Clas Merdin: Tales from the Enchanted Island

Carn Cabal: The Mark of Arthur's Hound

2012-01-24T19:57:00.000Z

“There is another wonderful thing in the region which is called Buelt. There is in that place a heap of stones, and one stone superposed on the pile with the footprint of a dog on it. When he hunted the boar Troynt, Cabal, who was the dog of Arthur the soldier, impressed his footprint on the stone and Arthur afterwards collected a pile of stones under the stone, whereon was the footprint of his dog, and it is called Carn Cabal. And men come and carry the stone in their hands for the space of a day and a night, and on the morrow it is found upon its pile” [1]

The Marvels of the Island of Britain
The 11th century Harlian 3859 manuscript contains one of only two versions of the Historia Brittonum which contains the Marvels, or Wonders, of Britain, (the Mirabila), chapters 67 through to 76. Significantly, out of twenty Marvels of the Island of Britain, the Mirabila twice refers to Arthur; the paw print of his dog known as Carn Cabal (cited above), and the tomb of his son Amr.

The cataloguing and description of natural wonders was an old established literary activity with texts such as the Mirabilia used as devices to preserve antiquarian and traditional material. The Mirabilia contained within the Harlian manuscript lists twenty marvels. The first four, not in Wales, are numbered. The following Marvels, 5 – 14, are not numbered and simply introduced as such, “there is another wonder...” and so forth, and generally located in the south-east of Wales and along the English border. The final section concludes with four numbered marvels from Anglesey and two from Ireland. Evidently the author was selecting from different lists and had more interest in the Welsh marvels. Indeed he even claims to have visited the tomb of Amr. [2]

Carn Cabal from Guest's Mabinogion

The significance of the Historia Brittonum as an Arthurian text is generally accepted but it is rarely recognised that it contains the earliest Arthurian references we have with a secure dating. Arguably there are earlier Arthurian references in early Welsh poetry but these are notoriously difficult to date with any certainty, whereas the dating of the Historia Brittonum to 829-30 AD is satisfactorily secure. [3]

It is notable then that even in this our earliest Arthurian text the legend is already in a two-fold state with the 'historical' Arthur, the 'dux bellorum' of the battle list of Chapter 56 on one hand and the 'folkloric' Arthur attached to landscape wonders of the Mirabilia on the other. The list of Arthur's battles contained therein is seen as the strongest argument for a historical figure, although positive identification of this sites has proved elusive, whereas the sites of the Arthurian Mirabilia, Carn Cabal and Amr's tomb in Ercing (Archenfield, Herefodshire), appear to have positive identifications. The Arthur of the Mirabilia is one of magic, supernatural animals and landscape marvels. [4] We have no real justification in giving either state precedence over the other and find neither helps in solving the perennial problem of whether the legend became attached to a historical personage or the legend became historicised. Throughout Historia Brittonum Arthur is referred to as a warrior or soldier, never as a king, and by the 9th Century had already become associated with folklore which must have been in oral circulation for sometime prior to that date.

Cabal
The first Arthurian mirabile is a clear reference to the hunting of the great boar Troynt. Curiously Arthur's dog is called by a name meaning 'horse', Cabal (Modern Welsh Cafall). This was considered by some to be an error, [5] although, confusingly, 'carn' can mean 'cairn, tumulus' (feminine) or 'hoof' (masculine). [6] Yet significantly the name 'Cafall' appears as Arthur's hound during the episode of the boar hunt within Culwch and Olwen. Further, in the later Mabinogion tale Geraint Cafall appears as Arthur's favourite dog, and the only canine named, in the hunting of the white stag. Evidently, the hound 'Cafall' must have been gigantic, perhaps the size of a horse (Latin caballus = horse). It is worth noting here there are many landscape allusions to a gigantic Arthur.

The subject of this mirabile is the chase of the supernatural boar Troynt (Latinised as Troit) across Wales. Evidently, this is the same great boar, the Twrch Trwyth, whose hunt forms the climax to the later Welsh tale 'Culhwch and Olwen'. The inclusion of the reference to the boar hunt in the Mirabilia attests the core of the tale was in existence, with Arthur as its hero, in at least the early 9th century. [7]

The supernatural boar Twrch Trwyth

Evidently Arthur's hunt for a supernatural boar is the subject of a popular stock narrative in medieval Welsh literature. The fullest account of this great hunt appears in the 10th century tale of Culhwch and Olwen. Both the boar and the hunt have parallels in earlier Welsh and Irish mythology where it is known as the Torc Triath. And, as with the Mirabilia, the Arthur of the Culhwch and Olwen is again one of magic and the supernatural. In Culhwch the Twrch Trwyth is said to have originally have been a divine being in animal form, emphasising the mythical nature of the tale. [8] Culhwch must complete a series of impossible tasks (anoethau) before the giant Ysbaddaden will allow him to marry his daughter Olwen. One task is to retrieve the comb and scissors that are between the two ears of Twrch Trwyth, the son of Prince Tared. The boar has laid waste to one of the five provinces of Ireland before threatening to go to Arthur’s country and cause as much damage as possible. The boar fulfils its promise, slaughters men and livestock throughout south Wales with Arthur cast as protector of the nation from this supernatural monster.[9]

The Oldest Arthurian Tale
It is argued that the tale of the Twrch Trwyth was already ancient by the 9th century. [10]
But how ancient?

It is often argued that the oldest Arthurian reference occurs only in the B text of the Y Gododdin from the Book of Aneirin, in which the prowess of the warrior Gwawrddur, who although he killed 300 cannot compare to the mighty warrior Arthur. The heroic poem, traditionally ascribed to the bard Aneirin, recalls a massive defeat for the host army in which, save three, none returned. Contained within a long series of elegies are the names of the fallen warriors mourned by the kingdom of Gododdin.

We have already mentioned the difficulty of securely dating early Welsh poetry yet we find a further, often overlooked, Arthurian reference within the Book of Aneirin amongst four poems, known as Gorchanau, attached to the Y Gododdin. Of these poems the opening lines of Gorchan Cynfelyn again refers to the Twrch Trwyth, the legendary boar of Culhwch and Olwen:

“Were I to praise,
Were I to sing,
The Gwarchan would cause high shoots to spring,
Stalks like the collar of Trych Trwyth,
Monstrously savage, bursting and thrusting through,
When he was attacked in the river.....” [11]

The Gorchan of Cynfelyn mourns a warrior whose name does not appear in Y Gododdin. Cynfelyn is said to be the son of Tegfan, son of Cadfan, and Gwynedd is named as his land. Here, the prowess of the warrior is seemingly compared to the gigantic mythical boar as it resisted its hunters.

Manifestly a north Wales interpolation, this gorchan has been dated to the arrival of the Y Gododdin A text in Gwynedd, the early 7th century. The tale of the hunting of the Twrch Trwyth does appear to be ancient indeed and given that it is always Arthur who fights the boar throughout early Welsh traditional accounts this poem should be seen as possessing the potential to be the earliest Arthurian reference. [12]

Carn Gafallt
Today the paw print of the hound Cafall is said to still exist in a rock on top of the mountain of Carn Gafallt in north Brecknockshire, Powys, between Rhaeadr and Builth Wells, some 1,500ft (466m) above the upper Wye, in the Elan Valley. Hence the rock was named 'carn cabal' now gives name to this whole hill as Carn Gafallt, after the carn alluded in the Historia Brittonum, as one of three prehistoric cairns on its southern brow above Talwrn at SN 943644. The placement of the cairns tends toward a linear alignment along the escarpment edge rather than the highest point of the hill which may have held specific importance. Four middle-bronze-age gold torcs were found on the hill under one of the lesser stone-piles which litter the area.

Fourteen miles west of Carn Gafallt lies a tract of moorland known as Rhos y Gaffalt, and perhaps the now lost Talken y Gayallt [13], at least a coincidence of names possibly betraying a lost, fuller account of the local lore.

Lady Charlotte Guest, translator of the Mabinogion collection of tales, which included Culhwch and Olwen, was aware of Carn Gafallt being mentioned in the Mirabilia of the Historia Brittonum. In the 1840s she dispatched a gentleman to the summit to see if he could find the rock with the paw print. An anonymous correspondent, supplies the following account of the expedition:

“Carn Cavall, or, as it is generally pronounced, Corn Cavall, is a lofty and rugged mountain, in the upper part of the district anciently called Buellt, now written Builth, in Breconshire. Scattered over this mountain are several cairns of various dimensions, some of which are of very considerable magnitude, being at least a hundred and fifty feet in circumference. On one of these carns may still be seen a stone, so nearly corresponding with the description in Nennius, as to furnish strong presumption that it is the identical object referred to. It is near two feet in length, and not quite a foot wide, and such as a man might, without any great exertion, carry away in his hands. On the one side is an oval indentation, rounded at the bottom, nearly four inches long by three wide, about two inches deep, and altogether presenting such an appearance as might, without any great strain of imagination, be thought to resemble the print of a dog’s foot . . .” [14]

Notes & References:
1. John Morris, ed & trans, Nennius: British History and the Welsh Annals, 1980.
2. Brynley F Roberts, Culwch ac Olwen, The Triads, Saints Lives, in The Arthur of the Welsh, edited by Rachel Bromwich, AOH Jarman, Brynley F Roberts, University of Wales Press, 1995, pp. 88-92.
3. O J Padel, The Nature of Arthur, CMCS, No 27 1994, pp.2-4.
4. Ibid.
5. Rachel Bromwich & Simon Evans, Culhwch and Olwen: An Edition and study of the Oldest Arthurian Tale, University of Wales Press, 1992.
6. Roberts, op cit.
7. Padel, op cit.
8. Bromwich & Evans, op cit.
9. Thomas Green, Concepts of Arthur, Tempus, 2007, p.68-70.
10. Bromwich & Evans, op cit.
11. The Gwarchan of Cynfelyn, from The Four Ancient Books of Wales. ed. by William F. Skene. Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1868.
12. Green, op cit.
13. Ibid.
14. The Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT) website - Literary And Antiquarian Associations Of The Elan Valley.

* * *

Vikings, Monks and Saxon Gold

2011-12-31T00:00:00.000Z

A round up of the latest updates from some of the news stories featured on Clas Merdin.

Dorset Viking Mass Grave Update
Construction of the Weymouth Relief Road provided an opportunity for Oxford Archaeology to undertake archaeological investigation of Ridgeway Hill and Southdown Ridge.

The first excavation in 2008 revealed one of the main themes of the Ridgeway was its use as a burial site. Finds included a Bronze Age round barrow, four cist burials and three later Romano-British burials in addition to an Iron Age settlement. A group of five quarry pits contained crouched burials dated to the Neolithic period c. 4000 - 2400 BC. The quarry pits were first thought to be dated from prehistory, but it is now thought more likely that most, if not all, date from the Roman period, suggesting that chalk from the pits may have been used in the construction of the nearby Roman road. One of these pits had been used for the mass grave of over fifty Vikings raiders.

In June 2009, a digger uncovered a burial pit of skulls and decapitated bodies during earthwork movements on Ridgeway Hill. Excavations uncovered a mass grave containing 54 headless bodies and 51 skulls. Many of the executed men suffered multiple wounds all thought to relate to the process of decapitation with evidence of fatal injuries to the skull and jaw as well as the upper spine.

Archaeologists were puzzled as to why there were more bodies than heads. This is probably due to some of the heads being taken away to be displayed as trophies or mounted as warnings to other would-be raiders. Further analysis of the skeletons has revealed:

The injuries on the skeletons indicate evidence that the decapitations had taken several blows, with one individual receiving six blows to the neck.
Initial results of carbon dating had indicated that the date of the burial was between 910 – 1030 AD. Further analysis of these results has now narrowed the probable date range down to between 970 and 1025 AD.
It has been suggested that the mass grave was probably the result of the conflict with invading Vikings that took place during the reign of the Saxon King Ethelred the Unready, 978 to 1016 AD, which resulted in a short-lived dynasty of Danish kings, including the famous Canute, occupying the English throne for some twenty years.
One of the Vikings buried in the pit had teeth that had been deliberately filed with horizontal grooves carved into two of his front teeth. The purpose of this practice is unknown but several similar instances have been recorded from contemporary burials in Scandinavia. Such filing may have been seen as a mark of honour to show their status as a warrior and may have given a new meaning to the expression 'cutting your teeth in battle'.

Filed teeth of one of the decapitated Vikings

All the finds from the Weymouth Relief Road site will be offered to Dorset County Museum in Dorchester.

>> Mass Viking Execution in Dorset

Glastonbury Abbey Symposium

A one-day symposium hosted by Glastonbury Abbey explored new research into excavation archives 1908 – 1979. Previous studies of the Abbey’s pottery had identified early Roman, Anglo-Saxon, medieval and later material, but new finds indicate activity on the site as early as the Iron Age period which archaeologists had not realised were represented in the excavated pottery.

The study has shown that Middle Iron Age, Late Iron Age, late Roman and Post-Roman wares are also present. The new identifications show that the history of occupation on the site is much more prolonged than had been previously thought, extending back to the third or fourth centuries BC with new evidence for the the early Christian period from the late 4th or 5th centuries.

In 1981, Ralegh Radford, Director of Excavations at Glastonbury Abbey from 1951 – 1964, published an interim report suggesting a series of churches, a Saxon enclosure ditch, potentially the earliest cloister in Britain, and craft-working activities including unique glass furnaces. Several attempts at full publication were never completed. However, following Radford’s death in 1999, his excavation archive was deposited with the National Monuments Record at Swindon, making the publication of a full report a feasible proposition.

Research by the Archaeology Department at the University of Reading, funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council revealed that the Abbey site had a much longer history than previously known, stretching back into prehistory and the Dark Ages.

Analysis of excavated pottery established precise origins of some of the artefacts, revealing very unusual trading patterns at the Abbey in the late medieval period, the most distant coming from Italy, Spain, Portugal and France, with connections to such exotic places as Tuscany, Valencia and Seville.

>> Rediscovering Glastonbury Abbey Excavations 1908 – 1979

Bronze Age finds at Pillar of Eliseg?
The Pillar of Eliseg, a scheduled ancient monument under the stewardship of CADW located near Valle Crucis Abbey, was erected upon a mound of unknown date and although the site has never previously been subject to modern archaeological investigation it is thought to have a prehistoric provenance

In September 2011 it was reported that archaeologists with Project Eliseg have been trying to establish if there any truth in Trevor Lloyd's 18th century story that the mound contained a stone cist with a skeleton along with pieces of silver, or if it is pure legend. Significantly, the site lies in an area rich in Bronze Age burials and finds, and graves of the 6th and 7th centuries AD, cut into earlier Bronze Age burials sites, are testified elsewhere in Wales.

Last year's excavations focused on the mound following a geophysical survey which indicated it appeared likely to be a Bronze Age kerb cairn. Archaeologists from Bangor and Chester University admitted the latest finds, cremated remains and bone fragments, had complicated the picture regarding the site's historical significance and make it worthy of further investigation. However, an initial search for a ring-ditch and burials placed around the mound and excavations in the surrounding field all proved negative.

Excavations during September 2011 concentrated on the west side of the mound and explored an area of possible antiquarian activity. The top of the monument appeared to have been subject to considerable disturbance, yet conclusive evidence of an antiquarian excavation proved elusive. Below this upper-layer, the archaeologists encountered primary cairn material including spreads of charcoal and at least two cist-graves. Frustratingly, the team were unable to find a single prehistoric or early historic artefact in the primary cairn material. Consequently, the 2011 season did not complete the excavation of the trench so the decision was made to leave the excavation of the cist-graves and the lower levels of the cairn material to a future season planned for September 2012.

>> Bronze Age finds at Pillar of Eliseg

Fall of Rome 'recorded in trees'
An extensive study of tree growth rings says there could be a link between the rise and fall of past civilisations and sudden shifts in Europe's climate. After studying data from 9,000 wooden artefacts from the past 2,500 years, researchers found that periods of warm, wet summers coincided with prosperity, while political turmoil occurred during times of climate instability.

Ulf Buntgen, a paleoclimatologist at the Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape, co-author of the Journal of Science report “2500 Years of European Climate Variability and Human Susceptibility”, said, "Looking back on 2,500 years, there are examples where climate change impacted human history,"

Scientists have developed oak ring width chronologies from Central Europe that enable the dating of artefacts, historical buildings, antique artwork and furniture. After examining the growth rings preserved in wooden artefacts they were able to reconstruct annual weather patterns permitting chronologies of living and relict oaks that may reflect distinct patterns of summer precipitation and drought; trees form broad rings in good growing seasons when water and nutrients are in plentiful supply, but conversely in unfavourable conditions, during periods of drought for example, the rings grow in much tighter formation. From tree ring data they were able to develop a chronology covering the past 2,500 years, with prosperity levels in past societies linked with wet and warm summers.

The data suggests that the demise of the western Roman empire and the turmoil of the migration period appears to be linked to increased variation in climate during the period 250-600 AD. A distinct dry period in the 3rd century is reflected in a period of serious crisis in the western Roman empire marked by barbarian invasion, political turmoil and economic trauma in several provinces of Gaul.

>> Did climate change contribute to the abandonment of Cadbury - Camelot?

The Staffordshire Hoard on display in US
Fresh interest was generated in the Staffordshire Hoard when it was announced that 100 artefacts were to be displayed in the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C. From October 29, 2011 – March 4, 2012, scheduled to be the only U.S. appearance of the Anglo-Saxon Hoard.

The Hoard fascinates general public and Anglo-Saxon scholars alike wherever it goes with long queues wherever is is displayed. Thousands of people have so far visited the US exhibition, with attendance of more than 1,000 on the first weekend, second only to the Terracotta Army exhibition. The popularity of the Hoard has led to fresh approaches from other US venues to exhibit part of the Anglo-Saxon treasure. Funds raised from a touring display will enable the Hoard owners, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent, to resource further research into the treasure.

The Hoard was discovered on July 5th 2009, when Terry Herbert, a metal detector enthusiast, discovered the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found, in a farmer's field in Hammerwich, Burntwood, near Lichfield in Staffordshire. The treasure found in farmer Fred Johnson's field was a cache of gold, silver, and garnet objects from early Anglo-Saxon Mercia and valued at £3.3 million. The Staffordshire Hoard is considered to be as significant as the finds from the Anglo-Saxon royal burial site at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk.

The Hoard was found to contain more than 11 pounds of gold, which accounts for nearly 75% of the metal found of some 3,500 pieces representing hundreds of complete objects. The items that could be securely identified presented a striking pattern; more than 300 sword-hilt fittings; 92 sword-pommel caps; 10 scabbard pendants - all military hardware. It is also noteworthy that there were no coins or women's jewellery, amongst the collection; three religious objects appeared to be the only non-martial pieces. Intriguingly, many of the items seemed to have been bent or broken. The Hoard then constitutes a pile of broken, elite, military hardware hidden 13 centuries ago in a politically and militarily turbulent region.

Nicholas Brooks of the University of Birmingham said "This is a hoard for male display....bling for warrior companions of the king." But, he added, "the source is a mystery."

>> Staffordshire Gold Hoard at National Geographic

The Staffordshire Hoard Battle Site:
>> Part I: The Spoils of War
>> Part II: The Warrior Elite

Further evidence of Anglo Saxon activity in Mercia featured in the news this year:

Anglo-Saxon Skeletons found under Patio
In November a couple were shocked to discover a number of bodies under their patio during construction work at their home in Ratley, south Warwickshire. Builders digging up the patio when the discovery of at least four bodies was made and called archaeology experts from Warwickshire County Council.

The council’s archaeology manager, Stuart Palmer, said: “The discovery of this previously unsuspected burial ground is an extremely rare and important addition to what has previously been an archaeologically invisible period of Warwickshire’s history.”

The village of in Ratley is near to Edgehill, consequently the skeletons were initially thought have been victims of the the battle of Edgehill, where Royalist forces clashed with Parliamentarians in 1642 at the start of the English Civil War.

Analysis has revealed that the remains of at least four bodies which included two adult females, a young male and a juvenile aged between 10 and 12, predated the civil war by at least 800 years, with radiocarbon dates from two of the skeletons indicating that they died around 650-820 AD in the middle Saxon period. The skeletons are thought to be part of a much larger cemetery

During the middle Saxon period England was divided into a number of kingdoms and it is thought Ratley may have been a frontier war zone between the kingdom of the Hwicce and the eventually dominant kingdom of Mercia.

Anglo-Saxon skeletons re-buried in Bicester
Between April and November 2010 twelve skeletons were found under the car park of a church in Bicester, Oxfordshire, by builders constructing the John Paul II Centre in the grounds of the Church of the Immaculate Conception. Archaeologists exhumed the remains and believe the skeletons date from late Anglo-Saxon period, between 700 and 950 AD. Early indications suggested that the bodies were buried according to Christian tradition of the time, facing east. Some of the more complete skeletons that were found, were put on display in the church for the press to view.

The car park is thought to cover part of the site of a former Anglo Saxon church dating from between 410 and 1066AD, believed to be on or near the site of the current St Edburg’s Church in Church Street, with its Saxon cemetery originally thought to be west of the development, but excavations have revealed the cemetery extending further east.

The skeletons are largely female and over the age of 35, with the remains of just one male discovered. Isotope analysis revealed they were originally from the UK and had a lot of fish in their diet. Results from carbon dating indicate a much earlier date of around 650 AD for the human remains, providing important evidence for the town’s Anglo-Saxon origins.

Once scientific analysis was complete the Church intention was for the twelve skeletons, exhumed from what is thought to be an old Christian burial ground, to be interred in the memorial garden of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, alongside the community centre, to respect the original burial rites.

However, local archaeologists disagreed with the reburial and wanted the bones put in a museum. James Lewis of Thames Valley Archaeological Services said: "As archaeologists we'd much rather they had gone into a museum, which would be available for future analysis. There are other ways of showing respect other than reburying."

The archaeologists' took their case to the Ministry Of Justice but it was ruled the bones were not of national significance and so could be buried and the twelve Anglo-Saxon skeletons were interred in October. Speaking after the ceremony the Auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham, William Kenney, said of the Anglo-Saxon deceased: "These are the remains they have left on earth and they should be treated with dignity."

The remains inside the coffin have been buried in plastic bags in case archaeologists need access to them in future.

* * *

New Glastonbury Thorn for Queen's Diamond Jubilee

2011-12-28T00:00:00.000Z

One year on the Glastonbury Thorn fails to recover

The Glastonbury Thorn September 2011

On 9th December last year it was widely reported that the Holy Thorn of Glastonbury had been vandalised, mindlessly hacked down during the night, the most baffling event of the year.

The tree on Wearyall Hill was claimed to be a descendant of The Holy Thorn associated with the Legend of Joseph of Arimathea, who on arriving in Britain after the crucifixion landed at the Isle of Avalon and climbed Wearyall Hill and thrust his wooden staff into the ground where it took root and grew into the Glastonbury Thorn, nearly 2,000 years ago.

For those who find this legend a little hard to swallow there is the alternative suggestion that the Thorn was brought back from the Crusades and propagated by the monks of Glastonbury.

Oliver Cromwell's Roundheads cut down the tree during the English Civil War, but local people managed to salvage the roots of the original tree, hiding it in secret locations around Glastonbury. Its descendant was then replanted on Weary Hill in 1951 which survived nearly sixty years until that December night last year. Fortunately other cuttings were also grown and planted around the town, including the Abbey.

We visited Glastonbury in early September and before returning home walked up Wearyall Hill in the pouring rain to see if the Glastonbury Thorn was recovering from its plight. Although in a sorry state after its ordeal there were signs of fresh growth sprouting. Even so it should have made a better recovering than this some nine months after the attack, but there was still hope while it was putting out fresh growth, although alone on that hill it did seem rather vulnerable.

Shoots of Recovery September 2011

I decided not to publish any photographs at the time and draw the attention of souvenir hunters or further attacks. You can imagine my disappointment barely a week later when the Daily Mail published the story saying the local council had given up hope of recovery after some of the new growth has now been removed by suspected trophy hunters who will use them to try and grow their own Holy Thorn.

Local councillor John Coles said it will be replaced with a new one grafted from the original branches which were hacked off.

'Mr Coles said, “People don't realise the damage they are doing. I am forever removing these ribbons because they block sunlight to the trunk.”

He added, “we've had people pulling things off - the new growth and bark on the trunk. We think it would have survived if it was just left alone. There is still life in the trunk but we doubt that it will ever recover. It is very sad but we think the best thing is to replace it.”

The new tree has been grafted by experts at Kew Gardens and is likely to be planted nearby to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

Source:
Holy Thorn of Glastonbury Vandalised - Arthurian Review of 2010, Clas Merdin, 28 Dec 2010
Killed off after 2,000 years - Mail Online 19 September 2011

Pictures: the Author

* * *

The Execution of Richard Whiting

2011-11-30T21:45:00.001Z

The Last Abbot of Glastonbury Part II

“....the Abbot was arrayned, and the next daye putt to execution, with ii. other of his monkes, for the robbyng of Glastonburye Churche ; on the Torre Hill, the seyde Abbottes body beyng devyded in fower partes, and his heedd stryken off, whereof oone quarter stondyth at Welles, another at Bathe, and at Ylchester and Brigewater the rest, and his hedd upon the abbey gate at Glaston." - Letter of 16th November 1539, Lord Russell to Thomas Cromwell.

The last days of Richard Whiting
The years from 1530 – 1539 were a politically complex time driven by a desperate monarch wanting for a legitimate male heir and financial gain. The Dissolution of the Monasteries provided a means of achieving both. Systematic eviction of the religious communities from their houses with seizure of their assets for the crown was the order of the day, the buildings extensively robbed, with lead, glass and facing stones removed for reuse elsewhere. Glastonbury, the penultimate Abbey to be dissolved, survived until the autumn of 1539. Finally, with the fall of Waltham Abbey, the scheme faltered with the death of Thomas Cromwell, the Vicar General, sent to the block in 1540 for his disastrous involvement in the arrangement of Henry VIII's fourth marriage to Anne of Cleves, who the king divorced just six months later.

The Last Abbot of Glastonbury, Richard Whiting, along with two other monks, the Abbey treasurers John (Arthur) Thorne and Roger James (Wilfrid), being indicted of treason, were sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. On 15 November 1539, following a mock trial at Wells the previous day, the three were taken to Glastonbury. On the outskirts of the town the old Abbot was spread-eagled across a horse drawn hurdle and dragged through the streets of Glastonbury, past the desolate Abbey and up the Tor for the vile execution.

Imprisonment and execution of the head of the establishment was not unusual during the dark days of the Dissolution. John Marshall, the last Abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of St. John's at Colchester, was convicted of treason and hanged on 1st December 1539. His crime was to refuse to acknowledge the King of England, Henry VIII, as head of the Church, and to resign the property of his abbey over to the crown. Indeed, on the same day as the execution of the three Glastonbury monks, the last Abbot of Reading, Hugh Cook Faringdon, along with two other monks John Rugge and John Eynon, were executed, also suffering the ultimate humiliation of the traitor's death.

Like Whiting and many other Abbots, in 1530 Faringdon signed petitions to the Pope supporting Henry VIII’s divorce and in 1536 took the oath of Royal Supremacy. The King had even called Faringdon “his own abbot”, and made him Royal Chaplain in 1532. But like Abbot Whiting, Faringdon's fall from grace in 1539 was swift, predetermined and terminal.

There were rumours that Faringdon was connected to the Exeter Conspiracy and he was accused of funding the rebels in the Northern uprisings, a brief period of Roman Catholic dissent against the Church of England and the dissolution of the monasteries following the closure of Louth Abbey resulting in the Lincolnshire Rising. It would seem that at the trial some attempt was also made to implicate Eynon in the brief York uprising, known as the Pilgrimage of Grace, which followed.

Yet, ultimately the charges levelled against Faringdon were of upholding papal supremacy on three separate occasions. Faringdon had refused to retract his loyalty to Rome, “they had confessed before and written it with their own hands that they had committed high treason against the king's majesty,” He was subsequently imprisoned at the Tower and indicted of high treason and taken to Reading where, on November 15th, after being dragged through the town, he and two fellow monks, were hung, drawn and quartered before the Abbey gates. After his death the Abbey was dissolved, its lands and goods taken by the Crown with the monks, under suspicion of complicity in their Abbot's alleged treason, not awarded pensions normally provided under the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

But the Abbot of Glastonbury made no such admission; Whiting asks “forgiveness, first of God, and then of man, even of those who had most offended against justice in his person and had not rested until they had brought him to the gallows”. In their final moment, his two monks, John Thorne and Roger James, begged forgiveness of all and "took their death also very patiently." Even Pollard, the Royal Commissioner who had played no small part in orchestrating the Abbot's downfall, seemed moved by the moment, showing a rare touch of compassion, added "whose souls God pardon."

Yet, unlike the Abbots of Colchester and Reading, there appears to be no evidence of the Abbot of Glastonbury denying the King of England as head of the Church, or refusing to resign the property of his abbey to the Crown. Whiting had after all signed the petition to the Pope supporting Henry VIII’s divorce and in 1536 he had taken the oath of Royal Supremacy. Although records for Whiting's interrogation and trail are incomplete with key documents missing from archives, from what sources that have survived, the charge of treason seems to have been changed at the mock trial at Wells at the last minute to one of robbery, suggesting that treasures that the Royal Commissioners thought to be in Glastonbury Abbey could not be found. What were they searching for?

Too much of the last days of Richard Whiting fail to make any sense. Glastonbury was the largest and wealthiest Abbey in England, the Benedictine Monastery owned extensive lands and manors in the West Country. There was no attempt to preserve the Abbey for the Crown. Pillage of the Abbey treasures was the soul aim. The buildings ripped apart, lead, glass and facing stones removed, and the library ransacked with books sold off for a quick price. The King needed cash, not more property to maintain. Within a few weeks of the Abbot's execution, Abbey lands were being passed down to those who assisted the Crown in its downfall, like vultures picking over the carcass. One such was the knight Sir Thomas Dyer, member of parliament for Bridgwater during the mid-sixteenth century, who acquired lands from the former holdings of Glastonbury Abbey, obtaining Sharpham Park, which included the Abbot's manor, immediately after the dissolution in 1539 and a few years later the Manor of Street. Dyer soon held former Abbey lands at Weston, Middlezoy, Othery, Glastonbury, Greinton, and elsewhere.

The whole episode of Glastonbury Abbey's downfall and the execution of its Abbot raise some startling questions: why was Whiting and his two fellow monks executed on Glastonbury Tor; why not outside the Abbey gates as with the Abbot of Reading; why the Tor?

The execution is reminiscent of a scene from the crucifixion. The hanging and dismemberment on the Tor possesses elements of ritual execution. One is compelled to agree with Arthurian scholar, the Avalonian Geoffrey Ashe, who knows the Tor better than many and states, “If the object was to strike terror, the place to do it was in the town. The ascent of the Tor was the act of madmen or mystics …”

In 1538 Abbot Whiting had received assurances from the Vicar General, Thomas Cromwell, that the Abbey was not under threat. At some time there appears to have been a change in the game plan. When the Royal Commissioner Richard Layton visited the abbey in 1535, he had given it a complete clean bill of health, reporting that “there is nothing notable; the brethren be so straight kept that they cannot offend,” he even praised the Abbot to Cromwell. In the same year Nicholas FitzJames, as friend of the Abbot, had written to Cromwell supporting Richard Whiting and petitioning against the Vicar General's impracticable injunctions upon Glastonbury.

Yet when he returned a few years later in 1539 Layton retracts his praise of Abbot Whiting with these odd words: “The Abbot of Glastonbury appeareth neither then nor now to have known God, nor his prince, nor any part of a good Christian man’s religion.” Further, according to a letter written by Pollard on the 16th November, Nicholas FitzJames was one of the jurors at the trial of the Glastonbury three at Wells, along with Thomas (Jack) Horner, the Abbot's steward. Friends turned into enemies, trustees became traitors. Why did fortune change for Whiting in just a few short years?

Indeed, Pollard's comments make Whiting sound like an ungodly man who worshipped something else. Clearly Whiting's faith had no bearing on the matter and the old Abbot went silently to his death like the guardian of some great secret. And with the destruction of the Abbey the Secret of Glastonbury, which some say to this day lies beneath the floor of the old Abbey, was irretrievably lost.

A mysterious passage contained in the history of the Abbey, written by William of Malmesbury in the early 12th century, De Antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesiae, states:

"This church, then, is certainly the oldest I know in England, and from this

circumstance derives its name (vetusta ecclesia)... In the pavement may be seen

on every side stones designedly inlaid in triangles and squares and figured with

lead, under which, if I believe some sacred enigma to be contained...."

>> Continued in Part III

Bibliography:
Geoffrey Ashe, King Arthur’s Avalon, 1957, fiftieth anniversary edition Sutton, 2007.
Francis Aidan Gasquet, D.D. Abbot President Of The English Benedictines, The Last Abbot of Glastonbury & other essays, George Bell & Sons, 1908.

* * *

The Last Abbot of Glastonbury

2011-11-15T00:00:00.000Z

The Execution of Richard Whiting 15 November 1539

Early Days
Richard Whiting was the sixtieth and last Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey during the years 1525 to 1539. The most likely date for his birth has been suggested as 1459; he was probably in his mid-sixties when he commenced his tenure as Abbot. Unfortunately for Whiting he had been elected to preside over a community of Benedictine monks at the most turbulent time in English ecclesiastical history; the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of King Henry VIII. He was executed for unclear reasons on Glastonbury Tor on 15 November 1539.

Whiting's family was of a west-country origin and distantly connected with that of Bishop Stapeldon of Exeter, the generous founder of Exeter College, Oxford, who possessed considerable estates in Devon and Somerset. Whiting came of a junior branch of the family from the valley of Wrington. Members of this family were destined to work in the church; another Richard, probably an uncle, was chamberlain at the monastery of Bath, and a Jane Whiting had taken the habit as a nun in the convent of Wilton. Later, two of Abbot Whiting's nieces were admitted into religious orders at the English Franciscan house at Bruges.

Whiting went on to Cambridge to complete his education, taking his MA in 1483. After completing his degree the young Benedictine monk returned to his monastery at Glastonbury and was probably occupied here in teaching. Whiting received the minor order of acolyte in the month of September, 1498. In the two succeeding years he was made sub-deacon and then deacon. On the 6th March, 1501, he was ordained into the priesthood at Wells by Bishop Cornish in the now destroyed chapel of the Blessed Virgin.

For the next 25 years, we know very little of Whiting's activities; it is likely he worked in seclusion carrying out his duties at the Abbey. In 1505, he returned to Cambridge and took his final degree as Doctor in Theology. At the monastery he held the office of Chamberlain, which would give him the care of the dormitory, lavatory, and wardrobe of the community, and placed him over the numerous officials and servants necessary to this office in so important and vast an establishment as Glastonbury then was.

In February 1525 Abbot Bere died after worthily presiding over the Abbey for more than thirty years. After failing to agree on a successor the Glastonbury monks charged Cardinal Wolsey to make the choice of their abbot. After obtaining permission form the King, Wolsey declared that Whiting was his choice as Abbot, stating that he was "an upright and religious monk, a provident and discreet man, and a priest commendable for his life, virtues and learning." Whiting had shown himself to be, "watchful and circumspect" in both spirituals and temporals, and had proved that he possessed "ability and determination to uphold the rights of his monastery.” As a result of his election as head of the Abbey he obtained a distinguished seat in the House of Lords. John Leland, antiquary to Henry VIII, referred to Whiting as "a man truly upright and of spotless life and my sincere friend."

Five years after Abbot Whiting's election, the fall of Cardinal Wolsey opened the way for the advancement of Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, and one of the strongest advocates of the English Reformation, the English church's break with the papacy in Rome. On the fall of the old order he built up his own fortune. “For ten years England groaned beneath his rule - in truth it was a reign of terror unparalleled in the history of the country.” As chief minister to King Henry from 1532 to 1540, remorseless and tenacious in pursuing his aims, Cromwell 's power grew as he became the chief political contriver of religious change in England.

The King's Divorce
In 1530 a curious document was presented to Abbot Whiting which turned out to be the beginning of the end for him and his monastery. The letter addressed to Pope Clement VII called for the papacy to dissolve King Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The letter had been drawn up at the King's court and was now being passed around the Spiritual Peers and the Lords Temporal for endorsement. Whiting, like most of his fellow subjects, did not approve. Henry had grown frustrated by his lack of a male heir and since 1526 had begun to separate from Catherine because he had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn, one of the Queen's ladies, and sister to one of the King's mistresses.

The Abbot of Glastonbury did eventually sign the letter along with twenty one other Abbots but Rome still refused to grant the King a divorce. By December 1532 Anne was pregnant and insisted on the status of Queen. Now relying on the devious counsel of Thomas Cromwell, Henry was forced to act to avoid any issues to the legitimacy of the child. In January 1533 Anne and Henry were secretly married. Although the King's marriage to Catherine was not dissolved, yet in the King's eyes it had never existed in the first place, so he was free to marry whoever he wanted. On May 23 the marriage of Henry and Catherine was officially proclaimed invalid by Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the English Reformation.

With the conclusion of Henry's divorce case came the end of the peaceful years of Abbot Whiting's rule. Now began the anxious days which were to end for him in execution on Glastonbury Tor as a traitor.

As part of the King's scheme for a National Church, enforcing a break with Rome, Cromwell inaugurated a policy of dissolving the religious houses and confiscating their wealth. Dissolution of abbeys and convents was nothing new. The British monarchy had sold French monastic possessions in England seized during the Hundred Years War. Even Thomas Wolsey had closed a number of small priories. However, on these occasions the proceeds had been used for charitable courses. But in 1532 with Cromwell's rise to power a new precedent was set with the Augustinian house at Aldgate being required to sign a deed of gift to the monarch. Cromwell saw this as a legitimate means to solving the King's financial problems.

On 3rd November, 1534, the "Act of Supremacy" was hurried through Parliament, and a second statute made it treason to deny this new royal prerogative. Resistance was futile with the oath of royal supremacy taken wherever it was tendered, and Glastonbury was no exception. Abbot Whiting and fifty-one of the Glastonbury community attached their names to the required declaration, renouncing obedience to the Pope. However, this should not be misconstrued as an act of betrayal to their faith by the Benedictine community. Indeed, many did not see the oath of royal supremacy over the Church of England as being derogatory to Rome. Whereas King Henry was seen as the head of the Temporal church he was never seen as the head of the Spiritual church by many religious houses.

Within a year of general oath taking the whole approach to religious houses changed in 1535. Cromwell, now Henry’s vicegerent, was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Church and ordered that all religious houses should be visited by one of his representatives. He constructed a program of inspection, known as the ‘Valor Ecclesiasticus’ to determine how much property was owned by the Church in England and Wales. Royal commissioners toured the religious houses, the methods they employed, leave no doubt that the real object was the destruction of the monasteries under the cloak of reformation, then submitted a report, of questionable accuracy, back to Cromwell.

The ‘Valor Ecclesiasticus’ combined with the inspections proved to be a difficult problem for the religious houses. Cromwell claimed the intention was not to abolish monasticism but to purify it. Many of the visits were carried out by 'royal commissioners' Thomas Legh and Richard Layton, perhaps the most trusted of Cromwell's employees. These two ambitious men were aware of the result required by Cromwell, their reports appropriately tailored accordingly to provide the information he desired.

Following the 'inspections', Cromwell set out injunctions that were so exacting in detail that essentially they were meant to be unworkable. In the hands of Cromwell's agents they were, as they were designed to be, intolerable. And at Glastonbury, as elsewhere, the injunctions were more than simply impracticable, but restrictive in the principles of religious discipline. Abbot Whiting, like so many religious superiors at this time, petitioned for some mitigation. Nicholas Fitzjames, a neighbour, dispatched an earnest letter to Cromwell in support of the abbot's petition.

Duly, the royal commissioner Richard Layton arrived at Glastonbury on Saturday, 21st August 1535. After his inspection of the Abbey he wrote to Cromwell stating he could find nothing untoward under Abbot Whiting's rule; “At Bruton and Glastonbury there is nothing notable; the brethren be so straight kept that they cannot offend : but fain they would if they might, as they confess, and so the fault is not with them."

The act of suppression of 1536 had condemned houses with an annual income of less than £200, suggesting they might wish to voluntarily surrender. However, by 1538 rumour was rife of the forthcoming dissolution of even the greatest religious houses, with one after another falling into the King's hands all across the country. However, Cromwell issued a letter denying the intention of general suppression of all the monasteries. This letter could scarcely have done much to reassure Abbot Whiting as to Cromwell's real intentions, in view of the obvious facts which each day made them ever more clear. Bath and Keynsham, had fallen shortly after the Christmas that year with Benedictine Athelney and Hinton Charterhouse following, where upon rigid questioning on the matter of royal-supremacy one of the Hinton community had been imprisoned for "affirming the Bishop of Rome to be Vicar of Christ.” For weeks the royal wreckers swarmed over Somerset, like a biblical plague, "defacing, destroying, and prostrating the churches, cloisters, belfreys, and other buildings of the late monasteries; and the roads were worn with carts carrying away the lead melted from the roofs, barrels of broken bell-metal, and other plunder."

By the beginning of 1539, Glastonbury was the only religious house left standing in the whole county of Somerset; Abbot Whiting must have been aware of the fate that awaited him.

End Game
In April 1539 an Act came in to force that included a retrospective clause covering the illegal suppression of the greater monasteries which had already passed into the king's hands, which granted to Henry all monasteries which shall hereafter happen to be dissolved, suppressed, renounced, relinquished, forfeited, given up or come unto the king's highness. The Act included a clause referring to such other religious houses as "shall happen to come to the king's highness by attainder or attainders of treason.” By the summer of 1539 few of the great houses remained undissolved and it is surprising that such an attractive house as Glastonbury had survived this long. But after several reassurances to the Abbot there seemed to be a change of plan and the Vicar General revealed his end game.

The sequence of events from September through November are not all together clear and a full account of the beginning of the end of Glastonbury Abbey and Abbot Whiting's final days is not available due to the absence of key documents amongst the records relating to the closing years of Cromwell's administration. Yet, among Cromwell's memorandum, still extant in his own handwriting, dated from the beginning of September, 1539, the Vicar General's intention are quite unambiguous; "Item, for proceeding against the abbots of Reading, Glaston and the other, in their own countries."

On 16th September in a letter to Cromwell, indicating future intent, Richard Layton requests his pardon for praising Abbot Whiting at his previous visit in 1535; "The Abbot of Glastonbury, appeareth neither then nor now to have known God, nor his prince, nor any part of a good Christian man's religion."

Three days later, on Friday, September 19th, the royal commissioners, Layton, Pollard and Moyle, arrived at Glastonbury at about ten o'clock in the morning without warning. The Abbot was at his grange at Sharpham, about a mile from the monastery. Whiting was questioned there then taken to the Abbey. In his study they found a book of arguments against the King's divorce and a copy of the life of Thomas Becket. They sent him, a weak and sickly man, to the Tower of London so that Cromwell might interrogate him further.

A week later, on 28th September, the royal commissioners write to Cromwell saying that they have found treasures and monies hidden in secret places in the Abbey, sufficient to have "begun a new abbey.” They concluded by asking what the King wished to have done in respect of the two monks who were the treasurers of the church, John (Arthur) Thorne and Roger James (Wilfrid).

The commissioners gathered, or constructed, statements from local informers about the Abbot's treasonable opinions. On the 2nd October the inquisitors write again to say that they have discovered evidence of "divers and sundry treasons" committed by Abbot Whiting, "the certainty whereof shall appear unto your lordship in a book herein enclosed, with the accusers' names put to the same, which we think to be very high and rank treasons." The book has long since disappeared but creases in the original letter seem to indicate it was enclosed therein.

By now, with Whiting in the Tower, the monks were quickly dispatched and Glastonbury Abbey already considered a royal possession. But from the very beginning of the suppression Whiting had co-operated with the king and his agents. He had signed the petition to the Pope concerning the royal divorce and subscribed to the oath accepting royal supremacy. Yet Cromwell's notes reveal the Vicar General had already decided the Abbot's fate; in a memorandum dated before the end of October, he wrote: 'Item, the Abbot of Glaston, to be tried at Glaston and also executed there with his complices'

Whiting should have been tried by parliament by act of attainder but this was totally ignored in his case; evidently his sentence had been decided before Parliament came together. The House was due to have sat on 1st November and would have considered the charges against Whiting at that time but assembly was delayed till the arrival of the King's fourth wife, Ann of Cleeves. Whiting would remain in the Tower till then.

Pollard took the frail old Abbot, who must have been nearing eighty years of age by now, back to Somerset on 14th November where he was taken immediately into the Bishop's Palace at Wells, without giving the condemned man even time to recover from his journey. Lord Russell had assembled a jury, which included John Sydenham, Thomas Horner, and Nicholas Fitzjames, the same who, but a year or two before, had written to Cromwell on Abbot Whiting's behalf. Friends and allies turned against the Abbot for a share in the rich booty to be had at the Abbey. Pollard directed the indictment, which Cromwell had drafted based on evidence revealed during the secret interrogations conducted during Whiting's two months' imprisonment in the Tower. From the crowd gathered at Wells tenants, and others, came forward to testify against him with new accusations of wrongs and injuries committed against them by the Abbot. No doubt they had been paid their piece of silver by Cromwell's agents. At the last minute the charge seemed to have been changed from treason to one of robbery. Whiting, absurdly accused of robbing his own abbey, was tried amongst common felons, four accused of rape and burglary who were condemned to hang the next day. The records of the trial fail to make clear the charges, or indeed the verdict. No defence or cross examination was allowed; it appears to proceed immediately to the execution.

This was clearly no more than a mock trial; as we have seen above, Abbot Whiting's fate was already settled, at Cromwell's own hand, before he left the Tower, the Vicar General, acting alone as prosecuting counsel, jury and judge, had already reached his decision. Cromwell ruled Whiting guilty and determined that he should suffer before all the world the ultimate indignity and destined for him the gruesome death of a traitor in the sight of his own subjects who had known and loved him for many years on the scene of his own former glory. Cromwell decreed the Abbot was to be hung, drawn and quartered at Glastonbury.

The following morning, 15th November, Whiting and the Abbey treasurers John Thorne and Roger James, were taken to Glastonbury. On the outskirts of the town he was spread-eagled across a hurdle which was tethered to a horse, and then dragged through the streets of Glastonbury, past his beloved Abbey and up the Tor where the gallows had been erected by the side of St Michael's tower. Pollard writes that the Glastonbury three "took their deaths very patiently” and added "whose souls God pardon."

Whiting's lifeless body was cut down, the head hacked off and his corpse divided into four parts. One part despatched to Wells, Bath, Ilchester, and the fourth to Bridgewater, whilst the head was fixed over the Abbey gates.

Following the fate of Glastonbury, only one more monastery was to be dissolved, that of Waltham Abbey. At the start of the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536, there were over 800 religious houses in Britain. By 1540 there were none with more than 15,000 monks and nuns dispersed and the buildings taken into ownership by the Crown to be sold off or leased out. The process had taken just four short years. Many of these religious communities owed their very existence to the wave of monastic enthusiasm that had swept across England and Wales in the 11th and 12th centuries, many as with Glastonbury, claiming to built upon early Celtic or Anglo-Saxon foundations. Glastonbury appeared early in that wave with tradition claiming it to be the site of the first Christian church in England, established by Joseph of Arimathea in the first century AD. It is difficult to disagree with the description of the suppression of the monasteries as simply "an enormous scheme for filling the royal purse."

Less than a year after Whiting's execution, justice, perhaps in part at least, was had when Cromwell fell from favour after arranging the King's disastrous marriage to Anne of Cleeves. He was charged with treason and heresy and executed on Tower Hill on 28 July 1540. With Cromwell's death the Dissolution of the Monasteries quickly ran out of steam.

True to his faith to the end, Richard Whiting is considered a martyr by the Roman Catholic Church, which beatified him on 13 May 1896. Beatification provides the title of "Blessed," a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and the third of the four steps in the canonization process, the act by which the Christian church declares a deceased person to be a saint.

Continued in The Execution of Richard Whiting

Note:
According to a traditional account Thomas Horner, one of the jurors at Whiting's mock trial at Wells, which sent the old Abbot to be hung, drawn and quartered on Glastonbury Tor, is said to be the Abbot's steward, famed in the “Little Jack Horner” nursery rhyme, first published in1725, but no doubt in circulation like all the common English nursery rhymes long before they appeared in print.

It is rumoured that the Abbot tried to bribe the King by sending his steward, Jack Horner, with a gift of twelve title deeds to various west country manorial estates. The deeds were said to have been secreted in a pie to thwart thieves. The story of valuable documents being hidden under a pie crust is not so far fetched as it may at first appear. Highwaymen were common in these times and travellers often hid their valuables by sewing them into garment hems and concealing them in cakes and the like. Horner is said to have opened the pie during the journey and extracted the deeds of the Manor of Mells, 15 miles north east of Glastonbury, the 'plum' of the twelve manors which included lead mines in the Mendip Hills, which may be an allusion to the Latin for lead, 'plumbum' (Pb). The remaining eleven manors were handed over to the crown but to no avail.

Following the destruction of the Abbey, Horner moved into the Manor of Mells. If there is any truth in the tradition at all Horner was probably rewarded with Mells for aiding the conviction of the Abbot of Glastonbury. The Manor of Mells became the property of the Horner family who lived there until the 20th century. While records do indicate that Thomas Horner became the owner of the manor, both his descendants and subsequent owners of Mells Manor have claimed that the legend is untrue.

Bibliography:
Francis Aidan Gasquet, D.D. Abbot President Of The English Benedictines - The Last Abbot of Glastonbury, George Bell & Sons, 1908.
Richard Watson Dixon, History of the Church of England Volume II, Clarendon Press, 1902.
Geoffrey Ashe - King Arthur’s Avalon, 1957, fiftieth anniversary edition Sutton, 2007.
James Carley, Glastonbury Abbey, The Holy House at the head of the Moors Adventurous, 1988, revised edition Gothic Image, 1996.

* * *

The Legend of Alderley Edge

2011-10-17T22:45:00.001+01:00

The small Cheshire village of Alderley Edge, about 5 miles north west of Macclesfield and some 12 miles south of Manchester on the A34 main trunk road, is steeped in folklore and legend. The village clings to the bottom of the steep sandstone escarpment overlooking the Cheshire Plain, along the B5087, known simply as 'The Edge'. Copper and lead mining are known to have taken place during the Bronze Age and Roman times and continued again from the 1690s into the 1920s. It is an area rich in legend and history.

The name Alderley first appears in 1086 as 'Aldredelie'. Several versions of the origin of the place name are known, one says it derived from 'Aldred 'and 'leah' meaning 'Aldred's Clearing'. However, the association with Alder trees persists in some accounts. The Alder is a mystical tree once favoured by the ancient Druids and also sacred to Fairy folk. The tree is reputed to be one of the sacred trees of modern witchcraft, indeed Alder is often called "the wood of the witches". A witches coven is said to have left The Edge in the 1960's after being exposed by a local paper.

The mystical Alder was venerated in medieval Welsh poetry. In the 14th century poem The Battle of the Trees (Cad Goddeu) from the Book of Taliesin, the Alder leads the line into battle. In a later manuscript version of the same tale Amaethon steals animals from the Otherworld and a battle ensues between Arawn and Bran from Annwn, the Celtic Otherworld, and the Children of Don. The battle is over the theft of a white roebuck and a whelp, both animals which appear at the beginning of the Mabinogi as the possessions of Arawn, Lord of Annwn. Amaethon prevails when his brother Gwydion successfully guesses the name of his adversary, Bran, by the fact that he has Alder sprigs on his shield.

Mining activity over millennia at Alderley Edge may have led to some of the early traditions as miners were superstitious people; anyone who entered the bowels of the earth and journeyed amongst the underground spirits to retrieve lumps of rock that could be turned into metal generated a certain aura. Mysteriously, several ancient gold bars have been found here.

Nearby is the town of Wilmslow, home to Lindow Common in which lies the Black Lake, the name derived from the Welsh 'llyn ddu', a surviving indicator of a once much larger and wetter expanse of land known as Lindow Moss, an ancient peat bog. It was here on 1 August 1984 that a body was found in the bog by peat cutters. Known as Lindow Man, the body appears to have been a 1st century AD victim of Druid sacrifice found with mistletoe pollen in his stomach and suffered the classic Celtic triple death; he was strangled, hit on the head, and his throat cut.

Many people visit the Edge each year drawn by it's legends and history, with many unusual sites along the escarpment linked to the story of the The Iron Gates:

“Once upon a time, the story goes, a farmer from Mobberley was on his way to Macclesfield market riding a white mare which he hoped to sell. Whilst walking along the ridge road, he was stopped by a grey-bearded man who offered to buy the horse, but the farmer refused, saying he could get a better price at the market. The old man told the farmer that he would not sell the white mare at the market and he would be at this spot again that evening when the farmer returned. Although the mare had been admired by many at the market he farmer failed to sell the horse and, cursing his luck, made the journey back home. At the same point, the old man appeared again, offering the farmer the money, which this time he accepted. The old man told the farmer to follow him with the horse though the woods on the Edge to a rock on which he laid his hands on it. The old man banged on the ground with his stick and, to the farmer’s shock, the rock opened up to reveal a set of Iron Gates. The old man beckoned the farmer to follow him through the gates into a large cavern where he saw countless knights and many white horses, all asleep. The old man explained that all these sleeping warriors were ready to awake and fight should England fall into danger, but were in need of one more white horse. The farmer was given a purse of gold for his white mare and ran out of the cave. As soon as he was out of the gates they crashed shut behind him and the rock returned to its place and no one has identified the site since”.

The exact location of the Iron Gates is unknown, but they are supposed to lie somewhere between Stormy Point and the Holy Well. There are several versions of the story but the first literary reference appears in 1805 when a newspaper, the Manchester Mail, published the legend, said to have been collected from local tradition, but mainly from an old man named Thomas Broadhurst. The newspaper account added that the tale was told by a Parson Shrigley who died in 1776, showing that oral versions of the legend were already in existence in the north Cheshire area. Later in 1805 a letter was published in the same newspaper from a reader claiming to be the "Perambulator" stating that he knew the location of the Iron Gates.

By Sevenfirs and Goldenstone
The Legend of Alderley, complete with a version of the myth of the sleeping hero, kick started Alan Garner's literary career, the tale being the inspiration behind “The Weirdstone of Brisingamen”, written between 1956 and 1958. Garner subtitled this book “A Tale of Alderley”, a story in which two children enter an underground kingdom, presided over by Cadellin the wizard who watches over sleeping knights, until the hour of the country's greatest need. Garner continued the theme in "Weirdstone” into the sequel “The Moon of Gomrath”.

In 2007 Garner delivered a lecture to the Temenos Academy which gave an account of the origin of the legend as far as Garner was concerned and published three years later as “By Sevenfirs and Goldenstone: An Account of the Legend of Alderley” (Temenos Academy, 2010). The 20 page booklet is Garner's account of the local lore of Alderley covered in his tale. The addition of a map would have been a useful addition for anyone wishing to trace out the route on the ground.

The Wizard's Well

Garner is evidently drawing on an oral account, in a local context, supplied by his grandfather, a blacksmith, seemingly without being aware of 19th century written versions of the tale. He goes on to tell the reader how his grandfather told him the story about the farmer from nearby Mobberley and his white mare he is taking to sell at Macclesfield market. In this booklet Garner attempts to identify the route of the tale from the location where the farmer first encounters the grey-bearded old man at Thieves’ Hole, and along the journey across the land by Seven Firs and Goldenstone to Stormy Point and Saddlebole. In his efforts to trace this journey across The Edge, Garner came across peculiarities in the form of mounds, big stones and significantly, boundaries.

Garner identifies Thieves' Hole as a hollow way, a linear earthwork, suggesting it could have been an ancient border, a land division, its original purpose now lost. He found a reference in a Charter for Rolleston, Staffordshire, dating to 1008 AD, describing a boundary marker as 'to the thorn where the thieves lie'.

He interprets this as a place of execution and/or burial, as Anglo-Saxons favoured boundaries for such things.

The Edge possesses six enigmatic shallow, circular, flat-topped mounds, roughly three feet high and twenty five feet in length, all of unknown age. He conjectures that they could be prehistoric burials or later additions, perhaps such as a folly. Three of these mounds are passed by on the journey from Thieves' Hole to Saddlebole, one is named Seven Firs. He takes the reader on the journey past Goldenstone, a free standing block of conglomerate sandstone with a high quartz content. He states the earliest mention of the Goldenstone that he can find is in a Perambulation of the boundaries of Over Alderley and Nether Alderley dated 1598, “a gear stone called the golden stone on the north side of the wain way.” He suggests this stone bears evidence of prehistoric tooling and is puzzled why a grey stone should be described as golden. Rejecting other possible meanings Garner finds that in Old English place names 'glyden' can mean tribute, which he prefers. Behind Goldenstone is the second flat-topped mound.

The route continues to Stormy Point where it touches the third flat-topped mound. Nearby is the Devil's Grave, an artificial chamber forty feet across, entered by way of a trench at one side. Garner postulates that 'Devil' names are often associated with the naming of strangeness and often used for early works in the landscape; concluding that a suitable description would be “the tricky trench”. Close by the Devil's Grave is a mound called Pikelow, an ancient burial mound, significantly on the boundary of three parishes and four townships.

The Edge

The final leg of the journey to Saddlebole is the most intriguing our guide informs us. Saddlebole is a spur from Stormy Point. Garner suggests Old English 'bolla' can mean a round hollow, a bowl or a crucible. He adds that Boles or Bolestids were places used in ancient times before smelting mills were invented. Metallurgy is a magical and dangerous art he tells us and as such concentrations of metals in the soil prohibits the growth of vegetation, suggesting that evidence of lead mining will be found at Saddlebole.

Alongside the track from Saddlebole to Stormy Point, again a multiple boundary, is the rock of the Iron Gates. Excavations in 1999 revealed an earlier structure running along the boundary ridge, consisting of wall of rubble and cut stone, travelling as far as Stormy Point. From this Garner interprets the meaning of Iron Gates as the 'stone way'. Recent Archaeology has interpreted the ditch as a prehistoric route along the crest of The Edge, running from the highest point, Beacon mound, to Lindow Moss and Mobberley and in the other direction toward Macclesfield.

Today a farm track crosses the ditch at right angles; it is here, Garner deduces, that the farmer first met the old man with the grey beard. He suggests that if the track did indeed pass over Thieves' Hole then there would have been an intersection at this point. Crossroads are liminal places where boundaries between worlds are breached, the reason why, according to Garner, boundaries play a significant part in the tale; we are clearly dealing not only with a physical but also a spiritual topography; divisions without dimensions, he adds, symbolise the supernatural in space. He argues that if a crossroads did not exist on Thieves' Hole then the old man would not and could not have met the farmer there. Indeed, it is here at Thieves' Hole that the approach to the Sleeping Hero begins.

“Accounting for the deeper nature of the Edge is not easy”, Garner says, and for him the tale is set deep within the psyche of his childhood, a tale of the supernatural in which boundaries between the worlds are breached. As he puts it, “The Edge is a remarkable 'Thing', which stands out when seen from both the plain and the Pennines. It is, of itself 'liminal'...... a special, a holy or a haunted place....”

The Wizard of Edge Inn

Further variations say that the grey-bearded old man was the wizard Merlin and the sleeping men were King Arthur and his Knights. There is a restaurant on The Edge is called "The Wizard Inn". There is evidence of the hand of man at play here which has added a little antiquity to The Edge; a rock along the path has an old man's face and inscription carved in it and a stone trough below on the ground. This is the Wizard's Well, and the face has come to be known as that of the wizard Merlin. Below is written "drink of this and take thy fill, for the water falls by the wizard's will". The carved letters are clearly not ancient, although the carving of the wizard's face may be older; these are more likely recent(-ish) additions to the local lore. The Wizard's Well is one of several springs along the edge such as the Holy Well and the Wishing Well. They may well be ancient or the product of more recent mining activity.

Deep within the woods on the path between Stormy Point and the Beacon lies the Druid's Circle. This circle of recumbent stones has fooled some antiquarians into believing it an authentic prehistoric work, but, according to Garner, the Druid's Circle is the work of his great-great grandfather Robert Garner, a local stonemason, who also created the inscription above the Wizard's Well. The Druid's Circle is therefore barely 200 years old.

The Sleeping King
The Legend of Alderley is clearly a local variation on the Sleeping King theme, well known throughout nations featuring their legendary heroes, usually accompanied by their primary band of warriors, and always sleeping in remote places: mountain caves; remote islands; even supernatural realms. The hero is frequently a historical figure of noted martial prowess in the history of the nation where the mountain is located and will return in their time of greatest need.

The motif of the Sleeping King is indeed ancient and may have been cradled in the enigmatic island of Ogygia mentioned in Homer's 8th century BC “Odyssey”; which, writing in the 1st century AD, the Greek historian Plutarch says is the place where Cronus is imprisoned and lies sleeping in a cave. In Celtic realms we find King Arthur as the legendary sleeping hero so it should be of no surprise that we find him in residence at Alderley. The earliest reference we find to Arthur as the enchanted prisoner is under the Stone of Echymeint in the Triad "The Three Exalted Prisoners of the Island of Britain" from the 13th century Trioedd Ynys Prydein (Triads of the Island of Britain) with a similar tale, albeit with Mabon in the role of prisoner, in the earlier 11th century tale of Culhwch and Olwen.

Versions of the legend of the Sleeping King residing in a hollow hill abound, an early example comes from South Cadbury hill, Somerset, regarded as the original Camelot by some, first recorded by the Welsh antiquary Elis Gruffudd, who died in 1552, but perhaps the most well known with Arthurian traditions is concerned with the Eildon Hills, a triple peaked hill, on the south side of Melrose on the Scottish Borders. On the north hill is the largest hill fort in Scotland, once thought to be the power base of the Selgovae as recorded by the Roman geographer Ptolemy. On the middle hill is a large Bronze Age cairn and a monument to Sir Walter Scott. In the 1st century the Roman army built the massive fort of Trimontium, named after the three peaks, at the foot of the hill on the bank of the River Tweed.

Eildon Hills

It is at the hollow Eildon Hills that a horse-dealer by the name of Canonbie Dick meets a stranger on Bowden Moor. Opposite the Moor are the central and southern peaks of the Eildon hills, the col between them called Lucken Hare. It is here that Dick and the stranger pass through a hidden doorway into a huge cavern under the main peak. Here Arthur and his knights, fully armed along with their horses, lay sleeping. Next day Dick told his story to some shepherds then dropped dead. Needless to say, no one has found the cave since.

We find echoes of these legends in the tale of The Queen of Elfland by Thomas the Rhymer, a 13th century Scottish laird and prophet from Erceldoune (modern Earlston, Berwickshire). One day, as Thomas sat beneath the Eildon Tree near Melrose, he heard the tinkling of silver bells and the sound of a horse's hooves. The beautiful Queen of Elfland rode by on her white horse. Thomas fell under her charm and journeyed deep within the hollow Eildon Hills to the 'Fairy Otherworld'. He remained there for seven years and acquired the gift of prophesy. When he returned to the mortal world he found he was unable to tell a lie and became known as 'True Thomas'. In one version of the tale, Thomas appears to be the stranger who drew Canonbie Dick into the cave under the Eildon Hills. Some even say that Thomas became immortal and still lives gathering horses for the sleeping knights within the hollow hills.

This is classic Celtic Mythology, from which we see the Otherworld Journey, typically the Irish echtrae, where the hero is lured to the Otherworld by the goddess of the tale, usually bearing a flowering silver branch of apples, or silver bells, as an indicator of their Otherworldy status. Thomas' abductor is no less than the Celtic Great Queen goddess Rigantona, known as Rhiannon of the Mabinogion, who rides past on her white horse displaying clear parallels with Epona, the Gallic horse goddess.

The hills at Melrose have been associated with Arthurian themes since at least the 12th century. It is here that Chrétien de Troyes, probably following an earlier tradition, locates the Dolorous Mountain. Earlier in the 12th century, Geoffrey of Monmouth connects the Dolorous Mountain with Mount Agned, which he identifies as the Castle of The Maidens, thought to be Castle Rock at Edinburgh. Significantly, according to the battle list in the 9th century Historia Brittonum Arthur's 11th battle was fought at Agned and in The Black Book Of Carmarthen the incomplete poem "Pa Gur yv y Porthur” (What man is the Gatekeeper/Porter?) Arthur is pitched on the slopes of Mynyd Eiddyn (Edinburgh) fighting dog-headed men (Cynvyn). All one and the same?

From the above we can postulate that the Arthurian association with the Sleeping King in the Hollow Hill was extant in Scotland and the borders from at least the 13th century and a similar tale was in existence as far south as Somerset by at least the 16th century. The attachment of the persona’s of Arthur and Merlin to the Legend of Alderley appears to be a much later addition. The first literary account of the legend with Arthur appeared when a version by James Roscoe appeared in the Blackwoods Magazine in 1839. We cannot ascertain a date for the oral transmission of the tale to Cheshire but the Legend of Alderley appears to have arrived late, with the earliest written accounts appearing in the 19th century, although traditional accounts, complete with local variants, were no doubt circulating prior to that.

From all this we are left to ponder if Alderley Edge is a landscape created by the legend or a legend created out of the landscape?

Sources:
Alan Garner - By Sevenfirs and Goldenstone: An Account of the Legend of Alderley, Temenos Academy, 2010.
Doug Pickford - Myths and Legends of East Cheshire and the Moorlands, Sigma Press, 1992.

* * *

The Green Knight's Chapel for Sale

2011-10-09T00:00:00.000+01:00

Last year it was reported that the Peak District National Park Authority (NPA) had put the Staffordshire Roaches estate up for sale.

The Roaches is situated in Staffordshire just north of the town of Leek, 'The Queen of the Moorlands', in the south west of the Peak District National Park and one of England’s most popular walking spots, renowned climbing venue and home to Lud’s Church, the site identified as The Green Knight's Chapel.

It is notoriously difficult to positively identify geographical sites from Arthurian literature but one site that does fit perfectly is Lud’s Church as the location of the Green Chapel from the late 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The Green Knight's Chapel has been identified as Lud’s Church because of the poet’s use of dialect words and rare topographical terms used in the poem appear in place-names all very local to the Roaches and this area of the Staffordshire Moorlands.

"Then the knight spurred Gringalet, and rode adown the path close in by a bank beside a grove. So he rode through the rough thicket, right into the dale, and there he halted, for it seemed him wild enough. No sign of a chapel could he see, but high and burnt banks on either side and rough rugged crags with great stones above. An ill-looking place he thought it."

Lud's Church is an huge natural chasm in the rock on the hillside above Gradbach, on the north side of the ridge, formed by a landslip which has let a cleft which is over 20 yards high in places and over 100 yards long, though in some places only a couple of yards wide. The place has many myths and legends associated with it, most famously Gawain and the Green Knight, were it is said that here the hero of the Arthurian romance slew the Green Knight, symbolic of death, rebirth and fertility.

The estate also boasts the site of the castle of the Green Knight; situated on the Staffordshire side of the River Dane, Swythamley Hall was originally a medieval hunting lodge belonging to the Abbey of Dieulacres. Swythamley Hall has been identified as 'Hautdesert', in the classic medieval poem.

It is thought the poem may have been written by a Cistercian monk at the nearby Dieulacres Abbey, just north of Leek, known as 'The Pearl Poet' who's works exist in a single manuscript, in a dialect particular to the north west Midlands of England. The manuscript contains four poems: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, Patience, and Purity. They appear to have been written by a single author; and of these, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is considered to be one of the classics of English literature. Like the anonymous poet, nothing now remains of the Abbey.

The NPA has owned the area since 1980 but is now looking for partners to help manage the area's 975 acres after having its government grant cut by five percent and selling the land is one option that is being considered by the authority. The moorland estate includes a former gamekeepers grade II listed cottage which is let to the British Mountaineering Council (BMC) for use as a climbing hut. Much of the land is currently let on a grazing tenancy.

The Estate is designated at national and European level as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Protection Area. It is also protected in existing and future planning policies as what is known as a Natural Zone. The moorland is important for a whole range of National Park objectives, including its biodiversity, cultural heritage, natural beauty, recreation and tourism values.

The NPA has three options; a partnership to jointly manage the estate; leasing it to another organisation, or selling the whole estate. If the estate is sold it will be with strict rules to ensure it's continuing protection. The NPA advertised in Summer 2010 for partners to help it to better manage the Roaches Estate and received nine expressions of interest, a mixture of environmental and land management organisations and individuals, some proposing a lease, some a purchase. Likley partners were thought to be The National Trust, The Wildlife Trust, the British Mountaineering Council and the RSPB.

Access to the Stafforshire Moorlands site will be maintained as most of the area has open access under the Countryside Rights of Way Act. However, any potential sale cannot rule out the possibility of restricted access or charging for access.

The BMC and the Ramblers Association have voiced there concerns to restricted access and the Staffordshire Moorlands District Council has come out and opposed the sale, vowing to do everything possible to ensure that local concerns are addressed and that it is never closed to the public.

"The knight turned his steed to the mound, and lighted down and tied the rein to the branch of a linden; and he turned to the mound and walked round it, questioning with himself what it might be. It had a hole at the end and at either side, and was overgrown with clumps of grass, and it was hollow within as an old cave or the crevice of a crag; he knew not what it might be."

The NPA has set out draft objectives for how it wants to see the Roaches protected and enhanced by any new partner, which it has sent for consultation to local councils, neighbours and interest groups, providing the best outcome for the future of the Roaches, including conserving its wildlife, heritage and landscape, ensuring open access, increasing understanding of its special qualities, looking after its farmland to high conservation standards and managing traffic. Shooting rights are specifically excluded.

The Roaches and Lud's Church should be in safe hands; three interested parties have submitted formal tenders for managing the Estate; the Land Trust, The National Trust and the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. The NPA is delighted with the quality of all three submissions. The tenders are presently being analysed, and a decision on the preferred party is expected to be made by the end of 2011.

* * *

Bronze Age finds at Pillar of Eliseg

2011-09-30T21:42:00.000+01:00

Remains dating back to the Bronze Age have been uncovered by archaeologists excavating the site of a 9th Century monument.

The Pillar of Eliseg, also known as Elise's Pillar (Croes Elisedd in Welsh), stands 2 miles along the A542 from Llangollen, in north-east Wales. It was erected by Cyngen ap Cadell, king of Powys in honour of his great-grandfather Elisedd ap Gwylog. It is located 400m north-west of the ruins of the Cistercian monastery of Valle Crucis, founded in 1201. The Pillar is a striking landmark sited in the narrow valley of the Nant Eglwyseg, a tributary of the river Dee, to which it gives its name: the ‘Valley of the Cross’.

The Pillar is thought to be the remains of a 20 foot-high Celtic cross-shaft set within its original base, with the cross-head clearly now missing. Almost invisible to today’s visitor, the Pillar once bore a long Latin inscription saying that the cross was raised by Concenn, the last native ruler of the kingdom of Powys, who died in 854 AD, in memory of his great-grandfather, Eliseg, recording the ancestry of the house of Powys, though in a form that continues to be a subject to ongoing debate; the early history of how this kingdom, adjoining the borderland with England, came into being is obscure.

The Latin inscription not only mentions several individuals described in the Historia Britonum, but also the genealogy of Concenn and Eliseg, recording the exploits of Eliseg and the enlargement of his kingdom, the achievements of Concenn himself, and finally the dynasty is glorified by reference of their ancestors, the Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus and Vortigern. It is one of the longest surviving inscriptions from early medieval Wales being of immense importance to Dark Age history.

After much genealogical description, the inscription states that both Concenn and Eliseg were descended from Vortigern, the much maligned 5th Century British overlord who invited the Saxons into the country, 'like wolves into the sheepfold', as Gildas put it. Vortigern is also famous in early British legendary history for his meeting with the child Merlin at Dinas Emrys, a hill fort in the mountains of Snowdonia.

By the late 17th century the Pillar was no longer standing, but fortunately the damaged inscription was recorded by the famous Welsh antiquary Edward Lhuyd in 1696, listing the names of key 5th century figures from early English and Welsh history. The original inscription is now illegible.

Lhuyd made the earliest mention of Croes Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere's Cross) in the 1690's, the remains of a stone cross standing aside the Llangollen Canal. Indeed, the Llangollen area is host to many sites with Arthurian associations: the grail castle at Dinas Bran; Ffynnon Arthur (Arthur's Well); Craig Arthur and it's strange rock formation known as Cadair Arthur (Arthur's Chair); and Valle Crucis Abbey, seen by some as the 'real Glastonbury'.

The mound of the Pillar was dug into in 1773 by the local land-owner Thomas Lloyd and is reported to have contained a stone cist with a skeleton along with pieces of silver. He re-erected the Pillar which had been pulled down by the Parliamentarian forces during the English Civil War when a grave under it opened. The lower half of the Pillar disappeared but the upper half was re-erected in 1779.

The mound is of unknown date and function but thought to have a prehistoric provenance although the site has never previously been subject to modern archaeological investigation. Significantly, the site lies in an area rich in Bronze Age burials and finds, and graves of the 6th and 7th centuries AD, cut into earlier Bronze Age burials sites, are testified elsewhere in Wales. CADW has given consent for the excavations to be carried out on a Scheduled Ancient Monument

Project Eliseg
Co-directed by Professor Nancy Edwards and Dr Gary Robinson of Bangor University together with Professor Dai Morgan Evans and Professor Howard Williams of the University of Chester, Project Eliseg, is a collaborative archaeological research project investigating the Pillar, one of Britain’s most enigmatic early medieval monuments. Using modern archaeological methods to investigate the mound and it's setting, the Project aims to obtain a better understanding of this enigmatic monument and to discover more about the emergence of the early medieval kingdoms on the borderlands of England and Wales after the fall of Roman Britain.

The archaeologists have been trying to establish if there any truth in Trevor Lloyd's story or if it is pure legend. Professor Edwards from Bangor University said the Project was trying to establish if there was any truth in the story. The excavations set out to reveal what are thought to be Bronze Age remains underneath an early medieval long cist grave, clearing away debris left by Lloyd more than 200 years ago.

Last year's excavations focused on the mound, which was identified as an early Bronze Age cairn but archaeologists from Bangor and Chester University admitted the latest finds, cremated remains and bone fragments, had complicated the picture regarding the site's historical significance and make it worthy of further investigation.

An update on the latest finds is expected to be published in the near future.

Sources:
Bronze Age finds at Llangollen's Pillar of Eliseg - BBC News North East Wales 25 September 2011

The Project Eliseg website provides information about earlier research and the latest discoveries, including information about the historical context of the early medieval kingdom of Powys, early medieval stone sculpture and information about the archaeology of early medieval Britain (c. AD 400-1100).

Updates, photographs and films on Llangollen Museum's Facebook page

* * *

The Legend of Arthur's Survival

2011-09-08T17:29:00.001+01:00

“The Britons.... are considered to be so barbaric that they are said to be still awaiting the future coming of Arthur, being unwilling to entertain the fact of his death” - William of Newburgh (The History of English Affairs)

Arthur's Messianic Return
In a continuation of the Anglo-Norman chronicler Geffrei Gaimar's Estorie des Engles (The History of the English) c.1150, the redactor states that the Welsh of this time threatened the Normans that they would finally win back their land through Arthur and restore the name of Britain. [1]

Site of Arthur's tomb, Glastonbury

Henry of Huntingdon reported that the Bretons denied Arthur's death and expected his return. [2] The Norman poet Wace, in his Roman de Brut (1155), wrote that Arthur was still in Avalon and the Bretons await his return. Peter of Blois and Gerald of Wales both compared the Bretons in this respect to the Jews who awaited their Messiah. Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle (c.1300) asserts that the Cornish share the same hope as the Bretons. [3] The belief in Arthur's messianic return persisted into the 15th century when Malory wrote that “some men say in many parts of England that King Arthur is not dead, but had by the will of our Lord Jesu into another place; and men say that he shall come again”. [4]

The discovery of Arthur's remains at Glastonbury in 1190, or 1191, was designed to deflate Welsh hopes as they resisted Normal rule but it failed to make any great impact as the belief in Arthur's survival was extant amongst the pan-Brittonic nations; the Southern Scottish, the Welsh, the Bretons and the Cornishmen. If we accept the argument that Arthur's body was not found at Glastonbury then we must be prepared to consider the alternative; Arthur's Survival.

Two Arthurs?
By claiming to have discovered King Arthur's remains at Glastonbury the Norman's hoped they had exterminated the historical Arthur, the Arthur of the vision of Geoffrey of Monmouth, the great hope of these pan-Brittonic nations; the Celtic Messiah. But the Norman's could not eradicate the Arthur who was alive in the minds and the wild places of the landscape of the Britons; the Arthur of folklore and myth.

By the time of the first historical account of Arthur, the Historia Brittonum, c.829AD, there are clearly two Arthurs. The first, of Historia Chapter 56, is the 'historical' battle list, describing Arthur's campaigns as the dux bellorum, and secondly in the landscape wonders of Chapter 73 of the Historia, known as the Mirabilia. The latter contain two wonders relating to Arthur; the grave of his son Amr and a stone with a footprint from his dog Cabal. Although scribed as "Cabal" in the Historia, it has been argued that Cafal, pronounced "Caval", is related to the British word Cafall meaning "horse" from the Latin caballus. [5]

This suggests a huge, giant of a dog. Cavall appears in Culwch and Olwen (in its current form dated to 11th century), as Arthur's dog in the hunt for the supernatural giant boar, the Twrch Trwyth. This dog's footprint on a mound of stones, identified as the mountain Carn Gafallt, in the Elan Valley in central Wales, as recorded in the 9th century Mirabilia, is the earliest known reference to the story of the “hunting the porker Troynt”, betraying the antiquity of the tale.

As we have seen above, written examples of these local legends first emerge around the same time as the figure of Arthur the warrior in the 9th century Historia Brittonum. Yet the first appearances of the mythological hero may well predate the Arthurian battle list of the Historia which is seen as the first historical account of the dux bellorum. The story of Arthur's journey to the Otherworld in 'Preiddau Annwn' and the various stories summarised in 'Pa gur yw porthaur?' are impossible to date with any certainty but may well be evidence of the existence of Arthur as a mythological hero prior to the battle list of the Historia. With the available literature it is impossible to answer the important question of which came first, but we can be fairly certain that these tales existed as oral traditions before being first written down.

However, it seems likely that the author of the Historia did not invent these onomastic legends contained within the Mirabilia but attached them to his larger work because they were topical and familiar to his intended audience. These stories of Arthurian landscape wonders are found throughout the pan-Brittonic world as evidenced in Cornwall, Wales, southern Scotland, Brittany. Many of the tales may now be lost but their very existence is betrayed by the large number of topographical features with an Arthurian association.

Arthur of the Wild Places
The concept of the undead king who could be invoked as a national saviour, combined with the folkloric Arthur, was eternal. This belief was defended with vigour. In 1113 a group of nine canons from Laon paid a visit to England. The event is described in a narrative, De Miraculis Sanctae Mariae Laudensis (The Miracles of St Mary of Laon) by a Henri from Laon, written in 1146. The canons had with them a shrine containing the relics of Our Lady of Laon, their object being to raise funds for the rebuilding of their cathedral which had been destroyed in a fire, and invited the misfortunate to pray for holy cures.

From Exeter they journeyed through 'Danavexeria', probably meant to be ancient Dumnonia, roughly modern Devonshire, and here they were told they were entering the very land of the famous King Arthur, 'terra Arturi'. On their journey they were shown various rock formations in open country called Arthur's Chair and Arthur's Oven. These, with the Mirabilia, are amongst the earliest documented Arthurian sites. On arriving at Bodmin in Cornwall they displayed the holy relics in the church when a local man with a withered arm came forward in hope of being healed. The canons had probably approached the church from Bodmin Moor, a wild part of Cornwall which hosts many Arthur named sites. He told one of the French party that King Arthur lived which caused laughter amongst the canon's group but to their amazement the bystanders supported him. A dispute broke out and quickly became a brawl, an armed crowd gathered and bloodshed was only just avoided. Needless to say, Our Lady of Laon had been offended and the man's withered arm was not healed. Henri compared the event to the Britons (Bretons) of Brittany, “Just as the Britons are wont to wrangle with the French on behalf of King Arthur”. [6]

All that remains of Furnum Regi

There are not many surviving so-named Arthurian localities in Devon, however, the site of Arthur's Oven is thought to be 'King's Oven', with Arthur's name dropped, about a mile from where the Exeter and Bodmin road climbs to its highest point on Dartmoor at Merripit. [7]

It is likely that the King's Oven was called King (Arthur)'s Oven (or Furness) in previous days. This appears to be the remains of a tin smelter that was in use in the 12th century, known as Furnum Regis, King's Furness, one of the original boundary markers of Dartmoor forest.

King's Oven is situated near Warren House Inn, the second highest pub in Britain situated some 1425 feet above sea level, on the Postbridge to Moretonhampstead Road. This is a very isolated spot in the middle of Dartmoor where travellers would stop for a break in their journey and refresh the horses. It is believed that the French canons passed through here on their journey to Bodmin from Exeter in 1113. A cairn to the rear of the Inn is known as "Kings Oven""" as it was named in early records.

Arthur's O'on

We can only guess that the King's Furness bore a resemblance to a similar feature in Central Scotland, formerly Stirlingshire. In his encyclopedic Liber Floridus, c.1120, Lambert of St Omer included some items not included in the Mirabilia of the Historia Brittonum, one such example being a circular building known as 'Arthur’s Palace', a former Roman shrine.

This became known as 'Arthur's O'on'. [8] This building stood near the site of the Carron Ironworks, just north of Falkirk on the Stenhousemuir side of the river Carron. It is mentioned as a landmark in a document dated to 1293 were it is called 'Furnus Arturi'. It is illustrated in an 18th century engraving which shows it as a dome shaped building in the region of twelve feet in height with steps leading up to an arched doorway with a window above. It was obliterated in the 18th century and nothing now remains. Nearby was the Roman town of Camelon, with it's obvious Arthurian connotations. [9]

Arthur's Seat
Arthur's Chair in Cornwall as recounted by Henri of Laon is not to be confused with the similar named topographical features in the north; we find an Arthur's Seat atop an ancient volcano, towering over Edinburgh and linked with the stories of Arthur the warrior. The mountain features in the early Arthurian poem 'Pa gur yw porthaur?' (What man is the gate-keeper?), which describes Arthur fighting dog-headed men (Cynvyn) on the slopes of the mountain (Mynyd Eiddyn). In Lud's Church Part XIII: Gwydion's Eagle we saw that an ancient alternative name for Din Eidin was *Lugu-dunon, listed in the Roman Ravenna Cosmography, c.700AD, as apparently located somewhere in the north of Britain. Local folklore states that Arthur and his men are sleeping inside the hill, awaiting the call to come forth in time of the Country’s need. In the earliest records the origin of the name is simply “the Crag” and it has been suggested that Arthur’s Seat (Suidhe Arthair) may be a corruption either of the Gaelic Ard-na-Said, meaning “height of arrows”. Edin may also be a reference to the mythical giant Etin.

Additional Arthur's Seats are found at Dumbarrow Hill, Angus and east of Liddesdale in Cumberland. In Wales we find it as an alternative name for Cadair Idris and a rock formation on the peak of Pen-y-fâl (Sugar Loaf) in Monmouthsire are also known as 'Arthur's Chair'. Gerald of Wales refers to a hill as 'Kairarthur', identified as Pen y Fan, the highest point of the Brecon Beacons. [10]

Back in Cornwall, at Tintagel we find an 'Arthur's Chair' but this is further west from Bodmin and of doubtful dating and cannot be assigned as early. However, we do find an Arthur's Hunting Lodge, or Hunting Seat, in Cornwall. There are two sites in Cornwall associated with Arthur the hunter. The first, a stone lined rectangular enclosure of Arthur's Hall near Garrow Tor on Bodmin Moor, is also known as Arthur's Hunting Lodge. Just north of this is 'Arthur's Downs' with its rocky basins known as 'Arthur's Troughs' from where he fed his hunting dogs.

The second Cornish Arthur’s Hunting Lodge, or Seat, is the Iron Age hill-fort of Castle-an-Dinas which commands wide views of the moors. The hill-fort has three massive earthwork ramparts of differing dates, implying use as a fortification over along period. Inside there traces of a fourth rampart. Legend states that it is from Castle-an-Dinas that Arthur rode out to hunt on Tregoss Moor and left four hoofprints from his horse on a stone at St Columb Major, some two miles distant. In the episode of Arthur's birth of later Arthurian legend the site has been named as the stronghold where Duke Glorois was killed fighting Uther's forces. [11]

Lanyon Quoit – Arthur's Dining Table

A peculiar feature of the Celtic landscape is the many Cornish dolmens and Welsh cromlechs with Arthurian associations. In some instances just the capstone, particularly when flat, is known as Bwrdd Arthur, or Arthur's Table, perhaps a reference to feasting in the wilderness. Indeed Arthur's dining in the wilderness has been compared to the Irish fulachta, a pit used for cooking as such, found in wild places and attributed to Fionn and his band of men, whose legend has close parallels to that of the early, pre-Geoffrey Arthur. [12]

The characteristics displayed by this mythological Arthur of local wonder-tales has been compared to his namesake of the animal kingdom: the bear, an animal renowned for its great strength, its skill in hunting and living off the wild, its solitary nature and preference for the remote places. [13]

Yet, in all cases, the concept of Arthur would seem to be that of a giant, with these enormous rock-formations providing all his needs, his bed, his dining table, his chair, his table, whilst he roamed the wilderness. [14] Indeed, we find many dolmens and cromlechs known as 'Coeten Arthur' or Arthur's Quoit, by implication a stone, or discus, hurled by a giant. Indeed in 'terra Arturi', we find a Giant's Grave at Warbstowe, Cornwall, which is also known as 'Arthur's Grave'. This is the mound of a long barrow within the double-ramparted hill-fort called Warbstowe Bury. [15]

It is impossible to know when these prehistoric monuments first adopted their Arthurian names; they must have been in use in oral tradition before their first appearance in recorded literature. It could have well been in ancient times, but it is a persistent enigma. A recent suggestion is that these ancient monuments with Arthurian associations all seem to possess connections with north-ness. [16]

The Exalted Prisoner
The belief in Arthur's survival was still in existence some 700 years after the exhumation at Glastonbury. 19th century Folk tales claimed that South Cadbury hill, the site both Camden and Leland call Camalat, Arthur's Camelot, was hollow, and Arthur and his knights lie sleeping inside waiting for the call when the country needs them. A local person saw the gates as a boy, but they cannot be located today. A local poem calls them golden gates claiming that if you look through them on St John's Eve you can see the king in his court. A group of Victorian archaeologists visiting the hillfort were about to commence their dig when they were asked by a local man if they had come ‘to take the king out’.

Above we saw that Arthur’s Seat (Suidhe Arthair) of Edinburgh may be a corruption of the Gaelic Ard-na-Said, meaning “height of arrows”. We find a further Arthurian associations with arrows on a mountain in Wales where Arthur is said to sleeping inside a cave on mount Snowdon just below the “pass of the arrows” (Bwlch y Saethau) where local legend claims that he was fatally wounded in the battle of Cwm-y-Llan (Camlann). Arthur's knights that survived the battle are said to be sleeping in Ogof Llanciau Eryri (the Cave of the Young Men of Snowdon), below the cliff on the left-hand side near the top of Llyn Llydaw.

The cave was discovered when a shepherd climbed down the cliff to rescue a sheep. He found an opening in the rock, partially hidden by loose stones and turf. On clearing these away he saw a vast cave stretching into the depths of the mountain where he saw a host of warriors all asleep, with white hazel wands in their hands. On entering the cave he struck his head on a bell hung above the entrance. On the ringing of the bell all the warriors awoke, and, sprang to their feet, giving out a terrific shout. The frightened shepherd scrambled off down the cliff-face. It is said that from that day on he never again enjoyed a day's good health, and died before his time. No one has since found the mouth of the Cave of the Young Men of Snowdonia.

We cannot rule out the possibility that the dolmen and cromlech Arthurian associations are linked to the concept of a sleeping king imprisoned within a hollow hill. In the Triads of the Island of Britain (Trioedd Ynys Prydein) we find that Arthur is listed with the “Three exalted prisoners of the Island of Britain; Llŷr Half-speech, and Mabon son of Modron and Gweir son of Geirioedd, And one was more exalted than the three [of them]. He was three nights in a magical prison beneath the Stone of Enchantment. And he was Arthur.” One of Arthur's tasks in Culhwch and Olwen, is to release Mabon before he can hunt the giant boar, the Twrch Trwyth.

The exalted prisoner is certainly of ancient construct. Writing on the location of Ogygia, an enigmatic island mentioned in Homer's 8th century “Odyssey”, the Greek historian Plutarch, (c.46 – 120 AD), says, “there is one island where Cronus is confined, guarded while he sleeps by Briareus; for his sleep has been devised as a bondage for him, and round about him are many demigods as attendants and servants.” [17] Plutarch continues, “For Cronus himself sleeps confined in a deep cave of rock that shines like gold.” [18] Similitudes to the Arthurian legend that requires no further emphasis.

And so we come to the end of our journey, through the Otherworld and the return, and to Arthur's survival as the exalted prisoner:

“But the flames of which once burnt around the memory of Arthur have long ago sunk into grey ashes. He wakes no national passions now. He has been taken up......with all who died fighting against odds, into the Otherworld of the heroic imagination. His deeds are the heritage of all peoples; not least of the English folk against whom he battled. To this outcome many men have worked; the good clerk Wace, Chrétien de Troyes, the unknown author of the Lancelot and the Mort Artu, our own Thomas Malory. But most of all are we bound to praise that learned and unscrupulous old canon of St George's in Oxford, Geoffrey of Monmouth. And withal we still do not know where is Arthur's grave." [19]

Ubi nunc fidelis ossa Fabricii manent?

Notes
1. E K Chambers, Arthur of Britain, Sidgwick and Jackson, 1927, reprint edition 1966, p.109.
2. Ibid. p.251.
3. Roger Sherman Loomis, The Legend of Arthur's Survival, in Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, Ed R S Loomis, Oxford University Press reprints, 1959.
4. Thomas Malory, The Whole Book of King Arthur and His Noble Knights of the Round Table, 1469, Book XXI, Chapter 7. Published in 1485 by Caxton as "Morte d'Arthur".
5. Rachel Bromwich and Simon Evans, Culhwch and Olwen, An Edition and Study of the Oldest Arthurian Tale, University of Wales Press, 1992, pp.226.
6. Chambers, op cit. p.18.
7. Ibid. p.184.
8. O J Padel, The Nature of Arthur, CMCS 27, 1994, p.6.
9. Geoffrey Ashe, The Traveller's Guide to Arthurian Britain, Gothic Image, 1997.
10. Padel, op cit. pp.25-26.
11. Ashe, op cit.
12. Thomas Green, Arthuriana, The Lindes Press 2009.
13. N J Highman, King Arthur: Myth-Making and History, Routledge, 2002.
14. Green, op cit.
15. Ibid.
16. Robin Heath, The Quest for the Prehistoric Arthur, in The Secret Land: The Origins of Arthurian Legend and The Grail Quest, Paul Broadhurst with Robin Heath, Mythos Press, 2009.
17. Plutarch, De Defectu Oraculorum.
18. Plutarch, Concerning the Face Which Appears in the Orb of the Moon.
19. Chambers, op cit, p.232.

* * *

The Celtic Messiah

2011-08-01T22:21:00.008+01:00

The Abduction of Guinevere

Part I: The Abduction of Guinevere in Medieval Arthurian Romance
Part II: The Modena Archivolt
Part III: White, The Winter King
Part IV: White Phantom
Part V: The Isle of Glass
Part VI: The Isle of Glass (2)

Appendix I

The stillness of the dead world's winter dawn
Amazed him, and he groaned, 'The King is gone.' [1]

The Celtic Messiah
In his Deeds of the Kings of England William of Malmesbury made a clear distinction between the Arthur of historical fact and the Arthur of legend. William clearly thought the king warranted a fuller history.

Just over a decade later Geoffrey of Monmouth provided William with his historical account and gave the world the first full chronicle account of King Arthur. Geoffrey's account in History of the Kings of Britain was a medieval literary masterpiece; an unprecedented coming together of historical fact, myth and poetic licence, and was accepted as historical fact by many and remained so for five hundred years.

But, in so doing Geoffrey had created a champion of the British, a saviour hero, he had created a Celtic Messiah.

William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury is considered a competent and scholarly historian, first publishing his Gesta Regum Anglorum (Deeds of the Kings) of the English c.1125, publishing a revised edition before 1140.

Between these dates he spent a considerable amount of time at Glastonbury and produced the Antiquity of the Church of Glastonbury. This has survived only in a form heavily interpolated by later writers from the 13th century. However, the original text of the earlier part can be reconstituted from the later, revised edition of Deeds of the Kings, which incorporates large sections from his work on Glastonbury. Whilst at Glastonbury he carried out a detailed examination of the archives there, his analysis of the records of the old church is considered as thorough as any medieval historical investigation.

Significantly, Arthur nowhere occurs in connection with Glastonbury in the genuine works of William of Malmesbury; the passages in which the King is brought into connection with the Abbey exist only in the later interpolations in the surviving text of the Antiquity of the Church of Glastonbury, William's original work rewritten by the monks of Glastonbury to accommodate later 'developments' at the Abbey, the monks making no claim whatsoever as editors or revisers of the historian's work from the previous century. [2]

In his original works William makes mention of Arthur only in his proper context along with the likes of Vortigern and Ambrosius, as such he writes:

“This is that Arthur of whom the trifling of the Britons talks such nonsense even today; a man clearly worthy not to be dreamed of in fallacious fables, but to be proclaimed in veracious histories.”

As we have seen above, Arthur's first connection with Glastonbury is recorded in the Life of Gildas by Caradoc of Llancarfan written in the first quarter of the 12th century. But, in essence, this is no more than a tale explaining the gift of lands to the Abbey using the backbone of a now lost Celtic Otherworld voyage similar to the surviving Irish echtrae.

Both William of Malmesbury and Caradoc of Llancarfan were aware of 'Ynyswitrin' as the British name of Glastonbury, but this appears to be a backward etymology in an attempt to explain the Saxon name of the Somerset town. Both William and Caradoc were writing at the request of the ecclesiastical community of Glastonbury. Yet absent from the works of both men is the suggestion of any knowledge of Glastonbury equating with Avalon. Indeed, arguably the greatest author of the 12th century and creator of Arthurian history, Geoffrey of Monmouth fails to make the connection either. Geoffrey mentions 'Avallon' but twice in his Historia Regum Britanniae, (History of the Kings of Britain, c.1136); firstly as the place were Arthur's sword Caliburn was forged and secondly he merely states that, when mortally wounded Arthur was taken there:

“And even the renowned king Arthur himself was mortally wounded; and being carried thence to the isle of Avallon to be cured of his wounds,”

In his later Vita Merlini (Life of Merlin, c.1148) Geoffrey describes the last sojourn of the king in more detail, but avoids the name Avalon completely and refers simply to the Fortunate Isles, as a Celtic island paradise.

Significantly, three major writers of the first half of the 12th century fail to connect Glastonbury with Avalon. This equation first appears with the discovery of Arthur's tomb between two pyramids in the ancient cemetery at Glastonbury Abbey in 1190 or 1191. Prior to this date Glastonbury was evidently not aware of its Arthurian legacy. The inscription on the leaden burial cross read:

“Here lies the renowned King Arthur in the Isle of Avalon.”

The effect was two-fold: the lead cross confirmed this was Arthur's remains, the King was dead and Glastonbury was Avalon.

The wording on the cross had been chosen carefully; Geoffrey's first full chronicle history of the King had come to an end with the death of the “renowned king Arthur” and here were those exact words on his burial cross. A copy of Geoffrey's work is known to have existed at the Abbey.

Accounts of the discovery vary, as do records of the wording on the cross. The first account of the exhumation of Arthur's grave at Glastonbury is provided by Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis) in Liber de Principis instructione (On the Instruction of Princes c.1193):

“Although legends had fabricated something fantastical about his demise (that he had not suffered death, and was conveyed, as if by a spirit, to a distant place), his body was discovered at Glastonbury, in our own times, hidden very deep in the earth in an oak-hollow, between two stone pyramids that were erected long ago in that holy place. The tomb was sealed up with astonishing tokens, like some sort of miracle. The body was then conveyed into the church with honour, and properly committed to a marble tomb. A lead cross was placed under the stone, not above as is usual in our times, but instead fastened to the underside. I have seen this cross, and have traced the engraved letters -- not visible and facing outward, but rather turned inwardly toward the stone. It read: 'Here lies entombed King Arthur, with Guenevere his second wife, on the Isle of Avalon'.”

Gerald claims he was shown Arthur's tomb and relics by the Abbot Henry de Sully (Soilli), who was Abbot of Glastonbury from 1189 until being consecrated as bishop of Worcester in December 1193. Gerald's version is clearly not an eye-witness account, evidently he was not present at the exhumation, which, if it had taken place in 1191, Gerald must have visited the Abbey sometime between 1192 – 93. By the time of his visit Arthur's relics had been transferred to a new tomb within the church. [3]

In writing his second, and slightly different, account of the discovery of Arthur's grave in Speculum Ecclesiae (1216) Gerald states the wording on the cross read as:

“Here In The Isle of Avalon Lies Buried The Renowned King Arthur, With Guinevere, His Second Wife”.

In this later account Gerald explains that Geoffrey's account in the Vita Merlini is clearly at fault and provides the 'correct' version:

“Many tales are told and many legends have been invented about King Arthur and his mysterious ending. In their stupidity the British people maintain that he is still alive. Now that the truth is known, I have taken the trouble to add a few more details in this present chapter. The fairy-tales have been snuffed out, and the true and indubitable facts are made known, so that what really happened must be made crystal clear to all and separated from the myths which have accumulated on the subject.

After the Battle of Camlann. . . the sequel was that the body of Arthur, who had been mortally wounded, was carried off by a certain noble matron, called Morgan, who was his cousin, to the Isle of Avalon, which is now known as Glastonbury. Under Morgan's supervision the corpse was buried in the churchyard there. As a result, the credulous Britons and their bards invented the legend that a fantastic sorceress called Morgan had removed Arthur's body to the Isle of Avalon, so that she might cure his wounds there. According to them, once he has recovered from his wounds this strong and all-powerful King will return to rule over the Britons in the normal way. The result of all this is that they really expect him to come back, just as the Jews, led astray by even greater stupidity, misfortune and misplaced faith, really expect their Messiah to return.”

In both accounts Gerald goes on to explain Glastonbury as the Isle of Avalon.

Writing the official history of the Abbey nearly one hundred years after the great discovery of 1191 in Historia de rebus gestis Glastoniensibus, Adam of Damerham, provides another account of the discovery of the remains of Arthur:

"The King [Richard I] ....elevated as Abbot, Henry de Sully, Prior of Bermondsey, a man born of royal stock...He, frequently urged to dispose more fittingly of the famous king Arthur (for he had lain for 648 years near the old church, between two pyramids, once magnificently carved, one day surrounded the place with curtains and ordered that digging should be carried out...The Abbot and convent, raising up the remains, joyfully translated them into the great church, placing them in a double tomb, magnificently carved. The King's body was set by itself at the head of the tomb, that of the queen at the foot or the eastern part, and there they remain to the present day."

Exhumation of Arthur and Guinivere by Judith Dobie

There are several other accounts of the discovery of Arthur's grave at Glastonbury, such as detailed in the Chronicle of Margam Abbey and Ralph of Coggeshall, all giving differing versions, indeed the Margam Abbey account claimed that three bodies were found, the third being that of Mordred. Of course, the treacherous and adulterous nature of Mordred portrayed in later Arthurian Romance meant this was unthinkable and consequently was not pursued by other writers.

Notable amongst these accounts of the discovery of Arthur's grave. According to the Margam and Ralph of Coggeshall accounts it was found when a monk from the Abbey insisted on being buried between the pyramids in the ancient cemetery. But according to Gerald of Wales and the Glastonbury accounts king Henry II was told of the location of Arthur's grave by a Welsh bard; oddly, armed with this information, they made no attempt to exhume Arthur's bones until after Henry's death, some two years later. [4]

Gerald claimed to have handled the leaden burial cross and he alone makes reference to Guinevere as 'his second wife'. Later accounts clearly following Gerald also make the same claim, however, neither Ralph of Coggeshall nor Adam of Damerham report this. The cross appears to have been real enough and was later seen by Henry VIII's antiquarian John Leland in the 16th century and William Camden who published a sketch in the 1607 edition of his 'Britannia'. The epigraphy of the cross has been dated to pre-12th or possibly the 11th century. Ralegh Radord considered it to be at least prior to the Norman Conquest. [5] But there are no claims of the inscription dating from Arthur's flourit of the late 5th century. The cross has conveniently long since disappeared denying opportunity for further examination with modern techniques. The cross may well have been in existence in the 12th century at Glastonbury, but it has the reek of medieval copyists and forgers.

Archaeology of the Abbey Precinct
Excavations carried out at the Abbey in the 1960s, directed by Ralegh Radford set out to discover the earliest religious activity on the site. Radford uncovered an ancient cemetery of stone-lined graves where, nearby he found traces of a small timber structure thought to be the original church. The excavations also discovered several post-holes which Radford interpreted as traces of at least four early wattled oratories, characteristic of an early Celtic monastic settlement. However, there was no dating evidence found for these features and all lay beneath later Anglo-Saxon features. He also found two mausolea within the ancient cemetery. These rectangular tomb-shrines were designed to hold the bodies of saints or revered members of the community and probably marked by a standing cross. Mausolea of this type are relatively rare in Britain, being more common in Gaul and belonging to an early class of burial. One of the mausolea was found 50 feet south of the Lady Chapel and thought to have been marked by the southern of the two crosses, or pyramids as described by William Malmesbury in the early 12th century. According to Gerald of Wales this was the place Arthur's grave had been found by the monks of the Abbey in 1191.

During his excavations at this site Ralegh Radford found evidence of previous disturbance of a large hole dug between the pyramids which soon after was refilled with soil containing many mason's chippings of Doulting stone, a local stone which was first used at Glastonbury during the reconstruction of the Abbey immediately after the fire of 1184. Radford asserted that it was certain that the large hole he found between the site of the pyramids represents the excavation for the bodies of Arthur and Guinevere.

Ralegh Radford was co-founder with Geoffrey Ashe of the Camelot Research Project which later carried out large-scale excavations at South Cadbury, Somerset, in 1966-70 under the direction of Leslie Alcock in search of Arthur's Camelot. These three men have been largely responsible for promoting Arthur as an historical figure who was buried at Glastonbury Abbey. [6]

William of Malmesbury's original account describes how the first church was built by the disciples of Christ. He did however seem rather sceptical of this and whilst admitting that this was of course possible he added the comment, “I will leave such disputable matters and stick to solid facts”. The later medieval interpolations to William's text claim that twelve disciples were sent over from Gaul with Joseph of Arimithea. They were each given land in portions identified as the 'Twelve Hides'. They built a wattle church in honour of the Blessed Mary 31 years after the Passion, i.e. 63AD. The place was then deserted until King Lucius and the missionaries came over from Rome, as recounted in Bede and the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, but these sources failed to mention Glastonbury. [7]

As we have seen above both William and Caradoc of Llancarfan were commissioned by by the Abbey to provide an explanation for the acquirement of lands by the Abbey. The motive of both Caradoc's account, stating that Arthur gave lands to the Abbey, and William's claims of a charter that he dated to 601AD listing an Abbot with an apparent British name is to provide a pre-Saxon foundation story for the Abbey. The existence of the charter is doubted by most historians.

Indeed, there seems to be very little evidence for a pre-Saxon presence at the Abbey. There is evidence of some minor Roman activity on the site, a small quantity of pottery sherds and one or more possible Roman wells, one of which was located outside the south-east corner of the site of the old church which may have been associated with something earlier in this area. But further than that we cannot venture with any confidence. However, it must be stressed that the Roman material, such as pottery sherds, found during excavations of the Abbey precinct were all in soil moved in medieval times. Thus, to date no Roman finds have been discovered that can be considered in a primary context. [8]

In his original text William refers to the wattle church having been covered over with wooden planks and roofed with lead by Paulinus, the English missionary who was Archbishop of York in 625 – 33AD. Bede relates a similar account of Paulinus. This is the old church which William called the vetusta ecclesia, and was the first to do so. This is the earliest church known to have been in existence at Glastonbury which was seen and was described by William in the 12th century and survived until the fire of 1184. [9] It is unlikely to be older than the 7th century. However, it seems unlikely that a wooden construction would survive 5 centuries and the original church must have been repaired or rebuilt on several occasions.

Indeed, William describes the church of the Saxon king of Wessex, Ina, of the early 8th century as secondary to it, appended to the older building, implying that the vetusta ecclesia was directly west of this stone building. [10]

Ralegh Radford's excavation at the Abbey revealed evidence of a ditch and bank to the east of the early church thought to define the inner enclosure of the monastic settlement. The bank on the west side has been largely levelled by subsequent building on the site. [11] This common boundary feature was known as the vallum monasterii, a feature which can often be found in various saints' Lives. In the early days of the Church this boundary defined, and separated, the sacred from the profane. The ditch, internal bank and beneath it in the earlier ground surface failed to reveal any dating evidence, suggesting the vallum is part of the primary layout of the Abbey. However in other ditches on the site finds have been dated to the Saxon period. It is not known how far the vallum extended to the north or south or where the other sides lie. [12]

The enigmatic earthwork of Ponter's Ball may have been part of the smaller boundary and has the appearance of a Dark Age dyke but finds ranging from the Iron Age to the medieval period leave the date uncertain. The greater enclosure of the Abbey may well have been a vast monastic estate comprising the traditional 'Twelve Hides'.

Excavations carried out on Glastonbury Tor between 1964 -66 revealed evidence for a Dark Age settlement. Pottery sherds from amphorae, storage or transit vessels for wine, olive oil and other materials imported from the Mediterranean, dated to the 5th and 6th centuries. These imports are fundamental to the dating of Dark Age sites in the west of Britain. [See: Camelot Abandoned] A number of animal bones, mainly cattle but also sheep and pig, along with evidence of several timber structures were uncovered on the summit of the Tor in the vicinity of the surviving medieval tower of St Michael's Church. On the north side of the later church two graves were found leading to suggestions of this being the site of a hermitage. The medieval forgery, 'the charter of St Patrick' makes mention of 'two lay brothers' on the Tor named Arnulph and Ogmar. This of course cannot be accepted as historical evidence by any means but it does point to a medieval tradition that there was possibly a secular foundation on the Tor during the time of St Patrick, the late 4th to early 5th centuries. [13]

However, these structures and Dark Age finds on the Tor are earlier than any structures found at the Abbey site, indeed Ralegh Radford's excavation at the Abbey reported a total absence of sub-Roman dating evidence. [14] Therefore it seems probable that the pre-Saxon presence on the Tor was developed into an early monastic site by the incoming rulers of Wessex, possibly one of the earliest in Britain. Anglo-Saxon control over the Church in the 7th and 8th century led to a major expansion of Christianity at Glastonbury which was expressed at the Abbey site. This corresponds with the earliest features at the Abbey which date to the 7th century. An Anglo-Saxon monastic settlement occupied the shoulder of the Tor, a flattish area to the west of the summit. As this site expanded it spilled over into the Abbey site with the Tor serving as a hermitage or retreat for monks from the Abbey with use continuing into the post-Conquest period with construction of the stone church, the tower of which survives today, after being rebuilt following damage by an earth tremor.

The construction of the crypt of the 12th century Lady Chapel at the Abbey destroyed the whole area of the site of the vetusta ecclesia and ruined any possibility of future archaeology finding any dating evidence from the early church.

Return of the King
In 1276 Edward I, King of England, had declared war on Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales, the last prince of an independent Wales before conquest by the English. Llewelyn had been a constant thorn in the king's side and instrumental in the Welsh uprising. The threat of the return of Arthur to lead the Welsh to victory against Edward played a major part in events at Glastonbury.

As we have seen above, following the exhumation of Arthur and Guinevere in 1190 or 1191, the relics were transferred into the Church, the position of the tomb not specified. However, with the prospect of further Welsh rebellion they dug the King up again in 1278 just to make sure he was dead. Adam of Damerham, a monk at Glastonbury and probably an eye witness, describes the event:

“The lord Edward....with his consort, the lady Eleanor, came to Glastonbury.......to celebrate Easter....the following Tuesday....at dusk, the lord king had the tomb of the famous King Arthur opened. Wherein, in two caskets painted with their pictures and arms, were found separately the bones of the said king, which were of great size, and those of Queen Guinevere, which were of great beauty......On the following day.....the lord king replaced the bones of the king and queen ...each in their own casket, having wrapped them in costly silks. When they had been sealed they ordered the tomb to be placed forthwith in front of the high altar, after the removal of the skulls for the veneration of the people.” [15]

This was to be the ultimate act of dominion by the English king; handling the remains of the great hope of the Welsh. Edward's actions spelled out in no uncertain terms “here is your king, your saviour, I handle his bones. Your king is dead and your hopes with him.”

For the restless Welsh, their Messiah dead, proven by retrieval of his body, the political consequences were clear enough. The king was dead and could not return to lead them to victory.

The tomb was destroyed at the Reformation and the bones lost.

Conclusion
Scholarly opinion believes the exhumation at the Abbey to have been a hoax. The evidence presented above provides no reason to disagree with that. Indeed there is no evidence of a pre-Saxon religious presence at the Abbey site and this likely an overspill from early religious activities on the Tor. [16] Indeed, as we have seen above, the British name for Glastonbury (Ynyswitrin) appears to be an attempt to explain the Saxon name of the town, this being compatible with the town failing to possess a pre-Saxon existence.

The effects of the exhumation in 1191 proved a valuable source of income for the Abbey by way of pilgrimage. Remarkably, since the fire on St Urban's day, 25 May, 1184, the relics of several saints had been found there in a very short time [17] and this at a time when, following the death of king Henry II, funding for the Abbey had been switched off with the new monarch, Richard the Lionheart diverting resources into funding the Crusades.

After the destruction of the Abbey in 1539 following the Dissolution of the Monasteries the relics housed at Glastonbury were scattered to the four winds and lost forever. Excluding the leaden burial cross, which apparently survived until the 18th century, how odd that not one relic exists claiming to be a remnant of Arthur or Guinevere. For such precious relics it is absolutely inconceivable that some local inhabitant did not retrieve just a small souvenir. There are not even any claimants from other religious establishments. Not one skull fragment, mandible or thigh bone exists. Not one item exists claiming to a relic of the Arthur found at Glastonbury in 1191.

Gerald of Wales liked a good story and cannot be considered a reliable historian by any account, and but for the inexorable denial of three successive kings would have become consecrated as Bishop of St Davids, and potentially the first Archbishop of Wales. [18] We can only assume that this medieval spin-doctor was deemed unsuitable for such a position in the church.

The discovery of Arthur's remains at Glastonbury must have come as somewhat a shock as William of Malmesbury had stated that “The sepulcher of Arthur is no where to be seen,” (Gesta Regum Anglorum, Book III). Notably, William had had access to the Glastonbury archive before much of it was destroyed in the fire of 1184 but failed to connect Arthur with Glastonbury.

The mystery of Arthur's grave persists:

“There is a grave for March, a grave for Gwythur,
a grave for Gwgawn Red-sword;
the world's wonder, a grave for Arthur” [19]

Appendix II: The Legend of Arthur's Survival

Notes:
1. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Passing of Arthur from Idylls of the King
2. R F Treharne,The Glastonbury Legends, The Cresset Press, 1967.
3. Ibid.
4. Richard Barber, Was Mordred Buried at Glastonbury, in Glastonbury Abbey and the Arthurian Tradition, ed, James P Carley, D S Brewer, 2001, pp.145-159,
4. C A Ralegh Radford, Glastonbury Abbey, in The Quest for Arthur's Britain, ed Geoffrey Ashe, Pall Mall Press, 1968, pp.100-1.
5. Ibid.
6. Philip Rahtz and Lorna Watts, Glastonbury: Archaeology and Myth, The History Press, 2009, p.61
7. Philip Rahtz, Pagan and Christian by the Severn Sea, in The Archaeology and History of Glastonbury Abbey, ed. Lesley Abrams and James p Carley, The Boydell Press, 1991, pp.3-38, footnote p.22.
8. Rahtz and Watts, op cit. p.62.
9. Ibid. p.91-92.
10. Ralegh Radford, op cit. p.105.
11. Rahtz and Watts, op cit. pp.118 – 119.
12. Ibid. pp.71 – 73.
13. Ralegh Radford, op cit. p.103.
14. Ibid. p.100.
15. Rahtz and Watts, op cit.
16. Namely Saints Patrick, Indract, Brigit, Gildas and Dunstan, all of whom had stronger claimants to their relics elsewhere. Glastonbury's claims that they held the relics of St Dunstan led to vigorous dispute with Christ Church, Canterbury, where as Archbishop has been interred. Charles T Wood, Fraud and its Consequences, in The Archaeology and History of Glastonbury Abbey, ed. Lesley Abrams and James p Carley, The Boydell Press, 1991, pp.273-284.
17. Treharne, op cit.
18. "Stanzas of the Graves" (The Graves of the Warriors of Britain), from the Black Book of Carmarthen.

In Memory of Philip Rahtz (1921 - 2011)
While researching the Glastonbury excavations I came across the sad news that Philip Rahtz had passed away on 2nd June 2011 at the age of 90.

The obituary in The Times, 14th June, described Professor Rahtz as a ‘famously hands-on archaeologist and excavator whose innovative teaching at York inspired and challenged a generation of students’.

* * *

Isle of Glass (2)

2011-07-10T11:58:00.004+01:00

The Abduction of Guinevere Part VI

Conclusion: City of Glass?

In a gloss at the end of Caradoc of Llancarfan's Vita Gildae, the author attempts to explain the etymology of the British name for Glastonbury, Ynisgutrin as the City of Glass:

“Glastonia was of old called Ynisgutrin, and is still called so by the British inhabitants. Ynis in the British language is insula in Latin, and gutrin (made of glass). But after the coming of the English and the expulsion of the Britons, that is, the Welsh, it received a fresh name, Glastigberi, according to the formation of the first name, that is English glass, Latin vitrum, and beria a city; then Glastinberia, that is, the City of Glass.” [7]

We find a similar reference in the Welsh poem the Spoils of Annwn which describes a raid on an Otherworld Isle, citing various names for the Otherworld as a supernatural stronghold, described as a poem providing an opportunity for Taliesin to provide a "glittering kaleidoscope view of the Otherworld." [8] In this poem we find the third name listed for the Celtic Otherworld as 'Caer Wydyr', the 'Fortress of Glass'. This is compatible with the accounts of Chrétien de Troyes and the Historia Brittonum we have seen above (Isle of Glass Part I) which refer to a glass tower on an island.

The association of Glastonbury with the Isle of Glass is based on a false etymology of the name Ynisgutrin which looks suspiciously like an attempt to explain the English name in the British tongue. In fact there is very little evidence for a pre-Saxon presence at Glastonbury and we must bear in mind that Caradoc of Llancarfan was writing for the monks of Glastonbury, his prime objective in this passage is to explain why the Abbey acquired great estates in ancient times. [9] Indeed, the name of the Somerset town defies a satisfactory etymology and it was not until the 12th century that it became associated with the realm of the Celtic Otherworld of Avalon.

Fabulous Voyages

As we seen above (Isle of Glass Part I), all the accounts of a journey to the Otherworld that feature in Preiddeu Annfwn (Spoils of Annwn), the Second Branch of the Mabinogi (Mabinogi of Branwen), Cuwlwch and Olwen, and the Vita Gildae (Life of Gildas) appear to possess remnants of a now lost common origin of an ancient Celtic voyage myth. This episode, prominent throughout Welsh Celtic mythology is reminiscent of the early Irish Immrama, the fabulous Voyages in which they literally go Island hoping through the Otherworld. Indeed, many consider the Spoils of Annwn should be grouped in the same category as the Voyage of Bran, the Voyage of Mael Duin and the Christianised The Voyage of Saint Brendan.

The 10th century tale of the Voyage of Saint Brendan (Navigatio Brendani) commences with a Saint Barrind telling of his visit to the Island of Paradise, which prompts Brendan, a 6th century Saint, to set off on his legendary quest for the Isle of the Blessed (St. Brendan's Island). The tale introduces us to St Barrind, the Christian Saint remembered in Ynys y Barri (Barry Island), a peninsula in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. St Barri, is the 6th century disciple of Saint Cadoc who forgot to bring the Saint's reading matter with him on a journey from the island of Flat Holm in the Bristol Channel. He was sent back to retrieve it but he drowned on the return journey. He was buried on Ynys y Barri, the ruins of the chapel in Friars Road is dedicated to him.

This Saint Barrind is no less than the prototype of Barinthus, the pilot of Arthur's death barge who guides Myrddin and Taliesin on their voyage to 'The Fortunate Isle', introduced to the Arthurian cycle by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Vita Merlini, c.1150:

Julia Margaret Cameron
from Tennyson's Idylls of the King 1875

“The island of apples which men call 'The Fortunate Isle' gets its name from the fact that it produces all things of itself; the fields there have no need of the ploughs of the farmers and all cultivation is lacking except what nature provides. Of its own accord it produces grain and grapes, and apple trees grow in its woods from the close-clipped grass. The ground of its own accord produces everything instead of merely grass, and people live there a hundred years or more.

There nine sisters rule by a pleasing set of laws those who come to them from our country. She who is first of them is more skilled in the healing art, and excels her sisters in the beauty of her person. Morgen is her name, and she has learned what useful properties all the herbs contain, so that she can cure sick bodies. ….......... And men say that she has taught mathematics to her sisters, Moronoe, Mazoe, Gliten, Glitonea, Gliton, Tyronoe, Thitis; Thitis best known for her cither.

“Thither after the battle of Camlan we took the wounded Arthur, guided by Barinthus to whom the waters and the stars of heaven were well known. With him steering the ship we arrived there with the prince.... .. "[10]

It is often assumed that Geoffrey may have obtained his Barinthus from the Voyage of Saint Brendan, with his role that of the ferryman, a Celtic Charon. However, it has been argued that Geoffrey based his Barinthus on an earlier tradition in which he was god of the sea and the Otherworld. [11] The Life of St David reveals a pre-Geoffrey Celtic tradition of St Barri which cannot be a mere adaptation form the Latin legend of Brendan. The tale reveals how one day St Barri borrowed a horse from St David and rode it across the sea from Wales to Ireland, suggesting that Barri must have been riding a sort of fish or sea-horse. Rather an odd thing for a Christian saint to do.

We find similar accounts in Irish mythology in which Manannán mac Lír, is featured riding on a sea-horse across the ocean between Ireland and Wales, although what appears to be the sea to men is to Manannán the flowering plain of Mag Mell. [12] Surely the tale reveals that Barri was in all probability originally a Celtic sea god, like Manannán, who became Christianised as a Saint. This is a common trait of the early Saints Lives and other Celtic literature. Barintus may therefore be an epithet, such as the Irish Barrfind, or Finbarr, which means literally 'white-topped'. [13] As we have seen previously, the denotation of 'white' implies Otherworldly connotations, usually applied to a deity. [14]

Indeed, a more appropriate name for a god of the sea would be hard to find. It seems highly probable that Barintus, or Barri, was in origin a sea-deity and consequently an early Celtic god of the Land beyond the Waves. The Barintus episode fails to form an integral part of the Voyage of Saint Brendan, as is common in typical Celtic Otherworld voyage tales, he appears briefly at the beginning as an Otherworld messenger who suggests to the Hero the idea of the voyage. [15]

However, while the immrama, the name derived from Middle Irish literally 'rowing out', refer specifically to supernatural sea voyages, they tend to be Christianised accounts, which seems at odds with the accounts discussed above, the Spoils of Annwn, Voyage of Bran and so on, which are overtly pagan. The same must be said of the abduction of Guinevere from the Vita Gildae and the similar episode from the early works of Chrétien de Troyes. This appears to be mainly due to the misnomer of Immram Brain (The Voyage of Bran).

Essentially the immrama are not strictly concerned with the Otherworld; although they contain supernatural elements, they are firmly set in the Christianised world with a Christian hero. The Voyage of Bran, although named as such, is not an immram but belongs to a group of older tales recounting an excursion to the Otherworld, collectively called 'echtrai' in Old Irish. The story of Bran's voyage probably became confused with that of Brendan the Navigator (Navigatio Brendani), and the term immram became attached, incorrectly, to Bran's story. [16]

Saint Brendan

The echtrai then are specifically concerned with the adventure of a hero in the Otherworld. As we have seen above with Barrind, a god or goddesses often calls the hero to the voyage, which leads him to one of many Otherworld locations which are not always an island; within hills, beneath lakes or the sea, on islands in lakes or off the coast, or a hall chanced upon during the night but vanished the next day. Evidently they can only be attained by men at particular times. [17] Barrind, Barintus or Barri bears much in common with Manannán mac Lír, who in the echtrae is often the deity of the sea and patron of sea travellers, and the goddess of the tale typically one of his daughters, who are usually bearing a flowering silver branch of apples, as an indicator of their Otherworldy status.

The point of the echtrae is either to lure a hero to the Otherworld for eternity as a husband for one of the goddesses or to impart some form of wisdom unto the hero. Only the chosen return from the echtrai, and those who return against the will of the gods usually perish, having found that they had been away for hundreds of years. [18] The echtrai are amongst the oldest Celtic tales of supernatural adventures, dating to at least the 8th century, the product of the Celtic imagination at it's most creative. Indeed, the Irish Otherworld adventure tale Baile in Scail (The Ectasy of the Phantom) has been considered a precursor to the episode of the Grail castle. [19] The heroes of the echtrai are typically sovereigns borrowed from other mythological cycles portraying the close relationship between ancient kings and magic; generally the greater the elements of magic, the older the tale.

Caradoc of Llancarfan's account of the abduction of Guinevere as contained in the Vita Gildae betrays traces of an Otherworld adventure, belonging, with the likes of the poem Spoils of Annwn, a Celtic supernatural excursion. As noted above, the Celtic Otherworld location does not necessarily have to lie over the sea, although this is compatible with the belief system of an island society. Indeed, in Middle Welsh, if the location of Annwn is mentioned at all, a place beneath the earth, the abyss, is often favoured, [20] but not exclusively so, for it can be over, or under, the sea. Essentially, the Welsh Annwn seems to be a single realm which can be entered from many places on earth and sea. [21] 'Caer Wydyr', the 'Fortress of Glass' is crucially part of that realm.

Whereas, we cannot rule out the possibility of influence from the Greek Persephone myth, in later medieval Arthurian Romance, carried by pilgrims returning into western Europe along the route of the First Crusade in the early 11th century, it is not necessary in the account of the abduction of Guinevere as all the elements were already in existence in the much earlier Celtic Otherworld adventures.

Postscript

Waters of Wisdom

The supernatural journeys possess the commonality of crossing water to attain the Otherworld, regardless of the location; a motif which we see echoed throughout Indo-European mythologies. On the way to the Otherworld, souls of the dead had to cross a river, the waters of which washed away all of their memories. But these memories were not destroyed, they were carried by the river's waters to a spring where they would bubble up and could be drunk by other, favoured individuals, initiates who would receive inspiration and become infused with supernatural wisdom as a result. [22]

The Isle of the Dead by Arnold Bocklin, 1883

We find the motif of drinking from the well of wisdom throughout North European mythologies, one of the best known is the Norse Mimir's Spring, which interprets as the 'Spring of Memory'. Typically, Mimir's Spring is located in the Otherworld, drinking it's waters imbibes supernatural wisdom, it is connected to a river that flows from the Otherworld. Odin sacrificed his eye to drink from these waters in order to gain wisdom.

There can be little doubt that these many voyages to the Otherworld were in origin a quest for such wisdom:

You will find a spring to the left of the house of Hades,

And standing beside that is a white cypress.

Do not approach close to the spring,

You will find another, flowing cold water

From the pool of Memory, before it there are guards,

Say: “I am a child of Earth and of Starry Heaven;

But my lineage is of Heavenly.

You must see this yourselves.

I perish and am withered with thirst. Give quickly

The cold water flowing from the pool of Memory.”

And they themselves will give you to drink from the divine spring,

And thereafter you shall reign among the other heroes. [23]

Appendix: The Celtic Messiah

Notes:

7. The Life of Gildas by Caradoc of Llancarfan, from Two Lives of Gildas by a monk of Ruys and Caradoc of Llancarfan. Hugh Williams, translator. First published in the Cymmrodorion Record Series, 1899. Mary Jones Celtic Literature Collective.

8. Marged Haycock, Taliesin: Legendary Poems, CMCS Publications, 2007, p.434.

9. James P Carley, Arthur in English History, in The Arthur of the English, ed. WRJ Barron, University of Wales Press, 2001, pp.47-57.

10. The Vita Merlini, Translated by John Jay Parry, 1925. Parry notes that the description of the Fortunate Isles comes largely from classical tradition such as can be found in Isidore, but adds that Geoffrey also seems to have been influenced by Celtic legends of the Otherworld, as a land of paradise. Parry quotes a significant passage in Pomponius Mela, De Situ Orbis, III, 6, which reflects the ancient Celtic tradition. Parry also notes the similarity to The Gesta Regum Britanniae (Deeds of the Kings of Britain), written at some time between 1235 and 1254, and attributed to a Breton monk, William of Rennes, which, although later in date than the Vita Merlini may represent an independent tradition. The Gesta is fundamentally an adaptation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and retains Geoffrey's overall structure, but expands upon some elements, possibly were William had access to traditional Breton sources that Geoffrey omitted. Significantly, following Wace, in his account William omits the Prophecies of Merlin section of the Historia.

11. Arthur C L Brown, Barintus, Revue Celtique, XXII, 1901.

12. Francesco Benozzo, Landscape Perception Early Celtic Literature, Celtic Studies Publications, 2004, pp.3-18.

13. Arthur C L Brown, op cit.

14. The Abduction of Guinevere, Part IV: White Phantom, Arthur's Otherworld Possessions.

15. Arthur C L Brown, op cit.

16. Mary Jones, 'echtrae', Jones Celtic Encyclopedia.

17. John Carey, The location of the Otherworld in Irish tradition, First published in The Otherworld voyage in early Irish literature, ed. J. Wooding, Four Courts, 2000, pp.113-119.

18. Mary Jones, 'immrama', Jones Celtic Encyclopedia.

19. John Carey, Ireland and the Grail, Celtic Studies Publications, 2007, pp.15-26. Carey notes that the similarity between Baile in Scail and Chrétien de Troyes Story of the Graal was first suggested by Roger Sherman Loomis in Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance in 1926.

20. John Carey, The location of the Otherworld in Irish tradition, op cit.

21. Patrick Sims-Williams, Irish Influence on Medieval Welsh Literature, Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 56-59.

22. Bruce Lincoln, Death, War and Sacrifice, University of Chicago Press, 1991.2

23. Ibid. Instructions for the post mortem journey found on an inscription on a gold plate discovered in a grave in Petelia, southern Italy, third century BC. The thin plate was rolled into a cylinder, inserted in a sheath and hung around the neck of the deceased.

* * *

The Isle of Glass

2011-07-03T16:05:00.005+01:00

The Abduction of Guinevere Part V

Tales from the Otherworld
In Part I: The Abduction of Guinevere we saw how Chrétien de Troyes introduced Lancelot to the world of Arthurian Romance as both Guinevere's lover and rescuer in the late 12th century tale Lancelot, or the Knight of the Cart, (Lancelot, ou Le Chevalier à la Charrette).

Lancelot receives nothing more than a passing mention in Chrétien's earlier and first Arthurian work Erec et Enide in which he appears as Lancelot of the Lake, third in a list of the knights of the Round Table. It is also in Erec et Enide that we first encounter Guinevere's abductor from the Otherworld where we find the figure appearing briefly as“Maheloas, a great baron, lord of the Isle de Voirre. In this island no thunder is heard, no lighting strikes, nor tempests rage, nor do toads or serpents exist there, nor is it ever too hot or too cold.” [1]

Lancelot crossing the Sword Bridge

In Lancelot Chrétien expands on the persona of Maheloas, Lord of the Isle of Voirre (glass) and we encounter the figure of Meleagant, referred to as a huge and mighty knight, evil son of Bademagu the king of the land of Gorre, who has carried Guinevere off into the kingdom from which no one returns. The knights are told that it is only possible to enter this land by two extremely perilous ways; the Underwater Bridge or the Sword Bridge. They chose the latter. On arriving at the Sword Bridge they found it crossed treacherous, black water, roaring, swift and swirling, as horrifying and frightening as if it were the Devil's own stream. The bridge was unlike any other, it was as sharp as a gleaming sword, as long as two lances. On either side the sword was fixed to tree stumps and the knights were convinced that two lions or leopards were tethered to a large rock at the other end of the bridge. On crossing he immediately encountered king Bademagu in his tower. [2]

Chrétien seems to have pulled heavily from Celtic sources, and Meleagant, or Maheloas, is no less than later versions of the prototype Melwas as he appears in the first account of Gwenhwyfar's abduction in the early 12th century Life of Gildas (Vita Gildae c.1120) said to have been penned by Caradoc of Llancarvan (Caradog Llancarfan). Llancarfan is a small rural village near Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales, and the site of Saint Cadoc's 6th century Abbey, whose foundation it usually assigned to with Dubricius, (St. Dubric) and the time of St. Germanus's visit to Britain in the mid-5th century. On Dubricius' elevation to bishop, Cattwg (St Cadoc) succeeded as Abbot. The Abbey became a Celtic 'Clas' a college and monastery where many Welsh holy men studied. [3]

A few miles further along the Vale of Glamorgan is Llantwit Major and the site of “the oldest university in the world", Cor Tewdws, the divinity school. Cor Tewdws, or Bangor Tewdws (College of Theodosius) was burnt down in the mid-5th century but was refounded by St Illtyd (Illtud) some sixty years later. Ss. Patrick, David, Gildas, Tudwal, Samson, and Maelgwn (later king of Gwynedd), amongst a host of others, including the heretic Pelagius, founder of the doctrine known as Pelagianism, are said to have studied at here.

Vale of Glamorgan

This veritable hotbed of religious schooling in the Vale of Glamorgan was responsible for producing many of the 'Saint's Lives' which contain some of the earliest reference to Arthur. He appears in the Lives of Padarn, Carannog, Illtud, Gildas, Cadog, Goueznou and Euflamm. [4]

Typically, in these Saint's tales Arthur is depicted as somewhat of a tyrant, usually at odds with the church. In this earliest stratum of the legend Arthur is portrayed as:

“....a defender of his country against every kind of danger, both internal and external: a slayer of giants and witches, a hunter of monstrous animals ........ giant boars, a savage cat monster, a winged serpent (or dragon) ….... and also, as it appears from Culhwch and Preiddeu Annwn, a releaser of prisoners. This concept is substantiated from all the early sources: the poems Pa Gur and Prieddeu Annwn, the Triads, the Saint's Lives, and the Miribilia attached to the Historia Brittonum...” [5]

Clearly, in the earliest Arthurian literature we are dealing with mythology rather than history. However, it is the Vita Gildae of Caradoc of Llancarfan, written in the first quarter of the 12th century, that concerns us here. In this tale we find a version of the early Welsh tale of the rescue of Gwenhwyfar from an Otherworld Isle of Glass of Melwas. This account may provide the background to Ymddiddan Melwas ac Gwenhwyfar (The Dialogue of Melwas and Gwenhyfer), dated on linguistic evidence to the 12th century, or both may independently refer to a common exemplar.

Caradoc recounts how Gwenhwyfar was kidnapped by Melwas, king of the "Summer Country" (Aestiva Regio), generally agreed as meaning Somerset, but this is based on an incorrect understanding of the term. Whereas we can agree that the Latin 'aestiva' means 'summer', 'regione' is plural for 'regio' in a geographical sense meaning 'district, region', or 'lands'. Therefore a preferable etymology of 'aestiva regione' would be 'summer lands' or more correctly 'land of summer'. The Celtic Otherworld is often described as being a land of paradise, happiness, and eternal summer and this is exactly how Chrétien describes his Isle de Voirre in Eric et Enide.

Isles of the Dead
This Otherworld was thought to be similar to the Elysium of Greek mythology and believed to be located on an island in the Western Sea in the area of the setting sun. A place where there was no sickness, old age or death, a place of eternal happiness and in Irish mythology variously called Tír na mBeo ("Land of the Living"), Mag Mell ("Delightful Plain"), and Tír na nÓg ("Land of Youth").

Isles of the Blessed

We noted above in Chrétien de Troyes' Lancelot, or the Knight of the Cart, that on immediately crossing the Sword Bridge to the Land of Gorre, the knight immediately encountered king Bademagu in his tower. In the Isle Of Glass this can be no less than the Tower of Glass. One of the earliest literary references we have to a glass tower in the ocean appears in the 9th century Historia Brittonum:

“Long after this, the Scots arrived in Ireland from Spain. The first that came was Partholomus, with a thousand men and women, these increased to four thousand; but a mortality coming suddenly upon them, they all perished in one week. The second was Nimech, the son of …..who, according to report, after having his ships shattered, arrived at a port in Ireland, and continuing there several years, returned at length with his followers to Spain. After these came three sons of a Spanish soldier with thirty ships, each of which contained thirty wives; and having remained there during the space of a year, there appeared to them, in the middle of the sea, a tower of glass, the summit of which seemed covered with men, to whom they often spoke, but received no answer. At length they determined to besiege the tower; and after a year's preparation, advanced towards it, with the whole number of their ships, and all the women, one ship only excepted, which had been wrecked, and in which were thirty men, and as many women; but when all had disembarked on the shore which surrounded the tower, the sea opened and swallowed them up.”

This episode immediately brings to mind the classic Celtic story of a raid on the Otherworld to retrieve the magic cauldron. Remnants of this tale appear in Preiddeu Annfwn (Spoils of Annwn), the Second Branch of the Mabinogi and Cuwlwch and Olwen. The cauldron is wrested by the deity Bran, the Blessed, in The Second Branch, the Mabinogi of Branwen, substituting Arthur from Preiddeu Annfwn. But there is also a wrested Irish cauldron in Culhwch and Olwen. In the latter of these two accounts of the raid on the Otherworld has became on a raid on Ireland showing its similarity to the story of the glass tower from the Historia Brittonum passage on the peopling of Ireland.

It is possible that Ireland may have been perceived as a kind of "Otherworld" in Welsh lore, an island to the west, which would explain the Irish name given to the first mention of the fortress, Caer Siddi, in the Spoils of Annwn. Indeed, this Arthurian poem shares the episode of the of the difficulty of conversing with three score watchmen on the wall in the Historia Brittonum. These are clearly the souls of the dead; in Celtic mythology the supernatural cauldron has the power to bring the dead back to life but without the power of speech. The indications here seem quite clear; a raid on the Otherworld by Arthur and his retinue to retrieve a supernatural cauldron; the Celtic cauldron of plenty was never empty and supplied great quantities of food and the cauldron of rebirth brought slain warriors to life again. As we in Part IV: White Phantom, many of Arthur's possessions, including his wife Gwenhwyfar, came from the Otherworld.

The Historia Brittonum passage also states that only one ship survived; Spoils of Annwn recalls that none, save seven returned from three full shiploads of Arthur's ship Prydwen and the Mabinogi of Branwen reveals that only seven men survived with Bran. The abduction epsiode in Caradoc's Vita Gildae has the same Otherworldly adventure feel about it; a journey to the Isle of Glass. Indeed, in the Vita Gildae, Saint Gildas has come down to the Land of Summer from the Orcades in the North. Orcades is usually referred to as the Orkney Isles but Orcus is yet another name for the Otherworld.

Ancient geographers on the journey to Thule referred to passing by 'Orc Island,' or 'Innis Orc' to use the old Gaelic name. However, this name may have originated from the tales of superstitious mariners referring to Islands of the Dead at the far ends of the ocean rather than a physical place. Consider the account of the 6th century historian Procopius of Caesarea who recorded that many people had told him that the inhabitants of an island off the coast of Brittia was where the souls of the dead are ferried. Brittia is interpreted by many historians to mean Britain.

It is seemingly not of Celtic origin as 'Orca' is the Latin name for a sea creature, nowadays applied to the killer whale. The Latin word 'Orc' has the literal meaning of 'the dead, death,' or the 'underworld.' In Roman mythology we find Orcus was a god of the underworld, punisher of broken oaths. The Romans sometimes conflated Orcus with other gods such as Pluto, Hades, and Dis Pater, all deities of the land of the dead. Therefore, Orcus can mean both 'the underworld' or 'the god of the underworld.' Thus, Orcades may refer to the island abode of Orcus, god of the dead.

In some mythologies it is common to find the Otherworld is located in the north. Remnants of this belief seem to have perpetuated into Celtic mythology; in Cuhwhch and Olwen, Arthur went to the North to resolve the issue with Gwyn and Gwrythr; later in Cuhwhch Arthur travels to Uffern, in the north, to obtain the blood of the Very Black Witch. Gwyn is there also. Uffern is used as another name for the Otherworld in Spoils of Annwn.

“Said Arthur, "Is there any one of the marvels yet unobtained?" Said one of his men, "There is--the blood of the witch Orddu, the daughter of the witch Orwen, of Pen Nant Govid, on the confines of Hell." Arthur set forth towards the North, and came to the place where was the witch's cave. And Gwyn ab Nudd, and Gwythyr the son of Greidawl, counselled him to send Kacmwri, and Hygwyd his brother, to fight with the witch”. [6]

Gwyn ap Nudd's association with the Otherworld is beyond doubt. In Part III: White, The Winter King we saw that in abducting Creiddylad, Gwyn takes the place of Hades in the Greek Persephone myth. In the medieval tales this role has been passed on to Melwas, or his later namesakes.

In the poem The Dialogue of Gwyn ap Nudd and Gwyddno Garanhir from the Black Book of Carmarthen, Gwyn is described as “the hope of armies” and boasts how he has been where the soldiers of Britain were slain. This would appear to be a reference to his role as psychopomp, escort of the souls of the dead. The poem also recalls how he witnessed a conflict before Caer Vandwy, yet another Otherworldy fortress named in the Spoils of Annwn.

Conclusion: City of Glass?

Notes:
1. Chrétien de Troyes: Arthurian Romances, Erec and Enide, trans. Carleton W Carroll, Penguin Books, 1991, pp.37-122.
2. Chrétien de Troyes: Arthurian Romances, The Knight of the Cart (Lancelot), trans. William W Kibler, Penguin Books, 1991, pp.215-246.
3. Constantius' Life of St. Germanus, written about fifty years after the death of the saint, makes no mention of any school founded by him or indeed his presence in Wales. As ever with these early Saints tales we must exercise caution in considering their historical value.
4. For translations see: John B. Coe and Simon Young (ed. and trans.), The Celtic Sources for the Arthurian Legend, Llanerch, 1995. For discussion of the Saints’ Lives see B.F. Roberts, ‘Culhwch ac Olwen, the Triads, Saints’ Lives’, in R. Bromwich et al, The Arthur of the Welsh, Welsh University Press 1991, and Oliver J Padel, Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature, University of Wales Press, 2000.
5. R. Bromwich and D. Simon Evans, editors, Culhwch and Olwen. An edition and study of the oldest Arthurian tale, Welsh University Press, 1992, pp. Xxviii-xxix.
6. Ibid.

* * *

Who Was The Real Arthur?

2011-06-11T13:21:00.001+01:00

Poll Results
For the months of April/May Clas Merdin has been running a poll on the identity of the Real Arthur.
A select list of the most popular candidates was offered with the addition of a final category for those who doubt the King's historical existence.

Poll Results:

Lucius Castus Artorius 5%
Ambrosius 37%
Riothamus 37%
Vortigern 0%
Cerdic 1%
Cunegulasus 0%
Athwrys of Gwent 3%
Creation of Geoffrey of Monmouth 1%
Never existed 11%

Not surprisingly the two most likely candidates for an historical Arthur came joint top of the poll with 37% each:

Ambrosius Aurelius
According to Gildas the Last of the Romans who's family wore the purple, and led the beleaguered Britons to victory at the Battle of Badon Hill, c.495AD. Nennius claims Arthur was the leader of the Britons at Badon making Ambrosius a strong contender for the historical Dux Bellorum. Little is known of the historical Ambrosius outside of Gildas. Right time, right place, right result.

Riothamus

The name Riothamus may actually have been a title meaning "high-king" which would agree with the chronicler Jordanes, who stated he was called "King of the Britons". He was active in Gaul c.470 AD. In The Origin and Deeds of the Goths, Jordanes states that Riothamus supported the Romans and "came with twelve thousand men into the state of the Bituriges by the way of Ocean" against Euric's Visigoths. A letter from Sidonius Apollinaris implies that Riothamus was betrayed by the Praetorian Prefect of Gaul, Arvandus who told Euric that "the Britons stationed beyond the Loire should be attacked". Consequently the Goths intercepted Riothamus' army and he was heavily defeated fighting against overwhelming odds. He was last seen heading toward Avallon in Burgundy. Could Riothamus have been healed at Avallon and returned to Britain to fight he Battle of Badon some twenty odd years later?

The theory of King Arthur as Riothamus who met his demise in France is not a new one and has been championed in recent years by Geoffrey Ashe in The Discovery of King Arthur, (1985) and more recently by Marilyn Floyde, King Arthur's French Odyssey (2009).

However, Léon Fleuriot has argued that Riothamus is identical to Ambrosius Aurelianus which is compatible with the Poll result.

The only other serious contender to these two most likely candidates was that Arthur never existed coming in at 11%. This is suggestive of a growing number that see Arthur, pre-Geoffrey of Monmouth, as a non-historical character, a mythical figure of early Welsh poetry who journeys to the Otherworld at will, fighting monsters and accompanied by deities from the Celtic pantheon.

* * *

Rediscovering Glastonbury Abbey Excavations 1908 – 1979

2011-06-05T17:42:00.004+01:00

One-Day Symposium 9th June 2011

This one-day symposium to be held at Glastonbury will focus on the archaeological analysis of the excavation archive from 1908 to 1979, exploring the latest research into the historic excavations, with the aim to significantly improve understanding of Glastonbury Abbey and its central role in British monasticism. The current Glastonbury Abbey Excavation Archive Project, conducted by the Archaeology Department, University of Reading, funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council and supported by the Somerset Archaeological & Natural History Society, is studying and analysing the records of archaeological excavations on the site since the beginning of the 20th century and will provide new information about the Abbey.

Excavations at Glastonbury Abbey began soon after the site was purchased for the Church of England in 1907, although a series of trenches had been dug by St John Hope three years earlier. Since then, 34 seasons of excavations up to 1979 has exposed most of the plan of the medieval church and evidence of earlier phases of the monastery. Yet very little of this evidence has been published. In 1981, C A Ralegh Radford, Director of excavations from 1951 to1964, published an interim report which suggested the site hosted a series of churches, a Saxon enclosure ditch, potentially the earliest cloister in Britain, and craft-working activities including unique glass furnaces. Full publication was never achieved and consequently details of these discoveries have remained unavailable.

In his excavations at the Abbey in the 1960s, Ralegh Radford set out to discover the earliest religious activity on the site. He uncovered an ancient cemetery of stone-lined graves where, nearby he found traces of a small timber structure thought to be the original church of St Mary. He also found several post-holes which he interpreted as traces of at least four early wattled oratories. However, there was no dating evidence found for these features, but all lay below later Anglo-Saxon features and were characteristic of an early Celtic monastic settlement. He also found two mausolea within the ancient cemetery. These rectangular tomb-shrines were designed to hold the bodies of saints or revered members of the community and probably marked by a standing cross. Mausolea of this type are relatively rare in Britain, being more common in France, and belong to a very early class of burial. One of the mausolea was found 50 feet south of the Lady Chapel and thought to have been marked by the southern of the two crosses, or pyramids as William Malmesbury called them in the early 12th century. According to Gerald of Wales this was the place Arthur's grave had been found by the monks of the Abbey in 1191. During his excavations at this site Ralegh Radford found evidence of previous disturbance of a large hole between the pyramids which was immediately refilled with soil containing many mason's chippings of Doulting stone, a local stone which was first used at Glastonbury during the reconstruction of the Abbey after the fire of 1184. Ralegh Radford asserted that it was certain that the large hole he found between the site of the pyramids in 1962 represents the excavation for the bodies of Arthur and Guinevere.

Ralegh Radford was co-founder with Geoffrey Ashe of the Camelot Research Project which later carried out large-scale excavations at South Cadbury, Somerset, in 1966-70 under the direction of Leslie Alcock in search of Arthur's Camelot. The three men have been largely responsible for promoting Arthur as an historical figure who was buried at Glastonbury Abbey. However, most scholarly opinion believes the exhumation at the Abbey to have been a hoax. *

Following Radford's death in 1999, his excavation archive was retrieved and deposited with the National Monuments Record at Swindon, making the publication of a full report a feasible proposition.

In 2007, a one-year pilot project, funded by the British Academy, demonstrated the enormous potential of the excavation material, in particular the Radford archive which was found to be almost complete. Radford's excavations carried out at the chapter house were selected for detailed analysis, and a geophysical survey of the Abbey Site was undertaken by the University of Reading. An interim report on the chapter house was published as a Fieldwork Highlight in Medieval Britain and Ireland 2007, Medieval Archaeology 52.

The current project involves full analysis of the excavation records, the results of which are now being entered into an Integrated Archaeological Database.

The Glastonbury Abbey Symposium programme begins with Registration in Glastonbury Town Hall at 10.00, followed by history and archaeology tours in the Abbey grounds with John Allan and Dr Jerry Sampson.

After lunch, Dr Cheryl Allum, University of Reading, Research Assistant for the Project, will deliver a talk entitled “Unravelling Radford; the 1951-1964 Excavations at Glastonbury Abbey”. Dr Allum will provide a summary based upon preliminary analysis of the 1951 to 1964 excavations conducted by Dr Ralegh Radford at the Abbey. The circumstances of Radford's appointment will be presented, followed by a summary of the developing archaeological techniques and methodologies employed during the 1950's and 1960's, a period that witnessed the emerging discipline of medieval archaeology.

Claire Stephens, Senior Archaeological Geophysicist, discusses the 2009 geophysical survey carried out in the Abbey grounds, which formed part of a wider research project with two main objectives: to identify previously known Abbey remains, and if, possible, any responses that might represent excavation trenches, thereby assisting in their accurate mapping; and to provide new information on the surviving buried deposits within the whole of the Abbey precinct.

Following a talk by John Allan on the Glastonbury Pottery Collection, the Symposium comes to its finale with "The Cloister of Henry of Blois at Glastonbury Abbey” by Dr Ron Baxter, Research Director of the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, in which the blue lias fragments associated with the mid-12th century cloister have long been recognised as important sculpture of the highest quality, but they have never, until now, been given the attention they deserve. Indeed their stone was long misidentified and the first to be discovered was for a time attributed to the wrong foundation. This project has provided the opportunity to rectify the situation, and to air some hypotheses about the form of the cloister as well as its decoration.

Finally, the Symposium is concluded by Professor Roberta Gilchrist, Director of the Archaeology Project.

What no Bligh Bond?
It is difficult for archaeologist to ignore the 12th century exhumation of Arthur and Ralegh Radford's subsequent identification of the site of the grave in 1962, but the use of controversial methods such as "psychic archaeology" is quite another.

In 1908 the Church of England appointed Frederick Bligh Bond as director of excavations at Glastonbury Abbey and quickly had remarkable success. It wasn't until he published The Gates of Remembrance in 1919 that he revealed that he had used psychic methods, such as automatic writing in dictated messages received from the monks of Glastonbury, “The Company of Avalon,” who guided his excavations of the Abbey. Consequently he was dismissed by Bishop Armitage Robinson in 1921.

For more information see the Glastonbury Abbey Symposium website.

* For more on King Arthur's exhumation at Glastonbury see The Celtic Messiah

* * *

White Phantom

2011-05-30T22:54:00.005+01:00

The Abduction of Guinevere Part IV

Arthur's Otherworld Possessions
As we have seen above the abduction of Gwenhwyfar receives a first literary mention in Caradoc of Llancarfan's Vita Gildae, written c.1130. Caradoc's tale is probably following a traditional account as we find a similar abduction motif in the earlier Culhwch ac Olwen, c.1100 with Gwyn ap Nudd duelling with Gwythyr son of Greidiawl for the maiden Creiddylad.

It is in Culhwch that Gwenhwyfar is first named as Arthur's queen but this is merely a passing mention in the court list as chief lady along with her sister Gwennhwyach and earlier in the tale in a list of Arthur's possessions that Culhwch is not granted by Arthur. It is significant that here she appears amongst Arthur's companion Kei and Bedwyr, characters from the earliest stratum of the Arthurian legend. From this we can hold with reasonable confidence that Gwenhwyfar is not an invention of the later continental writers of Arthurian romance but has her origins in Welsh vernacular tradition.

On arriving at Arthur's court Culhwch seeks the sovereign’s assistance in obtaining Olwen, daughter of the giant Ysbaddaden Bencawr. Arthur tells him, "Though you do not reside here, chieftain, you shall have the gift your mouth and tongue shall name, as far as the wind dries, as far as the rain soaks, as far as the sun reaches, as far as the sea stretches, as far as the earth extends, except my ship; and my mantle; and Caledfwlch, my sword; and Rhongomyniad, my spear; and Wynebgwrthucher, my shield; and Carnwennan, my dagger; and Gwenhwyvar, my wife.” [1]

All Arthur's possessions listed above appear to have originated in the Otherworld as most contain the element (G)wen or Gwyn which can mean 'white, sacred, pure, holy'. The Otherworldly connotations continue with Arthur's mantle of invisibility which is not named in Culhwch or the Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain but is named 'Gwen' in Rhonabwy's Dream.

In Culhwch Arthur's ship is also named as Prydwen as in the earlier Taliesin poem Preiddeu Annwn (The Spoils of Annwn) in which he carries out a raid on the Otherworld to retrieve a magic cauldron. This tale is echoed in Culhwch, although in the later tale the Otherworld Island is replaced by a raid on Ireland.

The Irish influence on the Arthurian legend is undeniable and many similarities between the cycles have been presented. [2] There is the possibility of an an early tradition of the abduction of Gwenhwyfar reflected in Geoffrey of Monmouth's account of Mordred which is closely paralleled by the abduction of Fionn's wife Grainne by his nephew Diarmaid. However, this is dependant upon acceptance of Mordred as Arthur's nephew, a relationship which seems to be the creation of Geoffrey.

Caledfwlch
Caledfwlch, Arthur's sword, is rendered into the Latin Cailburnus by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain). According to Geoffrey, Arthur's sword was forged in the Isle of Avalon. Geoffrey only mentions Avalon twice in his Historia and not all in his later Vita Merlini, but on both occasions he clearly means an Otherworld Island. Contrary to popular belief Geoffrey does not equate Avalon with Glastonbury, in fact he makes no effort to identify its location.

We find an episode of Arthur's sword in the Otherworld in Culhwch in which Arthur's sword is used to slay Diwrnach the Irishman: “Llenlleog seized Caledfwlch and swung it in a circle, and slew Diwrnach the Irishman and all his host.”

This one sentence describes Llenlleawc's (Llenlleog) only action in Culhwch, an obscure character mentioned twice in the list of people invoked by Culhwch. In the first instance he is referred to as Llenlleawc “from the headland of Gamon”, which has been suggested as Garmon as in Llwch Garmon the Welsh name for Wexford harbour in southern-east Ireland, attested in the 10th century prophetic poem Armes Prydein. [3]

There is considerable debate amongst scholars to Llenlleawc's identity. He has been identified as a manifestation of the Irish deity Lug but it has been argued that any connection with Lug that may be drawn from Llenlleawc is possibly a misreading of Lleu lleawc, “Lleu, the death-dealing”, where Lleu is the Welsh cognate of Irish Lug, but derived from Celtic Lugus and not a borrowing of Lug. Llenlleawc could therefore be seen as a ghost persona who arose from misinterpretation of a problematic line in the Taliesin poem The Spoils of Annwn, [4] where we find a very similar episode involving the theft of a cauldron from the Otherworld: [5]

“...Neu peir pen annwfyn pwy y vynut
gwrym am yoror amererit
Ny beirw bwyt llwfyr ny rytyghit
cledyf lluch lleawc idaw rydyrchit
Ac yn llaw leminawc yd edewit...”

“..The cauldron of the chief of Annwfyn: what is its fashion?
A dark ridge around its border and pearls
It does not boil the food of a coward; it has not been destined.
The flashing sword of Lleawch has been lifted to it
And in the hand of Lleminawc it was left...” [6]

Lluch Lleawc has been seen as a variant of the name of Llwch Llawwynnawc (Lloch Llawwynnyawc) who is also invoked by Culhwch. Llawwynnyawc of Culhwch is often seen as synonymous with Lleminawc of Preiddeu Annwn, adding further confirmation that the theft of the cauldron from the Otherworld is the same episode. Llwch Llawwynnawc has been interpreted as 'Lug of the Striking-Hand', or 'Lug of the Windy-Hand', common epithets for the Irish deity.

There is clearly much confusion here and the lines in question in Preiddeu Annwn may contain a garbled version of the name of the weapon, the “sword of Lleawch” (cledyf lluch lleawc); 'lluch lleawc' may be taken to be separate adjectives meaning "flashing" and "death-dealing." Further, the mention of 'llaw leminawc' in the next line of Preiddeu Annwn may derive from a misinterpretation of 'cledyf lluch....llaw leminawc' which could have given rise to the persona of Llwch Llaw Leminawc/Llawwynnawc who became associated with Llwch Garmon, who became confused with the similar character of Llenlleawc emerging from a variant interpretation of the same lines of the poem. [7]

Perhaps it is is possible to untangle this confusion when we consider that the word 'leminawc' is an adjective meaning 'leaper' or 'leaping one' used in reference to an attacker and very aptly may be an epithet for Arthur in this instance. In prophetic poems it can refer to the deliverer. [8] We can offer an alternative interpretation of this passage without the need for the Irish divinity Lug, this is not to say that Arthur was not accompanied on his Otherworld journeys with deities from the Celtic pantheon, but there is no reason not to see this slaying as being executed by Arthur himself with Caledfwlch his own sword: “The flashing sword of death-dealing was thrust into it, and it was left in the hand of the leaping one...” [i.e. the attacker, Arthur].

The literary evidence indicates that Caledfwlch is most likely an Otherworldy weapon and cognate with the Irish sword Caladbolg, probably both derived independently from the generic name for a mythical sacred, death-dealing sword, capable of consuming everything. [9] It was said to be a two-handed sword that made a circle like an arc of rainbow when swung, which is exactly how it is described in Culhwch, “Llenlleog seized Caledfwlch and swung it in a circle, and slew Diwrnach the Irishman and all his host.” In in the Irish epic Táin Bó Cuailnge, Caladbolg is the name of the sword that Fergus mac Róig inherited from the Ulster King Fergus mac Leite who had brought it from the land of the Sidhe, or Otherworld.

Caledfwlch is a compound word constructed from the elements 'caled' which can have the adjective meaning 'hard' or the noun 'battle'. The second element 'bwlch' means 'breach, gap, notch', and may mean 'hard-notch' or 'battle-notch' suggesting such a sword strong enough make notches or break through enemy lines. It could also mean it is notched through prolonged use in battle, or even deliberately serrated. However, the meaning 'battle-breach' or 'breach of battle' is seen as preferable. [10] The early occurrence of Arthur's ship, Prydwen in Preiddeu Annwn, dated to the 8th century, [11] and its pairing with Arthur's sword Caledfwlch in the later Culwhch attests the weapon's antiquity.

Interestingly, if listed in order of merit Arthur's material possessions appear to take precedence over his wife. Gwenhwyfar's name is generally agreed to mean 'white phantom', indicating her Otherworldly origins, from the first element Gwen or Gwyn meaning 'white, pure, sacred, holy', with the second element meaning 'phantom, spirit, fairy or enchantress', cognate with the Irish 'siabair'. Indeed, Gwenhwyfar corresponds with Findabair daughter of King Ailill and Queen Medb in the Irish epic Táin Bó Cuailnge, The Cattle Raid of Cooley, from the Ulster Cycle.

From the evidence of the earliest Arthurian literature we have it is reasonable to suggest that Arthur brought these possessions, his sword, shield, dagger, mantle, back from a raid on the Otherworld, including his wife, Gwenhwyfar. Indeed it would not seem unreasonable to suggest that Arthur himself has an Otherworld origin; he is often associated with deities who travel with him and seems to be able to journey to the Otherworld and return at will, whereas for his mortal companions it is fraught with danger and but few return.

Yet the retrieval of Gwenhwyfar from the Otherworld is completely compatible with the central motif of the abduction stories of the flower maiden, in which we see the likes of Persephone and Creiddylad carried off to the Otherworld by a supernatural figure such as Haides, or Gwyn ap Nudd.

Where was this Otherworld Island that Caradoc of Llancarfan identified as Ynys Wydrin, the Isle of Glass?

>> Part IV: The Isle of Glass

Notes:
1. Sioned Davies, The Mabinogion, Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 183 “How Culhwch won Olwen”.
2. A. G. Van Hamel, Aspects of Celtic Mythology, Proceedings of the British Academy, 20, 1934.
3. Patrick Sims-Williams, Irish Influence of Medieval Welsh Literature, Oxford University Press, 2011, p.160.
4. Ibid. pp. 160-161.
5. A similar account is told in the Second Branch of the Mabinogi.
6. Sarah Higley, Text and Translation, Preiddeu Annwn: "The Spoils of Annwn", online at The Camelot Project, University of Rochester, General Editors: Alan Lupack and Barbara Tepa Lupack,
7. Sims-Williams, op.cit. pp.162-163.
8. Marged Haycock, Legendary Poems from the Book of Taliesin, CMCS, 2007, p.444. See note p.384.
9. Thomas Green, Concepts of Arthur, Tempus, 2007, p.156.
10. Rachel Bromwich and D Simon Evans, Culhwch and Olwen: An edition and Study of the Oldest Arthurian Tale, University of Wales, 1992, pp.64-5.
11. Kenneth H Jackson, Language and History in Early Britain, 1953, endorsed by John T Koch.

* * *

White, the Winter King

2011-05-24T22:50:00.004+01:00

The Abduction of Guinevere Part III

Goddess of the Underworld
In Part II: The Modena Archivolt we saw that by permitting a little speculation, it is possible to make a conjectured proposal to the origin of the Abduction of Guinevere story, with the coming together of tales from the cultures from east and west, meeting at the heel of southern Italy at the point of the departure for the First Crusade. The British form of the Persephone story in its Arthurian context, first appears in written form in the Vita Giladae (Life of Gildas) by Caradoc of Llancarvan, c.1130, roughly contemporary with the sculpture of the Modena Archivolt.

In Caradoc of Llancarvan's Life of Gildas the story goes that after being harassed by pirates from the islands of the Orcades, Gildas embarked on board a small ship and put in to Glastonia, at the time when king Melwas was reigning in the summer country:

“Glastonia, that is, the glassy city, which took its name from glass, is a city that had its name originally in the British tongue. It was besieged by the tyrant Arthur with a countless multitude on account of his wife Gwenhwyfar, whom the aforesaid wicked king had violated and carried off, and brought there for protection, owing to the asylum afforded by the invulnerable position due to the fortifications of thickets of reed, river, and marsh. The rebellious king had searched for the queen throughout the course of one year, and at last heard that she remained there. Thereupon he roused the armies of the whole of Cornubia and Dibneria; war was prepared between the enemies.” [1]

Gildas, accompanied by the Abbot of Glastonbury, negotiates her release, Melwas restores the ravished Queen to Arthur and a major conflict is avoided. After, the two kings gave the Abbot a gift of many domains, they prayed at the temple of St. Mary and returned reconciled, promising reverently to obey the most venerable Abbot of Glastonia, and never to violate this most sacred of landscapes again.

Caradoc's story is ultimately a Celtic form of the Persephone myth, placed in an Arthurian context; the similarity between Melwas' abduction of Guinevere while she was in the forest 'a-maying', and the ravishing of Persephone by Plouton (Haides), while she was collecting flowers in the fields, is strikingly obvious. Persephone is the daughter of Demeter and before she becomes the goddess of the Underworld and Haides’ wife, she bears the name 'Core', the corn maiden. In the 'Orphic Hymn 29 to Persephone' (3rd century BC to 2nd century AD) she is heralded as a venerable Goddess, the vernal queen, source of life and mother of the Erinyes (Eumenides, or Furiae), three netherworld goddesses, servants of Haides and Persephone.

In Statius' Thebaid, the Erinyes are referred to as maidens born of cursed Acheron;

“.... and the sad priest bids there be three altar-fires for Hecate and three for the maidens born of cursed Acheron [i.e. the Erinyes]; for thee, lord of Avernus [Haides], a heap of pinewood though sunk into the ground yet towers high into the air; next to this an altar of lesser bulk is raised to Ceres of the Underworld [Persephone]” [2]

In Greek mythology Acheron is known as the river of pain, the stream and swampy lake of the underworld and its god. In the Homeric poems the Acheron is described as the river of Hades, synonymous with the River Styx, in which the ferryman Charon carried the souls of the dead across its dark waters in his boat. The Styx circles Hades nine times and formed the boundary between the mortal domain and the Underworld. The rivers Styx, Phlegethon, Acheron and Cocytus all converge at the center of Hades on a great marsh. In later tradition the Underworld river is named after the river god Acheron, a son of Helios and either Gaia or Demeter, after he had refreshed the Titans with drink during their contest with Zeus changed into the river bearing his name.

Haides abducts Persephone with the consent of Demeter, but Demeter is so heartbroken that Zeus lets Persephone spend six months of the year with Demeter and six months with Haides. The theme of the abduction of the maiden to the Otherworld is common throughout the cultures around the World. In the Roman version it is Proserpine that is abducted by Pluto, the god of Hades.

Guinevere, by the Welsh rendering of her name Gwenhwyfar, first appears in Arthurian literature in the 11th century tale of Culhwch and Olwen. However, in this tale she gets merely a passing mention as Arthur's consort. But it is also in Culhwch and Olwen that we find the ancient Celtic myth of abduction, yet again with parallels to the Persephone myth.

King of Annwn
In Culwhch and Olwen, Gwynn son of Nudd was in love with the maiden Creiddylad. Gwynn became enraged when he learned that Gwythyr son of Greidiawl (Victor son of Scorching) had ran away with her from the home of her father, Lludd Silver Hand. Before Gwythyr had slept with her Gwynn carried her off by force. When Arthur heard of this he went north and intervened, returning Creiddylad to her father making a treaty between Gwythyr and Gwynn. Thereafter, Gwynn and Gwythyr were destined to fight every May Day until Judgment Day and whoever was the victor on that day would have Creiddylad.

As in the abduction myths of Melwas and Persephone, it is significant that the duel between Gwythyr and Gwynn will take place every May Day, the first day of the Celtic summer. The seasonal symbolism is unmistakeable. The conflict apparently occurs in the north, as this is the direction Arthur must go to prevent the conflict, representing the cold of winter. Gwythyr and Gwynn representing the light and dark halves of the year, the dormant, barren season and the season of growth. Creiddylad represents another version of the flower maiden, symbolising the fertility of the land and crops; the sovereignty of nature.

Persephone's release, by agreement, determines she must spend six months of the year in the underground abode of Hades, symbolising the cold part of the year, the turning wheel of the year, the alternating seasons of fertility and sterility, death and regrowth.

This is a common concept in Celtic mythology; we see a similar tale in the First Branch of the Mabinogi. While Pwyll Lord of Dyfed is out hunting at Arberth (identified with Narbeth in southern Pembrokeshire, south west Wales) he foolishly tries to bring down another huntsman's quarry who has a pack of dogs of a dazzling bright white with red ears, undoubtedly this is the Cwn Annwn. The owner of the dogs introduced himself to Pwyll as “Arawn, king of Annwn am I.” [3]

To make amends for offending the Lord of Annwn, Arawn has Pwyll switch places and fight his enemy Hafgan who has been troubling his kingdom. They exchange places for a year in each others form; Pwyll becomes Lord of the Otherworld, and Arawn becomes the Lord of Dyfed. During this time Pwyll slays Hafgan and he and Arawn become good friends as neither of them slept with the others wife during their exchange. In return, Arawn gave Pwyll magic swine from the Otherworld, which were later passed down to Pryderi and stolen by Gwydion in the Fourth Branch, an act that ultimately leads to battle between Pryderi and Gwydion.

A short poem found in a late manuscript [4] confirms the fact that the Battle of the Trees (Cad Goddeu), sometimes referred to as The Battle of Achren, was fought over animals that had been stolen from the Otherworld by the Children of Don. The account describes how Amathaon ab Don brought a white roebuck and a whelp from Annwn and fought with Arawn, King of Annwn.

The meaning of the name Arawn is unclear, suggestions range from “silver-tongue” to “silver-grey”, [5] the first part "ar" meaning "silver" may be correct and may indicate links with Lludd Llaw Ereint, Ludd Silver-hand, father of Creiddylad in Culwhch and Olwen, and cognate with the Irish Nuada Airgetlam, Nuada of the Silver Arm. Nuada appears to possess a relationship with the Irish deity Lugh, similiar to that of the Welsh figures of Lludd and Lleuelys found in the Mabinogion collection of tales and Welsh editions of the Brut. Nudd, also known as the Romano-British god Nodens, a river god associated in particular with the River Severn, as attested by the late Roman temple at Lydney Park, Gloucestershire. John Rhys has demonstrated that Nudd is cognate with the Irish god Ludd. [6]

Arawn shares many similarities with Gwynn, indeed the exchange of places with Hafgan, appears to be of a similar motif to the duel between Gwynn and Gwythyr son of Greidiawl every May day, until the end of time. As stated above this is undoubtedly symbolic of the seasonal change taking place every year, with summer commencing from the calends of May. This is confirmed by the name Hafgan from the First Branch of the Mabinogi, meaning "Summer White”; by no coincidence Gwynn ap Nudd means “White, son of Mist”.

Gwynn and Gwythyr are representations of the Winter and Summer Kings, lords of the waxing and waning year, seen in the northern hemisphere night sky as the constellations of Orion and Scorpius. Gwynn, as Orion, dominates the winter sky from Samhain to Beltane, May day. From May to November Scorpius and Ophiuchus dominate the summer sky. Like the Summer and Winter kings, these constellations on opposite sides of the Zodiac, divide the light and dark halves of the year. [7]

Creiddylad, as with Persephone, is destined to spend half of the year with each; the growing season with the Summer King Gwythyr and the dormant season with Gwynn, the Winter King, where, as the flower maiden, the goddess of fertility, she notably absent from the Earth.

These are very clearly ancient motifs. At some stage Guinevere replaces the flower maiden, the sovereignty of nature, but the first mention of Arthur's Queen is the 11th century tale Culhwch and Olwen.

>> Part IV: White Phantom

Notes:
1. Hugh Williams, trans., Two Lives of Gildas by a monk of Ruys and Caradoc of Llancarfan. First published in the Cymmrodorion Record Series, 1899.
2. Persephone Goddess at Theoi Greek Mythology.
3. Will Parker, The Four Branches of the Mabinogi, suggests that the name of Arawn may conceivably relate to the River Aeron - which rises in uplands of Ceredigion. We might in turn relate this to the River Arun in Southern England. Likewise, there are various Eirean- Aran- place names throughout the Gaelic world, the similarities to the river god Acheron of Greek mythology is obvious.
4. Peniarth MS 98B, 16th century.
5. Mary Jones, Jones' Celtic Encyclopedia.
6. John Rhys, Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as Illustrated by Celtic Heathendom, 1888, from the Hibbert Lectures 1886, pp 125 – 129. See: Lud's Church, Part V: Lludd's Silver Hand.
Mary Jones is of the opinion that Lludd is a confusion of the gods Nudd and Llyr. Her reasoning is that the roles of the gods of the Children of Don and of the Children of Llyr overlap, and that a certain amount of confluence may have occurred. For instance, in some legends, Creiddylad is said to be the daughter of Lludd Llaw Ereint, and in some the daughter of Llyr/Lear; Jeffrey Gantz in his translation of Culhwch and Olwen believes her name to be the origin of Cordelia in King Lear. Jones argues that Lludd is a confluence of the gods Nudd and Llyr, because of two figures who are said to be the son and daughter of Lludd; first Creiddylad/Cordelia, said sometimes to be the daughter of Lludd, sometimes of Llyr/Lear; the second is Manannan/Manawyddan, in Irish called both the son of Lir/Llyr and of Alloid/Lludd. Gwyn ap Nudd is said to be the son of Nudd and the son of Lludd. Mary Jones, Jones' Celtic Encyclopedia.
7. Nicholas Mann & Philippa Glasson, The Star Temple of Avalon, The Temple Publications, 2007.

* * *

The Modena Archivolt

2011-05-08T15:33:00.003+01:00

The Abduction of Guinevere Part II

An Arthurian Sculpture
As discussed in an earlier post, the Abduction of Guinevere is a very popular element of the Arthurian legend, first appearing in written form in Caradoc of Llancarvan's early 12th century Vita Gildae (Life of Gildas), throughout the Arthurian Romances of the late 12th century, through Ulrich von Zatzikhoven’s Lanzelet , Chrétien de Troyes’ The Knight of the Cart, up to Malory's definitive account in Morte d'Arthur.

Caradoc of Llancarvan's account, c.1130, appears to be the earliest written account of the Abduction of Guinevere, a tale he wrote for the Monks of Glastonbury Abbey and interpreted as the first to connect Arthur with the Somerset town, although, as we will see later, this is based on a false etymology of 'Ynys Witrin'. Caradoc's sources have been the cause of much debate between Arthurian scholars, however, evidence indicates there was an oral tradition of the Abduction motif current in Europe prior to Caradoc.

We find evidence of this tradition in an early 12th sculpture at a cathedral in Italy. Nestling in the Po Valley and just north of Bologna, is Modena with its famous cathedral, on which in 1099 a group of sculptors began work. The north portal of Modena Cathedral, known as the Porta della Pescheria, features a seemingly related account, a high relief carving in the marble archivolt depicts a scene from the tale of the abduction of Arthur's Queen. The Arthurian sculpture on the Modena archivolt is seen as evidence that an independent oral account of the tale of the Abduction of Guinevere was known in Europe prior to the writings of Caradoc of Llancarvan and Geoffrey of Monmouth. [1]

The Modena Archivolt

The Modena archivolt shows an assault on a castle by a number of mounted knights with names recognisable from the Arthurian mythos, albeit in a Bretonised form. At the apex of the archivolt is a stone castle surrounded by water. Within the castle are a woman, Winlogee and a man, Mardoc, who is holding her prisoner. To the right, three knights attack the castle. The unnamed knight at the front is engaged in combat with one of the castle’s inhabitants, wielding an axe. The other two are named Isdernus and Artus de Bretania (Arthur). On the left-hand side of the castle are two knights in combat, one named Galvagin (Gawain) appears to be attacking Carrado who defends the castle. On the extreme right of the archivolt are two knights approach, named Galvariun and Che (Kay) who carry their lances over their shoulders and do not seem directly engaged in the action. [2]

This sculpture was first brought to the attention of students of medieval romance by Foerster in 1898 in Zeitschrift fur Romanische Philologie, XXII. Foerster noted a curious resemblance between the Modena sculpture and the tale of Carado of the Dolorous Tower in the 13th century Vulgate Lancelot. In this tale Gawain is abducted by a gigantic knight, Carado, and imprisoned in a castle with two perilous entrances, at one stood a churl. Carado is pursued by Galeschin, Ivain, Arthur and Keu. Gawain is rescued by Lancelot who slays Carado with his own magic sword which a maiden, who had been abducted by the gigantic knight, placed within Lancelot's reach. Foerster pointed out that all the details in the Modena archivolt correspond to this tale. But he failed to identify the maiden of the sculpture, named as Winlogee, with Guinevere probably because the account of the Dolorous Tower is an abduction of Gawain, not Arthur's Queen. Yet Chretien de Troyes account of Guinevere's abduction in Lancelot, or the Knight of the Cart, incorporates many of the same elements and was no doubt a source for the Vulgate version.

Other elements of the Modena archivolt scene are found in the abduction story on the late 13th century Durmart le Gallois, in which the castle of the abductor is surrounded by a wide marsh, shields of vanquished knights are hung on the walls of the keep, the queen is found with her lover in the castle, Ydier, as with Isdernus, is not wearing any armour.

By reversing the author's accounts and making Gawain the hero of the the Dolorous Tower episode and Guinevere the victim, Roger Loomis reconstructs the tale depicted on the Modena archivolt of the Vulgate Lancelot and Durmart le Gallois:

“Artus' queen, Winlogee, is out in the meadow, escorted only by one knight, Isdern. A giant knight, Carado, gallops out from a wood and seizes the queen, riding off with her to his castle. Isdern raises the alarm, taking spear and shield in pursuit. Fully armed Galvarium, Galvagin, Artus and Che set out after him. They arrive at a castle surrounded by a marsh and approached by two opposite barbicans. Before on of which stands the huge churl, named Burmalt, swinging a baston cornu. Burmalt appears to resist the onslaught of artus, Isdern and an unnamed knight. At the other entrance Galvarium, Galvagin and Che are met by the giant Carado. Galvagin pursues Caado into the castle. When he breaks his sword, a maiden who Carado has abducted places the giant's own sword, with which alone he could be killed, within Galvagin's reach who accordingly kills Carado with it. Galvagin then sees the shields of knights whom Carado has slain hanging on the walls of the keep. At last he finds Winlogee with Mardoc who has long loved the queen. The fate of Mardoc is uncertain, but Galvagin brings the queen back to Artus.” [3]

Dating the Sculpture
Construction of the cathedral began in 1099 and the Porta della Pescheria Arthurian sculpture is generally dated 1120-1140. However, Loomis has argued persistently for an early date for the sculpture.

Loomis recalls how in 1096 a group of Breton nobles led by the Alan IV, Duke of Brittany, known as Alan Fergant ('The Strong' in Breton) and his vassals stopped off at Bari on route to Apulia (Puglia) in southern Italy for the first Crusade. Here they stayed for four months awaiting for a crossing to Greece. Loomis conjectures that while they passed the winter nights at Bari, a Breton conteur (minstrel) would have told them tales of Great Arthur and his knights.

Loomis argues that the existence of the Arthurian scene on the north portal archivolt of the Modena cathedral is the story told by the Breton conteur to the Crusaders and craftsmen gathered at Bari during the winter of 1096-97. [4]

We can be certain that the Modena archivolt sculpture belongs to the early years of the 12th century as work on the modern Modena Cathedral began in 1099, under the direction of the master builder Lanfranco, over the site of the sepulchre of Saint Geminianus, Modena's patron saint. The cathedral contains many masterpieces of Romanesque sculpture and notable reliefs by Wiligelmo. The architect Lanfranco and the sculptor Wiligelmus perfected a fusion of ancient culture and new Lombard art, creating a fundamental model for Romanesque civilisation.

Wiligelmo (also known as Wiligelmus or Guglielmo), said to be an Italian sculptor, is known to have been active between c.1099 and 1120. He is often considered the first great Italian sculptor. Wiligelmo's reliefs on the facade of Modena cathedral are considered an important first step in the early development of Romanesque sculpture. His identity as the creator is known from an inscription held by the figures of the prophets Enoch and Elijah. Wiligelmus’s principal work is the sculptural assemblage on the west facade of the cathedral at Modena, thought to have been completed c. 1106–1110.

The side gates at Modena are noteworthy for their work by a pupil of Wiligelmus'. On Piazza Grande, the Porta Regia ("Royal Gate") and the shorter Porta dei Principi ("Princes' Gate"), are decorated with a relief depicting episodes of the life of Saint Geminianus. On the northern side is the Porta della Pescheria ("Fish-Market Gate"), with reliefs on the doorposts inspired by the cycle of the years' twelve months and the arch features the tale from the Breton Cycle of King Arthur. The Modena archivolt is considered the earliest monumental sculpture to feature the Arthurian legend. The sculptor, Wiligelmus' pupil has been dubbed the "Arthur Master"; critics tend to note that while his inspiration outshines his skill he faithfully captures realistic details in architecture and dress.

Wiligelmus directed a large workshop that trained numerous sculptors who continued his work at Modena and carried his style elsewhere. The sculptures of Modena cathedral share a close relationship with those of the church at Bari. Both churches contain many masterpieces of Romanesque sculpture and notable reliefs. The Modena archivolt was imitated in the Porta dei Leoni at the Basilica di San Nicola in Bari, founded in 1089 to shelter the stolen relics of St. Nicolas of Myra. The St. Nicholas Basilica in Bari is a majestic edifice that became the model for later Puglian Romanesque churches. Work on the basilica was completed around 1105. On the north and south sides, deep arcades link the west towers to the transepts, giving the basilica a squarish appearance. The third arch on the north side houses the Porta dei Leoni (Lion Portal), named after the Lions supporting the columns flanking the door. Above the door the arch is decorated with chivalric scenes, although apparently not of an Arthurian context, it is off a similar style to the archivolt at Modena.

The archivolt of the cathedral of Angoulême, Charente in France, constructed between 1110 and 1128 compares favourably with the two archivolts of Bari and Modena in that it depicts warriors in combat before a walled town, but as with Bari it is not considered to be of an Arthurian context. The horses at Angoulême are essentially the same type of those Bari or Modena, but more poorly drawn and the saddles sometimes possess a tail strap as at Bari, but at Modena and Bari the saddles have only one girth, whereas at Angoulême they have two, indicating that Angoulême is the later. The harness straps at Angoulême are ornamented.

At Angoulême we find the shields are round, instead of pointed and the lances are without pennants. At Angoulême three of the knights have conical helmets, like those of Bari and Modena, but a peculiarity is that from one of these helmets and from the crown of King Arthur at Modena, there seems to flutter a sort of veil. The mail falls in a skirt to the knees, as at both Modena and Bari. [5]

In addition, the style of dress depicted on the Modena archivolt is correct for the period. The armour of the warriors depicted on the Porta della Pescheria at Modena holds much similarity to the Bayeux tapestry recalling the Norman conquest of 1066; the one essential difference being the armour of the Modena warriors is a skirted mail coat, while those of the tapestry are wearing trousers. As the tapestry has been dated from not long after 1066, we can deduce that the armour resembles Modena more closely than depictions at Bari or Angoulême; the chronological order appears to be Bayeux, Modena, Bari, and finally Angoulême.

Transmission of the Tale
Loomis has noted that the name 'Wiligelmus' signed on the Modena facade appears in a similar form on the Bayeux embroidery as 'Wilgelmus', from which he suggests that the sculptor of Modena could have been Norman. Angoulême appears distinctly the latest of the three archivolts, although closer to Bari than with Modena which is presumably earlier again. Assuming the sculpture at Modena was started soon after work was begun on the cathedral in 1099, it is possible that it was imitated at Bari before 1105, and in turn Bari may have been copied at Angoulême c.1120, indicating transmission of the sculpture style from East to West.

It is as such that we find the influence of Lombard architecture appearing in Normandy at precisely the time when the Normans began to pass through Lombardy on their frequent journeys to Apulia in southern Italy. The connection between the Bayeux tapestry, the relief at Angoulême, the Porta della Pescheria at Modena, and the Porta dei Leoni at S. Niccola of Bari is compatible with this direction of transmission. The occupation of Apulia by the Normans must have caused much travelling back and forth from Normandy through Lombardy to Apulia. Journeys undertaken for many different reasons led travellers along the same routes even by those who were not pilgrims.

William of Apulia, a chronicler of the Normans, writing in the late 11th century, who's works include the Gesta Roberti Wiscardi (The Deeds of Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia, 1059–1085), is one of the principal contemporary sources for the Norman conquest of southern Italy. William tells us that in 1016 pilgrims to the shrine of the Archangel Michael at Monte Gargano were met by Melus of Bari, a Lombard freedom-fighter, who persuaded them to return with more warriors to help throw off the Byzantine rule, which they did and with relative ease. Appropriately, in the Gesta Roberti Wiscardi William refers to the Normans as "the Gallic race [who] wanted to open the roads to the Holy Sepulchre" .

With the evidence discussed above we must ask the question if it is possible that the theme of the abduction of Guinevere could have passed across Europe in the opposite direction, taken to Italy by the crusader knights from northern France led by Alan IV, 'The Strong', Duke of Brittany?

Alan's father was Hoel II of Cornwall who became Duke of Brittany, by marriage, in 1066 and started the Cornwall dynasty of Brittany, which ruled the duchy for nearly a hundred years. Little is known of Hoel but it is significant that he has ancestral roots in south west Britain, the veritable home of Arthurian legends. At this point we can justifiably speculate that it is possible that Alan IV of Brittany may have took the tale of Guinevere's abduction to Italy on route to the Holy Land, perhaps a Cornish tale he had heard from his father.

Route of the First Crusade

Yet, from Bari, the Norman knights of the First Crusade were bound for Constantinople through Greece, just across the Strait of Otranto in the southern Adriatic Sea, the nearest port being the ancient Greek colony of Aulon (modern Vlorë, Albania) which played a central role in the conflicts between the Norman Kingdom of southern Italy and the Byzantine Empire during the 11th and 12th centuries. It is within Greek mythology that we find the archetype of the abducted flower maiden. It is inconceivable that the Norman knights were not exposed to the myth of the abduction of Persephone.

Indeed, the Arthurian sculpture on the archivolt at Modena cathedral appears independently of any known literary source. [6] More likely the tale of Guinevere's abduction originates from a meeting of east and west; the tales of Arthur and his knights taken to Italy by the Breton contingent of the First Crusade, becoming entwined with the Greek mythology of the abduction of Persephone by the Breton story tellers stopping off in southern Italy. In turn this abduction story spread back across Europe along the pilgrim routes to Brittany and finally to Britain and the quill of Caradoc of Llancarvan who adapted the tale for the monks of Glastonbury.

Part III: White, The Winter King

Notes:
1. Norris Lacey and Geoffrey Ashe, with Debbra Mancoff, The Arthurian Handbook, Garland, 1997, p.205.
2. Marilyn Stokstad, "Modena Archivolt", in Norris J. Lacy, The Arthurian Encyclopedia., Garland, 1986, pp.390-91.
3. R S Loomis, Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance, 1927, Academy Chicago Publishers edition 1997, p.10.
4. Ibid. pp. 5-11.
5. Arthur Kingsley Porter, Romanesque sculpture of the Pilgrimage Roads, 1923.
6. Norris Lacey and Geoffrey Ashe, with Debbra Mancoff, op.cit. p.199.

* * *

The Abduction of Guinevere

2011-05-01T09:02:00.006+01:00

"So it befell in the month of May, Queen Guenever called unto her knights of the Table Round; and she gave them warning that early upon the morrow she would ride a-Maying into woods and fields beside Westminster. And I warn you that there be none of you but that he be well horsed, and that ye all be clothed in green.” [1]

Guinevere

Few people are unfamiliar with the tales of King Arthur presented as a knight in shining armour, tales of Grail quests, courtly love and chivalry, the product of the medieval continental romancers. Featured throughout Arthurian Romance is Guinevere, legendary consort of the King, portrayed as the archetypal feminine figure of the medieval court, a multifaceted character, the epitome of carnal desire and spiritual aspirations.

However, throughout Arthurian Romance Guinevere is commonly portrayed with two weaknesses; the medieval tales consistently reveal that Guinevere had a love affair with Arthur's best knight, and she was very susceptible to being abducted. More often than not her rescuer is her lover, but this is not always so.

Along with the quest for the Holy Grail, the love affair of Guinevere and Lancelot, regarded as the first and greatest of King Arthur's legendary knights, dominates Arthurian Romance. The betrayal ultimately leads to the King's death and downfall of the kingdom. The account generally accepted as being introduced by Chrétien de Troyes in the 12th century, Lancelot as Guinevere's lover appears as a common motif in numerous Arthurian cyclical literature through to Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur in the 15th century.

Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel, Warwickshire, while in London's Newgate Prison during the 15th century, drawing heavily on Welsh and French sources such as the Vulgate Cycle, wrote what is undoubtedly the last definitive interpretation of the Arthurian myth, which he appropriately titled "The Whole Book of King Arthur and His Noble Knights of the Round Table". However, on publishing Malory's opus magnum as 21 books in 1485 William Caxton renamed it simply as "Morte d'Arthur" after the last book, The Death of Arthur, which is the title commonly used today.

By Book VI 'The Noble Tale of Sir Launcelot du Lake' Malory has Lancelot declare his love for Guinevere, who he reveres above all others in response to her admiration of his proficiency as a knight. In Book XVIII Guinevere is accused of murder and Lancelot saves her from being burned at the stake for the first time. Guinevere is kidnapped in Book XIX by Sir Meliagrance while she is a-Maying:

“But this knight, Sir Meliagrance, had espied the queen well and her purpose, and how Sir Launcelot was not with her, and how she had no men of arms with her but the ten noble knights all arrayed in green for Maying. Then he purveyed him a twenty men of arms and an hundred archers for to destroy the queen and her knights, for he thought that time was best season to take the queen."

Sir Meliagrance declares his intentions toward the queen:

“So as the queen had Mayed and all her knights, all were bedashed with herbs, mosses and flowers, in the best manner and freshest. Right so came out of a wood Sir Meliagrance with an eight score men well harnessed, as they should fight in a battle of arrest, and bade the queen and her knights abide, for maugre their heads they should abide. Traitor knight, said Queen Guenever, what cast thou for to do?”

“Wilt thou shame thyself? Bethink thee how thou art a king’s son, and knight of the Table Round, and thou to be about to dishonour the noble king that made thee knight; thou shamest all knighthood and thyself, and me, I let thee wit, shalt thou never shame, for I had liefer cut mine own throat in twain rather than thou shouldest dishonour me. As for all this language, said Sir Meliagrance, be it as it be may, for wit you well, madam, I have loved you many a year, and never or now could I get you at such an advantage as I do now, and therefore I will take you as I find you.”

Coming to her rescue Lancelot kills Meliagrance, saving her from being burned at the stake for a second time. In the penultimate Book XX - The adulterous Lancelot and Guinevere are finally caught by Agravaine, Arthur's nephew and Knight of the Round Table. Arthur sentences her for treason, but Lancelot rescues her from being burnt at the stake for the third time. Arthur then lays siege to his castle until the Pope intervenes who negotiates a solution. Guinevere returns to Arthur and Lancelot returns to France where he is pursued by Arthur, but the king receives news that Mordred has claimed the realm and returns to England. Finally in the closing episode of Malory's work, Book XXI, on Arthur's return he defeats Mordred at Dover. Arthur finally battles with Mordred near Salisbury, proving to be fatal for both men.

Lancelot
Chrétien de Troyes, the originator of the Arthurian Romance tradition, famous for introducing the Grail in his most intriguing and final work Le Conte du Graal, or Perceval, first introduced the world to Lancelot as both Guinevere's lover and rescuer in the late 12th century tale Lancelot, or the Knight of the Cart, (Lancelot, ou Le Chevalier à la Charrette). And as we have seen with Malory, Guinevere and Lancelot's betrayal of Arthur is often portrayed as being fundamental in the downfall of the kingdom.

It has been suggested that Chrétien may have invented their affair to supply Guinevere with a courtly lover or could have been following a model inspired by the Tristan and Isolde legend based on much older Celtic material. Chrétien composed 'Le Chevalier de la Charrette' at the request of the Countess Marie de Champagne, daughter of Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine, and wife of Henry I of Champagne. The Countess may well have supplied Chrétien with the essence of the Guinevere – Lancelot love triangle as the author claimed that she supplied the subject matter as the tale is certainly in stark contrast to the earlier, and first Arthurian romance, Erec et Enide or the later Cligés which extol the virtues of marital fidelity. Chrétien abandoned his Lancelot tale, leaving “the clerk Godefroy de Lagny to put the final touches to it”, possibly because he had grown dissatisfied with the subject matter that had been imposed upon him by his patron. [2]

Lancelot has the hallmark of being a purely French creation who Chrétien substitutes for Gawain as Guinevere's saviour in his tale. Gawain, the best of knights in English accounts, appears to have fallen from grace with the writers of continental romance who give him no more than a supporting role. However, an alternative tradition in which Gawain was the lover of Guinevere is evidenced in the 13th century texts De ortu Walwanii, Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival, Gerard d’Amien’s Der Roman von Escanor and the Prose or Vulgate Merlin. However, in German romance accounts featuring the abduction of Guinevere such as Hartmann von Aue’s Iwein, Ulrich von Zatzikhoven’s Lanzelet and Heinrich von der Turlin’s Diu Krone, Gawain is frequently cast as Guinevere’s rescuer, not as her lover.

The sources of the writers of the continental Arthurian romances are complex and beyond the scope of this brief work. [3] However, suffice to say that the continental writers of Arthurian Romance evidently followed much older oral accounts and although maintaining the original motif varied the detail. As such we see the persistence of the tale of the abduction of Guinevere throughout the Romances, yet her lover and rescuer's identity changes persistently with Chrétien de Troyes taking the greatest departure from tradition and introducing Lancelot. Whether Lancelot was purely the invention of Chrétien or if he was following a French oral tradition supplied by the Countess of Champagne seems likely although we will probably never know for certain.

However, we find the theme of the abduction of the King's consort in native British tales prior to
Chrétien's tale. The abduction episode in the The Knight of the Cart appears to be largely a reworking of an earlier account by Caradoc of Llancarvan from the early 12th century, but Chrétien substitutes Meleagant (Malory's Sir Meliagrance) for Melwas as her abductor and the queen's rescuer is of course her lover Lancelot.

Caradoc of Llancarvan, wrote his Life of Gildas (Vita Gildae) around 1120, [4] in which he recounts how Gwenhwyfar was kidnapped by Melwas, king of the "Summer Country" (Aestiva Regio, generally agreed as meaning Somerset), and held prisoner at his stronghold at Glastonbury, protected by thicketed fortifications of reeds, rivers and marshes. The story recalls how Arthur, the war-like king, spent a year searching for her, then on finding her assembled a mass army made up from the whole forces of Devon and Cornwall and prepared for war. The Abbot of Glastonbury, attended by Gildas the Wise, intervened and negotiated a peaceful resolution and reunited Gwenhwyfar with Arthur.

This is the earliest written account of Gwenhwyfar's abduction and the inspiration for the many abduction tales that followed throughout the Romances. As we have seen above the account is followed closely from Chrétien to Malory, a tale that has generally remained true by the writers of medieval romance from the 12th to 15th century. Although Caradoc was a contemporary of Geoffrey of Monmouth the Life of Gildas was published several years before Geoffrey's chronicle pseudo-history and can be considered free of his influence.

Geoffrey of Monmouth
Writing for an Anglo-Norman audience almost half a century before Chrétien penned Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, the cleric Geoffey of Monmouth provides a different account of the Queen's abduction in his Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain c.1136) adding that she was descended from a noble Roman family and educated under Cador, Duke of Cornwall. When Arthur crosses the Channel to go to war with the Roman Procurator Lucius Hiberius he leaves Guanhumara (Geoffrey's rendering of Guinevere's name in Latin) in the care of his nephew, Mordred. While Arthur is absent, Mordred seduces Guanhumara, declares himself king and takes her as his own queen. On hearing this Arthur returns to Britain and enters into combat with Mordred at the final and catastrophic Battle of Camlann. Again the essence of the story is essentially the same.

As with Chrétien, determining the sources of the writer's of Arthurian Romance can be challenging to say the least, yet in Geoffrey's case it is even more complex and arduous. [5] However, we find a clue to Geoffrey's source material contained in the epilogue of some versions of the 'Historia'. Geoffrey bids William of Malmesbury and Henry of Huntingdon to “be silent as to the kings of the Britons,” and commits the task of writing their further history to “Caradoc of Llanacarvan, my contemporary.” Geoffrey's Historia was continued from the death of Cadwaladr in 682 up to 1282 (with a further continuation to 1332) in the Brut y Tywysogion (the Chronicle of the Princes). Caradoc is known to have ventured into hagiography authoring a Life of Gildas and a Life of Saint Cadog, both pre-dating Geoffrey's Historia, but none of the extant copies of the Brut y Tywysogion positively identify him as author.

The Abductor's Dialogue
From the evidence of Geoffrey of Monmouth and Caradoc of Llancarvan there would appear to have been an abduction story in circulation in Britain before the writers of continental romance included the theme in their tales. Two dialogue poems exists in two versions from two manuscripts, from the 16th and 17th century respectively, but have been dated on linguistic evidence to the 12th century. [6] The first namely “The Dialogue of Melwas and Gwenhyfer” but also known as “The Dialogue of Arthur and Gwenhyfar” (Llanstephan 122) [7] containing the conversation between the queen and her abductor. Gwenhyfer refers to her steed being green, the tint of leaves, which would appear to be reflected in Malory's account “So as the queen had Mayed and all her knights, all were bedashed with herbs, mosses and flowers”. Her abductor reveals himself as “Melwas from the Isle of Glass”. This version has the added implication that Cei (Kay) is Gwenhyfar's lover as she continually praises him. Indeed, in the second version of “The Dialogue of Melwas and Gwenhyfer” (Wynnstay I) [8] Cei is included in the dialogue and Gwenhyfer appears to be mocking Melwas for his lack of stature.

It is clearly the same abduction episode of Caradoc of Llancarvan's “The Life of Gildas”; the two poems recalling a tale from a lost Welsh original. However, evidence exists that the abduction story was in circulation before the 11th century.

The Cathedral Door
A seemingly related account appears in a sculpture carved into the archivolt of the The Porta della Pescheria of Modena Cathedral, Italy, dated to between 1099 – 1120 roughly contemporary with Caradoc of Llancarvan's Life of Gildas. The sculpture depicts Artus de Bretania (Arthur) and Isdernus approaching a tower in which Mardoc is holding Winlogee (Guinevere). On the other side Carrado (probably Carados) fights Galvagin (Gawain) while the knights Galvariun and Che (Kay) approach. Roger Sherman Loomis has demonstrated that these names are Breton versions of characters from Arthurian Romance; 'Isdernus' is most certainly an incarnation of 'Yder' (Edern), a Celtic hero whose name appears in Culhwch and Olwen, and who was Guinevere's lover in an all but forgotten tradition mentioned in Beroul's Tristan [9] and reflected in the later Roman de Yder.

Loomis strongly argued for an early date for the sculpture, even if he is not correct it demonstrates an early oral account of the abduction story was in circulation in northern France at the time of Caradoc and before Geoffrey of Monmouth or Chrétien wrote their accounts. [10]

The earliest mention of Gwenhwyfar is in the 11th century Welsh tale Culhwch and Olwen, where she appears as Arthur's queen, but little more is said about her. Rachel Bromwich argues that there is little evidence for the existence of Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere) before Geoffrey of Monmouth as she is notably absent from the earlier versions of the Triads of the Island of Britain. [11]

As we have seen above the betrayal of Arthur by his queen was considered fundamental in the downfall of the kingdom. Indeed, although the Triads do not allude to the abduction, they do confirm that an event concerning Gwenhwyfar led to the battle of Camlan and therefore ultimately Arthur's demise.

The event is recalled in Triad 53 Three Harmful Blows of the Island of Britain: “The second Gwenhwyfach struck upon Gwenhwyfar: and for that cause there took place afterwards the Action of the Battle of Camlan”. The same occurrence appears to be confirmed as the cause of one of the Three Futile Battles of the Island of Britain in Triad 84 which states “And the third was the worst: that was Camlan, which was brought about because of a quarrel between Gwenhwyfar and Gwennhwyfac.”

The Triads also list Gwenhwyfar as one of the most faithless of Three Faithless Wives of the Island of Britain “since she shamed a better man than any (of the others)”. [12]

Thus, the abduction of Gwenhwyfar according to the medieval romances.

Part II: T he Modena Archivolt

Notes:
1. Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, the Whole Book of King Arthur and His Noble Knights of the Round Table, c. 1469, Book XIX, Chapter I, How Queen Guenever rode a-Maying with certain knights of the Round Table and clad all in green.
2. William W Kibler, (trans.), Chrétien de Troyes Arthurian Romances, Penguin, 1991.
3. Roger Sherman Loomis has done as much as anyone to demonstrate their Celtic sources and, although perhaps a little dated by modern scholarship, anyone wishing to pursue this subject matter further could do worse than use his works as a point of departure:
Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance, Columbia University Press, 1927.
The Development of Arthurian Romance, Hutchinson, 1963.
The Grail: From Celtic Myth to Christian Symbol, University of Wales Press, 1963.
Arthurian Tradition and Chretien de Troyes, Columbia University Press, 1949
Wales and the Arthurian Legend, University of Wales Press, 1956
Arthurian Literature in Middle Ages (Editor), Oxford University Press, 1959.
4. There is some significant Arthurian material in Celtic hagiography, in which Arthur is typically portrayed in a negative light, a tyrant warlord often at odds with the church, unruly and unpredictable.
5. In his Prologue to the Historia Regum Britanniae, Geoffrey states that his work is a translation of a "librum vetustissimum" (a most ancient book), written in the British language and given to him by Walter, Archdeacon of Oxford. Many doubt this book ever existed and Geoffrey is accused of manufacturing much of his 'history'. William of Newburgh declared that "it is quite clear that everything this man wrote about Arthur ….. was made up, partly by himself and partly by others, either from an inordinate love of lying, or for the sake of pleasing the Britons."
However, Geoffrey's rendering of the Welsh name 'Gwenhwyfar' in Latin as 'Guanhumara' cannot be from an oral source and suggests he was following a written vernacular source. This could be a lost manuscript or alternatively, as the Welsh name fails to appear in any manuscript prior to Caradoc of Llancarfan’s Vita Gildae, we could speculate on this being one of Geoffrey's sources.
6. Patrick Sims-Williams, The Earliest Welsh Arthurian Poems in Arthur of the Welsh, Ed. R Bromwich et al, Cardiff University Press, pp. 58 – 61.
7. Mary Williams, “An Early Ritual Poem in Welsh.” Speculum vol. 13 no. 1. January 1938. pp 38-51. Available online at Mary Jones Celtic Literature Collective, The Dialogue of Melwas and Gwenhyfer.
8. Ibid. The Dialogue of Melwas and Gwenhyfer (version 2).
9. Beroul, The Romance of Tristan, Penguin, 1970, p.156.
10. R S Loomis, Celtic Myth and Arthurian Romance, Academy Chicago Publishers 1997.
11. Rachel Bromwch, Trioedd Ynys Prydein, University of Wales Press, 3rd Edition, 2006 pp.376 -380.
12. All Triads quoted from Rachel Bromwch, Trioedd Ynys Prydein, University of Wales Press, 3rd Edition, 2006.

* * *

Gweith Perllan Vangor (1)

2011-04-02T16:17:00.004+01:00

The Round Table Revealed?
Part V

History and Tradition
In the previous post in this series, Chronicles and Scribes, we saw how Middle Welsh versions of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latin chronicle, Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), known as Brut y Brenhinedd (Chronicle of the Kings) became very popular in medieval Wales with the redactor adding minor corrections to errors possibly occurring in translation or additions appertaining to local tradition. One such version of the Brut y Brenhinedd that circulated in north east Wales was the Cotton Cleopatra (B) manuscript and a local variant known as Book of Basingwerk, both possibly originating from the same source document, contain the reference to Gweith Perllan Vangor, known as the Action (Contest) of Bangor Orchard, in place of the Battle of Chester, indicating that the redactor of the Brut, following local tradition, was aware that this conflict took place at Bangor not Chester.

Throughout this study I have emphasised that we are searching for vestiges of a monastery at Bangor-is-y-coed, and the annihilation of that monastery around the beginning of the 6th century AD. I have also stressed the need to apply caution in using traditional sources to form an historical account, which prompts the question “how reliable are handed-down references?” In answer we may have a reasonable degree of confidence in a source if other independent sources are known to exist. Of course this does not imply that if two or more local legends of an event are found to exist we should accept it as historical fact. However, it would be rash to dismiss this local lore out of hand; we should view these as indicators of a persistence of memory of such occurrences. Indeed, eminent scholars of early medieval Welsh Literature consider these traditional sources, although not history, as being consistent with historical events. [1]

It is now generally accepted that the Black Book manuscript was copied not at Basingwerk Abbey, Flintshire, north east Wales, but at Valle Crucis Abbey near Llangollen, in Denbighshire. Significantly, The Black Book of Basingwerk circulated immediately in the vicinity of Bangor Is-y-coed, situated some 25 miles from Basingwerk and only 15 miles from Valle Crucis, it is therefore a reasonable assumption to accept that it contains accurate local knowledge. [2]

Basingwerk Abbey

In accepting that the Black Book of Basingwerk is correct in identifying the Battle of Chester with Gweith Perllan Vangor, the Action (Contest) of Bangor Orchard, ideally we should expect to find at least one other independent source for verification. We such find an account contained within the Trioedd Ynys Prydein, (Triads of the Island of Britain). The Triads are a series of sayings written in three consecutive lines, thought to have been a mnemonic device for Bards, considered by historians to be a semi-reliable source of information on the British Isles depicting people, events, and places from early Medieval Britain. There is no doubt that the Triads do contain insular accounts of historical events echoed in the early English sources, such as Bede and the Anglo Saxon Chronicle. However, they also contain a mythological element from Welsh poetry concerning Arthurian characters and others from the Mabinogion collection of tales. Additionally, some later Triads appear to have been influenced by the writings of Geoffrey of Monmouth. Therefore we must exercise a degree of caution to their reliability.

Peppered amongst these Triads can be found a group which refer to genuine historical events, if a little confused in places, concerning the Welsh conflict with Edwin of Diera. As we have seen above (see Part II - The Battle of Chester), Edwin is portrayed throughout Medieval Welsh poetry as symbolic of the English opponent, indeed Triad 26 [3] refers to 'Edwin, king of Lloegr, as the third Great Oppression of Mon', (The Isle of Anglesey).

The same impression of Edwin is upheld throughout Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain. In Part III The Battle of Chester (2) we saw how according to Geoffrey of Monmouth and Reginald of Durham's Life of St Oswald, Edwin had been fostered in Gwynedd at Cadfan's court and befriended the Welsh king's son Cadwallon. Following a period of exile in Brittany, Cadwallon and Edwin's friendship falters over who will wear the crown of Britain and thus, Edwin's prolonged conflict against the North Wales king Cadwallon had begun. An example of the Welsh conflict with Edwin from this group of Triads is the 'Three Missions that were obtained from Powys', [4] which refers to the conflict between Cadwallon and Edwin at Meigin. At first glance this would appear to be the battle of Meigin recorded in the 10th century Annales Cambriae as 630 AD when 'on the Kalends of January the battle of Meigen took place' where Edwin and his two sons were killed by the forces of the victorious Cadwallon. The 9th century Historia Brittonum (often cited as Nennius) would appear to verify this account, recording that the two sons of Edwin fell with him in battle at Meicen, and his dynasty was exterminated because not one of his race escaped from that war; but all were slain by Cadwallon's army.

Although at odds with the Welsh sources, the English sources tend to agree on the date and location of Edwin's downfall. According to Bede, II.20, Edwin met his end in “a great battle being fought in the plain that is called Heathfield, Edwin was killed on the 12th of October, in the year of our Lord 633,” by Cadwallon allied with the Mercian warlord Penda. Following the battle Bede states that “King Edwin's head was brought to York.” [5] The Anglo Saxon Chronicle gives 633 AD as the year Edwin was slain on Hatfield Moor, near Doncaster, Yorkshire, on 14th October, only two days out from Bede's account.

However, allowing for the discrepancy in dates between the English and Welsh sources, this cannot be the same battle. Triad 55 appears to be referring to events having taken place in Powys [6] but the Historia Brittonum and Annales Cambriae, perhaps following the same Welsh source, appear to confuse this event with the conflict recorded in the English sources in which Edwin and his sons are killed by Cadwallon. It is possible, but unlikely, that there were two places named 'Meigen' in Dark Age Britain. It is also unlikely that the English name for 'Meigin' was 'Heathfield' as the Triad clearly identifies the site with Powys, whereas the battle site of the English sources are usually identified as Hatfield Moor, near Doncaster in South Yorkshire.

More likely the Welsh sources confused the death of Edwin at Heathfield with an earlier defeat at the hands of Cadwallon on the Powys borderlands. In the English sources, this is a major event, marking the death of king Edwin of Deira and his kin, whereas, in the Triads the battle of Meigin appears to be a minor battle in Powys, perhaps no more than a border skirmish with a local chieftain or even Edwin himself but certainly did not result in the death of the great 'Oppressor of the Welsh' and is notably absent from the Marwnad Cadwallon (The Elegy of Cadwallon) which includes a list of the Welsh leader's battles. We can justifiably expect the Welsh sources to record the death of Edwin as a major event but it is not noted as such in the accounts of the battle of Meigin.

Therefore, in essence, Triad 55 does appear to be of an historical nature which continues in the following Triads referring to events of the Welsh conflict with Northumbria:

Triad 62 Three Fettered War-Bands of the Islands of Britain mentions Cadwallon fighting with Serygei the Irishman at the Irishmens’ Rocks in Môn (Anglesey) and Belyn of Llyn fighting with Edwin at Bryn Edwin in Rhos, Flintshire, North Wales.

Triad 69 Three Defilements of the Severn records when Cadwallon went to the Action of Digoll with the forces of the Cymry with him against Edwin on the other side with the forces of Lloegr with him. And then the Severn was defiled from its source to its mouth; Annales Cambriae for the year 632 records the slaughter of the [river] Severn and the death of Idris, which is probably the same event referred to in the Triad.

In the middle of this group of Triads and in much the same vein in recalling historical events of the Welsh conflict with the English, we find Triad 60 Three Gate-Keepers of the Contest of Bangor Orchard in which we find an account of the same conflict referred to in the Brut y Brenhinedd that circulated in north east Wales, the Cotton Cleopatra (B) manuscript and a local variant known as the Black Book of Basingwerk. As stated above the local redactor of this version of the Brut, produced at Valle Crucis Abbey, only 15 miles from Bangor Is-y-coed, substitutes the Action of Bangor Orchard in place of the Battle of Chester, indicating local knowledge of the real site of the massacre of the holy men.

Three Gate-Keepers at the Action of Bangor Orchard:
Gwgon Red Sword,
and Madawg son of Rhun,
and Gwiawn son of Cyndrwyn.

And three others on the side of Lloegr:
Hawystyl the Arrogant,
and Gwaetcym Herwuden,
and Gwiner. [7]

In the next part of this examination of the Battle of Chester we will look at this Triad in more detail.

Notes:
1. Jenny Rowland, Early Welsh Saga Poetry, D S Brewer, 1990, pp. 126 – 130, and Rachel Bromwich, "Trioedd Ynys Prydein" – The Triads of the Island of Britain, University of Wales Press, 2006, Third Edition, pp. 156 -160.]
2. See The Round Table Revealed Part V: Chronicle and Scribes
3. The Triads are numbered in accordance with Rachel Bromwich "Trioedd Ynys Prydein" – The Triads of the Island of Britain, University of Wales Press, 2006, Third Edition.
4. Bromwich, Ibid. Triad 55, p.156.
5. There is a tradition from Welsh poetry (Gofara Braint) that Edwin's head was taken to Aberffraw, Anglesey, the seat of the Kings of Gwynedd - see Gruffydd, R. Geraint. "Canu Cadwallon ap Cadfan" in Astudiaethau ar yr Hengerdd: Studies in Old Welsh Poetry, University of Wales Press, 1978.
6. Rachel Bromwich, Op. Cit. pp. 156 -160.
7. Bromwich, Ibid. Triad 60, p. 171.

* * *

Irish Influence on Medieval Welsh Literature

2011-03-26T18:06:00.000Z

A new book by Patrick Sims-Williams

Patrick Sims-Williams has recently completed a new book, published by Oxford University Press, March 2011, on Irish influence on medieval Welsh literature which will be of interest not only to medievalists but to all those concerned with the problem of how to recognize and evaluate literary influence.

Professor Sims-Williams has authored several books on Celtic and Anglo-Saxon topics, including Ancient Celtic Place-Names in Europe and Asia Minor (Wiley-Blackwell, 2006), Ptolemy: Towards a Linguistic Atlas of the Earliest Celtic Place-names of Europe (CMCS Publications, 2000), The Celtic Inscriptions of Britain: Phonology and Chronology, C.400-1200 (Wiley-Blackwell, 2002), and Religion and Literature in Western England, 600-800 (Cambridge University Press, 2005).

He has also contributed to major works such as 'The Early Welsh Arthurian Poems' (pp.33-72) to The Arthur of the Welsh: Arthurian Legend in Mediaeval Welsh Literature, edited by Rachel Bromwich, AOH Jarman and Brinley Roberts (University of Wales Press, 1991) and 'Gildas and vernacular poetry' (pp. 169-190) in Gildas: New Approaches (1984), edited by Michael Lapidge and David Dumville. He has edited the journal Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies (CMCS) since 1981.

In this new book, Irish Influence on Medieval Welsh Literature, Patrick Sims-Williams examines the extensive and now famous literature of Ireland's Middle Ages which was unknown outside the Gaelic-speaking world of Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man - with Wales an important exception. With the settlement of Irish emigrants in Wales from the 5th century onwards, Irish scholars worked in Wales in the 9th century, and throughout the Middle Ages there were ecclesiastical, mercantile, and military contacts across the Irish Sea. From this standpoint, it is not surprising that the names of Irish heroes such as Cu Roi, Cu Chulainn, Finn, and Deirdre became known to Welsh poets, and that Irish narratives influenced the authors of the Welsh Mabinogion .

Yet the Welsh and Irish languages were not mutually comprehensible, the degree to which the two countries still shared a common Celtic inheritance is contested, and Latin provided a convenient lingua franca. This work discusses if some of the similarities between the Irish and Welsh literatures could be due to independent influences or even to coincidence? Patrick Sims-Williams provides a new approach to these controversial questions, situating them in the context of the rest of medieval literature and international folklore. The result is the first comprehensive estimation of the extent to which Irish literature influenced medieval Welsh literature.

Analytical Table of Contents
List of maps
Preface

1. Introduction
The introduction discusses estimates of Irish vernacular influence on Welsh literature. Assumptions about ‘Celtic’ literature deriving from Renan and Arnold are considered in the light of ‘Celtoscepticism’. Problems include the divergence of Irish and Welsh, loss of manuscripts, uncertain dating of texts, independent folkloric influence, the widespread ‘Heroic Biography’ and ‘Heroic Age’, and the limitations of the philological Stammbaum model. Cognate names e.g. Finn/Gwynn, Nuadu/Nudd, Suibhne Geilt/Myrddin Wyllt (Merlin) versus borrowed names such as Mannanán/Manawydan are analysed, as is the character Brân. Historical contacts include Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd's and Cadwgan of Whitland's Irish parentage, the use of Welsh at Tracton, Co. Cork, and the alleged influence of Gruffudd ap Cynan on Welsh music and poetry. Latin intermediaries are include the Vita of Maedóc of Ferns. Some Irish material in Welsh reflects observation of reality (e.g. Irish dress) rather than texts.

2. Irish Vernacular Influence on the Earliest Welsh Literature
This chapter contends that solid evidence of Irish influence on Welsh literature starts with the ninth-century ‘brain drain’ of Irish scholars. The discussion covers the Cambridge Juvencus manuscript, Dubthach and Merfyn Frych, the Historia Brittonum, Cormac's Glossary, glosses and marginalia, the Pangur Bán poem, Cædmon's Hymn, the Twrch Trwyth and Ychen Bannog legends, and the May Day poem in the Black Book of Carmarthen and the Elegy on Cú Roí in the Book of Taliesin.

3. Kaer Sidi and other Celtic Otherworld Terms
In chapter three the author argues that modern terms the Otherworld and l'Autre Monde are problematic and that there was no common Celtic term. Locations overseas and in tumuli are discussed. Terms discussed include síd, Annwfn, Andoounnabo, gorsedd, forad, Ynys Wair, Kaer Sidi, Caer Siddi, tíre béo and terra viventium. Reference is made to Preiddeu Annwn, Historia Brittonum, De Abbatibus, Elis Gruffudd, Hanes Taliesin, and William Owen-Pughe.

4. Narrative Techniques in Irish and Welsh, I: The 'Slavic Antithesis'
Looks at narrative technique, the so-called Slavic Antithesis', found in Irish and Welsh, but also elsewhere which casts doubt on there being a connection between the Celtic examples. Illustrations are given not only from Togail Bruidne Da Derga, Mesca Ulad, Táin Bó Cúailnge, the Cynddylan englynion, and Taliesin, but also the Finnsburg fragment and Eiríksmál, ballads from Russia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Finland, Ossetia, and even from Superman.

5. Narrative Techniques in Irish and Welsh, II: The Riddling 'Watchman Device'
With particular reference to Togail Bruidne Da Derga and Branwen this chapter discusses the narrative technique called the ‘Watchman Device’. It is illustrated from Homer, Statius, Valerius Flaccus, the Shahnama, the Mahabharata, Laxdœla saga, Thithreks saga, the Bórama, Táin Bó Cúailnge, Serbian and Scottish Gaelic ballads, and even Kenneth Grahame. The Irish and Welsh examples have undergone the influence, perhaps independently, of the ‘Slavic Antithesis’ of Chapter 4 and of international landscape riddles. Riddles from around the world are compared and the relationship beween riddle, metaphor, kenning, and myth is discussed.

6. The Irish Elements in Culhwch and Olwen
Chapter six examines the Irish personal names and place-names in Culhwch and Olwen and what they meant to the author in terms of Irish literature, e.g. Esgair Oerfel, Seisgeann Uairbheóil, the ‘five fifths of Ireland’, Diwrnach, Cai, Llenlleawg, Caledfwlch, Conchobar mac Nesa, Cú Roí mac Dáiri, Fergus mac Róich, Lóegaire Búadach, Conall Cernach, Maelwys mab Baedan, Scilti scawntroet, Gilla goeshydd, Garselit gwyddel, Brys fab bryssethach. Use of Annals, floating lists, and sheer invention is suggested. Some comparison is made with narrative themes in the areithiau, Cathcharpat Serda, Fled Bricrend, Widsith, Cath Maige Tuired and Rigomer.

7. The Irish Geography of Branwen
Allusions to Irish geography in the Second Branch of the Mabinogi, Branwen; the former rivers between Britain and Ireland called Lli and the Archan and the submerged kingdoms; the river Liffey and Dublin; and the origin story of the ‘five fifths of Ireland’ are discussed in the seventh chapter. The last is compared with Lebor Gabála Érenn and Giraldus Cambrensis, with the Lot story in Genesis 19, with the stories of Cairbre Cattchenn and Túathal Techtmar, and with the ‘Treachery at Scone’.

8. The Submission of Irish Kings in Fact and Fiction
This chapter looks at possible allusions in the Second Branch of the Mabinogi, Branwen, to Irish customs relating to hospitality and submission to an overlord, with particular reference to Brian Bórama, Athelstan, Henry II, ‘Easter houses’, and the use of halls and tents. Texts discussed include Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi, Annals of Inisfallen, Annals of Ulster, Annals of Tigernach, Mac Carthaigh's Book, Expugnatio Hibernica, Thady Dowling, Vita Sanctae Monennae, Chaucer's House of Fame, Tromdám Guaire, Scéla Cano meic Gartnáin, Scéla Mucce Meic Dathó, Fled Bricrenn, Orgain Denna Ríg, and Vitae of St Gwynllyw and St Gwenfrewy.

9. Llasar and the Lake of the Cauldron
Here the author offers an explanation of the story in Branwen about the giant Llasar bringing the cauldron of rebirth from a lake. Comparison is made with the folklore of Llyn Cwm-llwch and Llyn y Fan Fach, and in particular with that of Devenish on Lough Erne, as in Tochmarc Emire, Tochmarc Ferbae and Cóir Anmann. Llasar's story is compared with stereotyped hostile migration-legends, e.g. the Flemish in Pembrokeshire or Ingimund near Chester. Llasar's name derived from llasar ‘azure’ but got equated with Irish lasair ‘flame’ and Latin Lazarus, giving rise to the story that he was shunned, was burned in the Iron House and survived with the cauldron of resurrection. Welsh knowledge of the Lives Irish saints called Lasair, Mo Laise, or similar is likely; connections between Wales and the cult of St Maedóc at Ferns, Co. Wexford, and Drumlane, Co. Cavan provide a link.

10. The Iron House, the Men in Bags, and the Severed Head
Continuing from Chapter 9, this chapter begins with the Iron House story in Branwen. Arson in medieval life and literature is discussed, with special reference to Norse material and the Irish sagas Orgain Denna Ríg and Mesca Ulad, but also the Grimms' ‘Six Go Through the World’ and Vercelli Homily IX. It is argued that the Bórama, first attested in the Book of Leinster, is the best Irish parallel to Branwen and that a version of it, probably from St Maedóc's monastery at Ferns, Co. Wexford, influenced the Welsh author here and in his ‘Men in the Bags’ episode. A Leinster sequel, The Battle of Allen, may have influenced his story of Brân's severed head. The Welsh king Brân and Irish king Brandub seem to have been equated.

11. Cu Chulainn in Late Medieval Wales
This chapter discusses a legendary Irish musical council at Glendalough and then a reference to Cú Chulainn in a sixteenth-century Welsh tune-name. Allusions to this hero by the poets Lewys Glyn Cothi and Gwilym ab Ieuan Hen may refer to this tune or to the Elegy on Cú Roí mac Dáiri in the Book of Taliesin, available in Radnorshire. The name Cú Chulainn also seems to have been used as a nickname for Irish immigrants at Ystumgwern in the Extent of Merioneth of 1420 and in Llyn in a subsidy roll for 1292–3, The status of other Irish immigrants such as the Twrllachied of Anglesey and Osbwrn Wyddel of Llanaber are discussed. In Appendix I it is argued that Cuhelyn is an unrelated name and that allusions to ‘Cuhelyn's shield’ are more likely to refer to the Welsh Cuhelyn Fardd than to the Irish story about the shield of Cú Chulainn. In Appendix II it is argued that allusions to ‘nyf’ by Casnodyn, Dafydd ap Gwilym, Gruffudd ap Maredudd and other Welsh poets are not to an Irish heroine Niamh, but to the Welsh word nyf meaning ‘snow’.

12. Fionn, Deirdre, and Lebarcham in Late Medieval Wales
Chapter 12 considers allusions to Fionn, Deirdre, and Lebarcham by late medieval Welsh poets, in particular Gruffudd ap Maredudd, Dafydd y Coed, Dafydd ap Gwilym, Casnodyn, Trahaearn, Lewys Glyn Cothi, Ieuan Du'r Bilwg, Dafydd Nanmor and Wiliam Llyn. A reference to ‘Ffin vab Koel’ in the satire Araith Iolo Goch is also discussed. The Deirdre allusions are to the late medieval Oided mac nUisnig (or Oidheadh Chloinne hUisneach) rather than the Old Irish Longes mac nUislenn. The descriptions of Lebarcham recall Talland Étair and Tochmarc Luaine ocus Aided Athairne.

13. Irish Influence on Medieval Welsh Literary Criticism?
Discusses a possible instance of medieval Irish literary criticism influencing Welsh literacy criticism, in connection with comments on shifts between second and third person address in panegyric. Reference is made to the Irish Grammatical Tracts and Bardic Syntactical Tracts, the Trefhocul tract, Preface to Amra Coluim Cille, Taliesin, the Gogynfeirdd, the Cywyddwyr, Einion Offeiriad and the Welsh Bardic Grammar. Comparison is made with Priscian and Petrus Hispanus, and evocatio in Latin rhetoric. A possible Latin formula praesens et absens is hypothesized.

14. Conclusion
In summary, the final chapter discusses the book's findings and the changing views on Irish influence of scholars such as John Rhys, Kuno Meyer, Ludwig Stern, John Morris-Jones, T. Gwynn Jones, J. Lloyd-Jones, Ifor Williams, Saunders Lewis, C. H. Slover, Cecile O'Rahilly, and Proinsias Mac Cana.

Abbreviations and References
Index

Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies
Patrick Sims-Williams has been Professor of Celtic Studies at Aberystwyth University since 1994 and was previously Reader in Celtic and Anglo-Saxon an the University of Cambridge. Currently President of the International Congress of Celtic Studies, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1996 and directs the Academy’s research project on the Development of the Welsh Language (Datblygiad yr Iaith Gymraeg).

In 1981 he founded the academic journal Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies (formerly Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies to 1992) and has remained the journal's editor to this day. CMCS is a bi-annual journal of Celtic studies, appearing in summer and winter, covering Medieval Celtic language, literature, history, and archaeology of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Brittany from A.D. 400 to 1500.

More recently, CMCS Publications has widened its publishing output to monographs, such as Helen McKee's The Cambridge Juvencus manuscript glossed in Latin, Old Welsh, and Old Irish: Text and Commentary (2000) and Marged Haycock's Legendary Poems from the Book of Taliesin (2007).

Patrick Sims-Williams is a regular contributor with articles such as:
Gildas and the Anglo-Saxons - CMCS 6 (1983), pp. 1-30.
The submission of Irish kings in fact and fiction: Henry II Bendigeidfran, and dating of The Four Branches of the Mabinogi - CMCS 22 (1991), pp. 31-61
The provenance of the Llywarch Hen poems: a case for Llan-gors, Brycheiniog - CMCS 26 (1993), pp. 27-63
The death of Urien - CMCS 32 (1996) , pp. 25-56
Celtomania and Celtoscepticism - CMCS 36 (1998), pp. 1-36

CMCS is available from the Department of Welsh, Old College, King Street, Aberystwyth. SY23 2AX. Wales. Annual subscription (since 2002) is £22 to institutions; £10 to individuals for 2 numbers, inclusive of packing and postage.

* * *

Early Welsh Saga Poetry

2011-03-15T22:32:00.000Z

“I carry a head in the grasp of my hand
of a generous lord – he used to lead a country.
The chief support of Britain has been carried off

I carry a head which cared for me.
I know it is not for my good.
Alas, my hand, it performed harshly.

I carry a head from the side of the hill
and on his lips is a fine foam
of blood. Woe to Rheged because of this day.

It has wrenched my arm, it has crushed my ribs,
it has broken my heart
I carry a head which cared for me.”

Welsh saga poetry is said to have its roots in Dark Age Northern Britain, 400 – 700 AD. The 9th century Historia Brittonum (History of the Britons) records the bards of the time Taliesin and Aneirin amongst others who's work has not survived:

“Then Dutgirn at that time fought bravely against the nation of the Angles. At that time, Talhaiarn Cataguen was famed for poetry, and Neirin, and Taliesin and Bluchbard, and Cian, who is called Guenith Guaut, were all famous at the same time in British poetry.”

This era is known as the period of Y Cynfeirdd (literally "The earliest poets"), their poetry celebrating their patrons and praising their valiant efforts in battle. We know of Taliesin's works from the 6th century praise poems to Urien of Rheged and Aneirin's Y Gododdin, the moving poem recounting the disastrous British attack on Catraeth, the most archaic version of the poem John Koch has dated to the 6th century.

This style, personified by Aneirin and Taliesin, was continued by a number of anonymous poets all writing in the same tradition; from the 9th century we find the saga poetry of Llywarch Hen which laments those who have fought and fallen in battle. 'Llywarch Hen' (Llywarch the Old) was a 6th century prince, and cousin to Urien, from the ruling family in the 'Hen Ogledd' (Old North) of the northern British kingdom of Rheged, comprising of territory from parts of modern southern Scotland. In his later years Llywarch, now an old man, has also been transferred from his northern British background to Wales in the context of the incessant border skirmishes with the English. The early Welsh poems attributed to Llywarch Hen have come to be known as saga englynion.

Welsh Saga Poetry
Early Welsh saga "Englynion", are lyric poems long presumed to be the poetic remains of lost stories, told in a mixture of prose and verse.

Englynion (singular: englyn) are the oldest recorded Welsh metrical form, short form poems that consist of three or four lines stanzas, dating from as early as the 9th century. Each englyn has a complex structure, for example involving rhymes or half rhymes, and a certain number of syllables per line and other variants.

The englyn is the only early stanzaic metre in Welsh. The origins of the metre have defied attempts to be traced but is thought to have been in existence since at least the 8th century. The main period of floruit for the three-line types is the 9th and 10th centuries; by the 11th century the higher classes of poets, the bards, had adopted four-line variants of the earlier types, and the three-line types were used only by the lesser, more popular poets. The englyn is used for a wide range of subjects in the early period: religious verse, gnomic poetry, prophecy and antiquarian works. The main bardic genre, praise poetry, is not attested for the early period.

But by far the most extensive and important body of englynion poetry are the lyric poems in character termed “englynion chedlonol” or “saga englynion”.

Saga poems are long narratives, recalling an heroic adventure or events, typically battles in early Welsh poetry, often featuring generations of the same family. The term is said to originate from Old Norse or Icelandic prose tales depicting Norwegian and Icelandic history, battles and legends.

The Songs of Llywarch the Old
The collective early Welsh saga englynion known as Canu Llywarch Hen, Canu Heledd and Canu Urien are considered to be part of a cycle concerning the figures whose stories they tell. Their subject is mainly the characters and events of the 6th and 7th centuries, during the long years of warfare with the Anglo-Saxon invaders. These three main cycles, or groups of poems, refer to material concerning Llywarch Hen, Heledd and those dealing with the death of Urien Rheged.

In the poems concerning Llywarch Hen, (Canu Llywarch Hen) his life was the subject of a presumed lost saga of which only a series of englynion, survives. Llywarch flees to Powys, his new homeland often associated with Llanfor, near Llyn Tegid in Gwynedd. Canu Llywarch Hen recalls the loss of all twenty-four sons of Llywarch Hen, in battle against the English.

The Canu Heledd recalls the fall of the kings of the Pengwern region (modern Shrewsbury, Shropshire) and the elegy Geraint son of Erbin, concerning the Battle of Llongborth, are also associated indirectly with Llywarch. The "Heledd Cycle" laments the death of Cynddylan, prince of Powys in the 7th century, his lands devastated by the English of Mercia. Scholars argue that the 9th century poems do not deal with historical events, indeed there is no account of Cynddylan outside of Welsh poetry, but reflect the background of the border conflict. Heledd, sister of Cynddylan, is the lone survivor in this cycle, in which she laments the loss of Cynddylan's great hall, formerly filled with life, but now ruined and empty.

Included here is the "The Death-song of Cynddylan" (Marwnad Cynddylan), which is thought to be older than the 10th century Canu Heledd, likely composed in East Powys not long after Cynddylan's death in 655 AD.

“The Death of Urien”, the third in the cycle, is the most obscure of the three, composed sometime after the assassination of the 6th century British leader of Rheged. Llywarch, here in his native north Britain, appears as the narrator, where in one poem he returns to Rheged with the British leader's severed head; whether Llywarch murdered Urien himself or retrieved his head to prevent the enemy obtaining it as a trophy has been the subject of considerable debate. The Historia Brittonum recalls how Urien was killed by one of his own people:

“Hussa reigned seven years. Against him fought four kings, Urien, and Ryderthen, and Guallauc, and Morcant. Theodoric fought bravely, together with his sons, against that Urien. But at that time sometimes the enemy and sometimes our countrymen were defeated, and he shut them up three days and three nights in the island of Metcaut; and whilst he was on an expedition he was murdered, at the instance of Morcant, out of envy, because he possessed so much superiority over all the kings in military science.”

Welsh Scholarship
Most of the saga englynion were first published in 1792 by William Owen. At the time Llywarch was considered to be the composer of the englynion, not a character in some of the verse. The early works were considered unsound due to the infancy of Welsh scholarship. The texts from the Red Book of Hergest englynion and Black Book of Carmarthen poems in The Myvyrian Archaeology of Wales (1801-7) were considered little better. Skene's The Four Ancient Books of Wales (1868) were translations commissioned from Welsh clergymen of the time who had no training in the older language and considered unreliable at best. In the 1900's J Gwenogvryn Evans produced diplomatic editions of The Black Book of Carmarthen (1906) and The Poetry in the Book of Hergest (1911) which are invaluable for the modern scholar of Welsh Literature.

Modern Welsh scholarship begins with the works of Sir John Rhys and Sir John Morris-Jones. However, it was their pupil Sir Ifor Williams who produced editions and elucidations of the early poetry of Wales. Williams presented an outline of his theories in his British Academy Lecture of 1932 `The Poems of Llywarch Hen' which demonstrated that this cycle of poems dated from the 9th century based primarily on historical grounds.

Soon after, Williams produced 'Canu Llywarch Hen' (University of Wales Press, 1935), containing poems relating to the figures of Llywarch Hen, Heledd and Urien Rheged, their background being the wars between the Cymry and the English in the 6th and 7th centuries, in Powys and on the Shropshire border; but also including memories of warfare in the `Old North', which covered much of southern Scotland, and northern England. Williams showed that, contrary to earlier assumption, Llywarch Hen is not the name of the anonymous poet who composed these dramatic poems, but rather that of a leading actor in them, an ancient warrior, relocated in Powys, portrayed as a senile figure, goading his sons to go out and fight in defence of their borderland, as he himself is no longer able to do so, then lamenting their loss.

Patrick Ford produced the first work to present an entire cycle to an English audience in 'The Poetry of Llywarch Hen' (1974). Ford's work is not an edition and denies any sort of narrative framework for the poems.

Jenny Rowland produced the first full edition of the saga englynion since Sir Ifor Williams's Canu Llywarch Hen appeared in Welsh. Rowland's work was first submitted as a PhD thesis to the University of Wales in 1982. Rowland's work, based primarily on the Red Book texts, was published by as Early Welsh Saga Poetry: A Study & Edition of the Englynion (D S Brewer, 1990) containing full English translations, narrative and notes making the work accessible to a wider English audience. Long out of print, and virtually impossible to obtain a copy second-hand, Rowland's opus is now available again as a “print-on-demand” service directly from the publisher's website.

Rowland's critical discussion of the saga "englynion" seeks to restore the lost narrative background by careful reading of internal indications and by comparative study. The growth, nature and artistry of each cycle is fully explored, as well as how each relates to the larger corpus. Relevant early Welsh traditions and history are also cited and the broader questions of what was the nature of the original prose setting, the metrical principles and practice, and their relationship to the Old English elegies are also covered.

Early Welsh Saga Poetry
A Study & Edition of the Englynion
Edited by Jenny Rowland

Published1990, D S Brewer
ISBN: 9780859912754
Hardback, 698 pages

Table of Contents
Part 1: The Llywarch Hen poems; the Urien Rheged poems; Canu Heledd - the historical background - the poems; "Claf Abercuawg" and penitential lyrics; miscellaneous saga poems and the performance of the saga "Englynion"; other genres using the three-line "Englyn" metres; metrics, authorship, language, dating.
Part 2: Edition and translations of the texts: the manuscripts of the saga "Englynion"; editorial note; Canu Llywarch; Canu Urien; Canu Heledd; "Claf Abercuawg" and "Kyntaw Geir"; miscellaneous saga poems. Appendices: Early Welsh genealogical tracts - edition and text of "Marwnad Cynddylan".

This major “print on demand” programme ensures specialist, rare and difficult to find books such as Gildas: New Approaches edited by David Dumville and Michael Lapidge, and Saint Germanus of Auxerre and the End of Roman Britain by E A Thompson, are available once more. Essential reading for students of Medieval Welsh literature and Dark Age Britain.

* * *

The Viking Art of Navigation

2011-03-06T16:35:00.000Z

The Vikings were renown as seaborne raiders of north west Europe and a dominant force for 300 years between AD 750 and AD 1200. The Vikings were known to have travelled vast distances navigating by the sun using a special sundial or ‘sundisc’. However, how the Vikings navigated in cloudy or foggy situations, when the 'sundisc' was unusable, was not fully understood until recently.

The word 'Viking' is a modern revival, the term is not known from Middle English, but by the 19th century it had come to mean a Scandinavian pirate. The term 'Vikingr' was used only in Denmark and the West Norse area as attested in the Norse prose histories known as the Sagas of the Icelanders and found on several Scandinavian rune stones, usually explained as meaning "one who came from the fjords," from 'vik' meaning "creek, inlet, small bay".

The Modern English term Viking is thought to have derived from Old English 'wicing' and Old Frisian 'wizing' which are almost 300 years older than the Sagas of the Icelanders and thought to derive from 'wic' as in "village, or camp", related to the Latin 'vicus' meaning "village, habitation", referring to their temporary camps, an important feature of the Viking raids which commenced in Britain in 793 AD with the attack on Lindisfarne. The later Norse raiding armies who settled in England were generally referred to as 'Danes'.

In the Sagas the word 'Viking' refers to a seaborne warrior taking part in an oversea expedition, such as their famed longship journeys as far afield as the Russian Volga and across the northern Atlantic to Newfoundland in the New World. According to 'Eirik the Red's Saga' Norsemen first settled Greenland in the 980's AD and started to explore lands westward only a few years after the Greenland settlements were established.

The Sagas tell that Leif Erikson landed on the shores of a beautiful place with references to wild grapes, hardwoods, butternuts, that he named Vinland (Vine land). The length of day recorded in the sagas has led to speculation that Leif’s Vinland was somewhere between New England and Newfoundland.

These tales claiming the Vikings reached the New World 500 years before Columbus did not became widely known until the 19th century, and since then scholars have debated their veracity claiming that the content of the sagas cannot be relied upon as primary evidence and arguing that seaborne Norsemen could not have successfully navigated across the Atlantic solely by the sundial or ‘sundisc’ alone which would be ineffective in cloudy weather. The magnetic compass was not then known in Europe and in the short summer nights of northerly latitudes they would also have had limited views of the stars to guide their way across the ocean. It has long been suspected that the Vikings must had some other navigational aid.

In 1960 evidence of Vikings in North America came to light at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, Canada. Several Norse artifacts and clear Icelandic- style house foundations were uncovered providing proof that Vikings had indeed landed, and briefly settled, in North America before Columbus. More recent archaeological work has revealed over 300 years of intermittent contact between the Greenlandic Norsemen and Native American peoples, primarily with the Inuit people in the Canadian Arctic. While the Norse colony in Greenland lasted for almost 500 years, the continental North American settlements were small and do not appear to have developed into permanent colonies.

How did the Vikings navigate across the northern Atlantic to the New World?

The Sagas tells of a glowing 'sólarsteinn' or ‘sunstone’ that, when held up to the sky, revealed the position of the Sun even on a cloudy day. References to these mysterious sunstones are found in the Saga known as the Sigurd legend. The story of Sigurd is told in the Völsunga Saga, a late 13th century Icelandic prose rendition of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan, although the origins of the material are thought to be considerably older.

The Saga tells that:
"The weather was very cloudy. It was snowing. Holy Olaf the king sent out somebody to look around, but there was no clear point in the sky. Then he asked Sigurd to tell him where the sun was. After Sigurd complied, he grabbed a sunstone, looked at the sky and saw from where the light came, from which he guessed the position of the invisible sun. It turned out that Sigurd was right."

Past research has shown that some insects, including honeybees, use polarisation for navigation when the sun is obscured by clouds. This led to a hypothesis being developed in the1960's which suggested that under foggy or cloudy conditions, Vikings may have been able to determine the azimuth direction of the Sun with the help of skylight polarisation, as with the insects.

According to this theory, the Vikings could have determined the direction of the skylight polarisation with the help of a birefringent (double-refracting) crystal. Danish archaeologist Thorkild Ramskou suggested in 1967 that the enigmatic sólarsteinn (sunstone) could have been a piece of Icelandic spar, which is calcite in the form of a transparent, polarising crystal which are common in Iceland. Other candidates for sunstone include cordierite or tourmaline, both of which are common in Scandinavia and also function as polarising filters.

Iceland spar calcite crystal

Recently a new study, published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, March 2011, reported how researchers tested these crystals in the high Arctic, Finland, Hungary and Tunisia when the sun was hidden. Scientists Gábor Horváth from the Eötvös University in Budapest and Susanne Ĺkesson from Lund University, have been investigating Ramskou’s hypothesis which had until now never been tested.

A polarising crystal allows only light polarized in one direction to pass through, and it appears dark or light depending on its orientation to the polarised light. Sunlight becomes polarised through the scattering of air molecules in the atmosphere, with the line of polarisation at a tangent to concentric circles with the sun at their centre. Ramskou postulated that by rotating a polarizing crystal the Vikings could determine the direction of polarisation and therefore the position of the sun when it was hidden by fog or was just beneath the horizon.

In 2005, Horváth and Ĺkesson crossed the Arctic Ocean and measured the polarisation patterns of the sky under a wide range of weather conditions in totally overcast skies. They were surprised to learn that these patterns were very similar on clear and cloudy days and even when the ground was covered in snow and ice, although the polarisation was weaker in overcast conditions. They concluded that these polarising crystals function in much the same way as the mythical sunstone of the Vikings, suggesting the Norsemen could have used this information to determine the position of the sun even when obscured by cloud or fog and navigate across the northern Atlantic in high Arctic zones.

Source:
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 12 March 2011, Vol. 366, No. 1565 772-782:
On the trail of Vikings with polarized skylight: experimental study of the atmospheric optical prerequisites allowing polarimetric navigation by Viking seafarers
- Gábor Horváth, András Barta, István Pomozi, Bence Suhai, Ramón Hegedüs, Susanne Åkesson, Benno Meyer-Rochow and Rüdiger Wehner.

* * *

Shepherd's Monument Shugborough

2011-02-26T14:42:00.000Z

The Shepherds Monument has been the centre of mystery for two hundred and fifty years. Now an historian claims to have solved the enigmatic inscription.

Enigmatic Inscription Solved?
Carved on the 18th-century Shepherd's Monument in the grounds of Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire, England, the ancestral home of the Earls of Lichfield, is the mysterious sequence of letters - O U O S V A V V, followed on the next line by the letters D and M. The inscription which has so far defied attempts to decipher it, appears below a mirror image of Nicolas Poussin's famous painting, The Shepherds of Arcadia.

Theories abound to the meaning of the enigmatic code which has defied a satisfactory explanation for two hundred and fifty years; attempts have been made since the 19th century, among them the great Victorians Dickens and Darwin. In 2004 a team of former code-breakers from Bletchley Park, Britain's famous main decryption establishment of World War II, failed to make a positive decipherment. The code-breakers revealed that they believe the cipher is a message from the Priory of Sion, which is likely to stand for "Jesus (As Deity) Defy", interpreted as belief that Jesus was an earthly prophet, not a divinity. Another of the Bletchley code-breakers suggested it was simply a love poem; "Optima Uxoris Optima Sororis Viduus Amantissimus Vovit Virtutibus", which translates as "Best wife, Best sister, Widower most loving vows virtuously", a phrase first suggested by archivist Morchard Bishop in letters to Margaret, Countess of Lichfield in the early 1950's. However they admitted that you need more than ten letters to break a code; consequently the inscription retains its secret.

Debate continues as to whether the Priory of Sion was invented as a 20th century hoax or has a genuine provenance in the 11th century as guardians of a secret bloodline of the Merovingian dynasty in France. In the controversial book “The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail” (1982), the authors Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln, perpetuated this theory, claiming that The Knights Templar, an order which captured Jerusalem during the Crusades, was the military branch of the Priory of Sion and they were both fronts of the same organisation.

The Knights Templar, or to give them their full title, The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, were thought to be guardians of relics recovered from the Holy Land during the early Crusades, including the Holy Grail, the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper. The secret society of the Priory of Sion succeeded the medieval Knights Templar, and were known as the keepers of the Holy Grail. This was subsequently claimed as fact in the preface of Dan Brown's bestselling novel “The Da Vinci Code” (2003).

The Grail was first introduced to medieval Arthurian romance by Chretien de Troyes in the late 12th century as a "graal" a serving dish or platter. It can be no coincidence that de Troyes composed his tale around the same time as the crusades were taking place and dedicated “ The Story of the Grail, or Perceval” to his patron and crusader, Philip, Count of Flanders. The French Cistercian Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux officiated at the Council of Troyes at which he traced the outlines of the Rule of the Knights Templar, who soon became the ideal of Christian nobility. Originally buried at Clairvaux Abbey, Bernard's remains were later moved to Troyes Cathedral.

Chretien de Troyes would appear to have had access to first hand information from the Crusader Knights and evidently his Arthurian tales contain much pagan material, infused with earlier Celtic themes. It was not until Robert de Boron, wrote his "Joseph d'Arimathie", and continued in the Vulgate's "Estoire del Saint Graal," that Chretien's "graal" was Christianised and transformed into "The Holy Grail" the vessel of the Last Supper.

To others, the concept of the Holy Grail as a bloodline descended from Jesus Christ persisted. In the The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Baigent, Leigh, and Lincoln, proposed the theory that Christ had staged his crucifixion, married Mary Magdalene and eventually sired the Merovingian dynasty. The book also claimed that Nicolas Poussin was a member of the the Priory of Sion, and suggested that his painting, The Shepherds of Arcadia, contains hidden meanings of great esoteric significance.

Interest in the Shepherd's Monument and its inscription exploded following Dan Brown's 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code, featuring the Priory of Sion at the centre of a conspiracy to cover up the Christ bloodline and loaded with esoteric symbolism. The Da Vinci Code finally led to the tomb of Mary Magdalene, the wife of Jesus, her womb depicted by Brown as the receptacle of the Holy Grail, the Christ bloodline, buried beneath the Rose Line in Paris. Many believe the Shepherd's Monument inscription, if deciphered, would reveal the location of the tomb of Jesus.

Shugborough Inscription Solved?
Recently, the Staffordshire Newsletter carried a small article on the 3rd February 2011, stating that an historian had solved the 250 year old riddle of the O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V. & D.M inscription on the Shepherd's Monument at Shugborough, claiming it has nothing to do with the Holy Grail and is nothing more than 18th century graffiti.

Historian A J Morton claims the letters were probably created in memorial of Viscount Anson and his mother Mary Vernon-Venables. Morton said: "Those seeking Grails and other trinkets are going to be disappointed. More than half the letters (S,V,A,V,V and M) match precisely the initials of Viscount Anson of Shugborough (1767 1818) and those of his mother Mary Venables-Vernon. Mary was the resident of Shugborough in 1773." He added, "It's as simple as that. Family initials on a private memorial."

The story appeared in several press reports, the Telegraph reported that Mr Morton discovered that Anson's wife was the daughter of the 1st Baron Vernon and sister of Edward Vernon-Harcourt, an Archbishop of York. Their son, Thomas Anson, was made Viscount Anson of Shugborough in 1806.

Mr Morton said: "It is very likely that 'M'ary 'V'enables-'V'ernon of 'S'udbury Hall, the Baron 'V'ernon of 'D'erbyshire, the honourable Edward 'V'ernon-Harcourt and the 1st 'V'iscount 'A'nson of 'O'rgreave (a hamlet 'U'nited with 'O'verley) and 'S'hugborough were somehow involved in the creation of the original 'Shugborough Code'. Or are all those Vs just a coincidence?"

Mr Morton said: "I've tried convincing myself that I'm wrong, but I can't see any way out. While I'm pleased to have solved it, I do worry that I've destroyed something magical."

He added: "The Grail has brought the estate some much-needed attention and, I imagine, a certain amount of financial relief. But unless they can provide a more convincing solution, I'm afraid the Grail story may have run out of steam."

However, many do not share Mr Morton's confidence in having claimed to have solved the mystery of the Shepherd's Monument inscription, pointing out that his interpretation is just a jumbled mess of letters pulled from any place having an association with the Anson family and hardly fall into the correct order as the Shugborough monument inscription.

A spokesman for Shugborough said: "We get five or six people a week who believe they have solved the code so we are a bit wary now."

The Inscription
Perhaps the most convincing explanation is often the simplest; the letters O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V. is the Latin translation of Ecclesiastes 12:8, ORATOR UT OMNIA SUNT VANITAS AIT VANITAS VANITATUM, which reads; "Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, all is vanity" .

This explanation tends to agree with an earlier monument at Hagley Park, Worcestershire,which was inscribed "OMNIA VANITAS" taken from the Vulgate version of the verse which is "Vanitas vanitatum dixit Ecclesiastes omnia vanitas".

A letter dated 23rd December 1743 mentions the inscription at Hagley Park:

"Mr Lyttelton has built a kind of alcove in his park, inscribed "Sedes Contemplationis" near his hermitage. Under the aforesaid inscription is 'OMNIA VANITAS'."

Thomas Anson is known to have visited Hagley Park in the 1750's.

The letters D and M on the line below is considered an abbreviation of the Latin Diis Manibus, “dedicated to the shades” a common inscription on Roman tombstones and monuments where “shades” was typically a term for “spirits of the dead". It is known that there were authentic Roman funerary stones at Shugborough.

Of all the explanations offered for the inscription on the Shepherd's Monument at Shugborough this is the simplest and considered to perfectly reflect the message of Poussin's painting.

* * *

Arthur's Hunting Path

2011-02-20T17:23:00.001Z

“On winter nights, when the moon is high, wait by the track by Camelot. Though nothing catches your eye except shade and moon shadows, you may hear them ride by: Arthur and his men, hoofbeats clattering, with their horns and their hounds on their way to hunt. At night, I hear you ask? Aye at night, for Arthur is not only the king under the hill, but in this land he leads a different kind of hunt – a wild, wild hunt. He calls to his red-eyed hounds as the moonlight silvers the sky, for tonight, my lads, the hunters ride.” [1]

Legends of Camelot
Perhaps the best known site of the claimants for Arthur's legendary court at Camelot is the ancient hillfort of Cadbury Castle, south of the village of South Cadbury, just off the A303 from Chapel Cross, barely a couple of miles east of Sparkford, Somerset. The word "castle" suggestive of a medieval fortress and battlements of Arthurian romance, but this was never a fortification of stone walls and turrets. The hillfort at South Cadbury, with its massive Iron Age earth bank and defensive ditch system, re-fortified in post-Roman times, was without doubt the base of a powerful Dark Age warlord, a dux bellorum; if Arthur existed in an historical sense then this is, without doubt, the most likely contender for his garrison.

The strong Arthurian associations at Cadbury Castle have caused much consternation amongst scholars who have argued that these links only appeared after John Leland's account in 1542, and of course conveniently present the argument that he probably invented much of the Cadbury folklore:

"Right at the South end of South Cadbury Church stands Camelot. This was once a noted town or castle, set on a real peak of a hill, and with marvellously strong natural defences..... Roman coins of gold, silver and copper have been turned up in large quantities during ploughing there, and also in the fields at the foot of the hill, especially on the East side. Many other antiquities have also been found, including at Camelot, within memory, a silver horseshoe. The only information local people can offer is that they have heard that Arthur frequently came to Camelot." [2]

Of course this a rather circular argument; we can neither prove or dis-prove that Leland made up his story of Cadbury Castle being Camelot. It is certainly possible that the Arthurian association of the site existed in local folklore long before Leland's time. We know from other sites, as attested in Historia Brittonum, that Arthur certainly existed in the landscape before Geoffrey of Monmouth. But we must accept that Leland is the first to record the connection with the South Cadbury hillfort.

Following Leland, the antiquarian and historian William Camden (1551-1623) also called the hillfort 'Camalat' identifying the site with the Camelot of Chretien de Troyes. Camden claimed that locally it was called 'Arthur's Palace':

“....and taketh into him a rill neere which is Camalet, a steepe hill and hard to get up: on the top whereof are to bee seene expresse tokens of a decayed Castle with triple rampires of earth cast up, enclosing within it many acres of ground, and there appeare about the hill five or six ditches, so steepe that a man shall sooner slide downe than goe downe. The Inhabitants name it King Arthurs Palace.....As for Cadburie, a little towne next unto it, we may ghesse verie probably to have been that Cathbregion where King Arthur (as Ninnius writeth) defeated the English-Saxons in a memorable battell. ” [3]

Folk tales from the late 19th century said that the hill was hollow, Arthur and his knights lie sleeping inside waiting for when the country needs their help. A local person saw the gates as a boy, but they cannot be located today. A local poem calls them golden gates claiming that if you look through them on St John's Eve you can see the king in his court. A group of Victorian archaeologists visiting the hillfort were about to commence their dig when they were asked by a local man if they had come ‘to take the king away’.

The hollow hill is reminiscent of fairy lore and inevitably we find a tale of how they carried corn up from the arable side below the camp. When bells were placed in the church they went away and left gold behind. As in much fairy lore, they appear to have left the hill with the coming of iron.

Passing through South Cadbury village you come to the foot of a path leading up the hill a short distance beyond the church. This path climbs gently to a gate in a wall, and then more steeply through woods, until it emerges in the enclosure at the top. Found in the lowest rampart is a well on the left of the path as you go up into the hillfort, this is known as Arthur's Well. Sounds from this Well can be heard at Queen Anne's Wishing Well, another 200 yards further on within the ramparts. During the dark, silent hours on Midsummer or Midwinter's Night, King Arthur and his knights are said to ride throughout this land, and water their thirsty horses either here or at another well by the village church of Sutton Montis. Whether seen or not, their silver-shod hoof beats can always be heard.

Glastonbury Tor from Wearyall Hill

Below the hill there are the slightest traces of an ancient trackway running in the direction of Glastonbury. This track is known as Arthur's Lane, Arthur's Hunting Path or Causeway, said to be a lost bridle path leaving Cadbury by its west gate heading in a north westerly direction toward the Tor at Glastonbury, 11 miles distant. It is thought that this was an ancient neolithic trackway across the Somerset marshes linking Cadbury with Glastonbury.

“......between South Cadbury Castle and Glastonbury Tor to the N.E. lay a bridle path called "Arthur's Lane, which is believed to have originally been founded as a Neolithic causeway into the Glastonbury marshes.” [4]

On winter nights, the spectres of Arthur and his knights can be heard galloping past on their horses with their baying hounds running in their wake. At every full moon Arthur and his men rode round the hill to water their silver-shod horses at a nearby well:

“Folks do say that on the night of the full moon King Arthur and his men ride round the hill, and their horses are shod with silver, and a silver shoe has been found in the track where they do ride, and when they have ridden round the hill, they stop to water their horses at the Wishing Well”. [5]

Inevitably Arthur's troop riding along this lane became associated with the Wild Hunt of north European folklore. The leader of the Wild Hunt could be interchangeable between historical figures but was usually legendary such as Gwynn ap Nudd, Woden or Arthur, adopting the role of psychopomp in gathering the souls of the dead. Gwynn ap Nudd, King of the Welsh Fairy race, the Tylwyth Teg, has strong associations with Glastonbury, indeed his abode is said to be within the Tor itself, and he accompanies Arthur on the Hunt for the supernatural boar, the Twrch Trwyth as recorded in the tale of Culhwch and Olwen. Son of Nudd, the ancient British sea and river deity, known as Nodens, God of healing, who's domain abounds the nearby Severn estuary, as attested by the 4th Century Romano-British temple at Lydney Park, Gloucestershire, England. The Wild Hunt is accompanied by white, red-eared Hellhounds, known in Welsh mythology as the Cwn Annwn, and in Somerset as Gabble or Gabriel Ratchets. [6] If one was unlucky enough to witness the Wild Hunt it was thought to be an omen of ill fortune or even the death of the observer. The Hunt would kidnap any mortals in its path and take them with it to the abode of the dead.

The Starres which Agree with their Reproductions on the Ground [7]
In the 1920's Katherine Maltwood, a scholar of fine art, was commissioned to illustrate the anonymous High History of the Holy Grail, or the Perlesvaus, originally written in Old French, sometime in the early half of the 13th Century, as a continuation of Chretien DeTroyes' unfinished story of the Grail, "Le Conte du Graal, or Perceval". Some of the geographical references in this text correspond so well to the Somerset countryside that certain commentators have argued that Perlesvaus or at least its prototype must have been composed at Glastonbury; indeed a fragment of the Perlesvaus manuscript has been found at Wells Cathedral.

As Maltwood researched her material, she discovered that the adventures of the knights of the Round Table corresponded to place-names in the Vale of Avalon. Using a 1" ordnance survey map and aerial photographs taken from a height of 30,000 feet, she began to trace these on a map and figures began to reveal themselves, delineated by streams, tracks and boundaries, and before long she had discovered the twelve signs of the zodiac in their correct order. On placing a star map over the circle of zodiacal figures on the map Maltwood found the stars and their respective constellations corresponded. She called her discovery the Temple of the Stars.

A thirteenth figure, the great dog of Langport, sitting to the southwest and outside of the main circle of the zodiac, and perhaps the most convincing of all the figures, is seen as guardian to the entrance of Avalon. The nose of this great landscape canine is the mound at Burrowbridge, along the A361 road, known as Burrow Mump, or Alfred's Fort, which has all the appearance of being constructed by the hand of man out of red clay, not found locally, an island amidst the Somerset marshes at Altheney. The mump has all the appearance of being a facsimile of Glastonbury Tor, complete with ruined church to St Michael.

Maltwood wrote up her findings in Glastonbury's Temple Of The Stars and noted the observation that “Alfred's fort at Athelney and Camelot Castle at South Cadbury are both 11 miles from the Isle of Avalon”. [8] The Isle of Avalon is of course Glastonbury Tor, however, after making the observation Maltwood made no more of the connection which laid dormant until the great visionary John Michell rediscovered the St Michael Line in the late 1960's.

Burrow Mump

Michell noted that Burrow Mump was 11 miles from Glastonbury Tor, both orientated at 27 degrees north of east, to the Beltane sunrise on 1st May. Extending this alignment a further 11 miles at the same orientation he came to another St Michael site at Stoke St Michael. Then extending this line in both directions it was found to form an alignment through Avebury circle to St Margaret's on the east coast near Lowestoft and westwards from St Michael's mount and the extreme south-west point of England below Land's End. It marks the longest continuous stretch of land in southern England. The St Michael Line is marked by a host of shrines to St Michael and runs through many prehistoric sites attesting its ancientness. [9]

Michell observed that the distance between Glastonbury Tor and the summit of Cadbury Castle, is 10.909 miles or 4 Geomancer's Miles (GM). At 2.7272 English miles in length, the Geomancer's Mile is a pretty much forgotten measure rarely mentioned these days but Michell states it was once a unit of measure of prehistoric Britain. He adds that “this interval, or its multiples, was placed wherever possible between the sacred centres.” Michell notes that John Neal, a student of ancient metrology, when surveying village churches of the Taunton area, found that of the 300 or so, over 100 are situated at 1 Geomancer's mile distant from at least one other. It is no secret that many older churches were built upon the sites of prehistoric temples; the use of the Geomancer's Mile in a third of the network of Taunton village churches would appear to confirm this.

Michell states that: “Cadbury is, of course, Camelot, the site of King Arthur's Palace, once, according to legend, linked with the Tor by a tree lined causeway. Curiously enough, the distance between Glastonbury Tor and the hill of St Michael's, Burrowbridge also approximates to 4 GM.” [10] Like Maltwood before him, Michell made little more of the reciprocal distance between these ancient sites.

Studying this correlation of ancient sites in Somerset, Glastonbury based Nicholas Mann has determined that the alignment of Arthur's Hunting Path from the summit of Glastonbury Tor to Queen Anne’s Well, Cadbury is orientated toward critical points in the moon's cycle. Excavations by Leslie Alcock between 1966 and 1973 provided evidence that activity at this site started in the Neolithic to who the moon was very important with many of their earliest megalithic sites orientated to phases of the lunar cycle. [11]

Mann sates that the northernmost setting point of the moon, the Northern Major Standstill, and the southernmost rising point of the moon, the Southern Major Standstill, align with this ancient trackway. The Neolithic and the later inhabitants of Cadbury Castle would not have missed so dramatic an event as the moon setting over Glastonbury Tor, occurring only every nineteen years. At the same time, and for several months, from Glastonbury Tor they would have witnessed the moon rising from Cadbury, although the hillfort is below the horizon when viewed from the Isle of Avalon. [12]

Lunar Major Standstill
The term "lunar standstill" was apparently coined by the archaeologist Alexander Thom, in his 1971 book Megalithic Lunar Observatories. A lunar standstill being equivalent to a solar solstice when these two celestial bodies, having reached the end of their respective cyclic journeys, appear to 'standstill'. At a major lunar standstill, which takes place every 18.6 years, the range of the declination [13] of the Moon reaches a maximum. As a result, at northerly latitudes, the Moon appears to move from its highest point in the sky to lowest on the horizon in just two weeks. This time appears to have held special significance for the Neolithic people of Britain and Ireland, indeed the megalithic monument at Callanish on the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, would appear to have been constructed specifically to witness the extremes of the lunar cycle, where the moon is seen to just skim the top of the tall stones for a few hours either side of midnight. During major lunar standstills at latitudes as far north as Callanish, the moon barely sets, an observation noted in Diodorus' famous text concerning the Temple of Apollo on the Isle of the Hyperborean's:

“They say also that the moon, as viewed from this island appears to be but a little distance from the earth and to have upon it prominences, like those of the earth, which are visible to the eye. The account is also given that the god visits the island every nineteen years, the period in which the return of the stars to the same place in the heavens is accomplished; and for this reason the nineteen-year period is called by the Greeks the 'year of Meton'.” - Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 2. 47. 1 - 6

Hamdon Hillfort

Noticing this lunar alignment from the summit of Cadbury to Glastonbury Tor was 11 miles, Mann found another parallel alignment 11 miles equidistant from the ruined church of St Michael on Burrow Mump to the northern tip of Hamdon Hill's neolithic fort, near Montacute. At Montacute we find another hill with all the appearance of being sculpted by the hand of man, similar to Glastonbury Tor and Burrow Mump, complete with church dedicated to St Michael. And Hamdon Hill to Cadbury Castle, is yet again 11 miles. Coincidence?

Linking Barrow Mump to the Tor, again 11 miles distant, is the St Michael Line, as stated above. Mann found that when joining the sites of Glastonbury Tor, Cadbury Castle, Hamdon Hill and Barrow Mump it formed a parallelogram, or diamond, with equidistant sides of 11 miles each, or as John Michell stated, the ancient unit of measure of 4 Geomancer's Miles each.

The parallel north west – south easterly alignments from the Tor to Cadbury Castle (Arthur's Hunting Path) and Burrow Mump to Hamdon Hill are aligned to the Major Lunar Standstills. Forming the closing sides of the diamond in the Somerset landscape, are the north east – south westerly alignments from the Tor to Burrow Mump and Cadbury Castle to Hamdon Hill are orientated on the Beltane sunrise. Mann notes that only at this latitude will these alignments form a diamond or rhombus. [14]

Mann suggests that a remnant of the Diamond's lore may have passed down in the legends of King Arthur galloping along “Arthur’s Hunting Path” or “Arthur’s Causeway” from Cadbury Castle to Glastonbury on stormy winter nights; survival of ancient moon lore of the Major Lunar Standstills when Arthur was said to ride was probably the moon set at its most northerly point in its 18.61 year cycle. The landscape diamond shows he would have continued on his way across the Bristol Channel and beyond to the Black Mountains in Wales. [15]

Further archaeological excavations by the South Cadbury Environs Project’s (SCEP) during 1992-2007, extending Leslie Alcock’s Cadbury Castle excavations sponsored by the Camelot Research Committee, uncovered some significant finds in our pursuit of Arthur at Milsoms Corner at Cadbury.

Prehistoric Burials found at Cadbury Castle
At the western flank of the hillfort of Cadbury Castle is Milsom’s Corner, a multi-period site on the slope below the south west gate. The main area occupied a slight rise, which over time, effectively became a westerly facing terrace, which has since been heavily damaged by deep ploughing. The land falls away gently to the west and north overlooking the Somerset Levels. Activity on this site commenced in the early Neolithic, attested by a linear arrangement of pits orientated towards the top of the hill. These early- and late-neolithic pits may have possessed ritual significance to Cadbury Hill’s summit, and a row of pits along the spine of the Milsom’s Corner spur has been interpreted as marking a special the way to and from the hill through mostly uncleared woodland. To the west of Cadbury, ditches arced around a small knoll and the base of the Milsom’s Corner spur to form a funnel leading into a narrow corridor for 200m before ascending through the ramparts to the south-west gate.

This was succeeded by an Early Bronze Age human burial, cut through later in the Middle Bronze Age. A cattle jaw bone found in the upper middle fills of the Milsom’s Corner spur enclosure ditch returned a date of 1380-1210 cal BC. Later in the Bronze Age, a bronze shield, already old at the time, appears to have been ceremonially deposited in the corner of the silted settlement enclosure ditch. [16]

A flexed burial in a slatted, 'boat-like' coffin, may have been covered by a barrow on a narrow spur at Milsom’s Corner which formed a natural threshold on the western approach to Cadbury hill. The 'boat-like' coffin was aligned on Glastonbury Tor, 11 miles to the north west, aligned with Arthur's Hunting Path. [17]

Neolithic boat-like coffins aligned on the Tor to ferry the dead across the water to the Isles Of Avalon, sharing the same orientation as an ancient trackway said to be travelled by Arthur at the time of the Major Northern moonset at Glastonbury; this all sounds remarkably familiar.

Is this the origin of the tale of Arthur's journey by death-barge to Avalon following the Strife of Camlann, guided by Barinthus the ferryman who knew the stars, suggestive that the event was a symbolic journey for spirits of the dead from a cemetery at Milsom’s Corner, Cadbury Castle, across the flooded Somerset levels in the direction of the northern moonset to the Otherworldly portal upon the Tor.

Notes
1. Quoted from D. Stobie, Exploring Arthur's Britain, Collins & Brown, 1999, in Nicholas Mann, The Star Temple of Avalon, The Temple Publications, 2007
2. John Leland, Itineray, 1542.
3. William Camden, Britannia, 1607. [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/]
4. Helen Hill, The Realms of Arthur, 1970.
5. E K Chanbers, Arthur of Britain, Sidgwick and Jackson, 1927
6. The name Gabble or Gabriel Ratchets, an old word for a type of hound, was first recorded around 1665 and referred to a strange yelping sound heard in the sky at night, supposedly a death omen. Jennifer Westwood, Albion. A Guide to Legendary Britain. Grafton Books, 1985.
7. Dr John Dee, Astrologer to Elizabeth I, 1583. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Mystic and Alchemist John Dee along with his companion, fellow Alchemist and Psychic Edward Kelly, came to the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, around the year 1583, to see if anything could be salvaged. An ‘alchemical manuscript’ which Kelly claimed to have discovered somewhere previously in the ‘Vale of Avalon’ near Glastonbury was said to refer to ten specific locations in England where buried treasure was hidden. Dee was more interested in the discovery of ‘Merlin’s Secret’, said to be found in the unusual arrangements of the prehistoric earthworks in Vale of Avalon. Dee mapped out these earthworks and determined they represented the signs of the zodiac and other constellations. In the margin of this map he wrote the quoted words “The Starres which Agree with their Reproductions on the Ground......” However, Dee’s apparent 16th century discovery of the Glastonbury Zodiac lies solely in the story of Dee's biographer Richard Deacon who went to the Warburg Institute where Dee’s papers were stored. On examining them, Deacon claimed to have found this map with Dee’s zodiac quotation in the margin. Deacon copied it down but the next time he went to see these documents, Dee's map of the zodiac could not be found. Yuri Leitch, John Dee and the pre-Maltwood Enigma.
8. Katherine Maltwood, A Guide to Glastonbury's Temple Of The Stars, James Clarke & Co., 1964, first published 1929.
9. John Michell, The View Over Atlantis, Garnstone Press, Revised Edition 1972, p.66.
10. Ibid., p.155
11. Nicholas Mann, Glastonbury Tor, Triskele, 1986.
12. The Metonic Cyle of 18.61 years is a period of 235 lunar months, at the end of which the phases of the moon repeat in exactly the same order and on the same days as the preceding cycle.
13. In astronomy, declination is one of the two coordinates of the equatorial coordinate system, the other being either right ascension or hour angle. Declination in astronomy is comparable to geographic latitude, but projected onto the celestial sphere. Declination is measured in degrees north and south of the celestial equator. Points north of the celestial equator have positive declinations, while those to the south have negative declinations.
14. Nicholas Mann, The Isle of Avalon, Green Magic, 2001, pp. 77-81.
15. Nicholas Mann, Energy Secrets of Glastonbury Tor, Green Magic, 2004, pp. 91-97.
16. South Cadbury Environs Project’s (SCEP) – Appendix 3.
17. Richard Tabor, Cadbury Castle: focusing the landscape.

* * *