brother-in-law of the Irish King Anguish, yet only later does his father, Marhalt, ascend the throne. One wonders if names such as Marhalt and Marhaus might preserve some genuine memory of the fifth-century King of Tara, Muircheartach I. # 156 MARHAUS The brother of Iseult, slain by Tristan in combat. Malory tells us that, prior to this, he had been a follower of Arthur and had killed the giant, Taulurd. Gottfried supplies us with the information that he was a duke and Eisner feels that his combat with Tristan was based on that of Theseus and the Minotaur. He had sons named Amoroldo and Golistant. See also: MARHALT. # 156 - 204 - 256 - 418 MARIE DE FRANCE Anglo-Norman poetess. Sources relating to the Arthurian saga in writings of Marie de France. # 562 MARINAIA See: ALDAN. MARIUS An early King of Britain, and according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, the son of Arviragus. See: SODRIC. # 156 MARJODOC The steward of Mark, at first friendly towards Tristan, but, when he discovered Tristan's intrigue with Iseult, he turned against him. # 156 - 256 MARK # 156: 1. King of Cornwall, uncle of Tristan and husband of Iseult. He is generally presented as something of a tyrant, Malory calling him 'bad King Mark'. In Welsh his name (March) means a horse and Beroul informs us he had horse's ears - a characteristic he shares with other legendary personages. THE DREAM OF RHONABWY tells us that he was Arthur's cousin while, in the TRIADS we learn that Tristan was his swineherd. In the story of Tristan, Mark did not find out for some time of his nephew's affair with his wife. One version says that, on the deaths of the lovers, Mark had them interred in a single grave. However, in Malory, Mark is the slayer of Tristan. The question arises as to whether Mark was identical with a historical Cornish ruler called Cunomerus, who reigned also on the far side of the channel in Brittany. The ancient inscription on a stone at Castle Dor (Cornwall) may read (though this is uncertain) Drustans hic iacit Cunomori filius (Here lies Tristan, son of Cunomorus). If the reading is accurate, it may mean that, in the original version, Tristan was more closely related to Mark than subsequent story tellers were prepared to allow. The writer Wrmonoc says Cunomorus was also called Mark and he may have thought him identical with March, son of Meirchiaun, King of Glamorgan. A story tells that this Cunomorus had been warned that one of his sons would kill him, so he murdered his wives when they become pregnant. One wife, Trephina, daughter of Warok, chief of the Venetii, actually gave birth before Cunomorus had her decapitated. However, he performed this task after the birth and her son (Judval or Tremeur, apparently identical) was left to die. Gildas restored Trephina to life. They went back to the castle (Trephina carrying her head) and the battlements fell on Cunomorus, killing him. At a more prosaic historical level, we are told that Cunomorus supported Chramm, son of the Frankish King Clothair, in a rebellion in which both he and Chramm fell (AD 560). However, M. Dillon and N. K. Chadwick state that Cunomorus fell while fighting people who had rebelled against him. King Mark lives on in Breton tradition. He is thought to ride a winged horse (MORMARC'H) when the sea off Penmarc'h (Mark's head, a headland in Brittany) is stormy. 2. King of Glamorgan. See: LABIANE, and MERCHIAUN. # 55 - 156 - 194 - 243 - 418 - 484 MARLYN The son of Ogier and Morgan Le Fay; hence, Arthur's nephew. # 156 MARRIAGE # 548:In medieval Ireland and Wales, the most highly esteemed form of Marriage was a contract between consenting kin-groups marriage 'by gift of kin' (as it is termed in the Welsh laws) and between partners of comparable status, with proper arrangements about marriage payments. Abductions were known and there were procedures whereby such faits accomplis could be legalized, but these were inferior kinds of marriage. Similarly in more recent centuries, although temporary marriages and other irregular unions existed, the approved union, even among the common people, was a 'match' negotiated by two families. There was shrewd bargaining over brideprice and dowry, and a 'good match' in the material sense seems to have counted more than mutual attraction between bride and bridegroom. How different are the marriages of mythology! Just as the hero's birth has an outward resemblance to the most disgraceful births in human society, so does his marriage have more in common with abductions and elopements than with the socially approved forms of marriage. Yet some wedding customs express attitudes towards marriage which are strangely reminiscent of the stories we have related. As a counterpart to the sober contract, there are displays of mock-hostility. Gates are tied and rope-barriers and other obstacles impede the bridegroom's progress to church and his return with his bride, and forfeits must be paid for safe conduct. Hostile powers threatening the success of the marriage must be banished with gunshots. In parts of Ireland, on the day of bringing home the bride, the bridegroom and his friends would ride out and meet the bride and her friends at the place of treaty. 'Having come near to each other, the custom was of old to cast short darts at the company that attended the bride, but at such a distance that seldom any hurt ensued; yet it is not out of the memory of man that the Lord of Howth, on such an occasion, lost an eye.' This brings to mind the spear-throwing contest in CULHWCH AND OLWEN, while the escape with the bride in the tales is recalled by Lady Wilde's description of the bride 'placed on a swift horse before the bridegroom while all her kindred started in pursuit with shouts and cries.' # 209 - 548 - 669 - 728 - 751 MARROK # 156: One of the Knights of the Round Table whose wife changed him into a werewolf for seven years. # 454: She, it seems, discovered his secret, and he had to hide his clothes until he was ready to turn back into a human being. She stole them and Marrok was a wolf until Arthur discovered him behaving in a very unwolf-like manner and brought him home. Here the wolf was gentle with all save his wife and her lover. She was then forced to confess and Marrok was given back his clothing, whereupon he returned to his natural shape. It is made clear that he was not the kind of werewolf normally written about, but simply a man who, perhaps under enchantment, turned into a wolf at night. # 156 - 454 MARS # 454: He was a particularly popular god in Roman Britain, with both native and occupying peoples alike, so that his name appears linked with that of native deities embodying similar characteristics, e.g. Mars Loucetius (Brilliant), or Mars Rigonemetis (King of the Sacred Grove), Mars forsakes his classical attributes, reverting instead of the original Italian attributes as a god of vegetation and agriculture. In Britain he is also associated with healing and sometimes appears as the Triple Mars - a truly Celtic idea - complete with ram-headed snakes, the attributes of Cernunnos. He is often partnered by Nemetona. # 265 - 454 - 563 MARY, THE BLESSED VIRGIN England has been traditionally known as Mary's Dowry for centuries. The claim to this title is not difficult to discover, since Joseph of Arimathea founded the first Christian church at Glastonbury - a humble edifice of wattles which was dedicated to Our Lady Mary. He was also, according to variant legends, supposed to have brought Mary with him to England after the death and resurrection of her son. The other focus of her cult was at Walsingham where in 1061, Lady Richeldis had a vision of Mary which commanded her to build a replica of Mary's house in Nazareth. This shrine became the pilgrimage centre of England up until the Reformation when the image of the Virgin was destroyed. The shrine is now operative again and drawing almost as many pilgrims as in the Middle Ages where its reputation for answering prayer has not failed. The healing well still dispenses its waters. The Milky Way became known as the Walsingham Way. # 454 MATH # 454: Son of Mathonwy and uncle to Gwydion, Gilfaethwy and Arianrhod, and brother of Penardun. He was omniscient, among other skills, the strange gift of hearing everything that was said if once the winds got hold of it, was a property also attributed to him. He was full of wisdom, a great king. In MATH, SON OF MATHONWY (The MABINOGION), he can only live when his feet are in the lap of a virgin footholder. Goewin. War causes him to abandon this mode of living temporarily and Goewin is raped by Gilfaethwy. Math marries her to assuage her shame, and punishes his nephews, Gilfaethwy and Gwydion, by causing them to assume various animal disguises. It is with his help that Gwydion makes Blodeuwedd out of flowers, as a bride for Llew, his great-grandson. # 104 - 272 - 439 - 454 - 562 MATHOLWC (math-ol-ook) King of Ireland who comes to Prydein, seeking Branwen's hand in marriage. His and Branwen's wedding celebrated at Aberffraw, where Efnissien mutilates his horses. Among other gifts, Bran gives a maigic cauldron to Matholwc. He is ill-treating Branwen, which cause Bran to invade Ireland, where Matholwc is defeated and deposed in favour of his son, Gwern. See: BRAN, and EFNISSIEN, and GWERN. # 272 - 439 - 454 - 562 MATHONWY (math-ON-wee) Two great divine houses or families are discernible that of Don, a mother-goddess representing the Gaelic Dana), whose husband is Beli, the Irish Bil, god of Death, and whose descendants are the Children of Light; and the house of Llyr, the Gaelic Lir, who were represents, not a Danaan deity, but something more like the Irish Fomorians. As in the case of the Irish myth, the two families are allied by intermarriage - Penardun, a daughter of Don, is wedded to Llyr. Don herself has a brother, Math, whose name signifies wealth or treasure (cf. Greek Pluton, ploutos), and they descend from a figure indistinctly characterised, called MATHONWY. # 562 MATIRE DE FRANCE Source of Round Table and chivalric institutions ascribed to Arthur's court. # 562 MATRES See: MOTHERS, THE. MATRONA An early goddess of the Celts, worshipped in Britain and Gaul where her name survives in the River Marne, near the source of which she had a sanctuary (# 102). It is thought that she is the original of Morgan. # 156 - 187 MATTER OF BRITAIN, THE The Arthurian legends were first called 'The Matter of Britain' by a twelft-century French poet, Jean Bodel, who spoke of 'those idle and pleasant tales of Britain' (Chanson des Saisnes, edited by Michel, Paris, 1939 vols. ff.). He treated them frankly as legendary, but they had been thought of as genuine history as early as the year 679 by Nennius of South Wales in his HISTORIA BRITONUM. He speaks of 'the warrior Arthur', and gives a list of the twelve battles in which he was victorious, ending with Mount Badon, where Arthur slew 960 men in one onslaught; 'no one laid them low save he'. Professor Collingwood in his book ROMAN BRITAIN came to the conclusion that Arthur was an actual warrior who led a picked band, armed and deployed in the almost forgotten manner, to aid whatever king was in need of his services against invading Saxons. By Nennius' time, however, it is plain that legend had been at work, and indeed Nennius, among his 'wonders' gives us a real piece of Celtic tradition in the mark left by Arthur's foot in his legendary hunting of the boar Troynt with his dog Cabal. As early as 1090 the Celtic traditions of Arthur had spread even down into Italy, and many children were baptized by tha name of Artus. By the year 1113, the sixth-century warrior Arthur had become a King of Fairy, one of the sleeping warriors whose return was confidently expected. At that date a riot broke out in Bodmin church. Some monks of Laon, visiting Cornwall on a collecting expedition, were shown King Arthur's chair and oven and their servants openly mocked the Cornishmen's belief that Arthur was still alive and would return to help his countrymen. The sacredness of the place in which they spoke did not prevent a furious retaliation. It is of these beliefs that William of Malmesbury, a serious and scholarly historian, wrote a few years later in his GESTA REGUM ANGLORUM (Exploits of the English Kings, 1125), 'He is the Arthur about whom the Britons rave in empty words, but who in truth is worthy to be the subject not of deceitful tales and dreams, but of true history.' The mythological treatment of the Matter of Britain is clearly shown in the tale of 'Culhwch and Olwen' from the Red Book of Hergest, a part of the MABINOGION. Here we have a god-like king surrounded by a lesser pantheon of knights with special and magical skills, very much like the atmosphere to many of the early Irish folktales. Something of this was known, as we have seen, outside the Celtic folk-tales, but it received comparatively little attention until in 1135 Geoffrey of Monmouth launched it as serious history in LIBELLUS MERLINI, afterwards incorporated into his HISTORIA REGUM BRITANNIAE. This hit the popular taste between wind and water, in spite of the horrified protests of such serious historians as William of Newbridge and Giraldus Cambrensis. R. F. Treharne in THE GLASTONBURY LEGENDS has pointed out how well suited Geoffrey's treatment was to catch the taste of the tough fighting men of his period, and how it became modified in the gentler and more civilized society of the later twelfth and thirteenth centuries, so that the idea of a gentleman was evolved in the writings of Marie de France in England and Chrtien de Troyes in France, and in the works of many anonymous poets and prose writers. Geoffrey of Monmouth brought nationalistic fervour, delight in combat and a simple pleasure in magic into his historical background, but the later authors introduced their countrymen to chivalry and the idea of gentleness; and it was in a fairy world that they both moved. # 100 - 250 - 494 - 682 - 732 - 733 MAXEN WLEDIG MACSEN WLEDIG MAXIMUS A Roman emperor, Magnus Maximus (AD 383-88), known in Welsh tradition as Macsen Wledig (oo'le-dig). He was said by Geoffreywho calls him Maximianus - to have made Conan Meriadoc the ruler of Brittany. In the DREAM OF MAXEN, the Emperor dreams of an unknown woman with whom he falls in love. Messengers eventually report her existence in Cymru so that he leaves Rome in order to marry her. She is Elen. The historical Maximus, underlying the legend, did indeed serve in Britain, but took many troops away from the island in his struggles against his rival Western Emperor, Gratian, thus leaving Britain unprotected. Traces of fact remain in the legend: the Welsh retained his name where it appears in many genealogies of noble families as an imperial connection. The leaving Roman soldiers, took with them foreign wives, but, it is said, cut out their tongues, lest they should corrupt the speech of the Britons. Thus early and thus powerful was the devotion to their tongue of the Cymry. # 32 - 104 - 156 - 243 - 272 - 346 - 454 - 562 MAY DAY See: MAY EVE and: BELTAINE. MAY EVE MAY DAY # 701: May Eve was known as Beltain or Beltane to the Celts. The presiding deity was the Goddess Flora also known as The Maiden. The festival celebrated her virgin or 'flower' aspect, harbinger of the fruit to come. It was a time of 'Wearing of the Green', in honor of Earth's new green garment, as well as a time of sexual licence, symbolizing nature's fertilization: a honey-moon when marriage bonds were temporarily forgotten and sexual freedom prevailed. # 562: Sacred to Beltane, the day which Sons of Miled began conquest of Ireland. In the story of Lludd and Llevelys, one of the three plagues were a fearful scream that was heard in every home in Britain on May Eve. See: LLUD AND LLEVELYS. # 562 - 701 p 186 MAYPOLE # 701: The Maypole was a pagan symbol for the May King's phallus, traditionally set up for the festivities of Beltane (May Eve) that initiated the new season of growth and fertility, and "wearing of the green" in imitation of Mother Earth's new green cloak. The Maypole dance was the origin of the square dancer's Grand Right and Left, as men and women alternately passed in and out of each others circles, winding the ribbons around the pole. # 162: Originally it was the sacred pine of Attis which was taken in procession, or on a chariot, to the temple of Cybele and set up for veneration; it was followed by men, women and children and dances were performed round it. Later this ceremony appeared in the May Day celebrations of the May Queen and the Green Man. The ribbons of the maypole are also suggested as the bands of wool bound round the Attis pine. The entire ceremony is symbolic of renewed life, sexual union, resurrection and Spring. # 162 - 701 MAZADAN According to Wolfram, Arthur's great-grandfather and also an ancestor of Perceval. He was a fairy, husband of Terdelaschoye. # 156 - 748 MAZE, SAFFRON WALDEN See: SAFFRON WALDEN MAZE. MEATH Fergus in his battle-fury strikes off the tops of MAELA of Meath, so that they are flat-topped (mael) to this day. See also: MIDE. # 562 MEBD (maev) See: MEDB, and MAEVE. MECHI He was the Morrigan's son. He was killed by Ogma's son, because of a prophesy which said that he would ruin Ireland. This was due to his three hearts out of which three serpents would hatch, devastating the land. # 166 - 454 MEDB (mayv) Daughter of Eochaid Fedlech, High King of Ireland; queen of Connacht; wife of Ailill mac Matach. See also: MAEVE. # 166 MEDRAWT See: MORDRED. MEGALITHIC PEOPLE The religions of 'primitive' peoples mostly centre on, or take their rise from, rites and practices connected with the burial of the dead. The earliest people inhabiting Celtic territory in the West of Europe of whom we have any distinct knowledge are a race without name or known history, but by their sepulcral monuments, of which so many still exist, we can learn a great deal about them. They were the socalled Megalithis People (from Greek megas, great, and lithos, a stone), the builders of dolmens, cromlechs and chambered tumuli of which more than five thousand were found alone in northern and western Europe. Druidism in its essential features was imposed upon the imaginative and sensitive nature of the Celt - the Celt with his 'extraordinary aptitude' for picking up ideas - by the earlier population of Western Europe, the Megalithic People. # 562 MELCHINUS See: MELKIN. MELEAGRAUNCE See: MELVAS. MELEHAN A son of Mordred. When Mordred was dead, he and his brother seized the kingdom, but they were defeated by Lancelot. He was killed by Bors. # 156 - 604 MELIODAS A natural son of King Meliodas of Liones and the Queen of Scotland. His mother set him adrift and he was raised by the Lady of the Lake. # 156 - 238 - 418 MELKIN John of Glastonbury mentions a vaticinator (one who foresees the future) called Melkin, who lived before Merlin and uttered a prophecy about Glastonbury, couched in obscure Latin, which is difficult to interpret. It may refer to Glastonbury as a place of pagan burial and to a future discovery of the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Apart from an entry in the Annals of Glastonbury Abbey, evidence is scanty for his existence, but there is a strong indication that he embodied an ancient tradition before Christian times. It has been suggested that Melkin is to be identified with Maelgwyn, a sixth-century ruler of Gwynedd. Henry VIII's royal antiquary, John Leland (c.1503-52) claimed to have seen Melkin's book at Glastonbury Abbey. # 156 - 344 - 454 MELORA In an Irish romance, a daughter of Arthur who fell in love with Orlando, son of the King of Thessaly. Mador, who was jealous, bribed Merlin to get rid of him and Merlin complied, persuading his servant, the Destructive One, to imprison the hapless prince. Only the Lance of Longinus, the carbuncle of the daughter of the King of Narsinga, and the oil of the pig of Tuis could dispose of the enchantments that surrounded him. Melora, dressed as a knight, defeated the King of Africa on behalf of the King of Babylon who gave her the Lance and sent Levander, his servant, to accompany her, They were imprisoned by the King of Asia but escaped with the aid of a guard, Uranus, and obtained the porcine oil from their captor. They lured the King of Narsinga and his daughter, Verona, on to a ship, but all became friends and the carbuncle was secured. Melora freed Orlando and they went to Thessaly, while Levander married Verona. # 156 - 406 MELWAS MELEAGAUNCE MELEAGRAUNCE A knight, son of the otherworld King Bagdemagus, who abducted Guinevere, taking her to his territory. Only his father prevented him from raping her. Lancelot rescued her. There are different versions of what befell Meleagaunce. In the ancient LIFE OF CARADOC, the saint mediates between Arthur and Melwas (here called the King of the Summer Country) to prevent warfare between them. In later medieval tradition, Melwas becomes Sir Meleagraunce. In another version he subsequently imprisoned Lancelot but the latter escaped and slew him. In another, he and Lancelot fought a single combat over Guinevere, Lancelot winning and killing his opponent. A Welsh version of the abduction story tells how Melwas, ruler of Somerset, carried Guinevere off to Glastonbury. Arthur laid siege to it but the Abbot and Gildas prevailed upon Melwas to return his captive. # 24 - 156 - 378 - 418 - 454 MENW AP TEIRNAEDD (menoo ap tair-noo-AYTH) An enchanter in Arthur's service. In CULHWCH, Arthur assigned him to help the hero, Culhwch, in case he and his party needed to be made invisible. # 156 - 346 MERAUGIS King Mark of Cornwall violated his niece, Labiane, and as a result she gave birth to Meraugis. Mark then murdered Labiane and abandoned Meraugis in the woods, but he was raised by a forester and grew to be a Knight of the Round Table. After Arthur's last battle, he became a hermit with Bors and others. # 30 - 156 MERCHIAUN The father of King Mark of Glamorgan. This Mark may have been the original of, or confused with, Mark of Cornwall. # 156 MERCURY # 562: Regarded as chief of the gods by Gauls; Lugh Lamfada identified with Mercury. # 454: He was particularly popular among natives of Britain and, although he retained his classical attributes, he blended in well with native gods. He is shown with caduceus, cockerel and purse, indicating his function as conductor of the dead and god of financial transactions. He is partnered by Rosmerta in many inscriptions and reliefs. # 265 - 454 - 562 - 563 MERIADEUC A knight who obtained a second sword because he was the only one able to unfasten a swordbelt which Lore, Lady of Garadigan, brought to Arthur's court. He was therefore known as the Knight of the Two Swords (a title also given to Balin). He eventually married Lore. # 30 - 156 MERIADOC He was the son of King Caradoc of Wales. The latter was succeeded by Griffith who had secured the throne by murder. Griffith sent Meriadoc and his sister Orwen to the woods to be killed, but the executioners did not carry out their task. Meriadoc was subsequently raised by Ivor the Huntsman and his wife Morwen. Urien, here called the King of Scots, abducted Orwen and married her. Meriadoc went to Arthur's court and, with that king's help, he ousted Griffith and gained his rightful throne which he handed over to Urien. Meriadoc went abroad and rescued the daughter of the Emperor of Germany from Grundebald, king of the Land From Which No One Returns, and married her. # 156 - 753 MERLIN # 156: (In Welsh: Myrddin, latinized as Merlinus because the more natural Merdinus would have connected it with Latin merdus, 'dung'). Arthur's magician and counsellor, in many ways the architect of his reign. The popular modern image of Merlin is a wise elder, but there is abundant evidence in many early sources of Merlin's true nature as a primal prophet, magician, wise man, and, paradoxically, foolish seeker of the truth. His life was in three phases: innocent prophetic youth, madman and hermit, and wise elder. In the classic form of the tale, Merlin was begotten by an incubus. Robert says the devils of Hell had determined to set on earth an evil being to counter-balance the good introduced by Jesus Christ. Happily, the child was promptly baptized so he was not evil! Vortigern, King of Britain some time after the Roman withdrawal was haplessly trying to build a tower for, whenever it was erected, it would collapse. The king's counsellors told him he would need to sacrifice a fatherless child to remedy this. Such children were hardly thick on the ground but Merlin, now a youth, was popularly supposed to be sireless so he was secured for this purpose. However, he pointed out that the real reason for the collapse was the existence of a pool beneath the foundations. Digging revealed the truth of this and a brace of dragons emerged, one red and one white; these caused Merlin to utter a series of prophecies. # 632: It was Geoffrey of Monmouth whose HISTORIA REGNUM BRITTANIAE and VITA MERLINI are the chief sources for his life, there renamed him Merlin. In these books Merlin makes a series of prophecies concerning the fate of Britain. It is possible that he may be the same character as the sixth-century Welsh poet, Myrddin, several of whose poems are still extant. (He fought on the side of King Gwenddolau against Rhydderch Hael at Arfderydd in AD 575 and went mad as a result of losing the battle.) The madness of Merlin is contained in several traditional stories concerning suibhne gelt and Laioken. All three mad prophets are said to suffer the threefold death caused by falling, hanging and drowning, although the usual tale of Merlin's death or passing away became attached to the story of Niniane or Vivienne, an otherworld woman who tricked him into revealing his magic. She then shut him up in a glass tower, or under a stone or in a hawthorn tree. This tradition is probably a garbled understanding of Merlin's withdrawal from the world into the Otherworld. # 156: When Aurelius Ambrosius defeated Vortigern he wished to put up a monument. Merlin advised him to procure certain stones from Ireland and these were erected on Salisbury Plain as Stonehenge. After the death of Aurelius, when Uther came to the throne, Merlin arranged for him to seduce Igraine by magically making him take the shape of her husband, Gorlois. He took the child, Arthur, born of this union, and arranged the sword-in-stone contest, whereby Arthur became king. According to Malory became Merlin infatuated by Nimue (elsewhere called Viviane), whom he taught magical secrets which she used to imprison him. Geoofrey, however, have him active after Camlann, bringing the wounded Arthur to Avalon. As mentioned above he went mad after the battle of Arthuret and became a wild man, living in the woods. According to Giraldus Cambrensis, this was because of some horrible sight he beheld during the fighting, where three of his brothers were killed. King Rhydderch Hael was married to Merlin's sister, Ganieda, who persuaded him to give up his life in the forest, but he revealed to Rhydderch that she had been unfaithful to him. He decided to return to the greenwood and urged his wife, Guendoloena, to remarry. However, his madness once again took hold of him and he turned up at the wedding, riding a stag and leading a herd of deer. In his rage, he tore the antlers from the stag and flung them at the bridgegroom, killing him. He went back to the woods and Ganieda built him an observatory from which he could study the stars. Welsh poetry antedating Geoffrey largely agrees with this account, though it has Merlin fighting against Rhydderch rather than for him. Similar tales are told about a character called Lailoken, who was in Rhydderch's service and this may have prompted Geoffrey to change the side which Merlin was on. As Lailoken is similar to a Welsh word meaning 'twin brother' and as Merlin and Ganieda were thought to be twins, it is possible it was merely a nickname applied to Merlin. Merlin is not, at any rate, a personal name but a place name - the Welsh Myrddin comes from Celtic Maridunon (Carmarthen) - which was applied to the magician because, according to Geoffrey, he came from that city. Elsewhere it is averted that the city was founded by, and named after, the wizard. Robert has him born in Brittany. Geoffrey makes him King of Powys, and the idea that he was of royal blood is also found in Strozzi's VENETIA EDIFICATA (1624). As to the historical Merlin, if he existed, modern writers such as Ward Rutherford and N. Tolstoy think he may have been a latter-day Druid and so took part in shamanistic practices. Jung and von Franz also see shamanistic elements in the story of Merlin. This contrasts with the earlier theory of E. Davies that Merlin was a god (the evening star), and his sister Ganieda a goddess (the morning star). There is some evidence that Merlin may originally have been a god, for in the TRIADS, we are told that the earlieast name for Britain was Merlin's Precinct, as though he were a god with proprietorial rights. G. Ashe would connect him with the cult of the god Mabon. Because of his association with stags, there may be a connection with Cernunnos, the Celtic horned god. Merlin's mother was called Aldan in Welsh tradition. The Elizabethan play THE BIRTH OF MERLIN - which may have been partially authored by Shakespeare calls her Joan Go-to-'t. That he had no father does not seem to be a feature of Welsh tradition in which he is given the following pedigree: Coel Godebog - Ceneu - Mor - Morydd - Madog Morfryn - Myrddin (Merlin). He was also said to be the son of Morgan Frych who, some claimed, had been a prince of Gwynedd. Both Welsh poetry and Geoffrey have him speaking with Taliesin, with whom he seemed to be considerably connected in the Welsh mind. Thus one Welsh tradition asserted he first appeared in Vortigern's time, then was reincarnated as Taliesin and reincarnated once more as Merlin the wild man. The idea that there were two Merlins, wizard and wild man, is found in Giraldus Cambrensis (the Norman-welsh chronicler of the twelfth century), doubtless because of the impossibly long lifespan assigned to him by Geoffrey. A modern relic of the Merlin legend was to be found in the pilgrimages made to Merlin's Spring at Barenton in Brittany, but these were stopped by the Vatican in 1853. Merlin's ghost is said to haunt Merlin's Cave at Tintagel, and some have had a real meeting at Dinas Emrys with somebody claiming he were Merlin. # 635: R. J. Stewart in his book, THE WAY OF MERLIN: (p 63 ff)...'a man stepped out of the tree. There is no other way to describe this - it was not a faint impression or a spiritual vision, not a meditational intimation, but a man stepping out of the tree to stand before me. ... His build was very powerful... his manner was demanding and stern. He looked at me and said, without any preamble, 'I am Merlin. You will be my pupil.' This was a flat statement that seemed to declare an inevitable established fact; it was not an introduction or a suggestion.' This experience was followed by several others, probably making Stewart our times most knowing Merlin scolar and interpreter, which brought about his many books including a tarot set build up around Merlin, See also: CONRAD, and DINABUTIUS. # 156-177-238-242-243-341-353-418-562-571-606-632-635-673-780 MERLIN'S ENCLOSURE Merlin is the tutelar of Britain which is anciently called Clas Merdin or Merlin's Enclosure. # 454 MERLIN'S HILL CAVE A Carmarthen cave where Merlin is said to be buried. # 156 MERLIN'S OAK A tree, also called Merlin's Oak, (in Priory Street in Carmarthen). It was believed that, if the tree fell, Carmarthen's destruction would follow. Every care was taken over the centuries to protect it from falling, however, a few years ago the Local Authority decided to risk it and remove the tree which had become a traffic hazard and consisted mainly of concrete and iron bars anyway. # 49 MERLIN, ENTERTAINMENTS BY To cure Vortigern's fit of melancholy, and, to cheer him up, Merlin provided various entertainments, such as invisible musicians and flying hounds chasing flying hares. # 308 MERROWS MURDHUACHA MERMAIDS (muroo-cha) The Irish equivalent of Mermaids. Like them they are beautiful, though with fishes' tails and little webs between their fingers. They are dreaded because they appear before storms, but they are gentler than most mermaids and often fall in love with mortals. The offspring of these marriages are sometimes said to be covered with scales, just as the descendants of the Roane, or Seal People, are said to have webs between their fingers. Sometimes they come ashore in the form of little hornless cattle, but in their proper shape they wear red feather caps, by means of which they go through the water. If these are stolen they cannot return to the sea again. If the female merrows are beautiful, the male are very ugly indeed, with green faces and bodies, a red, sharp nose and eyes like a pig. They seem, however, to be generally amiable and jovial characters. A lively story by Crofton Croker gives a pleasant picture of a merrow, and can be read in FAIRY LEGENDS OF THE SOUTH OF IRELAND, VOL.II. # 100 - 165 MESS BUACHALLA (mess'boo'a hal a) A name given to the daughter of the second Etain and Cormac, King of Ulster. Cormac, tiring of Etain, bade her baby daughter be cast into a pit, but she was rescued and fostered by the cowherds of Eterscel, King of Tara. When she grew up she was kept closely guarded by the cowherds, but Eterscel saw her and desired her. It was prophesied that a woman of unknown race would bear him a son, but Mess Buachalla - the Cowherd's Fosterchild, as she was known- was warned by an otherworldly man in the shape of a bird; it was he who was the real father of Conaire Mor, not Eterscel. # 166 - 188 - 454 MESTER STOORWORM The Orcadian Mester Stoorworm is a prime example of the Scandinavian Dragon in Britain. There are two main types of dragon in these islands: the heraldic dragon, winged and usually fire-breathing, and the Worm, for which one generally supposes a Scandinavian origin, which is generally huge, often wingless and most commonly a sea monster. These worms are not fire-breathing, but have a poisonous breath. The Mester Stoorworm fulfilled all these qualifications. Trail Dennison, whose manuscript is reproduced in SCOTTISH FAIRY AND FOLK TALES, gives several descriptions of the creature. 'Now you must know that this was the largest, the first, and the father of all the Stoorworms. Therefore was he well named the Mester Stoorworm. With his venomous breath he could kill every living creature on which it fell, and could wither up everything that grew.' A little later, as Assipattle sails out towards the Stoorworm, the description becomes even more gargantuan: 'The monster lay before him like an exceedingly big and high mountain, while the eyes of the monster - some say he had but one eye - glowed and flamed like a ward fire. It was a sight that might well have terrified the bravest heart. The monster's length stretched half across the world. His awful tongue was hundreds on hundreds of miles long. And, when in anger, with his tongue he would sweep whole towns, trees, and hills into the sea. His terrible tongue was forked. And the prongs of the fork he used as a pair of tongs, with which to seize his prey. With that fork he would crush the largest ship like an egg-shell. With that fork he would crack the walls of the biggest castle like a nut, and suck every living thing out of the castle into his maw. Later, in his dying agony, he spews out his teeth and they become the Orkneys, the Faroes and the Shetland Islands. His forked tongue entangles itself on one horn of the moon and his curled-up body hardens into Iceland.' The whole thing is an extravaganza, a fairytale, not a legend. # 100 - 192 - 473 METEMPSYCHOSIS Celtic mythology assumes the constant interchanging of souls which can pass from one body to another. Finn's two dogs were actually his nephews. # 161 MEURIG A king of Glenvissig whose son, Arthrwys is identified with King Arthur. # 72 - 73 - 156 MEURVIN The son of Ogier and Morgan, therefore Arthur's nephew. He was the father of Oriant and an ancestor of the Swan Knight. # 156 MIACH (mee-ah) A great physician of the Tuatha De Danann. After his father Diancehct made a silver hand for Nuadu, Miach, whose skill surpassed his, made a hand of flesh instead. In his jealous rage Diancecht wounded him in three separate attacks, which Miach healed. On the fourth attack he received a wound in the brain from which he died. 365 herbs grew from his grave which his sister Airmed gathered, but Diancecht confused them so that no one knew which was which. # 166 - 454 MICHAEL'S MOUNT, ST The mount of St Michael, Cornwall (who is the archangel of the sun), with its fairy-tale castle, may be reached only by boat before low tide, after which a causeway is revealed, making it possible to walk across to the island from the mainland. Although given to the National Trust, the castle is the 'embattled home' of the St Aubyn purchased it in 1567. # 702 MICHEL, LE MONT ST Mont St-Michel was originally called 'Mont-Tombe', and like Tombelaine was doubtless one of the sea-tombs whither, according to Celtic mythology, the souls of the dead were ferried in an invisible barque. In 708 an apparition of St Michael the archangel to St Aubert, Bishop of Avranches, commanded the building of an oratory on the summit of this rock, which gave place to a Carolingian church in the tenth century, and a Romanesque basilica in the next centuries. In 966 Richard I of Normandy installed Benedictines here, who provided several vessels for the Conqueror's fleet a century later. In 1047 a chapel on St Michael's Mount in Cornwall was placed under their control by Edward the Confessor. By the twelfth century, under its abbot Robert de Totigni, it became a celebrated seat of monkish learning. In 1166 Henry II held court here and received the homage of the turbulent Bretons he had subdued. In 1203 the French king sent an expedition against the Mont, when some of its dependencies were burnt, for which depredation Philippe Auguste later compensated the monks royally, and with the proceeds the 'Merveille' was built, while Louis IX, who visited the abbey in 1254, contributed to the cost of its defensive works; indeed it increasingly took on the character of an ecclesiastical fortress, with a garrison maintained at the joint charge of both king and abbot. It was the only stronghold which held out when the rest of Normandy was overrun by Henry V's armies, and withstood two sieges under Louis d'Estouteville (in 1417 and 1423), and a third English assault was beaten off in 1434. In 1469 Louis XI added to the prosperity of the monastery by instituting the royal order of St Michel. Nol Beda, head of the Collge de Montaigu in Paris from 1499, was banished here by Franois I for his officiousness, where he died in 1536. In 1591 it successfully resisted Montgomery and his Calvinist troops. In 1622 the vitiated confraternity were replaced by the reformed (but Philistine) congragation of St Maur, who divided the refectory into the storeys of dormitory cells. From 1790 to 1863 it was a State prison, and only after 1874, when it passed into the hands of the Commission des Monuments Historiques, did its restoration commence. # 3 - 559 MIDE (mi'he) Meath. The central portion of Ireland. # 166 MIDER (MEETH-er) MIDIR MIDHIR MIDAR (mi'yr) King of Sidhe of Femen, and the fairy lover of Etain, the queen. He lost his wife Etain, who was a human, and went in search of her to the court of Eochaid Airem, whom she had married. He sought her through many reincarnations and strove to remind her of their happiness within the sidhe. He fought to regain her by playing fidchell (chess) with Eochaid and eventually abducted Etain by seizing her and rising through the smoke-hole of Eochaid's hall in the form of swans. # 166 - 267 - 454 MIDSUMMER The festival of the summer solstice remained a major pagan holiday, up through the ages. The solstices and equinoxes were important festivals keyed to the progress of the growing season. Midsummer was the vital, somewhat scary time when the sun reached its turning point and began its slow decline toward another winter. Therefore Midsummer was always a festival of fire, when bonfires burned all night to encourage the solar deity to return again in due course. # 701 p 187 MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, A The diminutive fairies of which we have some mentions in the medieval chronicles were first introduced into literature in the poetry and drama of Elizabethan times. We find them first in Lyly's ENDIMION, but here they are incidental. In A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM they are among the principal characters with a sub-plot of their own, but are important agents in the main plot as well. There is no doubt that the fairies are small - the elves creep into acorn cups to hide, find a bee's honey bag a heavy burden and a bat a formidable adversary. But they still have their powers. All of them can travel immense distances as swiftly as the moon. The chief ones among them can change their shape and size. When they quarrel, all nature is affected and the seasons are out of gear. Like all fairies they have great herbal knowledge; they have power over human offspring and can bless marriage beds. Like most fairies they are amorous of mortals. They have their Fairy Rades like the Heroic Fairies. These are good fairies, the Seelie Court, benevolent to mortals except for an occasional jest, ready to help those who are in need. In other plays of Shakespeare there are mentions of fairies, the bestknown, perhaps, being Mercutio's description in ROMEO AND JULIET of Queen Mab, the midwife of dreams, an intentionally comic description. There is the invocation to the fairies in CYMBELINE, where, in pagan Britain, the fairies take the place of God. When we come to THE TEMPEST we have full treatment of a fairy again, if we may call Ariel a fairy; he is perhaps rather an elemental - a sylph; but he can summon fairies to help him in his revels and he sings their songs. # 100 - 593 MIDWIFE TO THE FAIRIES From the earliest times there have been stories of mortal women summoned to act as midwives to fairy mothers among the themes of the dependence of fairies on mortals. One of the latest of these was of a district nurse summoned by a queer old man who boarded a bus near Greenhow Hill in Yorkshire. He conducted the nurse to a cave in the side of Greenhow Hill, and the occupants turned out to be a family of pixies. The interesting point here, since the pixies are not native to Yorkshire, is that Greenhow Hill was said to have been mined by Cornishmen. The anecdote had currency in the 1920s and after. The Fairy Ointment motif does not occur in this version. The earliest version of the midwife tale is to be found in Gervase of Tilbury's thirteenth-century OTIA IMPERIALIS. The fullest of all, however, perhaps the only complete fairy midwife story, is given by John Rhys in CELTIC FOLKLORE, VOL. I, he gives the Welsh version, written down by William Thomas Solomon. # 100 - 246 - 554 MILED (mee-leh) Ancestor of the Milesians. Grandson of Bregon. He sailed from Spain to avenge the death of his uncle (sometimes called brother), Ith. The Tuatha de Danaan caused Ireland to be swathed in a magic mist, so that he called the place 'Muic Inis' or Pig Island. He willed the land to his sons Eber and Eremon. # 454 - 469 MILESIANS The sons of Miled and ancestors of the Gaels. They came to Ireland via Scythia, Egypt and Spain. They held the land after the departure of the Tuatha de Danaan. See also: THEORIES OF FAIRY ORIGINS. # 454 - 469 MILKY WAY The 'river of stars' created by our edge-on view into the central portion of our galaxy was seen as a river of sparkling, life-giving Goddess milk by ancient civilizations, and in Celtic lands as the Track of the White Cow. In the nursery rhyme, the famous White Cow became the animal who jumped over the moon, leaving a trail of her star-milk across the sky. # 701 p 343 ff MIMIR God of the sea, which is sometimes named 'Mimir's weel'. Its draughts gave him knowledge of all things past and future, and Odin traded one of his own eyes for a drink of it. Like the Celtic Bran, Mimir's head when cut off, became oracular and Odin preserved and consulted it long afterwards. Mimir is clearly a god of primeval power and qualities. In some versions of the Norse myths, Yggdrasil, the worldtree, is named Minameid, Mimir's tree, after him. # 168 - 454 MINERVA In Celtic understanding, the Goddess took many forms, but she was especially revealed as a goddess of wisdom, governing the inspired wisdom of the initiate. Minerva's chief temple in Britain was at Bath where she was twinned with the native goddess, Sulis. The veneration of the virgin goddess of wisdom and of war was already wellestablished in Britain: the attributes of Minerva are given to Brigantia. # 265 - 454 - 627 MIODHCHAOIN (MEE-than) MIRAUDE The wife of Torec. Torec had been sent to obtain his grandmother's circlet from Miraude and she promised to wed him if he overcame the Knights of the Round Table. This he did. # 156 MIRROR Celtic women were buried with their personal mirrors, which were supposed to be their soul-carriers. # 701 p 145 MISER ON THE FAIRY GUMP, THE The Gump near St Just in Cornwall had been famous as the meetingplace of the Small People. Robert Hunt, in POPULAR ROMANCES OF THE WEST OF ENGLAND, gives a vivid description of a fairy gathering as tiny, bejewelled and courtly as any to be found in the poetry of Herrick or Drayton. The old people of St Just had long told their children and grandchildren of the great spectacle there, of the music, dancing and feasting. Modest spectators were not punished, and some had even been given tiny but most precious gifts. # 100 - 331 MISTLETOE Druid's considered the plant's poisonous, pearly white berries to be drops of the oak god's semen, much as the red holly berries were drops of the life-giving lunar blood of the Goddess Hel (Holle). Thus the mistletoe acquired phallic significance. Druids 'castrated' the oak god by cutting the mistletoe with a golden sickle, and catching it in a white cloth before it could touch the ground. # 701 p 447 MNA ALLTHACHA A wise woman, who was learned about the various herbs and poultices that could be made from the seemingly innocent roadside weeds, one familiar with the ways of the gentry, the fairies. # 582 MOCHAEN (mo-chayn') Hill of Mochaen and Lugh's eric. ...and the three shouts are to be given on the hill of a fierce warrior, Mochaen, who, with his sons, are under vows to prevent any man from raising his voice on that hill. See: ERIC. # 562 MOCHAOMHOG (mo hay-voc) The priest who cared for the enchanted children of Lir, Fionnuala and her brothers. He fashioned chains of silver for their necks, heard their story and instructed them in the Christian faith. He refused to give them up and eventually baptized them before they died, restored to their human shapes. See also: CHILDREN OF LIR. # 267 - 454 MODDEY DHOO MAUTHE DOOG (moor tha do) The most famous of the Black Dogs of the Isle of Man was the Moddey Dhoo or Mauthe Doog of Peel Castle, made famous by Walter Scott. In the seventeenth century when the castle was garrisoned, a great, shaggy black dog used to come silently into the guardroom and stretch himself there. No one knew whom he belonged to nor how he came, and he looked so strange that no one dared to speak to him, and the soldiers always went in pairs to carry the keys to the governor's room after the castle was locked up. At length one man, the worse for drink, taunted his companions and mocked the dog. He snatched up the keys, dared the dog to follow him, and rushed out of the room alone. The dog got up and padded after him, and presently a terrible scream was heard and the man staggered back, pale, silent, shuddering. The dog was never seen again, but after three days of silent horror the man died. That was the last thing seen of the Mauthe Doog, but the Moddey Dhoo persists to modern times. # 100 - 585 MODRED See: MORDRED. MODRON # 156: 1. This is the Welsh name for the Celtic goddess Matrona, thought to be the prototype of Morgan. See: AVALON and EVELAKE. # 454: 2. Mother of Mabon. Her name merely means 'mother' and is a mystery title. No specific legend exists about her, although traces of her mythos are appeciable in the stories of Rhiannon, Macha, Demeter etc. She is the mother who loses her child. Her cult is closely tied with that of her lost son, Mabon. Modron appears as the title of Morgan in a late sixteenth-century folk-story, where she is also called 'daughter of Afallach'. Her mythic lineage can be traced through Morrigan and is probably associated with the once widespread cult of the Mothers. She may be associated with Saint Madrun. # 104 - 156 - 272 - 439 - 454 MOEL ARTHUR A hill in Clwyd where, according to legend, King Arthur's table was situated. Certainly, a hill fort on the site may have been in use in the early Middle Ages and a survey of 1737 mentions Cist Arthur, a burial chamber, possibly thought to be Arthur's last resting place. # 156 MOG RUITH 'Slave of the Wheel'. A druid or enchanter who lived on Valentia Island off south-west Munster. With his 'rowing wheel' prototype aircraft - he is supposed to have been a disciple of Simon Magus. His daughter Tlachtga was the only survivor of Simon Magus' ill-fated attempts to fly. His location, so near to the home of the Cailleach Bheare, suggests that he may have some connections with her cult. # 454 - 548 MOINE In the PROSE MERLIN, the name given to the elder brother of Ambrosius and Uther. His real name was Ivoine, from Ivoire, his mother's name, but he was called Moine (monk) because he had been brought up in a monastery. Elsewhere he is called Constans. # 156 MOLING, SAINT In Irish tradition St Moling figures as the friend of a celebrated leaper, the mad Suibne Geilt, who, resorting to the woods, grew feathers and so could jump from tree to tree and from hill-top to hill-top - an Irish counterpart of the Welsh Myrddin Wyllt. For a parallel to a tale about St Moling we will turn to the contest between Vishnu, one of the three supreme gods of Hinduism, and the demon Bali son of Virocana. This is the version related in the Rmyana: Bali, who had overcome Indra, Lord of Gods, enjoyed the empire of the three worlds, and he was celebrating a sacrifice when Indra and the other gods, distressed with fear, spoke to the great ascetic Vishnu who was engaged in mortification and contemplation in 'The Hermitage of the Perfect'. 'Bali, son of Virocana', they said, 'is performing a sacrifice... Do thou, O Vishnu, for the benefit of the gods resort to a phantom shape and assuming the form of a dwarf bring about our highest welfare...' Thus adressed by the gods, Vishnu, adopting a dwarfish form, approached the son of Virocana and begged three of his own paces. Having obtained three paces Vishnu took a monstrous form and with three steps the Thrice-stepper then gained possession of the worlds. With one step he occupied the whole earth, with the second the eternal atmosphere, with the third the sky....He made that demon Bali a dweller in the underworld and gave the empire of the three worlds to Indra...' The predicament of the gods at the beginning of the Hindu story, which reproduces that of the Tuatha before the Second Battle of Mag Tuired, has no counterpart in the Moling story. Otherwise, the parallelism is well-nigh complete. Moling: Vishnu: 1. A candidate for the priest- 1. A hermit perfecting himself hood practising austerities. in a hermitage. 2. He is collecting alms for the 2. The contest is such as 'is Church. engaged when a man offers the fore-offerings'. 3. He is armed with a staff of 3. He is armed with a 'thunderash - a wood used to keep bolt' (a ritual term for anything demons at bay. used to destroy spiritual enemies). 4. His contest with the Evil 4. His contest with the king of the Spectre. demons. 5. Three steps granted readily. 5. Three paces granted. 6. The prodigious three leaps. 6. The prodigious paces. 7. He is named Moling for his 7. He is called the Thrice-stepper. leaps. The full collation between the texts from Hindi and Celtic sources is to be found in Alwyn Rees and Brinley Rees CELTIC HERITAGE. See also: KENTIGERN, SAINT. # 548 MOMUR The name of the fairy kingdom ruled by Oberon in the French romance HUON DE BORDEAUX. # 156 MONGAN King of Ireland. He was the son of Caintigerna who was visited by Manannan after her husband Fiachna had gone to fight in Scotland. Manannan promised to help her husband win his battle if she lay with him. Mongan was the son of this union. Manannan made her promise to allow Mongan to accompany him to the Otherworld, where he would be taught magical skills. Mongan was thus skilled in magic and poetry as well as kingship and overcame his enemies by the use of these arts. He was eventually killed in battle and passed into the Otherworld. Some consider him to have been a reincarnation of Finn mac Cumhal as well as an avatar of Manannan. In the VOYAGE OF BRAN MAC FERBAL, Mongan's coming is likened to that of Christ. # 454 - 548 MONGAN, STORIES OF With the stories of Mongan we come upon an unusually puzzling phase of Irish literature. The characters of Mongan and Manannan mac Lir may have had a very early origin, but they appear to enjoy their greatest popularity in the later texts. They seem to belong to an age when people were more interested in getting the explanations of things than they were in simple narrative for its own sake. Little is definitely known about the original date of this material, but it seems certainly to be later than the beginning of the cycle of Finn. Its preoccupation with the bizarre and complicated is not necessarily an indication of a late date, but the fact may be significant that the demonstrably earlier texts seem to have no knowledge of the characters here involved. Mongan, as well as Mannanan, is regarded by many as a sort of Adonis-like divinity who has much in common with Angus of the Brug. In neither case, however, is the evidence for an originally divine character absolutely conclusive. That Mongan was looked upon as a reincarnation of the famous Finn mac Cumhal is clear enough from the texts preserved. # 166 MONGAN, THE BIRTH OF A king who was also believed to have had a supernatural father was Mongan. Fiachna Finn, King of Ulster, was sorely pressed in battle in Lochlann when a tall warrior, who transpired to be Manannan mac Lir, appeared on the battlefield and offered victory if Fiachna would allow him to go to Ireland to sleep with Fiachna's wife. He would go in Fiachna's shape and beget a glorious child who would be called Mongan son of Fiachna Finn. The king agreed and secured his victory. In due course a son was born to Fiachna's wife, but when he was three nights old Manannan came and took him to be reared in the Land of Promise until he was twelve years of age. According to another version, Manannan first went to Fiachna's wife and offered to save her husband's life if she consorted with him. He then went and told Fiachna what had taken place and gave him the victory. Features similar to those which recur in the different tales of the birth of the heroes are likewise found in many others. You will find them throughout this encyclopaedia under the specific name of the hero concerned. # 468 - 548 MONGFIND The jealous stepmother of Niall. She sent his mother, Cairenn, to serve her by drawing water from a well. Her four sons by Eochu the King of Ireland were passed over when Niall succeeded in winning all the tests to establish which of the boys had the right to the succession. # 188 - 454 MONSTERS Giants and Dragons generally absorb the greater part of the monsters of British fairy-lore. Heraldic monsters, properly speaking, are those that display a mixture of parts of the body belonging to other creatures, as, for example, a griffin, which has the head and wings and forefeet of an eagle, the body, hindquarters and tail of a lion and ears which appear to be its own invention. Griffins are occasionally mentioned in some of the fairy-stories. In 'Young Conall of Howth', for instance, which is included in 'Silleabhain's FOLKTALES IN IRELAND, a volume of the FOLKTALES OF THE WORLD series, there is a causal mention of an old man having been carried to Ireland by a griffin, but these heraldic monsters are given little importance. Less formal creatures occupy the imagination of both the Celts and the Saxons, Hagges of extraordinary hideousness, with their eyes misplaced and hair growing inside their mouths, the Direach, with one leg, one hand and one eye, the skinless Nuckelavee, the shapeless Brollachan and Boneless and watermonsters like the Afanc and the Boobrie; these are felt to be more satisfactory than the mathematical conceptions of the heralds. # 100 - 513 MOR Ancestress of the royal houses of Munster. A sun goddess whose throne is pointed out in the western seas of Ireland. # 454 - 548 MORANN It is said that the Druid Morann prophesied over the infant, Setanta: 'His praise will be in the mouths of all men; charioteers and warriors, kings and sages will recount his deeds; he will win the love of many. This child will avenge all your wrongs; he will give combat at your fords, he will decide all your quarrels'. # 562 MORC A Fomorian king. # 562 MORDA A blind man, set by Ceridwen to keep fire under the magic cauldron. See also: MORFRAN. # 562 MORDRAIN The name adopted by Evelake when he was baptized. # 156 MORDRED The incest motif where Mordred was the fruit of the union between Arthur and his half-sister Morgause, appeared first in Malory's MORTE DARTHUR. In the ANNALES CAMBRIAE we are told that Arthur and Medrawt (Mordred) perished at Camlann, but we are not told they were on different sides. Geoffrey informs us that Mordred was Arthur's nephew, the son of Arthur's sister Anna and her husband, Lot of Lothian. The DREAM OF RHONABWY makes him Arthur's foster-son as well as his nephew. Geoffrey asserts that, when Arthur was away on his Roman campaign, Mordred seized Guinevere and the throne, thus paving the way for their final battle. As to Malory's version, if Mordred indeed was the incestuous union, it made him both son and nephew of Arthur - anciently a powerful position according to the kingmaking rules of Celtic times which favoured the King's nephew, rather than his son as heir-apparent. (Hence the strong relationships which Arthur has with other nephews, including more particularly, Gawain, whose family had greatest claim to the throne.) As an adult, Mordred became one of Arthur's knights and was for a time a companion of Lancelot. He took the part of the Orkney family against the family of Pellinore, slaying Pellinore's son, Lamorak. When Arthur went to fight Lancelot, Mordred was left as regent in his absence. He proclaimed that Arthur was dead and then laid siege to Guinevere, so Arthur's return became necessary. In most versions of the Arthurian story, Mordred is depicted as a villain. His father sought to kill him when he realized that he had slept with Morgause; he ordered all children born at that time to be put into a boat and left to drown. Mordred escaped and was brought up with his half-brothers Gawain, Gaheris, Gareth and Agravaine. In Wace, Mordred is not Arthur's son, but Guinevere (whom he seized and made his queen) was his sister. In the ALLITERATIVE MORTE ARTHURE, he and Guinevere had a child. In Welsh tradition Mordred married Cywyllog, daughter of Caw, and they had two sons. In the earliest Welsh sources he seems to have been regarded as a hero rather than a villain. But in most versions, he was finally slain by his father whom he mortally wounded at the Battle of Camlann. See: MARDOC, and TWENTY-FOUR KNIGHTS. # 55 - 156 - 243 - 418 - 483 - 562 - 697 MORFESSA Great-Knowledge, is the meaning of his name. He was the master of wisdom who dwelt in Falias, one of the four cities from which the Tuatha de Danaan came to Ireland. He gave ste stone of Fal into their care; this was the sacred inauguration stone which shrieked out under a rightful king. # 166 - 454 MORFRAN MORVRAN He was one of the Twenty-four Knights of Arthur's Court. The son of Ceridwen and Tegid Foel. His name means 'great cow'. He was also called 'Afagddu' or 'Utter Darkness'. He was so ugly that his mother sought to compensate this by the acquisition of great wisdom. It was for him that she prepared her cauldron of inspiration, but it was Gwion (Taliesin) who drank it. Morfran was so ugly that, according to CULHWCH AND OLWEN, he was not slain at the Battle of Camlann because his enemy thought him to be a devil. See: AFGADDU. # 104 - 156 - 272 - 439 - 454 MORFUDD In Welsh tradition, the twin sister of Owain. Her lover was Cynon, son of Clydno, one of Arthur's warriors. # 156 MORGAN MORGANA MORGAN LE FAY In the VITA MERLINI by Geoffrey, Merlin tells Taliesin that, after Camlann, they took Arthur to the Isle of Apples, presided over by Morgan Le Fay (the Fairy), Arthur's half-sister, the chief of nine sisters, including Moronoe, Mazoe, Gliten, Glitonea, Cliton, Tyronoe and Thitis. Nothing here indicate that she was Arthur's sister. It does say, however, that she could fly with wings and change her shape. According to Malory, she was the daughter of Gorlois of Cornwall and Igerna, half-sister to Arthur, mother of Owain by Urien of Gore. She was 'put to school in a nunnery, where she learned great sorcery'. She became Arthur's most implacable enemy, attempting by means of magic to destroy him and the Round Table Fellowship. She was responsible for stealing the sword Excalibur and when this was recovered, succeeded in loosing forever the scabbard which protected its wearer from all wounds. The VULGATE MERLIN and the HUTH-MERLIN both make her Arthur's niece, the daughter of Lot. She became a lady-in-waiting to Guinevere and fell in love with Arthur's nephew, Guiomar, but Guinevere parted them. She learned much of her magic from Merlin. She tried unsuccessfully to have Arthur killed by her lover, Accolon of Gaul. She fell in love with Lancelot and captured him, but he escaped. In Malory, she was one of the queens who bore Arthur off on a barge after his final battle. Behind Morgan stands the figure of the ancient Celtic battle-goddess the Morrigan. Vestiges of this earlier identity remain embedded in the character as we now have it, such as her appearance with two other shadowy queens on the ship to Avalon. She is almost certainly in origin the goddess Modron (earlier Matrona). Indeed Giraldus Cambrensis refers to Morgan as a dea phantastica (imaginary goddess). Although localized in time in Arthur's reign, romancers sometimes seemed aware that she had existed in early times, for example, in the ROMAN DE TROIE (c. 1160) she is alive at the time of the Trojan War, while the romance PERCEFOREST has her alive in early Britain. The author of SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT also seems to realize her originally divine status, calling her 'Morgan the goddess' (line 2452). Her name may have changed from Modron to Morgan in Brittany where there was a belief in a class of water-fairies called Morgans or Mari-Morgans. They also believed in one particular Morgan identified as Dahut or Ahes who caused the destruction of the city of Ys. It is now difficult, if not impossible, to argue that Morgan was derived from the Irish goddess, the Morrigan. In more recent times her name has become synonymous with witchcraft, although there are again signs that she is becoming restored as a more ancient and powerful figure more in accordance with her origins. She may also be identified with a mirage sometimes seen in the Straits of Messina, which is called, in Italian Fata Morgana, in French, le Chateau de Morgan Le Fe. Italian romance gives Morgan a daughter, Pulzella Gaia, the lover of Gawain. The poet Torquato Tasso (1544-95) endows her with three daughters, Morganetta, Nivetta and Carvilia. Other authors took up her name in their Arthurian romances like in Rauf de Buon's PETIT BRUT, Morgan the Black was a son of Arthur. - Morgan Frych was said to be the father of Merlin. - Arthur's physician was called Morgan Tud. - She was the illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Tintagel, distinct from Morgan Le Fay, who married Nentres. See also: TERRESTRIAL PARADISE, and THIRTEEN TREASURES. There is a mysterious story about the Morgan who was supposed to haunt the Lake Glasfryn Uchaf in the parish of Llangybi. It is one of quite a number of lakes which were said to have burst forth from a covered well when the cover had been removed and the well exposed. Rhys, in CELTIC FOLKLORE, carefully explores all the various forms in which he received the legend. The one that he finds of special interest is that of the Morgan, which is said to come from the lake and carry away naughty or over-adventurous children. He believes that the Morgan was originally a Mermaid of the same breed as the Breton Morgens and connected with Morgan Le Fay. 'Morgan' in Welsh, however, was always a man's name, and Rhys suggests that the water spirit became male in this tradition because of the Welsh usage. # 21-88-100-156-202-221-238-242-243-346-397-418-438-439-454-516-632 MORGANNWG A minor kingdom in Wales. Caradoc was believed to have been the ancestor of the royal family. # 98 - 156 MORGAUSE A daughter of Gorlois of Cornwall and Igraine (Igerna). She was Arthur's half-sister who married Lot of Orkney. The mother of Gawain, Gaheris, Gareth, Agravain and Mordred. She had a dark reputation, much like that of her sister, Morgan Le Fay. According to ENFACES GAUVAIN, Lot was her page with whom she had an intrique, as a result of which Gawain was born. In Malory she is Lot's queen who, as the result of an amatory encounter with Arthur who were ignorant of their relationship) gave birth to Mordred. She eventually perished at the hands of her son Gaheris, who caught her in bed with Lamorak, son of the Orkney clan's greatest enemy, King Pellinore who had slain Lot. Morgause does not seem to have been the original name of this character. In Geoffrey, the wife of Lot is called Anna, sister of Arthur. In DE ORTU WALUUANII the part taken by Morgause in the ENFACES GAUVAIN is assigned to Anna; and the name Morgause itself seems to be in origin a territorial designation rather than a personal name, for in DIU CRNE Gawain's mother is called Orcades or Morchades, which seems to be taken from the Orkneys (in Latin: Orcades), the name of one of Lot's kingdoms, and Morchades seems to be a variant form of Morgause. # 156 - 418 - 450 MORHOLT The giant Irish champion who came every year to claim a tribute from King Mark of Cornwall. He was slain by Tristan, Mark's nephew, who received a poisoned wound from Morholt's sword. He was evidently of royal blood, being the uncle of Isolt. See also: MARHAUS. # 156 - 418 - 658 MORNA Father of Goll. See: GOLL MAC MORNA. # 562 MORONOE A sister of Morgan Le Fay. # 242 MORRIGAN # 562: (MOR-rig-ahn) Extraordinary goddess, embodying all that is perverse and horrible among supernatural powers. - # 454: The Great Queen. She was the archetypal form of the Goddess in Ireland, particularly associated with war (when she appeared in triple guise as Macha, Nemainn and Badb). She also combined with her bloodthirsty war-mongering, a lust for men - just like the Sumerian Inanna whom she much resembles. She fought on the side of the Tuatha de Danaan against the Firbolgs in the first Battle of Mag Tuired, after the second battle she foretold the end of the world, when moral virtues were ignored and where the land was laid waste. She offered her love to CuChulain and after he rejected her, fought him in the shape of an eel and a wolf-bitch. Her normal appearance was in the shape of a battle-crow. She mated with the Dagda while straddling a river. Her name is really a title and is sometimes used as a collective noun for her three aspects - the Morrigan. There are obvious overlays with both Modron and Morgan. # 628: Phantom Queen of Death, Sexuality and Conflict. The Morrigan known in Irish legend and mythology as a red-haired goddess of battle and pro-creation, often appearing in triple form. She combined the treshold energies of life and death, sexuality and conflict in one terrifying goddess. Part of the doom of CuChulain was that he did not recognize her when in her presence. # 100: Morrigan (moreeghan), or Morrigu. One of the forms taken by the ancient Irish war goddess Badb. In the CuChulain epic, TAIN BO CUAILNGE, in which the great war between the Fomorians and the Tuatha De Danann is celebrated, the three war goddesses in the form of crows are Neman, Macha and Morrigu, of whom Morrigu is the greatest. As Evans Wentz analyses the legend, they are the tripartite form of 'Badb'. Neman confounds the armies of the enemy, so that allies wage mistaken war against each other, Macha revels in indiscriminate slaughter, but it was Morrigu who infused supernatural strength and courage into CuChulain, so that he won the war for the Tuatha De Danann, the forces of goodness and light, and conquered the dark Fomorians, just as the Olympic gods conquered the Titans. # 166: She was perhaps the ancestor of the Ban Sidhe. # 100-166-282-367-389-454-469-562-563-628 p 74 ff MORRIS SQUARE The Morris square, also known as the Mill, is the board used for the modern game of Morris, a simple procedure for placing counters on the lines, reminiscent of tic-tac-toe. As a sacred figure in ancient Celtic paganism, it was called the Triple Enclosure, delineating the center of the world with the four quarters, four cardinal directions, four elements, four winds, four rivers of paradise, and so on emanating from the holy Mill or Cauldron at the center. # 701 MORUADH See: MERROWS. MOTHERS, THE MAMAU MATRES Directly related to the great Neolithic goddesses of Europe, the triple mothers appeared all over the Celtic world, even becoming attached to certain Roman deities such as Mercury. The Romano-British Matres show the native influence combined with an intrinsic understanding of the classical Parcae (Fates). They are usually depicted as three seated, heavily draped women of mature years, bearing the fruits of the earth - cornucopias, fruit, barley-loaves, cakes, beer etc. Some also nurse babies (Dea Nutrix). Their frequent depiction in reliefs denotes their universal function as guardians of the hearth, the land and of plenty. They are never given individual names but are adressed as the Mother of a particular locale - just as the Blessed Virgin Mary is entitled Our Lady of a particular place. While they undoubtedly flourished before Roman occupation, after it we find inscriptions adressing 'the Mothers of my Homeland' - of Gaul, Italy and Germany - showing their widespread understanding as the native goddesses or genia locus of every land. They were called the 'Mamau' in Welsh tradition. # 264 - 265 - 454 - 563 MOUNDS # 548: The centre of the mysterious adventures of Pwyll and Pryderi is the throne-mound (GORSEDD) which was outside the court of Arberth. Who-ever sat on it would see a wonder or suffer wounds or blows. It was from this mound that Pwyll, the Head of Annwfn, first saw Rhiannon on her magic horse. There sat Pryderi when enchantment fell upon Dyfed, and it was there that Manawydan was on the point of executing a super-natural, thieving 'mouse' when the land was disenchanted and his lost companions restored to him. The association of a ritual mound with Annwfn appears in Ellis Wynne's GWELEDIGAETHEU Y BARDD CWSC (1703), which tells of three visions- of the World, of Death and of Hell. The poet falls asleep and sees crowd of people whom he takes to be Gypsies or witches until, noticing their beauty and recognizing among them the faces of deceased acquaintances, he realizes they are fairies (tylwyth teg). They are dancing on the 'play mound' (twmpath chwareu), but they now take hold of the poet and they carry him over land and sea until he espies below him the most beautiful castle he has every seen. Meanwhile they try to get the poet to satirize his own king, when he is rescued from their clutches by an angel who informs him that they were the Children of Annwfn. A 'play mound' used to be found near or inside graveyards in Wales. The mound was banked up, with turf seats for the spectators arranged around an open floor where the games were played. It appears to be a simple version of the Cornish plen an gwary ('the place of the play'), the examples of which have been described as 'the only surviving medieval theatres in Britain'. The Irish word oenach (assembly) is glossed by theatrum, and the Welsh word gorsedd which means 'assembly' and 'court' as well as 'throne-mound', occurs as the equivalent of thtre. That 'mound', theatre, and place of general assembly should be closely related, or indeed identified with one another, is not peculiar to Celtic tradition. In Irish tales, mounds outside courts are scenes of games and visionary encounters which do not belong to the round of mundane existence, and the holding of assemblies on hills and mounds is a commonplace of Irish history. It may be assumed that every local community had such a traditional assembly place, but it is to Munster that assemblies are attributed in 'The Settling of the Manor of Tara', and the gorsedd celebrated in Welsh story is in Dyfed. Moreover, CuRoi, herdsman and King of Munster, has been compared with the giant herdsman in Arthurian stories who sits on a mound and directs the hero to the strange palace where his mettle is proved. In the story of 'The Lady of the Fountain', this director is a big, black, ugly forester, onefooted and one-eyed, and wild animals 'numerous as the stars in the firmament' assemble and disperse at his command. In both Celtic and Norse tales, the person who sits on a mound is usually a king or a herdsman or both at once, while many a Fenian wonder-tale begins with Finn seated on his hunting-mound when his company follow the chase. Like the throne-mound outside the court, the sun-chamber (griann) outside the banqueting-hall has features which suggest comparison with the 'outer fifth' province. In some contexts, the griann is the women's part of the court. Again, it is from his griann that Bricriu, the master of ceremonies who always stands aside from the conflicts he initiates, watches the proceedings in the hall from which, though he built it, he is excluded. Bricriu and CuRoi seem to have their Norse counterparts in Loki and Utgarda-Loki, respectively. Utgarda-Loki is the colossal lord of an outer world, and his conduct towards Thorr, the champion god, is in some ways similar to that of CuRoi towards CuChulain. Loki, a ruthless deceiver and creator of conflict, is of the gods and yet not of them. They vainly try to exclude him from their feast, and later he seeks refuge from them in a mountain where he builds himself an observatory from which he can see in every direction. It is no accident that Bricriu and Goll, in the Ulster cycle, are both sons of Carbad (i.e. they have the same patronymic); that in the Fenian Cycle, Conan Mael, the reviler and trouble-maker, and Goll, the slayer of Finn, are both sons of Morna, and that Kai, the churlish senechal in the Arthurian Cycle, is concerned with the service of the king's table. # 49: All over Britain one can come across man-made earthen mounds. It has been estimated that there are at least 40.000 of them; and it is likely that at one time there were far more. Thousands must have been destroyed by farming and road-building activities. The mounds vary considerably in size and many were constructed as places to bury the dead. But some have been excavated with no sign of such a purpose being discovered and so the original function of these prehistoric remains is still regarded as a mystery. It is neccessary to distinguish between the mounds known as tumuli and those referred to as barrows. The tumuli are impressive heaps of earthen often situated on high ridges and on the sites of Iron Age hill forts where they were probably used for defensive purposes. There are round barrows and long barrows which generally have been found to contain so-called burial chambers. In the round barrows the bodies were often buried in a crouched position and when cremation was involved the remains of the dead were placed in an urn. Some of the long barrows are between 200 and 300 feet in length and often more than 50 feet wide and about 8 feet high. They were possibly even higher when first built. Sometimes they are found to be just mounds of earth but they often contain stone-lined chambers. They usually have an east-west orientation and the chamber is situated in the east end, which is generally higher than the west end. They were mainly used for multi-burials. In the earthen variety the group of bodies all had to be interred at the same time but barrows containing stone chambers were used for separate burials carried out over a period of time. Bedd in Welsh means 'grave' and such graves are generally barrows. Such an example is Bedd Taliesin on the slopes of Moel y Garn, near Talybont in Dyfed (See: TALIESIN). This is a barrow with a stone lining reputed to have been the grave of the sixth-century bard Taliesin. In the Preseli Hills is a Neolithic long barrow with a stone gallery known as Bedd-yr-Afanc or 'Grave of the Monster'. There are many fascinating legends associated with tumuli, carns and barrows. Many were believed to have been constructed by giants or to have giants or monsters buried inside them. Some of these so-called 'Giants' Graves' have been excavated and surprisingly found to contain skeletons of men of considerable height, sometimes as much as 8 feet tall. Wales must have been famous for its burial mounds during the Arthurian period (sixth century) for Taliesin referred to the country as Cymru Garneddog (Carn Wales). These monumental heaps over the remains of the dead would sometimes vary according to the nature of the terrain. In stony districts a carn of stones was heaped, but where stones were scarce a circular mound of earth was constructed and covered with turf. In ancient times it was customary when passing a stone carn covering the remains of a warrior of a great man to throw a stone on top in respect of his memory. Perhaps even more intriguing than the mounds are the massive hill fort constructions that can be seen throughout the British Isles and Ireland. They are generally very fine situations and the climb up to their summits can be rewarded with an extensive view. They appear to have been used mainly as places where the local population could take temporary refuge in times of danger, but some, such as the wellpreserved fort of Tre'r Ceiri on the Lleyn Peninsula, were inhabited for quite long periods. It has been suggested by some modern writers that these so-called hill forts with their massive rings of ditches were not originally built for purposes of defence but had some other mysterious function. They were certainly used as fortresses during the Iron Age and Roman periods and the people of those times probably adapted them to suit their purpose. # 49 - 212 - 283 - 347 - 548 MOUNTAIN Often the Goddess as creator of the world began her activities with mountain-making. A Welsh title of the Crone or Caillech was 'Hag of the Dribble,' because she let stones dribble from her apron to form the Earth's mountain ranges. However, the 'dribble' may have been originally her milk or her uterine blood, both of which were once considered the creative fluid whose curdling or clotting made all land masses. # 701 p 346 MOYRATH Battle of Moyrath ended resistance of Celtic chiefs to Christianity. # 562 MOYS According to Robert, a follower of Joseph of Arimathea, who wished to sit on the Siege Perilous but was swallowed up by the earth. # 156 - 557 MOYSLAUGHT 'The Plain of Adoration'. Idol of Crom Cruach erected there. # 562 MOYTURA, PLAIN OF 1. Scene of First Battle (Co. Sligo) between Danaan and the Firbolgs. 2. Scene of Second Battle (Co. Mayo) between Danaans and Fomorians. # 562 MR CYLCH Stone-carving depicting the life-maze. # 384 p 101 MUGAN (moog'an) Wife of Conchobar; daughter of Eochaid Fedlech. # 166 MUGMEDON, THE ADVENTURES OF THE SONS OF EOCHAID Here, as in 'The Death of Niall,' the hero is Niall of the Nine Hostages, who, according to the annals, was high-king of Ireland from AD 379 to 405. Niall, the eponymous ancestor of the O'Neills, is reputed to have been one of the most powerful kings of ancient Ireland. The tale is not an especially good example of the Irish story-teller's art, but it is full of interest for the student of ancient Irish beliefs. It is still more noteworthy as an early example of a theme dear to the Irish people, the personification of Ireland in the form of a beautiful woman. The plot itself is of a type widely circulated in medieval Europe and perhaps best known to the general reader in the form given to it by the Wife of Bath in Chaucer's CANTERBURY TALES. The story in ANCIENT IRISH TALES is not older than the eleventh century. # 166 MUILEARTEACH The watery form of the Cailleach Bheur. She could appear as a hag or as a sea-serpent. On land, she would often appear to beg shelter at a mortal's fire, whereupon she would grow in size and ferocity. She had a blue-black face with one eye and raised winds and storms at sea. # 454 MUIR N-ICHT (mwir aiht) The Sea of Wight; the English Channel. # 166 MUIRCERTACH MAC ERCA, THE DEATH OF Muircertach mac Erca, according to the Irish annals, was high-king of Ireland during the first half of the sixth century. The story to be found in Cross' and Slover's ANCIENT IRISH TALES is rich in details that throw light on the early social history of Ireland. In Muircertach's prophetic dream, the fear of having one's name uttered, the accounts of the standards of Tyrconnel and Tyrone, the blood-covenant, the magic powers of the enchantress Sin, the practice of beheading foes and placing their heads on stakes, the washing of corpses in a river, and women going to battle. Like 'The Adventures of Art Son of Conn', the story tells of the machinations of a supernatural woman who fascinates a mortal and involves him in difficulties. It also illustrates the introduction of ecclesiastical elements into pagan heroic tales, and a special point is made of the conflict between pagan and Christian ideals. The writer shows considerable skill in building up the climax which leads to the death of the unfortunate king. Though relatively late, the story is certainly older than the twelfth century. # 166 MUIRCHEARTACH Fifth-century King of Tara who may have been the prototype for the various characters called Marhalt and Marhaus in Arthurian stories. # 156 MUIRTHEMNE See: MAG MUIRTHEMNE. MULLAGHMAST, THE LEGEND OF Earl Fitzgerald (Gearoidh Iarla) is the Irish hero of the widespread legend of the Sleeping Warriors. He was the son of the fairy Aine and Gerald, Earl of Desmond. Through the breach of a gease (taboo) he had disappeared into an underground resting-place, but there are different versions of the story. This, which is the best-known, is given by Patrick Kennedy in his LEGENDARY FICTIONS OF THE IRISH CELTS. Earl Fitzgerald was a champion of the Irish against the Normans, and as well as a great warrior he was a great master of magic. His lady had often heard of his power of shape-shifting, but she had never seen any evidence of it and she kept begging him to show her what he could do. He often put her off, and at last he warned her that if she cried out or gave any sign of fear while he was under enchantment he would disappear out of this world and would have no power to return to it till many generations of men had passed away. But she said proudly that she was the wife of a great warrior and knew better than to show fear. So he turned himself in a twinkling into a beautiful goldfinch and flew up on to her hand. They played merrily together, and he flitted out of the window for a moment, but sped in again to take refuge in her breast with a great hawk behind him. His lady screamed out and beat at the hawk and it swerved and dashed against the wall and fell dead. But when the lady looked down for her goldfinch he was nowhere to be seen, and she never saw Earl Fitzgerald again. He and his warriors are sleeping in a long cave under the Rath of Mullaghmast, as Arthur sleeps under Cadbury. Once in seven years they ride round the rath on white horses shod with silver. Their shoes were once half an inch thick and when they are worn as thin as a cat's ears, Earl Fitzgerald will return again and reign as king over Ireland. Once in seven years the door of the cave is open, and one night, over a hundred years ago, a drunken horse dealer went in. He was terrified at the sight of the slumbering host, and when one of them raised his hand and said, 'Is it time yet?' he answered hastily, 'Not yet, but it will be soon, ' and fled from the cave. Arthur and Fitzgerald both had fairy blood in them; but the same may not be true of Charlemagne or Frederick Barbarossa, two other famous sleeping warriors. # 100 - 364 MUNREMAR MAC GERRCIND (mwin'rv ar moc gr'cin) 'Fat-Neck son of Short Head.' An Ulster warrior. # 166 MUNSTER Ailill Olum, King of Munster. - Province in Ireland. Origin of the name: The ending -ster- in three of the names of the Irish provinces is of Norse origin, and is a relic of the Viking conquest in Ireland. Connacht, where the Vikings did not penetrate, alone preserves its Irish name unmodified. Ulster (in Irish Ulaidh) is supposed to derive its name from Ollav Fla, Munster (Mumhan) from King Eocho Mumho, tenth in the succession from Eremon, and Connact was 'the land of the children of Conn'he who was called Conn of the Hundred Battles, and who died AD 157. # 562 MURDHUACHA (muroo-cha) See: MERROWS. MUREIF See: URIEN. MURIAS, THE CITY OF One of the four cities from which the Tuatha de Danaan came to Ireland. Its master of wisdom was Semias, who entrusted the cauldron of knowledge to the Dagda. See: DANA, and HALLOWS. # 166 - 454 - 562 MURINE Sister-in-law of Lugh. Mother of Fionn (Finn). She bore Fionn after his father's death and was unable to protect him, so she left him in fosterage with Bodhmall and Laith Luachra: a female druid and a woman warrior. # 267 - 454 MURNA OF THE WHITE NECK Wife of Cumhal, mother of Finn; takes refuge in forests of Slieve Bloom, and gives birth to Demna (Finn); marries King of Kerry. # 562 MURTAGH MAC ERC King of Ireland, brother of Fergus the Great; lends famous stone of Scone to Scotland. (The Stone of Scone was abducted from Westminster Abbey in 1950, but later returned). # 562 MURTHEMNEY Cian killed on the Plain of Murthemney. CuChulain of Murthemney seen in a vision by prophetess Fedelma; host of Ulster assemble on this Plain. # 562 MURYANS Muryan is the Cornish word for 'ant'. The Cornish belief about the fairies was that they were the souls of ancient heathen people, too good for Hell and too bad for Heaven, who had gradually declined from their natural size, and were dwindling down until they became the size of ants, after which they vanished from this state and no one knew what became of them. For this reason, the Cornish people thought it was unlucky to kill ants. In the Fairy Dwelling on Selena Moor the reason given for the dwindling size of the Small People of Cornwall was that they had the power of changing into birds or other forms, but after every such change, when they resumed their former shape, they were rather smaller, and therefore as time went on they dwindled. # 100 MYLOR He was a boy prince when his uncle killed his father. In order to block Mylor's becoming king, his uncle maimed him by cutting off his right hand and left foot, which were replaced by a silver and bronze appendage, respectively. These started to function as natural limbs and Mylor was subsequently executed in the monastery where he had taken shelter. This myth is parallel to that of Nuadu's silver hand, and shows the persistence of the Celtic abhorrence for a WOUNDED KING. Mylor's relics are kept at Amesbury Abbey and he is remembered on 1 October. # 454 MYNYDD FYRDDIN A mountain at Longtown (Herefordshire) where Merlin is said to be buried. # 156 MYRDDIN (MER-thin) See: MERLIN. A deity in Arthur's mythological cycle, corresponds with the Sun-god Nudd. Suggestion of Professor Rhys that chief deity worshipped at Stonehenge was Myrddin. Seizes the THIRTEEN TREASURES OF BRITAIN. # 562 MYTH, MEANING OF All myths constructed by a primitive people are symbols, and if we can discover what it is that they symbolise we have a valuable clue to the spiritual character, and sometimes even to the history, of the people from whom they sprang. Now the meaning of the Danaan myth as it appears in the bardic literature, though it has undergone much distortion before it reached us, is perfectly clear. The Danaans represent the Celtic reverence for science, poetry and artistic skill, blended of course, with the earlier conception of the divinity of the powers of Light. In their combat with the Firbolgs the victory of the intellect over dulness and ignorance is plainly portrayed the comparison of the heavy, blunt weapon of the Firbolgs with the light and penetrating spears of the people of Dana is an indication which it is impossible to mistake. # 562 MYTHOLOGY, COMPARISON BETWEEN GAELIC AND CYMRIC We can clearly discern certain mythological figures common to all Celtica. We meet, for instance, Nudd or Lludd, evidently a solar deity. A temple dating from Roman times, and dedicated to him under the name of Nodens, has been discovered at Lydney, by the Severn. On a bronze plaque found near the spot is he encircled by a halo and accompanied by flying spirits and by Tritons. We are reminded of the Danaan deities and their close connection with the sea; and when we find that in Welsh legend an epithet is attached to Nudd, meaning of 'the Silver Hand' (though no extant Welsh legend tells the meaning of the epithet), we have no difficulty in identifying this Nudd with Nuadu of the Silver Hand, who led the Danaans in the battle of Moytura. Under his name Lludd he is said to have had a temple on the site of St. Paul's in London, the entrance to which was called in the British tongue parth Lludd, which the Saxons translated Ludes Geat, our present Ludgate. # 562 MYTHS Before everything else, myths are stories. The word muthos means an account: words organised to give specific information or to make a particular effect. More narrowly, myths are attempts to explain - or at least bring nearer to our comprehension - matters such as the beginning of the universe (see TALIESIN), the nature and demands of supernatural powers, the hierarchy of creation, the causes of things, and the origins of certain social customs and popular beliefs. In a pre-scientific age, myths were an intellectual binding-force, a net of ideas and attitudes which guaranteed social identity. Whether each set of myths reflected its society, or the society reflected in the myths, is a moot point, but certainly myths had a defining and enabling power which scientific rationalism has still not begun to equal. NABON A giant who gave his realm, the Isle of Servage, to Segwarides. He was slain by Tristan. # 156 NABUR The foster-parent of Mordred. He discovered Mordred as a baby when the ship, on which he had been set adrift, was wrecked. # 156 NAISI (n'she) Son of Usnech; one of the three brothers who carried off Deirdre from the court of Ulster; a fellow-pupil of CuChulain. # 166 NAME Of all the symbols invented by incessantly symbolizing humanity, names are probably the most significant. Irish and Welsh divine and heroic groups are named after the mother, not the father. In the older strata of Celtic tradition it is common for heroes to be matronymous, the father's name being omitted. # 701 p 147 NANTES According to Wolfram, the seat of Arthur's court. # 156 - 748 NANTOSUELTA Gaulish goddess, consort of Sucellos. She appears with a dove-cot or model-house on a pole and is accompanied by a raven. Her name means 'Winding River'. # 454 - 563 NAOISI The lover of Deirdriu. She bound him on his honour to rescue her and flee from Ulster with her. He was slain by Conchobar's client king, Eoghan. # 266 - 454 - 654 NARBERTH Castle where Pwyll had his court. Pwyll's adventures on the Mound of Arberth near Narberth. Pryderi and Manawyddan and their wives left desolate at palace of Narberth. # 562 NASCIEN When Evelake (Mordrain), his father-in-law, was taken away by the Holy Spirit, Nascien was blamed and cast into prison. Rescued by a miracle, he was placed on the Turning Island where he saw Solomon's ship. King David's sword broke in the hands of Nascien who was not worthy to hold it. He eventually came to Britain. He was the hermit dedicated to the service of the Grail. He appeared at various intervals in many of the medieval stories, as an adviser or explicator to the Grail Knights of the strange events and encounters made along their way. In earlier texts it is told how he was once a pagan lord named Seraphe, who took the name, Nascien, when he was baptized. Stricken blind when he tried to look within the Grail, he was healed by the Grail Lance. He arrived in Britain together with Joseph of Arimathea and lived on to become the hermit figure of later stories. # 99 - 156 - 454 - 461 NATCHRANTAL Famous champion of Maeve; assists to capture the Brown Bull. # 562 NATHALIODUS Boece informs us that this was a person of no background whom Uther made a commander. As a result, half the island of Britain fell into the hands of the Saxons. # 156 NATURAL WORLD, SYMBOLISM OF THE The sensitivity of the Celts to their natural environment is striking and manifests itself in the amount of religious imagery which is associated with the natural world. The numinosity of all natural phenomena - of the sky, sun, water, mountains, and trees demonstrates the close alliance existing between humankind and its surroundings. The suddenness of storms, the occurence of drought, the capriciousness of water, the healing properties of springs and the daily reappearance of the sun, were all explicable only if these phenomena were controlled by the gods. The relationship of the Celts to animals is related but more complicated: an animal's particular qualities were revered, so those qualities were adopted as being appropriate to represent an aspect of divinity. Animals were not generally deities per se, but on occasions the boundaries between god and beast were blurred. Hunter and hunted had a peculiar, symbiotic interdependence; and certain gods relied so heavily on beasts that their very identity was inextricable from animal imagery. The rural basis of their society meant that the Celtic peoples were intensely aware of and at one with their natural habitat. The gods were everywhere and the natural spirits had to be harnessed and their power used for good, whilst their capacity for destruction was equally acknowledged. # 770 NAUD Among the ancient Celts, a nobleman had the right to claim naud, or santuary, excusing him from a punishment. It was always granted, because of some obscure logic, for a monarch to refuse naud when it had been asked would transfer the guilt for the crime to the king. # 383 p 171 NAWGLAN The Sacred Nine. It is a specially prepared mixture of ashes obtained from the burning of the nine sacred woods: willows of the streams, hazel of the rocks, alder of the marches, birch of the waterfalls, ash of the shadows, yew of the plain, elm of the glens, rowan of the mountains, oak of the sun. Used by Druids and Bards in sacred rituals in 'time between times' inside the Stone Circle, and scattered to the four quarters. # 383 p 225 NEAMHAN See: NEMAN. NECHTAN Between the plains of Tara and Brugh na Boyne, the charioteer of CuChulain pointed out the great dn of the sons of Nechtan. 'Are they,' CuChulain asked, 'those sons of Nechtan of whom it is said that more of the men of Ulster have fallen by their hands than are yet living on the earth?' 'The same,' said the charioteer. 'Then let us drive thither,' said CuChulain, and before the day was done, he had slain them all. Nechtan was the husband of Boann. The well of knowledge, over which nine hazel trees dropped their nuts was forbidden to any but he and his cup-bearers. Boann disobeyed him so that the well rose up and chased her, becoming the River Boyne. # 454 - 562 NEF DE JOIE A ship made by Merlin and used by Mabon to bring Tristan to him. This ship was to be destroyed after Arthur's final battle. # 156 - 712 NEFYN The daughter of Brychan, wife of Cynfarch and mother of Urien. # 104 - 156 NEIT Danaan king, and the male consort of Nemainn. His name may mean 'vigour' or 'exaltation in combat'. He is one of the primeval gods of Ireland and after his death, he was slain at the second Battle with the Fomorians at Mag Tuired, his sons divided the land between them. He was the grandfather of Balor. # 389 - 454 - 562 NEMAN NEAMHAN NEMAINN The ancient Irish war goddess Badb took a triple form, Neman, Morrigu and Macha, all in the shape of royston or hoodie crows, aform taken in modern Irish fairy-lore by the Bean-Sidhe (Ban Sidhe). Each manifestation has a different function and Neman is 'the confounder of armies'. It is she who causes bands of the same army to fight together, mistaking each other for the enemy. Evans Wentz, in THE FAIRY FAITH IN CELTIC COUNTRIES, gives a useful account of these war spirits, founded mainly on SILVA GADELICA and THE BOOK OF CONQUESTS, but with other comparisons and references. # 100 - 711 NEMED (nev-eh) Son of Agnoman. He came from Scythia into Ireland, which he took possessions of, fighting victoriously aganst the Fomorians in three battles but shortly afterwards died of plague along with three thousand of his people. # 454 - 469 - 562 NEMEDIANS Sail for Ireland; akin to Partholanians; revolt of Nemedians against Fomorians. # 562 NEMETONA 'Goddess of the Sacred Grove' is the meaning of her name. Like many other Celtic deities, her name is a title, reverently hiding the local given name. She appears as the partner of Mars in his RomanoBritish guises. # 454 - 563 NEMHGLAN He was the bird-like being who appeared to Mess Buachalla and made love to her. His son, Conaire Mess Buachalla, attempted to shoot at a flock of birds but Nemhglan flew down and laid a geise upon him to strip naked and proceed thus to Tara with only his sling-shot and one stone in his hand. By this method the druids recognozed Conaire as the next High King. # 454 - 562 NENNIUS British historian in whose HISTORIA BRITONUM (AD 800) is found first mention of Arthur. # 562 NENTRES King of Garlot who married Elaine, Arthur's half-sister. He was one of the eleven kings who made a revolt against Arthur at the beginning of his reign, but eventually became an ally and a Knight of the Round Table. # 156 - 418 NEOT (d 877) Trained as a monk at Glastonbury, he became a hermit near Bodmin Moor at Neotstoke. He is said to have appeared to King Alfred the Great on the eve of the Battle of Ethandum. When Neot's oxen were stolen, he yoked stags to plough his fields. His feast-day is 31 July. A hundred years after Neot's death, his relics were taken from Cornwall to grace the monastery founded by the Saxon Leofric at Eynesbury, near St Ives, Cambridgeshire. # 454 - 678 NERA He was a servant of Ailill. One Samhain night, Ailill offered a prize to any who would go out and encircle the foot of a corpse hanging outside with a withy. It being the time of the dead, everyone refused but Nera. As he was about to perform the deed, the corpse asked for water: Nera carried him to a nearby house which was immediately circled by the fire. At the next house, it became surrounded with water. At the third house the corpse drank three cups of water and spat out third upon the occupants who promptly died. Returning to claim his prize, Nera found the royal fort in flames and the King and his men beheaded. Nera descended to the underworld entrance of Cruachan to regain the heads and there lived with a bean-sidhe who explained that it had only been a vision and the best way to avoid it happening was to return to the royal fort and destroy the sidhe in which he now was. Fergus mac Roigh destroyed the place after plundering its treasures. Nera escaped with his sidhe-wife and child. # 208 - 454 NERA, THE ADVENTURES OF 'The Adventures of Nera' apparently also known in ancient times as the 'Cattle Raid of Aingen,' is one of the wildest tales in early Irish literature. In its present form given in Cross' and Slover's ANCIENT IRISH TALES, unfortunately, it is the result of two unskillfully combined parallel accounts of Nera's excursion into the fairy world; hence the confused state of the latter part of the text. The scene is laid in Connacht, not in Ulster. The story is connected, at least superficially, with the two famous bulls that figure in the 'Cattle Raid of Cooley'. The compiler was acquainted not only with the central epic, but also with the 'Cattle Raid of Regamna' and 'The Exile of the Sons of Usnech'. The reference to the opening of the fairy-mounds on Hallowe'en is a piece of ancient folk-lore which has come down even to the present day. The royal family preparing food in the midst of the great hall at Cruachan, the hanging of the captives before the door, and the emphasis upon the terrors of the night are touches of primitive barbarism and superstition which point to the antiquity of the traditions underlying the tale. The cave of Cruachan, known in Christian tradition as 'Ireland's gate to Hell,' was, according to pagan belief, an entrance to Fairyland. # 166 NEREJA The female emissary of Queen Amene, she went to Arthur's court to obtain aid for her mistress whose territory had been largely conquered by the evil Roaz. # 156 - 746 NESSA 1. Daughter of Echid Yellow-heel, married to Fachtna the Giant which she bore a son named Conor. When Fachtna died, Fergus son of Roy, his half-brother succeeded him, Conor being only a youth. Fergus loved Nessa and would marry her, but she made the condition that her son Conor could reign for one year. Fergus agreed, and so wise and prosperous was the young Conor's rule that, at the years end, the people, as Nessa foresaw, would have him remain king. Fergus, who loved feast and chase better than the toils of kingship, was content to have it so and remained at Conor's court, happy, but king no longer. 2. Wife of Cathbad. Her name was originally Assa or 'Gentle', but after Cathbad had killed all her tutors she took up arms as a woman warrior and was afterwards called 'Ungentle' or Niassa (Nessa). Cathbad surprised her bathing without her arms, but he spared her and granted her only to have her as his wife. She bore Conchobar on the day prophesied as the birthday of Christ. # 188 - 454 - 562 NESTOR The brother of Ban and father of Bleoberis, he was accidentally killed by his son. Nestor was also the name of the son of Bleoberis. # 156 NEW GRANGE # 562: Tumulus at New Grange regarded as dwelling-place of Fairy Folk. Angus' Fairy palace at Brugh na Boyne identical with New Grange. # 470: It has been known for some years that at dawn on the shortest day of the year a ray of sunlight penetrates the inner chamber at New Grange, shining straight down the narrow passage through a rectangular, stone-framed slit above the entrance. In THE BOYNE VALLEY VISION, 1980, Martin Brennan claimed that the two chambers at Knowth, one facing east, the other west, were illuminated by sunrise and sunset at the equinoxes. This was confirmed by observation in 1980 at the autumn equinox, and Brennan went on to show that the inner chamber at Dowth received light at midwinter sunset. Significant shadow effects have also been observed in connection with megalithic carvings. At Knowth, for example, as the time of the equinox approaches, the shadow of an upright stone at sunset falls onto an inscribed stone at the western entrance. A vertical line carved down the centre line of the passage, and on the day when the sun sets at the mid-point of its yearly course, the edge of the shadow cast by the standing stone falls precisely onto the carved line. # 96 - 470 - 562 NIALL OF THE NINE HOSTAGES King of Tara in the late fourth century. He was the son of Eochu Muigmedon by Cairenn, a concubine, and was recognized by his father with his four step-brothers as a suitable heir to the throne. However, Mongfind, Eochu's wife caused all the boys to be tested to see which would be king. She sent them to a prophetic smith, Sithchean, who set his forge on fire to see what implements the boys would rescue. Niall rescued the anvil and was accorded the winner. Mongfind set another test, dissatisfied that her children had been passed over. Sithchean sent the boys to fend for themselves in the forest, but they found themselves without water. Each boy went to a well which was guarded by a hag; she would only give water to the one who kissed her. Only Niall obliged her and she turned into a beautiful woman, naming herself as the Sovereignty of Ireland, which she accorded Niall. # 188 - 454 - 548 NIALL OF THE NINE HOSTAGES, THE DEATH OF Though this story in its form given in Cross' and Slover's ANCIENT IRISH TALES hardly can be older than the eleventh century, it doubtless contains reminiscences of Irish invasions of Great Britain during the late fourth and early fifth centuries, when, as we know from British records and other evidence, the inhabitants of Britain were suffering from the inroads of the Scots (Irish). # 166 NIAMH (NEE-av) 1. Wife of Conall of the Victories; tends CuChulain; Bave puts a spell of straying on her. 2. Niamh of the Golden Hair, daughter of the King of the Land of Youth (Manannan). She loved Oisin and talked him into a journey to her father's Land Oversea. Here they lived happily for three hundred years after which Oisin got satisfied with all the events he had adventured, that he longed for a visit to his native land and to see his old comrades. It was granted to him, but Niamh made him promise not to unmount the steed he was riding and set foot on his land or the way of return to the Land of Youth would be barred to him for ever. He met strange people in his own land who in return looked at him as was he an Fairy or an angel. He offered to help them heaving a huge stone from its bed, and in doing so he was instantly changed with the weight of three hundred mortal years upon him. # 562 NICHT NOUGHT NOTHING NICHT NOCHT NAETHIN An example of a widespread story of which the earliest example is that of Jason and Medea. Andrew Lang published it in FOLK-LORE, VOL. I. In this version we have the supernatural wizard as the hero's father-in-law. The tale is still alive, and was recorded and published by Dr Hamish Henderson in THE GREEN MAN OF KNOWLEDGE, where the heroine is a Swan Maiden. # 100 NICODEMUS The body of this biblical personage was first kept at Camelot and then at the Grail Castle. It accompanied Perceval on board ship when he made his final voyage. # 112 - 156 NIGHTMARE # 118: The second part of the word has nothing to do with horses. The 'mare' derives from Old English mara, or a spectra which, it was said, perched itself on the breast of a sleeper and deprived him of motion and speech. # 100: One form in which the name of Mara, a demon, survives. The other is 'mare's nest'. Other names for Night-Mare are Succubus and the Hagge. # 100 - 118 NIMBLE MEN, THE See: FIR CHLIS. NIMPHIDIA See: DIMINUTIVE FAIRIES. NIMUE Her father was Diones or Dinas, a vavasour (holder of feudal lands, lesser in rank than a baron). The origin of the name Nimue may derive from Irish Niamh or Welsh Rhiannon. Merlin saw her as a maiden making merry in the forests and became infatuated with her and taught her his magic, so she enclosed him in a tower of glass where she could visit him but from which he could not escape. Some says she had him imprisoned in a cave or in a tomb. According to Breton tradition this happened in the woods of Broceliande near the Fountain of Barenton in Brittany. She is also named Vivienne, Viviane or Niniane. The tradition of Merlin's imprisonment by this maiden probably stems from his withdrawal into the realms of the Celtic Otherworld which is frequently described in terms of a glass or crystal spiral tower in which the poet or magician is imprisoned for a while to learn the mysteries of life and death. She was the lover of Merlin but she also became the lover of Pelleas. She might have been The Lady of The Lake. # 37 - 100 - 156 - 418 - 454 - 589 NINIANE See: NIMUE. NINTH WAVE, THE The ninth wave was considered to be the magical boundary of the land, beyond which was another country. In ancient times, boats usually hugged coastlines rather than venturing on the open sea. # 437 p 21 NISSIEN Son of Eurosswyd and Penardun, brother of Efnissien. His name means 'peaceful', but he was unable to weave peace between his brother and all those people whom his brother, Efnissien insulted. # 272 - 439 - 454 - 562 NIVETTA According to Tasso, a daughter of Morgan Le Fay. # 98 - 156 NODENS He is analogous with Nudd or Lludd, Nuadu (Nuada). His chief sanctuary was at Lydney, Gloucestershire where the shrine had a guest house attached as well as a dormitory or 'abaton' for temple sleep. No depictions of him exist, though his symbol seems to have been the dog, if the votive plaques found at his temples are any indication. He was a water-god associated with the Romano-British god Neptune. See: NUDD. # 104 - 439 - 454 - 562 - 720 NOGGLE NUGGLE NYGEL This creature, whose name is variously spelt, is the Shetland Kelpie. It appears like a beautiful little grey horse, about the size of a Shetland pony, bridled and saddled. It is less malicious than the Kelpie and much less dangerous than the Eash Uisge, but it has two mischievous tricks. Its peculiarity is that it is much attracted by water-mills, and if the mill was running at night it would size the wheel and stop it. It could be driven off by thrusting a burning brand or a long steel knife through the vent-hole of the mill. Its other trick was to loiter along the mill-stream and allure pedestrians to mount it. It would then dash away into the sea and give its rider a severe and even dangerous ducking; but it did not, like Each Uisge, tear its victim to pieces, it merely rose through the water and vanished in a blue flame. Before mounting a stray horse it was wise to look well at its tail. The Noggle looked like an ordinary horse, but it had a tail like a half-wheel, curled up over its back. Some people called the Noggle a Shoopiltie, but it seems to have shared this name with the merpeople. Anecdotes and descriptions of the Noggle have been brought together from various sources by A. C. Black in COUNTY FOLKLORE, VOL. III. # 71 - 100 NORTHERN IRELAND This region really ought to be called 'Northeastern Ireland' Surprisingly few, except from the Irish and the British, seem to realize that Donegal, to the north and west of Northern Ireland, is a part of Eire. There are spots on the Donegal-Northern Irish border where one would need to travel due south, even southwest in places, to cross into Northern Ireland. Parts of Donegal are considerably north of Northern Ireland. See also: BRITAIN AND ENGLAND. # 118 NORTHGALIS This kingdom seems to have been North Wales, but it may, at least at times, have signified a kingdom of the North Britons, such as Strathclyde, as it is said to have been near Northumberland. The ESTOIRE tells us that an early king of this realm was Coudel who fell fighting against Christians. Wolfram has it under the rule of Herzeloyde, while elsewhere it is given kings named Cradelment and Alois. Historically, a king called Cadwallon was thought to have been ruling in North Wales during the traditional Arthurian period and Geoffrey mentions him as King of the Vendoti (inhabitants of North Wales) in Arthur's time. # 156 NORTHUMBERLAND In Arthurian romance this realm in the north of England is variously ruled by King Pellinore, King Clarion, King Cador and King Detors. # 156 NORWAY In Arthurian time, according to Geoffrey, Norway was ruled by King Sichelm who left it to Lot. Arthur had to enforce Lot's claim, however, as the throne had been seized by a usurper, Riculf. At Arthur's final battle, Odbricht, the King of Norway, supported Arthur and met his death. # 156 - 243 NUADA OF THE SILVER HAND (NOO-da) King of the Danaans. Identical with solar deity in Cymric mythology viz., Nudd or Lludd, or in Romano-British mythology, Nodens. He lost his hand fighting against the Firbolgs and as a maimed king was disqualified from kingship. Diancecht made him a silver hand which caused Nuada to be called Airgetlam (Silver Hand). However, Diancecht's son, Miach, created a hand of flesh. He allowed Lugh to reign while he and his counsellors in one year conferred for the best way to overcome the Fomorians, but he was killed in the second battle. See also: NUADU ARGAT LAM. # 166 - 439 - 454 - 469 - 562 - 720 NUADHA (of The Silver Arm). As king of the Tuatha De Danann, he was first deprived of kingship due to the loss of his hand in battle, then gave kingship over to the multi-skilled Lugh who was better able to handle the war, for a wounded king may not rule and must be replaced by a successor. It was typical of the Celts that they enacted the deepest themes of their religion and mythology in myths of two brothers of light and dark which compete for the love of the Land Goddess. # 628 p 117 ff NUADU (noo' ha) A famous druid of Cathair Mor. # 166 NUADU ARGAT LAM (noo' ha r'gat lv) 'Nuada of the Silver Arm.' First king of the Tuatha De Danann in Ireland; lost an arm in the First Battle of Moytura; supplied with an arm of silver by Diancecht. # 166 NUALA Mentioned incidentally by Evans Wentz as the wife of Fin Bheara, the king of the fairies of Connaught and king of the dead whose wife, according to Lady Wilde, is Oonagh. # 100 - 711 - 728 NUC The father of Yder, he fought against his son, neither knowing who, the other was. During the fight, their identities became clear and they stopped. Nuc eventually married Yder,s mother. Nuc is called Duke of Alemaigne, by which Albany (Scotland; in Gaelic: Alban) is probably intented. # 156 NUCKALAVEA An Irish sea-monster of Centaur type; it had no skin and its breath brought the plague. # 161 NUDD or Lludd. Roman equivalent, Nodens. A solar deity in Cymric mythology. Identical with Danaan deity Nuada of the Silver Hand. Under the name Lludd, said to have had a temple on the site of St Paul's Cathedral in London. Entrance to Lludd's temple called Parth Lludd (British), which the Saxons translated Ludes Geat the present Ludgate. # 562 NUMBERS # 548: The subdivision of land into quarters is a very potent symbol. In Wales, according to the Law-books, there were four acres in a homestead, four holdings in every township, and so on. In the Isle of Man four quarterlands at one time formed a treen, the smallest unit for administrative purposes. Similarly in Ireland and the Western Highlands of Scotland the quarterland is regarded as the primary division of farmland (though it is further subdivided into eighths, sixteenths and so on). The Irish Baile Biatach, like the Davach or ounceland in Scotland and the Hebrides, comprised four quarterlands and wax a tax unit. There are also traces of the existence of this fourfold system in medieval England where four wards, four townships, or four villes constituted a unit for various legal purposes. 'There is definite evidence that the number four was associated in the medieval mind with the four quarters.' While the dominant idea in these cases is the four quarters, the elusive fifth is not altogether absent. The Irish Faithche consisted of four fields, one of each side of a Homestead, and a similar concept is implied in the Welsh system of four acres to one homestead. We also know that in at least one district of South Wales the inhabitants of four adjoining sharelands used to meet at a focal point on three annual holidays to play games and to listen to songs. Five is not the most prominent number in Celtic tradition, but it nevertheless appears in a large number of significant contexts. Ireland had five great roads and five celebrated hostels. There were five paths of the law, and five prohibitions for each of the four provincial kings (but seven for the king of Tara). Both Finn and the fairies counted by fives. Finn was one of the five masters of every great art, and was killed by the 'five sons of Uirgriu', each of whom 'planted a spear in the royal fian-chief'. The unitary character of five is also suggested by an episode in the Tain in which the Galioin, whose loyalty is suspect, are distributed among the other troops 'so that no five men of them shall be in one place'. Mythical personages wore fivefold cloaks, and CuChulain had five wheels on his shield, which is particularly noteworthy when we remember that Achilles' shield was made in five layers and that shields representing the cosmos were widespread in the iconography of the ancient world. When his wife, Ethne, and three champions of Ulster visit CuChulain on his sick bed, they arrange themselves around him, Fergus between him and the wall, Conall Cernach between him and the bed-rail, Lugaid Reoderg between him and the pillow, Ethne at his feet - one at each point, with CuChulain in the middle. A medieval tract on language teaches that 'five words are adjudged to be a breath of the poet.' And when dithyramb or metrical rhytm was present, how was it measured? for there is not couplet rhyme or caesura rhyme in it. Not hard. 'By a word completing a breath which was indicated by the fifth word...' Again, there are five kinds of language, namely: 'the language of the Fni, the precedents of the poets, the language of separation, the hidden (?) language of the poets, in which they speak with one another, and iarmberla, such as cuich [? cic 'five'], that is a secret, and Ballorb, a member which completes the poet...' The fifth kind of language was learned by the poet in his fifth year of training. The number nine figures so prominently in Celtic tradition that it has been described as the 'northern counterpart of the sacred seven' of Near Eastern cultures. Bricriu was not the only subject who built a ninefold residence for his king. It is stated in Welsh Laws that the serf class should build nine houses for the king, while the serf's own house also consist of a hall plus eigth penthouses. Repeated allusions to houses comprising 'nine houses (or rooms) in one', in the fifteenth-century poems of Guto'r Glyn, confirm the existence of a Welsh tradition that a complete house should consist of nine component parts. A holding consisting of a homestead and eight acres (erwau) is sometimes mentioned in the Welsh Laws as an alternative to the more usual unit of a homestead and four acres, while in Ireland there are instances of kingdoms which consisted of nine cantreds. Apart from sporadic pointers of this kind, and the subdivision of quarterlands into eighths, the eight/ninefold conception of things has not left an enduring impression on the territorial divisions of the Celtic lands, but it is to be found in a great many other significant contexts, among which the following are but a small selection. We can mention the nine hazels of wisdom that grew at the heads of the seven chief rivers of Ireland. There is also a story of a marvellous tree which grew from above downwards, like an inverted Yggdrasill. It had nine branches, of which the highest was the most beautiful, and in them pure white birds listened to the melodies to be heard there. The story is interpreted allegorically, the tree being Christ, the nine branches the nine grades of heaven, and the birds the soul of the just. An early Welsh poem which mentions the Cauldron of the Head of Annwfn says that 'by the breath of nine maidens was it kindled', and in the VITA MERLINI the Fortunate Isles are governed by nine sisters, the first of whom was Morgen. In the DINDSENCHAS there is a tale of Ruad son of Rigdonn who rows north of Ireland with three boats and finds they have no power to move. He swims to a secret spot and finds nine fair and strong 'female forms' with whom he sleeps nine nights 'without gloom, without tearful lament, under the sea free from waves on nine beds of bronze.' One of the women bears him a child. In Irish literature it is made clear that the nine consist of a leader and eight others. This is strikingly illustrated in a description of Medb's mode of travel in TAIN BO CUAILGNE: 'and nine chariots with her alone; two before her, two behind, and two at either side, and her own chariot in the middle between them'. King Loegaire, when setting out to arrest St Patrick, ordered nine chariots to be joined together 'according to the traditions of the gods'. Nine, like five, symbolized the whole. In Welsh medieval society the ninth generation was the recognized limit of kin relationship. In Scotland, the needfire was kindled sometimes by nine men and sometimes by nine nines of first-begotten sons. The number was also connected with the Beltaine fire in Scotland, Wales, as in part of Scandinavia, where it was made with nine sticks collected by nine men from nine differnt trees. The number nine may at one time have had a place in the calendar of the Celtic peoples. In the Welsh Laws, the ninth day of the month often marks the end or the beginning of a period, and a period of nine days or nine nights is certainly in evidence in the literature as a significant unit of time. With the number twelve, as with the number seven, there is always the possibility that native tradition has been affected by Christianity, but the symbolism of twelve, like that of seven, is certainly older and more widespread than Christianity. A knowledge of the zodiacal twelve is found throughout Eurasia, and it was firmly established in Scandinavia in pre-Christian times. That it should have been unknown to the pre-Christian Celts is hardly probable. # 183 - 199 - 228 - 312 - 397 - 502 - 548 - 739 - 763 NUTS OF KNOWLEDGE Drop from hazel-boughs into pool where Salmon of Knowledge lived. # 562 NWYWRE Druidic name for the invisible force that governed both life and the material universe: Nwywre, symbolized by the serpent, which is a universal symbol already familiar to us from the statues of the Pharaohs, who were believed to represent the divinity on earth. According to Moreau, Nwywre 'was the creative power of the physical world'. Nothing happened without it. It was the cosmic fluid, the ether, the light and the great creative and divine Principle that linked Heaven and Earth. Its union with the other elements created life, movement and spirit. A Gallic bard sang that it is smaller than the smallest and bigger than worlds because it is subtleness and power itself. For the Druids, Nwywre was the thread mysterious linking the human world to the divine world. # 482 - 730 O () (Irish) A grandson, descendant. Plural: ui. # 166 O CEALAIGH (o kyal-eye) OAK Few trees have been so widely revered as the oak. The classic composition of the Dianic grove or Nemeton, the residence of the heaven-god who controlled thunder and lightning, the deity of druids and dryads, the oak was duir (D) in the druidic alphabet and represented power. Irish churches used to be called Dairthech, 'oakhouse,' an old druidic name for the sacred grove. # 701 p 468 OAKMEN There are scattered references to oakmen in the North of England, though very few folktales about them: there is no doubt that the oak was regarded as a sacred and potent tree. Most people know the rhyming proverb 'Fairy folks are in old oaks'; 'The Gospel Oak' or 'The King's Oak' in every considerable forest had probably a traditional sacredness from unremembered times, and an oak coppice in which the young saplings had sprung from the stumps of felled trees was thought to be an uncanny place after sunset; but the references to 'oakmen' are scanty. Beatrix Potter in THE FAIRY CARAVAN gives some description of the Oakmen, squat, dwarfish people with red toadstool caps and red noses who tempt intruders into their copse with disguised food made of fungi. The fairy wood in which they lurk is thrice-cut copse and is full of bluebells. THE FAIRY CARAVAN is her only long book, and is scattered with folktales and beliefs. It is probable that her Oakmen are founded on genuine traditions. In Ruth Tongue's FORGOTTEN FOLK TALES OF THE ENGLISH COUNTIES there is a story from Cumberland, 'The Vixen and the Oakmen', in which the Oakmen figure as guardians of animals. This rests on a single tradition, a story brought back by a soldier from the Lake District in 1948, and may well have been subject to some sophistication, but these two together make it worth while to be alert for other examples. # 100 - 674 OBERON # 156: 1. King of the fairies. According to HUON DE BORDEAUX, he was the son of Julius Caesar and Morgan Le Fay, naming his Faery kingdom Momur. Elsewhere it is stated that he was originally an extremely ugly dwarf named Tronc, but the fairies took pity on him, removed his ugliness and gave him a kingdom. He is also called Auberon and is believed to be associated with the dwarf Alberich from German mythology. He was a companion of Ysaie the Sad, Tristan's son who resigned his kingdom to Huon of Bordeaux. Arthur, who had removed to fairyland after his earthly sojourn, protested, as he had expected to receive the crown, but Oberon's treat to turn him into a werewolf was sufficient to silence him. Oberon died shortly afterwards. We are told that Oberon was the father of Robin Goodfellow by a human girl. Spencer makes him the father of Gloriana, with whom Arthur fell in love. In A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM Oberon's wife is called Titania. She does not often appear in medieval Arthurian literature, though she does occur in two modern works, Richard Hovey's THE QUEST OF MERLIN (1891) and Reginald Heber's THE MASQUE OF GWENDOLEN (1816). 2. A brother of Morgan in OGIER LE DANOIS (a non-Arthurian French medieval romance. See: OGIER. # 100 - 156 - 202 - 322 OCEAN SWEEPER Manannan's magical boat. # 562 OCHALL (o-hal) OCTA See: OSLA BIG-KNIFE. OCTRIALLACH He was a Fomorian who discovered how Diancecht had been able to bring the dead to life by means of the Well of Slaine. Octriallach showed his tribe the place and they filled in the spring. He was killed by Ogma. # 208 - 454 ODBRICHT The King of Norway who supported Arthur in his final battle at Camlann and died there. # 156 - 243 ODGAR The King of Ireland when Arthur went there seeking the cauldron belonging to Diwrnach, the King's supervisor. See: AEDD. # 156 ODHRAN, SAINT # 454: (d 563) He was one of Columba's companions in his exile on Iona. Legend tells that the monastery of Iona was hampered when the monks attempted to build the first church. Columba had a vision in which it was shown to him that devils were hindering the work and that the building would not remain standing unless a human victim was buried in the foundation. Odhran offered himself and was buried alive in the foundations. After three days Columba dug him up. Odhran was still alive and said: 'There is no wonder in death and Hell is not what it is reported to be.' Columba ordered the earth replaced over Odhran, saying: 'Earth, earth, on the mouth of Odhran, that he may blab no more.' The cemetery was indeed called Reilig Orain (Odhran's Crypt). His feast-day is 27 October. # 678: When Columcille (the dove of the church), the Latin rendering of his name is Columba, arrived on Iona, he found a Christian monastery there, directed by Odhran. This first settler appears to have joined the community founded by Columcille, who told his companions that whoever among them would be the first to die would confirm the Irish right to the island and be assured of an easy passage to heaven. Odhran, weary of the world, apparently consented to be the victim, and Columcille promised that in future years all intercessions must be made through him. The fact that Odhran was buried at the place where Columcille built his abbey is in keeping with that aspect of folklore which demands that a corpse (be it only that of a mummified cat) must be buried in the walls of any new building to ensure good fortune. # 454 - 466 - 678 ODIN WODEN It seems likely that Odin was the original leader of the Wild Hunt in England, as he was until recent times in Scandinavia, where, however, he chased the harmless little wood-wives instead of the souls of damned men. It was common for Satan to take over the role of any influential god, and Odin, as the leader and chooser of the dead, had a special right to play the Devil's part. Brian Branston, in THE LOST GODS OF ENGLAND, devotes a chapter to Woden and maintains his right to serve as the first leader of the Wild Hunt, the Devil's Dandy Dogs and other sinister routs of the same kind. See also: WODEN. # 91 - 100 ODRAN According to the life of Patrick written by Jocelyn, Odran drove the cart in which the saint travelled. Realizing that there were threats against the life of his master and that enemies were lying in ambush for him, Odran begged Patrick to drive the horses, while he took the saint's place in the cart. So it was, and the murderers deceived by the change, thrust their spears into Odran, whose soul, Patrick saw, was carried by angels into heaven. Because of the similarity of the name some people have identified Odran with Odhran (q.v.). There is a link in the fact that both men voluntarily sacrificed themselves in order to clear the way so that the work of a greater saint could be carried out. His feast-day is 19 February. # 678 ODYAR FRANC The steward at Arthur's court. # 156 - 346 OENGHUS OENGUS MAC OG (engus) The Irish equivalent of Maponus is Oenghus. He is son of the Dagda, the greatest Irish god, born of a secret union with Boann, the river goddess. He was called 'in Mac c ('the Young Son') for his mother said: 'Young is the son who was begotten at break of day and born betwixt it and evening.' After a playmate had called him a hireling whose father and mother were unknown, Midir, his fosterfather, brought him to the Dagda, who acknowledged him as his son and instructed him how to take possession of Elcmar's lands. He is said to dwell in the prehistoric mound of the Bruigh na Boinne, which he tricked away from his father. Although Oenghus is a bright young god, born of primal powers, he is not associated with therapeutic springs. Oenghus is a figure of great beauty, wit and charm, and is also associated with fatal love in Irish legends. The Scottish poet William Sharp (writing as Fiona Macleod in the nineteenth century with a profound knowledge of Celtic mythology and language) rightly described Oenghus as 'Lord of Love and Death'. In this last context we may see once again a link with the primal Apollo, whose bolt could bless or blast. # 628 p 110 OENGUS, THE DREAM OF 'The Dream of Oengus' is a continuation of the opening episode of 'The Wooing of Etain', wherein Boand and the Dagdae sleep together and Oengus is born. Although the story survives only in a relatively late source, the fifteenth-century Egerton 1782 manuscript, it is mentioned in the Book of Leinster, in a list of preliminary tales to 'The Cattle Raid of Cuailnge'. Even so, 'The Dream of Oengus' does not appear to be especially old. The themes are familiar to Celtic literature: love before first sight (as in the Welsh tale 'How Culhwch Won Olwen'), the initiative of the otherworld woman (as by Rhiannon in 'Pwyll Lord of Dyved' and by Macha in 'The Labour Pains of the Ulaid'), the wasting away of the mortal lover (Gilvaethwy in 'Math Son of Mathonwy', Ailill Angubae in 'The Wooing of Etain'), the unwillingness of the woman's father (as in 'Culhwch and Olwen' and 'The Wooing of Etain') and the transformation of the lovers into swans (Mider and Etain). And Boand and the Dagdae are scarcely recognizable as people of the Sidhe: Boand is unable to help her son at all, and the Dagdae has to ask assistance from the king of the Sidhe of Mumu. The meeting and transformation of Oengus and Caer Ibormeith at Samhain, a time of changes, does evince a genuinely ancient Celtic motif; and the tone of the story, while romantic, is still restrained. The link to 'The Cattle Raid of Cuailnge', however, is pure artifice. One puzzling feature of this story is Oengus' failure to reveal the cause of his illness. In the Welsh story 'Math Son of Mathonwy', Gilvaethwy falls in love with Math's virgin footholder; in the second section of 'The Wooing of Etain', Ailill falls in love with his brother's wife. Both men fall ill from love, but neither will reveal his guilty secret, and it may be that this idea of silence was transferred. Inappropriately (since Oengus has no cause for guilt), as part of the overall theme of wasting sickness. 'The Dream of Oengus' is the ultimate source of Yeats's poem 'The Dream of Wandering Aengus'. See also: ANGUS MAC OG. # 236 OENOCHOE Celtic wine pitchers. # 730 OESC A King of Kent, said to be the son or grandson of Hengist, ruler in the traditional Arthurian period. # 156 OGHAM (OGAMIC) The secret fifth has its counterpart in the fifth of the five 'families' (or groups) of five signs each which constitute the Ogham alphabet. The first three groups of five stand for the different consonants, the fourt group for vowels. The fifth set of five, called the 'supplementary family', is said, in the medieval tracts, to denote diphtongs. Early Irish stories contain several references to the use of Ogham to convey secret messages or for divinatory purposes. In one case four sticks are used, in another a four-sided stick. Vendryes, in L'CRITURE OGAMIQUE ET SES ORIGINES in TUDES CELTIQUES, notes the importance of twenty in the Celtic numerical system, and the five 'supplementary letters' (forfeda) are dismissed as a later addition, just as the fifth province has been accounted a later addition. The signs in this fifth group are different in character from those of the four other groups. But are we to consider it an accident that each of the five characters of the fifth group is formed by a cross (single, double or quadruple), a diamond or circular enclosure, or a rudimentary spiral - all apt symbols of the mystic centre? Several hundred Ogamic inscriptions have been found on stones in England and Ireland, most of them in the southwest of the latter country. It has been possible to decipher them thanks to Irish manuscripts of the Middle Ages, such as the Book of Leinster and the Book of Ballymoore, which contains the 'Ogham tract', an expos of about seventy varieties of Ogamic writing. The name itself is derived, according to some, from the Greek 'ogmos' (furrow), while according to others it comes from Heracles' alternative Celtic name, Ogmios. Ogamic writing has also been found on stones in Spain and North America but it is difficult to date the stones. See also TREE ALPHABET. # 768: The origin of the Ogham alphabet is ascribed in the BOOK OF BALLYMOTE to Ogma, one of the learned men of the mythical Tuatha De Danaan race, and in a manuscript in the British Museum (Add. 47830) Breas mac Elathan is said to have been the inventor. Oghams are continually referred to in the Irish manuscripts, such as the BOOKS OF LEINSTER, BALLYMOTE, LISMORE, and the LEABHSAR na UIDRE, generally as being carved on sepulcral monuments, but sometimes on objects of metal. The inscriptions on the Ogham pillars, and the nature of localities in which they are found, prove conclusively that they were originally erected to commemorate the dead. The point we have now to determine is how far they are Christian. Two of the authorities who have written on the subject come to diametrically opposite conclusions. Sir S. Ferguson, in 'Ogham Inscriptions' says, "I shall be able, I think, to show reasonable grounds for believing that the bulk, if not all, of our Ogham monuments are Christian; that some of them represent, perhaps, as old a Christianity as has been claimed for the Church in either island." Mr. R. Rolt Brash believes that the Ogham alphabet is of pagan origin, and that most of the stones inscribed with this form of letter belong to the pre-Christian period. # 548 - 730 - 768 OGIER A hero of Carolingian romance who was the son of Godfrey, a Danish duke. He features in the romance OGIER LE DANOIS. His historical prototype may have been Otker, advocate of Lige in Charlemagne's time. At Ogier's birth, Morgan Le Fay said she would eventually take him to Avalon, which she did. He stayed there for 200 years and then returned to aid assailed Christendom, finally going back to Avalon. He and Morgan had a son called Meurvin. The Danes regarded Ogier as a Danish hero named Holger. He was given the sword of Tristan by Charlemagne and he called it Curetana. Other traditions are that he slept with his men in a cave in Denmark or that he perpetually wandered about in the Ardennes. According to Mandeville's TRAVELS (1356-57) he was an ancestor of Prester John. # 156 OGMA (og'ma) A distinguished warrior and strong man of Nuada of the Silver Hand. He was the son of Dagda, to whom Dagda gave one of his Brughs when he was forced to take refuge underground before the advance of the invading Milesians. The whole incident is to be found in the LEBOR GEBAR (Book of Battles), which is one of the ancient books of Ireland. Ogma was the husband of Etain, and father of Tuirenn. He was oppressed by Bres and the Fomorians whom he overcame in battle, as leader of the Tuatha de Danaan. He captures the speaking sword of the Fomorian King Tethra. He is credited with inventing the ogham alphabet which the Irish used in inscriptions, but not for writing. (The druidic prohibition on writing down knowledge persisted until very late in Ireland's history: its professional teachers, poets and judges all conned their art by heart.) Analogous to Gaulish god Ogmios. See also: OGMIOS. # 100 - 264 - 265 - 454 - 709 OGMIOS Ogmios was an old man, bald and wrinkled, and in Romano-Celtic carvings, carrying a club and a bow. The latter to show his strenght in his field which was eloquence. He was the god of the binding strenght of poetry, of the power of the poetic word, charm, incantation or image. In Ireland the god Oghma is the equivalent of Ogmios. Oghma is significantly credited with the invention of Ogham, the Celtic alphabet, but he is also a strong champion. A Gaulish god. There is a native inscription to him as 'Ogmia' where he appears wielding the whip of the Invincible Sun and with his hair raying out in the manner of a sun-god. There are likely connections here with the native cults of Maponus/Apollo. See also: OGMA and, TREE ALPHABET. # 265 - 454 - 563 - 628 p 122 ff - # 709 OGO'R DINAS A cave near Llandebie. See: CRAIG-Y-DINAS. # 156 OGOF LANCIAU ERYRI The cave in North Wales where Arthur's men were said to be awaiting his return. A shepherd was thought to have seen him there. # 156 - 554 OIMELC IMBOLC The coming of Brighid, Feile Bhride, or Brigit's feast - that was springlambing (Oimelc means 'sheep's milk') and the combat between the Caillech of Winter and her rival, the Spring Maiden. Celebrated on 1 February. It is told in an obscure text how Brigit's lamb fought against the Cailleach's dragon. Scottish Gaelic regions still celebrate her feast in remembrance of a gentle mystery cycle about Brigit's imminent appearance, while in Ireland, people make Bride's Crosses woven of rushes or withies and in the shape of a three or four-armed cross. This custom may derive from an earlier fireceremony in which this cross would have been ignited and cast into the winterskies of February to hasten the coming spring. The combat of Brigit with the Cailleach can still be traced in some extant folkstories. # 438 - 454 OISIN (ush'een) Otherwise Little Fawn. Son of Finn and Sadbh; greatest poet of the Gael; father of Oscar; the only hero, apart from Caoilte, to survive the Battle of Gabhre, at which most of the Fianna died; Keelta and Oisin resolve to part, and together they bury Oscar; loved by Niamh of the Golden Hair who, during the battle lured him into Tir na n'Og (Land of the Youth, the Otherworld where time doesn't exist), where he intended to stay only for a short time, however, it was first after 300 years has passed in earthly time he was satiate and became homesick. Niamh gave him a steed to go and see Ireland once more, telling him not to touch the ground with his foot, but when he met people who needed his helping hand he forgot the geise and became instantly an aged man. St Patrick attempted to baptize him, and obtained from him the history of the Fianna so that it might be recorded for later ages. See also: NIAMH. # 267 - 454 - 504 - 562 OISIN IN THE LAND OF YOUTH The story of the visit of Oisin son of Finn to Fairyland, the Happy Otherworld of the ancient Irish, belongs less definitely to the heroic tradition than the other Finn tales printed in this group. The central motif, of course, belongs to the oldest period (cf. THE ADVENTURES OF CONNLA THE FAIR,) and CORMACH'S ADVENTURES IN THE LAND OF PROMISE, but the form present in Cross and Slover's ANCIENT IRISH TALES dates only from the eighteenth century, when it was written by the poet Michael Comyn. The dialogue form in which Patrick acts as interlocutor shows the influence of THE COLLOQUY OF THE OLD MEN. The translation, which is very free, aims to reproduce the complicated system of alliteration and internal rhyme used in Irish bardic poetry. The events of the story are supposed to have taken place just after the celebrated battle of Gabra, in which Finn's band met its final defeat, but the introduction of the Rip Van Winckle motif carries the action through many years to a period long after the decline and ruin of the celebrated fian. The story furnishes an explanation of the tradition that Oisin survived Finn and the rest of the fian long enough to converse with St Patrick, as in THE COLLOQUY OF THE OLD MEN. The fact that the return of Oisin is used as a basis for parts of THE COLLOQUY OF THE OLD MEN is an indication of the antiquity of the theme. See also: OISIN and- COLLOQUY OF THE OLD MEN, THE # 166 OLD ENGLISH Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) did not write in Old English. Nor did Sir Thomas Malory, the fifteenth-century compiler of the stories of King Arthur and his Round Table in LE MORTE D'ARTHUR, write Old English. Certainly William Shakespeare did not write in Old English; both he AND Malory, in fact, wrote in modern English. Nor are the various illustrated (or 'illuminated') manuscript pages or imitations thereof often sold in gift shops Old English. - Old English is, in fact, a language completely different from Chaucer's, or that of anyone else mentioned in the preceding paragraph. It's a foreign language in spite of its name; Chaucer himself probably could not read it, though Chaucer was a proficient enough linguist to write in French and to translate from Latin and Italian. A student setting out to learn Old English today would expect to spend at least as much time mastering it as if he were to train himself to read German or Russian. - Scolars divide the history of the English language into three broad periods: Old English (AD 450-1100); Middle English, the language of Chaucer (1100-1500); and modern English (1500 to present). The language of Malory is often called Early Modern English, sometimes abbreviated eMnE. The dates are approximate; the historical factors which determine them are the invasion of England by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, who brought their Germanic tongue with them, usually dated AD 449; the Norman Conquest, which occurred in 1066; and the introduction of printing to England by William Caxton in 1476. The only manuscript of any length that survives from the real Old English period is that of BEOWULF- and it is sheer luck that it does survive, since it was very nearly destroyed by a fire in the library of Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, a well-to-do antiquarian and collector of Shakespeare's time. One can still see the charred edges of the manuscript today. That Old English bears little resemblance in the popular conception is amply demonstrated by the original text from that manuscript. A literal translation of a highly inflected (or, as linguists say, 'synthtic') language like Old English into an 'analytic', or noninflected language like modern English is almost impossible. But at least it will show how very different Old English is from the YE OLDE GIFTE SHOPPE variety so often miscalled Old English. Transliterated into ordinary modern type without utilizing any special characters, following are all but the last few words of the first four lines of the 'Beowulf' manuscript, with translation. Beowulf mathelode bearn ecgtheowes [Beowulf spoke, son (of) Ecgteow:] hwaet we the thas saelec sunu healfdenes [Lo,we(to) you this seabooty, son (of) Healfdene,] leod scyldinga lustrum brothon tires [Lord (of the) Scyldings (with) joy (have; brought; of glories] to tacne the thu her to locast... [As token which you here at-look (i.e.,look at)...] Put very briefly, the reason Old English is so unlike today's-or for that matter, Chaucer's Malory's or Shakespeare's-language is that following the Norman Conquest, England officially became a French-speaking nation - and remained so for several centuries. The profound influence of Norman French, the language of William the Conqueror, upon the 'native' Old English brought by the Germanic Anglo-Saxons when they themselves invaded Britain about AD 450, is responsible for the radical alterations which took place in English between BEOWULF and THE CANTERBURY TALES. In any event, what practically everyone calls Old English today is really Middle English or even Early Modern English. # 118 OLD LADY OF THE ELDER TREE, THE Of all the sacred and fairy trees of England, the surviving traditions of the elder tree seem to be the most lively. Sometimes they are closely associated with witches, sometimes with fairies, and sometimes they have an independent life as a dryad or goddess. These traditions are not now generally believed, but they are still known to some of the country people. Formerly the belief was more lively. Mrs Gutch in COUNTY FOLK LORE, VOL. V, quotes from a paper given by R. M. Heanley to the Viking Club in 1901: Hearing one day that a baby in a cottage close to my own was ill, I went across to see what was the matter. Baby appeared right enough, and I said so; but its mother promptly explained: 'It were all along of my master's thick 'ed; it were in this how: T' rocker cummed off t' cradle, an' he hedn't no more gumption than to mak a new 'un out on illerwood without axing the Old Lady's leave, an' in coorse she didn't like that, an' she came and pinched t' wean that outrageous he were a' most black i' t' face; but I bashed 'un off, an' putten an' esh 'un on, an' t'wean is as gallus as owt agin.' This was something quite new to me, and the clue seemed worth following up. So going home I went straight down to my backyard, where old Johnny Holmes was cutting up firewood 'chopping kindling,' as he would have said. Watching the opportunity, I put a knot of elder-wood in the way and said, 'You are not feared of chopping that, are you?' 'Nay,' he replied at once, 'I bain't feared of chopping him, he bain't wick (alive); but if he were wick I dussn't, not without axin' the Old Gal's leave, not if it were ever so.' ...(The words to be used are): 'Oh, them's slape enuff.' You just says, 'Owd Gal, give me of thy wood, an Oi will give some of moine, when I graws inter a tree.' See also: ELDER. # 100 - 276 OLD PEOPLE, THE One of the Cornish euphemistic names for the fairies. It was founded on the belief that the Small People of Cornwall were the souls of the heathen people of the old times, who had died before the days of Christianity and were too good for Hell and too bad for Heaven. They were therefore pendulous till the Day of Judgement between Hell and Heaven. This belief was found by Evans Wentz in the early twentieth century to be held by a proportion of the population in most of the Celtic countries which he explored. # 100 OLD TABLE The Round Table was originally King Uther's and he too used it to seat knights, fifty in all. There may have been many romances about this original table of warriors in Italian literature where it is mentioned, but, if so, most have not survived. One of the best knights of the Old Table was Brunor. # 156 - 238 OLD WOMEN OF THE MOUNTAINS, THE An individual member of the Gwyllion of Wales. Her special function seems to be to lead travellers astray. Both Wirt Sikes and Rhys mention the Gwyllion in some detail. # 100 - 554 - 596 OLLAM ('lav) A learned man of the highest rank. # 166 OLLAV FOLA Ollav (a royal person) was a term applied to a certain Druidic rank; it meant a learned man - a master of science. It is a characteristic trait that the Ollav is endowed with a distinction equal to that of a king. The most distinguished Ollav of Ireland was also a king, the celebrated Ollav Fola, who is supposed to have been eighteenth from Eremon and to have reigned about 1000 BC. He was the Lycurgus or Solon of Ireland, giving to the country a code of legislature, and also subdividing it, under the High King at Tara, among the provincial chiefs, to each of whom his proper rights and obligations were alloted. But whether the Milesian king had any more objective reality than the other more obviously mythical figures it is hard to say. He is supposed to have been buried in the great tumulus at Loughcrew, in Westmeath. # 562 OLWEN She was daughter of the giant Yspaddaden. She is described in one of those pictorial passages in which the Celtic passion for beauty has found such exquisite utterance: 'The maiden was clothed in a robe of flame-coloured silk, and about her neck was a collar of ruddy gold on which were precious emeralds and rubies. More yellow was her head than the flower of the broom, and her skin was whiter than the foam of the wave, and fairer were her hands and her fingers than the blossoms of the wood-anemone amidst the spray of the meadow fountain. The eye of the trained hawk, the glance of the three-mewed falcon, was not brighter than hers. Her bosom was more snowy than the breast of the white swan, her cheek was redder than the reddest roses. Whose beheld her was filled with her love. Four white trefoils sprang up whereever she trod. And therefore she was called Olwen. Her name means 'She of the White Track'. She was the object of Culhwch's love and could not be won from her father without her future husband fulfilling numerous impossible tasks. Although she shares all the usual attributes of a giant's daughter - courage, resourcefulness and beauty - she does not, however, enable Culhwch to fulfil his tasks in accordance with most folk-stories. Whoever she weds will cause the death of her father, and thus it happens, when Culhwch eventually wins her. It is interesting to compare the story of CULHWCH AND OLWEN with the Welsh folktale EINION AND OLWEN, recorded by Evans Wentz, in which Einion, a shepherd, went to the Otherworld to marry Olwen. Their son was called Taliesin. See: WRNACH. # 156 - 272 - 346 - 439 - 454 - 562 - 711 OLYROUN A fairy king, the father-in-law of Lanval. He lived on an enchanted island. # 156 OONAGH (oona) According to Lady Wilde in her ANCIENT LEGENDS OF IRELAND, Oonagh is the wife of Finvarra, the king of the western fairies and of the dead. She says: Finvarra the King is still believed to rule over all the fairies of the west, and Oonagh is the fairy queen. Her golden hair sweeps the ground, and she is robed in silver gossamer all glittering as if with diamonds, but they are dew-drops that sparkle over it. The queen is more beautiful than any woman of earth, yet Finvarra loves the mortal women best, and wiles them down to his fairy palace by the subtle charm of his fairy music. Nuala is also said to be Finvarra's wife, but perhaps it is not surprising that so amorous a fairy should have several wives. # 100 - 728 OPTIMA See: ALDAN. ORC TRIATH This boar was the possession of Brigit, the Dagda's daughter. It is synonymous with Twrch Trwyth. One commentary gives it as the name for a king, possibly indicating that the boar was a kingly totem to aspire to. # 454 ORCADES An alternative name for Morgause found in DIU CRNE. It comes from Orcades, the Latin name for the Orkneys, ruled by Morgause's husband, Lot. # 156 ORCANT The ruler of Orkney who had been converted to Christianity by Petrus, a follower of Joseph of Arimathea. # 30 - 156 ORFEO The native form of Orpheus. In Scottish folk-story, Orfeo goes in search of his queen, Isabel, and plays his pipes (or harp) to good effect in the Underworld, thus releasing his lady. The same story is told in a Middle-English text; Orfeo goes in search of Meroudys or Herodis. The same story appears in native tradition in the story of PWYLL and RHIANNON, and of MIDIR and ETAIN. # 150 - 454 - 762 ORGUELLEUSE A proud lady who maintained that persistence in courtship and deeds of derring-do were the only things that could lead to fulfilment in courtly love. She is mentioned by both Chrtien and Wolfram, the latter suggesting she had an affair with Amfortas, culminating in his receiving his wound. She eventually gave her love to Gawain. She had once been spurned by Perceval. # 156 ORIANT The son of Meurvin, grandson of Morgan Le Fay by Ogier the Dane and nephew of Arthur. # 156 ORIGIN OF FAIRIES Those inhabitants of Britain who used to believe in the fairies, and that small number who still believe in them, have various notions about their origin, and this variety is not purely regional but is partly founded on theological differences. Folklorists and students of fairy-lore who have not committed themselves to personal beliefs also put forth a selection of Theories of Fairy Origins, which for the sake of clarity can be examined separately. A valuable work of research on the beliefs held about fairy origins among the Celts was published by Evans Wentz under the title THE FAIRY-FAITH IN CELTIC COUNTRIES (1911). In the course of his work he travelled in Ireland, the Highlands of Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Cornwall and Brittany, interviewing first eminent scolars, such as Douglas Hyde in Ireland and Alexander Carmichael in the Highlands, and also people of all classes and types who were believed to have information about the fairies. He found that, among the older people, many of the opinions of the 17th and 18th centuries still prevailed. There seemed to be some trace of the prehistoric beliefs left, though these were not so explicit as the beliefs in the fairies as the dead, or as fallen angels, or occasionally as astral or elemental spirits. Sometimes the particular class of the dead is specified. The Sluagh or fairy Hosts are the evil dead, according to Highland belief. Finvarra's following in Ireland seem to comprise the dead who have recently died as well as the ancient dead; but they are almost as sinister as the Sluagh. In Cornwall the Small People are the souls of the heathen dead, who died before Christianity and were not good enough for Heaven nor bad enough for Hell, and therefore lingered on, gradually shrinking until they became as small as ants, and disappeared all together out of the world. The Fairy Dwelling on Selena Moor gives a good account of this theory. In Cornwall and Devon too the souls of unchristened babies were called Piskies, and appeared at twilight in the form of little white moths. The Knockers in the tin mines were souls of the dead too, but of the Jews who had been transported there for their part in the Crucifixion. In Wales the belief in the fairies as the dead does not seem to have been so common. They were often described as a race of 'beings half-way between something material and spiritual, who were rarely seen', or 'a real race of invisible or spiritual beings living in an invisible world of their own'(Wentz). In the Isle of Man a passage on the 'Nature of Fairies' is something the same: 'The fairies are spirits, I think they are in this country yet: A man below here forgot his cow, and at a late hour went to look for her, and saw that crowds of fairies like little boys were with him. Saint Paul said that spirits are thick in the air, if only we could see them; and we call spirits fairies. I think the old people here in the island thought of fairies in the same way.' (Wentz). The belief in the fairies as the dead may well come from preChristian times, but with the fairies as fallen angels we come into the post-Christian period. In Ireland, in spite of the lively belief in Finvarra and his host, there is also an explicit belief in the fairies as fallen angels. Lady Wilde contradicts the ususal trend of her testimony in one chapter of her ANCIENT LEGENDS OF IRELAND VOL I, 'The Fairies As Fallen Angels': The Islanders, like all the Irish, believe that the fairies are the fallen angels who were cast down by the Lord God out of heaven for their sinful pride. And some fall into the sea, and some on the dry land, and some fell deep down into hell, and the devil gives to these knowledge and power, and sends them on earth where they work much evil. But the fairies of the earth and the sea are mostly gentle and beautiful creatures, who will do no harm if they are let alone, and allowed to dance on the fairy raths in the moonlight to their own sweet music, undisturbed by the presence of mortals. From the Highlands, Evans Wentz quotes a lively account of the story behind this, given to him by Alexander Carmichael, who heard it in Barra in company with J. F. Campbell: 'The Proud Angel fomented a rebellion among the angels of heaven, where he had been a leading light. He declared that he would go and found a kingdom for himself. When going out at the door of heaven the Proud Angel brought prickly lightning and biting lightning out of the doorstep with his heels. Many angels followed him - so many that at last the Son called out, 'Father! Father! the city is being emptied!' whereupon the Father ordered that the gates of heaven and the gates of hell should be closed. This was instantly done. And those who were in were in, and those who were out were out; while the hosts who had left heaven and had not reached hell flew into the holes of the earth, like the stormy petrels.' - The greater part of these angels were thought of, like the Cornish Muryans, as 'too good for Hell and too bad for Heaven', but with the growth of Puritanism the view of the fairies became darker and the fallen angels began to be regarded as downright devils, with no miti-gating feature. We find this in 17th century England. William Warner in ALBION'S ENGLAND goes so far as to deny all performance of house-hold tasks to Robin Goodfellow, saying ingeniously that he got the housewives up in their sleep to clean their houses. Robin got the credit of the work, and the poor housewife got up in the morning more tired than she had gone to bed. This is to deprive the fairy character of all benevolence. On the other hand, two of the Puritan divines of the same period allow the fairies to be a kind of spiritual animal of a middle nature between man and spirit. It is clear that there was no lack of diversity between those who believed in the real existence of fairies. # 100 - 711 - 728 ORKNEY In Malory, the Orkney Islands form part of the realm of Lot. This seems a late development. In Geoffrey, Lot is the King of Lothian who becomes King of Norway. In the Middle Ages the Orkney Islands had many Norse associations and these probably led to their being regarded as part of Lot's domain. Geoffrey gives them a separate king, Gunphar, who voluntarily submitted to Arthur. In the sixth century the Orkneys seem to have been organized into some sort of kingdom, itself subject to one of the Pictish kings, for Adamnan's VITA COLUMBAE mentions a petty king (regulus) of the Orkneys. # 156 ORLAM Son of Ailill and Maeve, slain by CuChulain. # 562 OSCAR OSGAR The son of Oisin. He and the High King of Ireland, Cairbry, met in single combat, and each of them slew the other. Oscar dies and Oisin and Keelta raise him on a bier of spears and carry him off under his banner, 'The terrible Sheaf,' for burial on the field where he died, and where a great green burial mound is still associated with his name. His death was prophesied by the Washer at the Ford. He was a reconciler of enemies but was fearless in battle. # 267 - 454 - 504 OSLA BIG-KNIFE A Saxon, possibly in origin Octa, the son or grandson of Hengist. His knife, Bronllavyn Short Broad, could be used as a bridge and, when he was amongst Arthur's men hunting the boar Twrch Trwyth, the water filled his sheath and he was dragged underneath. THE DREAM OF RHONABWY says he was an adversary of Arthur at Badon. # 156 - 346 OSSETES See: SARMATIANS. OSSIAN (isheen) 'Ossian' has been the usual Highland spelling of the Irish Oisin since the time of James Macpherson's poem OSSIAN, loosely founded in the Highland Ossianic legends. J. F. Campbell, in his discussion of the Scottish Ossianic legends in his POPULAR TALES OF THE WEST HIGHLANDS, VOL. IV, well establishes the widespread knowledge of the Ossianic poems and ballads in 18th-century Scotland and of the Fingalian legends. All over the Highlands, Ossian was known as the great poet and singer of the Feinn, who survived them all and kept the memory of them alive by his songs. Many of the Fenian legends survived in these songs, and in such early manuscripts as THE BOOK OF LEINSTER. 'The Death of Diarmid' and other tragic stories of the last days of the Feinn were deeply remembered and the tragic plight of Ossian, old, blind and mighty, is the most vivid of all. What is not recorded in the Highlands is his visit to Tir na n' Og and the happy centuries he passed with Niamh of the Golden Hair. # 100 - 130 OSWALD 1. In Dryden's KING ARTHUR, the King of Kent who opposed Arthur and who, like Arthur, loved Emmeline. Arthur defeated him and expelled him from Britain. No King Oswald of Kent is known to history. 2. (d. 642) King of Northumbria. He became a Christian while in exile on Iona. When reinstated as king, after the death of Edwin the Usurper, Oswald gave Lindisfarne to Saint Aidan. He united Bernicia and Deira, but was killed at the Battle of Maserfield. Aidan had once prayed that the king's generous hand never become corrupted. Indeed, his body was mutilated on the orders of pagan King Penda who ordered Oswald's head, arms and hands to be displayed on stakes. He was buried at Oswestry (Oswald's Tree) but his relics were scattered throughout Christendom - the remaining incorrupt. His feast-day is 5 October. # 156 - 454 OTHERWORLD The Otherworld is subtle described in some of the Celtic knotwork. The Celts of old never tired of producing it. For them, the design represented the essential nature of earthly existence. Two bands this world and the Otherworld - entwined in dynamic, moving harmony, each band dependant upon the other, and each complimenting and completing the other. The ancient Celts didn't distinguish between the 'real' and the 'imaginary'. The material and the spiritual were not separate or self-limited states: both were equally manifest at all times. An oak grove might be an oak grove, or it might be the home of a god or both simultaneously. Such was their way of looking at the universe. And it inspired a great appreciation and respect for all created things. A respect born of a deep and abiding belief. The concept of one object or entity being somehow more real, simply because it possessed a material presence, would not have occurred to them. And they were seeing bridges or gateways from the manifest world to the other world at hollow mounds, caves or at a sea-shore where standing in the waves at the shore you actually are in two worlds. At land and at sea at the same time. - They were very much aware of the great ocean which contains mountains and valleys, and there the mountain top rises above the water, at our isles, they saw the places where the Otherworld pokes through into our world, and whenever they discovered such 'isles' or openings they marked them with cairns, stone circles, standing stones, mounds, and other enduring markers. But they marked the doorways so that people would stay away from them much the same way as we mark thin ice or quicksand. Danger. Keep out! The ancients wanted these places to be distinguished clearly, because they knew that only the true initiate may pass between the worlds safely. Stories abound of unsuspecting travellers stumbling into the Otherworld served to warn the unprepared to avoid the unknown. Such 'unaware travellers' have only come out again if they exercise courtesy and carry iron, the metal inimical to Fairies. The Fairies themselves are fond of musicians and poets, and will willingly entertain such artists, teaching them new skills, tunes and rhymes. Those who have returned often find that time has slipped by in the mundane world, while they may have enjoyed only a couple of days in Faery. - The Otherworld is a sort of Supernature, a separate, invisible OTHER nature, the Form of forms, from which all earthly or natural forms derived. It is from the Otherworld all our thoughtsparks are kindled into higher consciousness or imagination. Its the source of the REAL Archetypes. Its the storehouse of archetypes that inform and shape our own phenomenal world. Take the trees that grow all around us in our own world: in the Otherworld they grow perfectly, without blight or frost to kill them. They have a luminous life, which is stronger and 'more real'. # 774: Before the coming of Christianity, the Celtic peoples of Western Europe had strong and singular beliefs about the future life. In fact, it was their preoccupation with the beyond, which extended even to the making of loans to be settled in the 'other world,' which the Romans regarded as their most striking feature. In the fourth century AD, Procopus wrote that on the coast opposite the Island of Britain there were many villages whose inhabitants grew crops, but were also fishermen. Subject to the Francs, they were free from payment of tribute because a certain service which, they said, they had been performing since ancient times. This service, they claimed, was the transport of souls. At night, they would suddenly be awakened by a loud knocking at the door, and a voice outside would call them to their task. They would get up in haste and a mysterious force would drag them from their homes towards the beach, even against their will. There would be boats there, not their own, but others. They would look empty but, in reality, they would be loaded almost to the point of sinking and the water would be up to the gunnels. They would climb in and take the oars. An hour later, despite the invisible passengers' weight, they would reach the Island (of Britain) although the voyage would normally have taken a day and a half. Scarcely had they touched the coast than the boats would rise up without their seeing the passengers disembark, and the same voice that had called them would be heard. It was that of the conductor of souls presenting the dead one by one to those qualified to receive them, calling the men by their father's names, women, if there were any, by their husbands' names, and describing what they did when they were alive. The above is a summary of the story given by Procopus; it is the most complete account of the Celtic legend of the dead that we have from the writings of Classical Antiquity. There can be little doubt that many of the beliefs, practices and customs associated with the Celtic cult of the dead passed into early Celtic Christianity. In Ireland, for example, so many Christian monasteries appeared so quickly after the conversion by Saint Patrick, as to imply the wholesale conversion of Druidic colleges. # 383 p 88 ff - # 437 p 11 ff - # 774 OTKER See: OGIER. OTTER # 161: In Celtic art Cernunnos, as Lord of Animals, is depicted as accompanied by an otter, bear and wolf. # 454: The otter is a strange magical animal whose genus totally baffled Celtic clerics who were always arguing whether it was flesh or fish and therefore edible during Lent. Anciently, the otter or waterdog was a transformatory beast. It is one of the guises which Ceridwen assumes when she chases Gwion (Taliesin). In the many wondervoyages or 'immrama' which Maelduin, Brendan and others take, they usually meet with a helpful otter who provides food for them or which performs this service for a hermit. Otter-skin bags also served as waterproof covering for harps in Ireland. # 161 - 454 OUPH An Elizabethan variant of ELF. It does not appear to be in common use now, but is to be found in literature. # 100 OWAIN Son of Urien of Rheged and Modron (Morgan). A historical character, (in French: Yvain) he succeeded Urien and fought on the side of the northern British against the Angles which he defeated about AD 593. Although he lived later than the traditional Arthurian period, he and his father were drawn into the sagas around Arthur in which he is the son of Urien by his wife, Morgan Le Fay, Arthur's sister. He was the hero of THE LADY OF THE FOUNTAIN and THE DREAM OF RHONABWY, in the latter while Arthur and Owain were playing Gwyddbwyll (a board game), Owain's ravens fought with Arthur's men and were nearly defeated until Owain ordered his flag to be raised and they set on their attackers with renewed vigour. As his mother, Modron (identical with Morrigan) often assumes the shape of a raven and promises to aid Urien and his family when they are in need in this shape, we can assume that the Ravens are not warriors, but in fact otherworld women in the form of ravens. In later medieval versions of this story, YVAIN by Chrtien we learn how Owain, hearing of a wondrous spring in the Forest of Broceliande, went thither and defeated the knight Esclados who defended it. He chased him home to his castle where he died from his wound. As Owain was trying to enter the castle, he became ensnared between the portcullises, but was rescued by Lunete, the sister of Laudine the widow of the slain knight. Owain fell in love with Laudine, and Lunete persuaded her to marry him. When Arthur and his followers arrived, Owain went with him, but promised his wife that he would return in a year at the latest. He did not keep an eye on the time, failed to honour his promise and Laudine rejected him. He became a madman in the forest and it took a certain ointment to cure him. He went to the aid of a lion fighting a serpent and the lion became his companion hence his nickname, the Knight of the Lion. Welsh tradition made Owain the husband of Penarwan and Denw, the latter being Arthur's niece. # 104 - 152 - 156 - 243 - 272 - 346 - 439 - 453 - 454 - 604 OWAIN THE BASTARD The half-brother of Owain, whom Urien begot on the wife of his senechal. He was a sensible character and a Knight of the Round Table. He was killed in a joust with Gawain who had not recognized him. # 156 - 434 OWEL Foster-son of Manannan and a Druid, father of Ain. # 562 OWEN Son of Duracht; slays Naisi and other sons of Usna. # 562 OWEN GLYNDWR Despite his close links with the English monarchy, Owen Glyndwr rebelled against Henry IV and started consolidating treaties with neighbouring barons which might well have set up a separate Welsh state if he had succeeded. A long drawn-out border-war swept the Marches of Wales and England. However, having shown himself a capable commander and man of foresight, Owen found his forces defeated, his family imprisoned and his hopes deferred. He remains one of the greatest of Welsh heroes who attempted to draw together the shattered links of British pride once more. He was credited with magical powers and, like Arthur, his death was obscure so as to give foundation to myths of his returning to aid the Cymru once again. # 454 - 735 OWENS OF ARAN Ailill derives from the sept of Owens of Aran. Maelduin goes to dwell with Owens of Aran. # 562 OWL # 161: The owl is prominent in Celtic lore, being a sacred, magic bird; it appears in early times as an owl-goddess and is depicted frequently in La Tne figures, preceding the cult of Athene. It is chthonic, the 'night hag' and 'corpse bird', and is an attribute of Gwyan or Gwynn, God of the Underworld, who ruled over the souls of warriors slain in battle. 454: It has long been considered to be a bird of ill-omen, especially if sighted during the day. Blodeuwedd's transformation into an owl, effected by Gwydion, is a punishment for having betrayed her husband, Llew; the story-teller comments that this is why owls bear the unlikely name of 'flower-face', which is the meaning of Blodeuwedd's name. In Scottish Gaelic, the owl is called 'cailleach', or the old woman, and shows it to a bird under her protection. # 161 - 226 - 454 OWL OF CWM CAWLWYD One of the very old beasts who help Culhwch in his tasks in CULHWCH AND OLWEN. # 562 OYSTER-CATCHER # 161: Among the Gaels this bird is an emblem of St. Bride, who carried one in each hand. It bears the form of a cross on its plumage as it once covered Christ with sea-weed when his enemies pursued him. # 454: It is called Brid-eun, 'Bride's Bird' or Bigein-Bride, 'Bride's Boy', in Gaelic. # 161 - 225 - 454 PACH PATCH A common name for a court fool. Both Henry VII and Henry VIII had fools called 'Pach'. In the LIFE OF ROBIN GOODFELLOW, Pach seems to perform the function of a censor of housewifery and care of the stock rather than Court Jester. # 100 PADARN REDCOAT The coat of Padarn Redcoat was one of the Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain. # 104 - 156 PADERN PATERNUS (sixth century) The founder of Lanbadarn Fawr (Dyfed) where he was Abbot. When Arthur tried to steal the saint's tunic, according to legend, Padern caused the earth to swallow the king up to the neck. He was released only when he apologized. Padern's feast-day is 15 April. # 378 - 454 PADSTOW According to Leland, Henry VIII's librarian, this Cornish town was the birthplace of Arthur. # 156 PALACE ADVENTUROUS A palace, containing the Grail, in the Castle of Carbonek. # 156 PARIS # 156: A Frenchman, a friend of Arthur in LE MYREUR DES HISTOIRES. Arthur conquered the kingdom of Saynes and bestowed it and the king's daughter on Paris. He may be identical with the French King Paris mentioned in CULHWCH AND OLWEN. # 730: It is generally thought that the city of Paris itself was founded after Homer's time by the Parigii, a Celtic tribe who were still living there at the time of the Romans (who called the town Lutetia). According to some scholars, the name Paris is connected with sun worship, as dolmens have been found with images of a sun ship strikingly similar to the Egyptian sun ships. It seems that there were indeed certain links between the Druidic cult and that of the Egyptian goddess Isis. The sun ship, which is still found in the Paris coats of arms, gave name to the city, via Barisis ('Barque d'Isis', or boat of Isis'). There can indeed be little doubt that Paris owes its name to Isis, as we also have written evidence that this goddess usually associated only with the Egypt of the pharaohs- was venerated in northern Europe. # 156 - 221 - 482 - 662 - 730 PARSIFAL Richard Wagner's Parsifal is the knight to whom it succeeded to render the Christian feast of Easter its proper power and significance, after the feast is pined away and had become stereotyped in the hands of its priest hitherto, the old and sick king Amfortas. With the holy lance Parsifal heal the king's gaping wound, and thus justify himself as not only the rightfully keeper of the Grail - the holy cauldron which contains the blood of Christ but also the new and duly by right administrator of the political power in the kingdom. Such is the tale of Parsifal in Wolfram von Eschenbach's medieval High German drama PARZIVAL from about 1205, and from where Wagner was inspired to compose the opera. But Wagner goes thoroughly into different features of the myth in a way as Wolfram never have dreamt of, according to B. Bojesen. As for instance does Wagner emphasize the incident with the beautiful witch, Kundry, and that there in Parsifal's relation to her is hiding a decisive perspective in the opera. In the middle of the second act she sings: 'The only reason why I was lingering here, was as for you to find me'. But this reply acted with a double entendre. In short, he, Parsifal, has to understand that she is a spiritual function, which he should integrate. And the only way to do this is to reject the physical sexual union with her. The result of this is pictured in the last scene of the opera. After Parsifal has raised the Grail from its shrine, Kundry sinks, with her eyes at him, slowly to the ground in front of Parsifal, inanimated. She no longer exists as a concrete being - exactly because Parsifal has integrated her as spiritual function. Parsifal is now 'whole', and has in one stroke achieved his authority. See also: PERCEVAL. # 78 PARTHOLON PARTHOLAN The Celts believed themselves to be descended from the God of the Underworld. Partholon is said to have come into Ireland from the West, where beyond the vast, unsailed Atlantic Ocean, the Irish Faeryland, the Land of the Living, the Land of the Happy Dead, was placed. Partholon's father was Sera (the West?). He came with his queen Dealgnaid and a number of companions of both sexes. Partholon was the leader of the first invasion of Ireland. He was the chief of every craft: he cleared the plains for husbandry. His people were overcome by plague. He is the reaper of the last sheaf in modern Irish folklore. Partholan fought the Fomorians for the lordship of Ireland, and drove them out to the northern seas, whence they occasionally harried the country under its later rulers. # 418 - 454 - 562 PATRICK, SAINT (c.391-461) Patron of Ireland. He was British by birth and was enslaved by Irish pirates who raided his home. He eventually escaped, having spent his captivity consolidating his spiritual life while tending his master's herds. He trained rather sketchily for priesthood and was determined to return to Ireland and evangelize its people. His success was doubtless based on preparatory work undertaken by anonymous monks already settled in Ireland, in addition to his assimilation of existing druidic and religious patterns, upon which he built. He put down the worship of Crom Cruach, is reputed to have expelled serpents from Ireland, and to have explained the Trinity theologically by means of the shamrock. His breastplate - or lorica prayer - in which the warrior through his prayer invokes Christ as his armour, is very typical of existing Celtic invocations. His feast-day is 17 March. # 454 - 562 PATRISE An Irish knight who was accidentally poisoned by Sir Pinel when he was trying to poison Gawain. At first Guinevere was accused of his murder, but Nimue found out the truth. # 156 - 418 PECHS PEHTS PICTS Pechs and Pehts are Scottish Lowland names for fairies and are confused in tradition with the Picts, the mysterious people of Scotland who built the Pictish Brughs and possibly also the Fingalian Brochs, the round stone towers, of which the most perfect examples are the Round Towers of Brechin and Abernethy. At the end of the nineteenth century, David Mac Ritchie made out a good case for his THEORY OF FAIRY ORIGINS that the Feens or Fians of the Highlands and Ireland were substantially identical with the Pechs of the Lowlands and the Trows of Shetland. # 100 - 409 PEDIVERE A knight who murdered his wife. He was sent by Lancelot with her dead body to Guinevere and eventually became a holy hermit. # 156 - 418 PEDRAWD In Welsh tradition, the father of Bedivere. # 156 PEGWELL, KENT An astonished-looking monster-headed prow of a Viking ship looks towards the new hovercraft terminal at Pegwell Bay, no doubt as surprised by what goes on today as when the infamous marauders Hengist and Horsa landed here in the fifth century. The longship was sailed from Denmark to Pegwell in 1949, to commemorate the arrival of the Saxons who so moulded the history and mythology of Britain. The Saxons brought with them their pagan gods, which were later introduced into a sort of genial English demonology and a complex tanglewood of mythological tales, of which the story of Beowulf, the slayer of Grendel and other monsters, has survived. Hengist was traditionally the founder of Kent, and many of the name-places of old Saxon stomping grounds (their earliest thefts) of Kent, Sussex and Wessex are derived from their method of naming the localities they took over from those who had previously (or currently) owned them. Hastings was from the followers of Haesta ('the violent one'), reminding us of our schoolboy Latin, 'hasta, a spear', while the followers of Raeda ('the red one') gave us Reading. More difficult to grasp (though well recorded) is the derivation of the name Nottingham from its founders, the family Snotr, 'the Wise ones'. Perhaps the only query one may raise of the monstrous Viking longship is, why Pegwell? The earliest historian of the subject, the Reverend Bede, tells us that Hengist and Horsa came to Kent in AD 449 at the request of Vortigern, and landed at Ebbsfleet. What is this Ebbsfleet now? All that remains of Ebbsfleet, above Pegwell Bay, is a copy of a Saxon cross, some 18 feet high, covered with crumbling reliefs. Tradition has it that the cross marked the place where Hengist and Horsa arrived, and where, over a century later, Augustine was received by King Ethelbert of Kent under the 'Ebbsfleet oak'. It is said that the monks truly believed themselves to be the first Christians in Britain, yet when they arrived at Canterbury they found there an old Roman church dedicated to Saint Martin, perhaps the first of the stone churches built in England. The monks should have known better - had not the legends told of the coming of Joseph of Arimathea to Glastonbury, and was not the Queen who stood at the side of Ethelbert already a Christian before they arrived? # 702 PELIAS An ea