Merlin and Stonehenge: The Saxon Execution

Part III

Thou noblest monument of Albion's isle!
Whether by Merlin's aid, from Scythia's shore,
To Amber's fatal plain Pendragon bore,
Huge frame of giant-hands, the mighty pile
T' entomb his Britons slain by Hengist's guile 21

Execution at Stonehenge in the Anglo-Saxon Period
In the 'Historia Regium Britanniae'  (History of the Kings of Britain) c.1136, Geoffrey of Monmouth claimed that the British kings Aurelius, Utherpendragon and Constantine son of Cador Duke of Cornwall, were buried within the circle of Stonehenge. Recent archaeology has indicated that the monument may have been a cemetery for an elite group of priest-kings, in concordance with Geoffrey's claims.

Stonehenge was host to many prehistoric cremation burials placed mainly in the Aubrey Holes and the ditch, but there have only been four articulated burials found at the site. Of those only one can be classified as a Dark Age burial, though it must be noted that only the eastern side of Stonehenge has been excavated to date. The skeleton, allocated number 4.10.4 in 1938 by the Royal College of Surgeons, was excavated at Stonehenge in 1923, then lost, believed destroyed in the London bombing of 1941, but relocated in 1999.

On investigating the human remains at Stonehenge Mike Pitts found that much of the Royal College of Surgeons' ancient collection, perhaps as many as 800 individuals, had survived the bombings of the Second World War. Many had been removed from London for safe keeping during the war and then given to the Natural History Museum once hostilities ceased. 22

The grave of 4.10.4, uncovered by chance when Colonel Hawley noticed a hollow sounding patch beneath the turf, during excavations between 1919 and 1926, is one of three more or less complete human skeletons found at Stonehenge by Hawley and all thought lost. The first was found March 1922 in the ring ditch but was discarded by the excavator who felt that 'obviously it was a modern interment' although modern archaeologists might not agree. The third, lying across the central axis inside the stone circle, a significant placing, was found in August 1926, and subsequently lost.

Only one other articulated skeleton has been found at Stonehenge, when in 1978, a man who apparently died from a hail of flint-tipped arrows around 2,300 BC, was found in the ditch. Known today as the Stonehenge Archer, he was buried with a stone 'bracer' or archer's wristguard, and three flint arrowheads. It appears he did not die peacefully; the arrowheads were embedded in his ribs and breastbone. Debate continues as to whether he was a ritual sacrifice or a murder victim. 23

The excavator, William Hawley, initially believed the skeleton 4.10.4 to be of Neolithic date owing to the grave fill, described as 'earthy' which contained no artefacts or stone fragments. Hawley had identified a horizon of debris which he considered was the result of stone dressing, which blanketed most of the site. Anything found beneath this 'Stonehenge Layer' he ascribed to a date before the stones arrived. However,  skeleton 4.10.4 had initially been dated to about 150 AD, the Romano-British period. Richard Atkinson favoured a later date due the nature of the body's extended attitude and the somewhat casual disposal that, he argued, indicated a date not earlier than the Romano-British period. 24

In 'Stonehenge in its Landscape', a study of 20th century excavations, the authors' reverted to Hawley's original argument; the lack of debris in the grave fill indicating an early date in the site's history, i.e. before the interior became littered with Stone fragments.25 However, there appear to be two major periods of stone wrecking which probably started in prehistory up to the Roman period and then from the Middle Ages, c.1250 AD to the 20th century. The lack of stone debris in the grave fill suggests the burial was during a hiatus between these times, post-Roman but pre-Conquest. 26

A second test returned a date of about 760 AD, the mid Anglo-Saxon period. Recent study of the bones confirms they represent a man from the Anglo-Saxon era. Re-testing of samples from the remains has resulted in a revised date range of 640–690 AD. 27

Execution or Sacrifice?
An initial examination of the skeletal remains identified traumatic spinal lesions. Later, a full examination revealed a cut through the fourth cervical vertebra which had clipped the left mandible: the man had been decapitated; the blow intended to remove the head with a single cut from the rear-right side. The single, clean cut must have been made with a sharp, narrow but relatively robust blade, cutting through the right handside of the spinal column. The assailant must have been standing behind the victim. Although the single blow does not appear to have removed the head completely the victim would have died instantly in what appears to have been an act of execution rather than as a sacrifice.

The absence of grave goods suggests that the Stonehenge corpse was stripped before burial as is often the case with executions. The position of the hands is not recorded, but some decapitations from later Anglo-Saxon execution cemeteries have the hands tied, either behind the back or to the front. He was between 28 – 32 years of age and about about 5ft 4 inches tall. Analysis of isotopes from a tooth revealed he was not an ethnic Anglo-Saxon but born in central southern England.

The corpse had been forced into a shallow pit not quite long enough to accommodate it, forcing the partially attached head forward on top of the chest. The grave aligned east north-east/west south-west with the head thought to be at the easterly end, although Hawley did not record its position. The grave was sited on the south-east side of the stone circle, near the South Barrow, between the ditch and the sarsen circle, close to 'Y' Hole 9. 28 Hawley noted that circular sides of postholes at either end of the grave which were probably responsible for the restricted size of the pit. Hawley thought these may have formed part of a gallows, supporting a cross-beam, but they appear to align with a series of timber post holes coming in from the southern entrance to the monument and therefore are probably prehistoric in origin.29

Furthermore, if the victim had been hung by the neck until dead on a gallows then why perform decapitation post-mortem? Ten per cent of Roman burials have been found with the head removed, the skull often found between the legs or feet. Theories vary, but decapitation may have been performed to prevent their spirit walking the earth. In such cases the head seems to have been cut off from the front with a sharp blade in a sawing motion. The Stonehenge skeleton had been struck from behind whilst standing, or more likely kneeling, with one single blow, probably from a Saxon broadsword.

Execution by decapitation was rare in the late Anglo-Saxon period. The earliest West Saxon laws of King Ine of Wessex (688-725) prescribe hanging and the striking off of hands and feet for various offences. A further clause notes that a person 'travelling off the highway' might be slain; a term better suited to the sword rather than the gallows. However, drawings from Late Anglo-Saxon manuscripts show decapitation scenes and in each case the instrument used is a sword. 30

The Stonehenge execution burial is significant as one of the earliest known located both at a prehistoric monument and in a boundary zone. Apart from the Stonehenge example, decapitations are not recorded from Wiltshire between the 5th and 7th centuries; this may in part be due to the limited number excavated. However, it is known that prehistoric monuments were re-used or funerary purposes as early as the 5th century, becoming widespread by the 7th century. Execution burials are known at Sutton Hoo from 7th century origins, but their relationship to prehistoric remains there is uncertain. Several barrows have been found to possess secondary internments from the Saxon era and the attraction of Stonehenge is obvious. Yet, despite one or two 9th or even 10th century AD occurrences the practice is very rare beyond the late 7th and early 8th centuries.

The Stonehenge victim seems a rare execution, and indeed unique at the monument. Was he someone special?

Hengist's Stones?
It would have been quite fitting for the legendary Saxon leader Hengist to have been beheaded at the Giant's Dance, the very place he had the British princes murdered, but Geoffrey of Monmouth records his execution further north. On Aurelius's return from exile in Brittany with a force of Armorican Britons the Saxon's retreated across the Humber. Hengist marched to meet Aurelius at the field called Maisbeli; Geoffrey does not offer a location. On being routed by the British and Armorican forces, Hengist fled to the castle of 'Kaerconan,' which Geoffrey states is now called 'Cunungeburg', identified as Conisbrough, 5 miles south-west of Doncaster, South Yorkshire. The present 13th century castle, situated on on the summit of a circular hill with walls 15 feet thick, is said to be of British origin. A detachment of Armorican cavalry ensured the Britons victory. Hengist was captured and beheaded by Eldol, Duke of Gloucester outside the city where a mound was raised over his body. A tumulus at Conisbrough has long been believed to mark Hengest's grave.31

At one time it was thought that Hengist was buried at the Bronze Age barrow cemetery on the promontory at Hengistbury Head, at Christchurch harbour, the confluence of the Rivers Avon and Stour on the south coast near Bourenmouth. However, the tumuli at Hengistbury Head have been dated to the Bronze Age. Excavations of eleven of the barrows failed to reveal any Anglo-Saxon era intrusions.

Murder at Stonehenge

In Geoffrey's story, none of the Stonehenge burials from the post-Roman period were said to have been decapitated. Further, the execution is entirely absent from Stonehenge folklore. Geoffrey's claim that Stonehenge was set up as a memorial to native soldiers killed by Saxon invaders led by Hengist, and subsequently the burial site of Aurelius Ambrosius and Utherpendragon, has been regarded as myth rather than history.32

As we saw in the introduction, Henry of Huntingdon provided the earliest written reference to Stonehenge in his History of the English, 'Historia Anglorum', c.1130 AD, calling the monument “Stanenges,” usually interpreted as a description of hanging or suspended stones, or possibly derived from the the Saxon word 'hengen' meaning a gallows.

However, the late 16th century English antiquarian William Camden informs us that the true Saxon name appears to be “Stan-Hengest,” the Stones of Hengist, and not 'Stan-henge,' as in hanging stones.33

It is argued that “hanging-stones” would have been expressed by the Saxon word "Hengestanas.” Indeed, Stonehenge is called "Stanhengest" by Simon of Abingdon, in his 12th century Chronicle of the Monastery, and that it was so designated, not because Hengist slaughtered the British Nobles there; but because he ended his days there, “......solemnly immolated to the vengeance of the successors of the Druids." 34

Evidently, Geoffrey was not aware of the Saxon execution at Stonehenge and it was omitted from his story; no doubt he would have maximised the tale of Hengist being executed at the Giant's Dance in revenge for the slaughter of the British nobles had he known of it. But as we have seen he has Hengist beheaded and buried near Conisbrough, not far from Doncaster in South Yorkshire.

Yet again we seem to be treading on a remarkable series of coincidences. But, as to Stonehenge, it appears Geoffrey was unaware of a Dark Age execution at the monument, as is the folklore of the monument; but as for the Giant's Dance cemetery, incredibly, he must have been following a much older tradition; a survival from prehistoric times?

Next: Merlin and Stonehenge Part IV: Stones from the West



Copyright © 2013 Edward Watson
http://clasmerdin.blogspot.co.uk/

*

Notes & References:
21. Written at Stonehenge by Thomas  Warton the younger, 1777
22. Mike Pitts, Hengeworld, Arrow, 2001.
23. Mike Pitts et al, An Anglo-Saxon Decapitation and Burial at Stonehenge, Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 95 (2002), pp. 131-46.
24. Richard Atkinson, Stonehenge, Penguin, revised edition, 1990.
25. Cleal et al, Stonehenge in its Landscape, English Heirtage 1995, pp.267-8.
26. Timothy Darvill and Geoffrey Wainwright, Stonehenge Excavations 2008, The Antiquaries Journal, 89, 2009, pp.1–19.
27. D Hamilton, M Pitts and A Reynolds, A revised date for the early medieval execution at Stonehenge. Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine (Wiltshire Studies, 2007) 100, pp.202 – 203.
28. The Y and Z Holes are two rings of concentric (though irregular) circuits of near identical pits cut around the outside of the Sarsen Circle at Stonehenge. It is thought that the holes had never held uprights of either stone or timber. Richard  Atkinson suggested that they had been intended to house bluestones. They appear to be the last construction activity at the site.
29. Mike Pitts et al, op.cit.
30. Ibid.
31. Historia Regium Britanniae, Book VIII, Chp 7.
Lewis Thorpe, Introduction and Translator, The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Penguin Classics, 1973.
32. Stuart Piggott,The Sources of Geoffrey of Monmouth, Antiquity 15, 1941, pp.305-19.
33. William Camden, on Wiltshire in Britannia, 1610.
34.  William Long, Stonehenge and its Barrows, published by Devizes in 1876 from the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine, vol. Xvi.

* * *

Merlin and Stonehenge: The Royal Cemetery

Part II

In the 12th Century Geoffrey of Monmouth claimed  that the Giant's Dance was erected at the Cloisters of Ambrius as a memorial to British Nobles slaughtered by the Saxons.

A Monument to the British Nobles
In his 'Historia Regium Britanniae'  (History of the Kings of Britain) c.1136, Geoffrey of Monmouth claims that the Giant's Dance (Stonehenge) was erected as a monument to 460 unarmed British nobles treacherously murdered by Hengist's Saxons as a peace conference. Had Geoffrey invented the whole story or was he following an ancient tradition? 

According to Geoffrey the British Nobles lay buried at the monastery near Kaercaradoc, now Salisbury. At this place was a convent situated near the mount of Ambrius, the Cloisters of Ambrius. To perpetuate the memory of that piece of ground, which was honoured with so many noble patriots that died for their country, Aurelius Ambrosius, the king, sent for Merlin, the 'prophet of Vortigern'. After passing through several provinces, they found him in the country of the Gewisseans, at the fountain of Galabes, which he frequently resorted to. Merlin said they should send for the Giant's Dance in Ireland if they wanted a fitting monument of vast magnitude and wonderful quality, that if placed here as there it would stand for ever.11

After Merlin took the Giant's Dance to Britain, the Irish, under king Gillomanius, came for the stone circle and landed at the city of Menevia (St Davids, Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales). The British forces, under Utherpendragon, engaged in battle with them while king Aurelius lay sick at Winchester. One of the Saxons, named Eopa, disguised as a monk, went to Winchester and promised to restore the king to health if he would but take his potions. The king took the potions which secretly contained poison and fell asleep, dying shortly after. He was buried within the Giant's Dance near the Cloisters of Ambrius.12

Later in Geoffrey's story of the Saxon wars, after a victorious battle against the Saxons under command of Octa and Eosa, Uther and one hundred of his men died suddenly after drinking water from the well poisoned by the Saxons at Verulam (the Roman city of Verulamium, now St Albans). Uther's body was carried to the Cloisters of Ambrius where they buried it close by Aurelius, within the Giant's Dance.13

We can be certain Geoffrey means Stonehenge for the Giant's Dance as he states later that Constantine is buried close by Uther within the structure of stones which was set up with wonderful art not far from Salisbury, called in the English tongue 'Stonehenge.'14

Stonehenge Cemetery
Geoffrey of Monmouth seemed to be aware that Stonehenge was a cemetery as he has three British Dark Age kings buried there within the monument. He was also probably aware of the large number of barrows on Salisbury Plain, although there is nothing in his works to suggest he ever visited the monument. The ancient funerary custom of north-western European peoples of placing the dead in mounds is known from the Neolithic long barrows, into the Bronze Age round barrows and persisted into the late Halstatt culture of the Iron Age as attested by the 'Chieftains Grave' at Hochdorf, dating to 530 BC. To the Celtic peoples, perhaps when they had forgotten their original purpose as a sepulchre, considered the mounds to be the home of faery and the entrance to the Otherworld. In Gaelic mythology the 'Sidhe' are the people of the earthen mounds, believed to be a supernatural race; such as the last of the Tuatha Dé Danann, Children of the goddess Danu, who retreated into the Otherworld after they were defeated by the Milesians. Much later, the Anglo-Saxons in England respected these ancient tumuli; during the 5th and early 8th centuries AD they buried their dead around ancient barrows, sometimes as secondary internments in the higher levels of the mound.15

Stonehenge Landscape – JFS Stone, 1958

Stonehenge sits at the centre of a vast necropolis a mile wide and some six miles long. Standing at the stone circle on Salisbury Plain it is immediately noticeable that the surrounding skyline is crested with Early Bronze Age round barrows; a prehistoric cathedral in the middle of a huge graveyard. Significantly, one of the greatest concentrations of round barrows in Britain was built in the area around Stonehenge. A number of important barrow groups appear to have been deliberately located to be visible from Stonehenge itself, such as those on King Barrow Ridge, The Cursus Barrows and the Normanton Down cemetery.

Whereas Neolithic people had used long barrows for communal burials, the Bronze Age placed more emphasis on the individual rather than the community; initially one individual was buried per round barrow. By a remarkable coincidence, the number of barrows within a mile or so of Stonehenge has for long been estimated at around 300; but the addition of those destroyed and those discovered from air photographs increases the number to around 460, remarkably, exactly the number of murdered nobles according to Geoffrey. These barrows would probably almost all have been visible in Geoffrey's time.16

However, most of these Bronze Age barrows were constructed sometime after the erection of the huge lintel-topped sarsen stones, c.2,500 BC, and major construction work at Stonehenge had finished, the monument was obviously still regarded as an important centre for society and religious belief, with later generations respecting the ancient sanctity of the monument. Yet, significantly Geoffrey has Aurelius, Uther and Constantine buried within the Giant's Dance. In Geoffrey's time he cannot have possibly been aware of any burials inside the circle of the ditch and bank of the monument. However, recent archaeological work has confirmed this is indeed the case.

New archaeological evidence found by the Stonehenge Riverside Project indicates that Stonehenge served as a burial ground from its earliest beginnings; the site started life in the early third millennium BC as a cremation cemetery within a circle of upright bluestones. The latest evidence indicates that cremation burials were taking place with the arrival of the first Welsh Bluestones placed as grave markers in the Aubrey Holes a metre inside of the ditch as early as 3,000 BC. Burials continued at Stonehenge for at least another 200 years, with sporadic burials after that.17

Stonehenge cremation burials.

Human remains are not uncommon at Stonehenge. During his work at Stonehenge between 1919 and 1926 William Hawley excavated the eastern side of the circle with almost all the prehistoric human remains coming from the ditch and the Aubrey Holes. It seems that no museum was prepared to curate these remains, since the scientific value of cremated bone was not appreciated in Britain at the time. In 1935,William Young and R.S. Newall reburied all the cremation deposits excavated from Stonehenge in several sandbags, accompanied by an inscribed plaque, they were tipped into the previously excavated Aubrey Hole 7. The remains were recovered from the Aubrey Hole in 2008 by the Stonehenge Riverside Project. Recent studies have identified the remains of some 63 individual from more than 50,000 cremated bone fragments buried at Stonehenge.18

It was previously thought that almost all the Stonehenge burials were of adult men. However, new techniques have revealed for the first time that they include almost equal numbers of men and women, and children including a newborn baby. Grave goods revealed high-status objects, such as a highly polished stone mace head, comparable to a sceptre, and a small ceramic bowl, interpreted as an incense burner, has led to the suggestion that the human remains recovered from the Aubrey Hole could have been from religious and political leaders and their immediate families; an elite group, the most important prehistoric families immortalised at Stonehenge.19

Not only did Geoffrey appear to have knowledge of the stones of the Giant's Dance being foreign to Salisbury Plain eight hundred years before Herbert Thomas announced the provenance of the bluestones was in Preseli south-west Wales in 1923, 20 but it also seems a remarkable coincidence that Geoffrey should have 460 British Nobles buried around the Giant's Dance when Stonehenge is surrounded by that number of barrows. Significantly, he reserves royal burials within the circle, shortly after the arrival of the Giant's Dance, for the British kings Aurelius, Uther and Constantine, when recent archaeological research has identified the earliest burials at Stonehenge, corresponding with the arrival of the bluestones, to an elite group of priest kings.

On the first count, it appears Geoffrey had knowledge that the Giant's Dance was an ancient cemetery. Is it possible he had knowledge of an ancient tradition regarding Stonehenge that stretched back to the Neolithic Age; four thousands years?

But in Geoffrey's account this all happened during the dark days of the Saxon wars, c.450 – c.650 AD. Is there any evidence of Dark Age burials at Stonehenge?


Next: Merlin and Stonehenge Part III: The Saxon Execution

Copyright © 2013 Edward Watson

http://clasmerdin.blogspot.co.uk/

*

Notes & References
11. Historia Regium Britanniae (HRB), Book VIII, Chp 9-10.
Lewis Thorpe, Introduction and Translator, The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Penguin Classics, 1973.
12. HRB, Book VIII, Chp 14.
13. HRB, Book VIII, Chp 24.
14. HRB, Book XI, Chp 4.
15. Howard Williams, Ancient Landscapes and the Dead: The Reuse of Prehistoric and Roman Monuments as Early Anglo-Saxon Burial Sites, Medieval Archaeology 41 (1997), pp.1-31.
16. L V Grinsell, The Stonehenge Barrow Groups, Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum. (Undated).
17. Mike Parker Pearson et al, Who was buried at Stonehenge? Antiquity, 83 (2009). pp.23-39.
18. Mike Parker Pearson, Stonehenge: Exploring the Greatest tone Age Mystery , Simon & Schuster, 2012.
19. Ibid.
20. H H Thomas, The Source of the Stones of Stonehenge, Antiquaries Journal 3 (1923), pp.239-260.

* * *

Merlin and Stonehenge

'Stanenges, where stones of wonderful size have been erected after the manner of doorways, so that doorway appears to have been raised upon doorway; and no one can conceive how such great stones have been so raised aloft, or why they were built there'.1

The Hanging Stones
Since Henry of Huntingdon, archdeacon in the Diocese of Lincoln, provided the earliest written reference to Stonehenge in his History of the English, 'Historia Anglorum', c.1130 AD, debate has continued as to the correct meaning of the name.

According to the druid-obsessed 18th century antiquarian William Stukeley “the old Britons or Welsh call Stonehenge choir gaur, which some interpret chorea gigantum, the giants dance: I judge, more rightly chorus magnus, the great choir, round church, or temple.”2 Before him, William Camden writing in his Britannia, published 1610, stated that “Leland’s opinion that the British one, Choir gaure, should not be translated Chorea Gigantum, a Choir of Giants, but Chorea nobilis, a noble Choir; or else that gaure is put for vaure, which makes it Chorea magna, a great Choir, is probable enough.”3

Stonehenge by William Stukeley

The modern rendition suggests the place-name derived from Old English, its meaning usually interpreted as a description of hanging or suspended stones, seemingly a reference to the horizontal lintels across the upright sarsens. Alternatively, it may refer to an Anglo-Saxon form of punishment; a stone gallows.4 The Saxon word for Gallows was 'hengen'.

Writing his Latin chronicle less than a decade after Henry of Huntingdon, Geoffrey of Monmouth in his 'Historia Regium Britanniae'  (History of the Kings of Britain) c.1136,  which he claimed he translated from an ancient book in the British tongue, rendered  'chorea gigantum'. In the Welsh adaptations of Geoffrey’s Historia, the Brut Y Brenhinedd (Chronicle of the Kings) Stonehenge is called Côr y Cewri, which gives 'The Giant's Circle' in English which seems an apt description for the monument constructed of massive stones on Salisbury Plain. However, I will follow the translation given by Lewis Thorpe and stick with the 'Giant's Dance'.5

The Night of the Long Knives 
By way of providing an explanation of how the monument on Salisbury Plain was erected Geoffrey claims that Merlin the wizard was responsible for magically transferring The Giant’s Dance from Ireland to Salisbury Plain in England.

Geoffrey, loosely following the account in the 9th century Historia Brittonum,6 tells us that after Hengist's Saxon's had treacherously slaughtered 460 unarmed British Nobles 7 at a peace conference, having concealed daggers in their shoes, Vortigern is forced to concede his cities and fortified places in consideration of their granting him his life. He then fled to Kambria (Wales).

Geoffrey continues: Afterwards, St. Eldad, Bishop of Gloucester, gave Christian burial to the British nobles at the  monastery not far from Kaercaradauc, now Salisbury, situated on the mountain of Ambrius, as he thought something ought to be done to perpetuate the memory of that piece of ground, which was honoured with the bodies of so many noble patriots, that died for their country.

Masons and carpenters were summonsed to construct a lasting monument to those great men, but they refused to take on the task lacking confidence in their own skills to manufacture a fitting edifice. Tremounus, archbishop of the City of Legions, went to the king Aurelius, and said, “If any one living is able to execute your commands, Merlin, the prophet of Vortigern, is the man.”

"If you are desirous," said Merlin, "to honour the burying-place of these men with an ever-lasting monument, send for the Giant's Dance, which is in Killaraus, a mountain in Ireland. For there is a structure of stones there, which none of this age could raise, without a profound knowledge of the mechanical arts. They are stones of a vast magnitude and wonderful quality; and if they can be placed here, as they are there, round this spot of ground, they will stand for ever." 

The first illustration of Stonehenge: Merlin and Stonehenge

 from Wace's Roman le Brut (Egerton 3028).

Utherpendragon, brother to the king, was despatched to Ireland with fifteen thousand men. After defeating Gillomanius and his vast army the Britons made for mount Killaraus and arrived at the structure of stones. Merlin challenged them to take down the stones. They set up their engines, cables, ropes and ladders in an attempt to remove the Giant's Dance but all to no purpose. Merlin laughed at their vain efforts, and then began his own contrivances and took down the stones, and gave directions for carrying them to the ships, and placing them therein. This done, they set sail again, to return to Britain; where they arrived with a fair gale, and repaired to the burying-place with the stones. Merlin set up the stones brought over from Ireland, about the sepulchre,  placing them in the same manner as they had been in the mount Killaraus.

After forming a confederacy with Pascentius, the son of Vortigern, and the Saxons, Gillomanius came for the Giant's Dance and landed at the city of Menevia (St Davids, Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales). Uther went forward into Kambria to engage with the confederate forces of Gillomanius while  Aurelius lay sick in Winchester. One of the Saxons, named Eopa, disguised as a monk, went to Winchester and promised to restore the king to health if he would take of his potions. The king duly obliged but the potions secretly conveyed a poisonous mixture and after falling asleep he died shortly after. He was buried within the Giant's Dance, near the convent of Ambrius.8 On his death Uther's body was also taken to the convent of Ambrius, where they buried him within the Giant's Dance close to Aurelius Ambrosius.

The one and only occasion when Geoffrey refers to the stone circle by the name of Stonehenge is when he states that Constantine was buried: “......by the side of Utherpendragon within the circle of stones, called Stonehenge in the English language, which had been built with such wonderful skill, not far from Salisbury”.9

Such is the story of the founding of Stonehenge, at least as far as Geoffrey was concerned; Merlin is intimately connected with a monument constructed as a memorial to the British Nobles murdered by Hengist's Saxons. After bringing the Giant’s Dance to Britain, followed by Arthur’s conception, Merlin’s significance fades from the Historia and the wizard disappears from Geoffrey's pages.10

Had Geoffrey invented the story of how the Giant’s Dance got to Salisbury Plain, or was he following an ancient tradition? In what follows we will examine Geoffrey's claims:

• The Giant's Dance was erected as a monument to 460 British nobles close by their sepulchre,
• The Giant's Dance was dismantled from a pre-existing stone circle in the west and transported over water to Salisbury Plain,
• The stones of the Giant's Dance possessed healing properties.

Next: Merlin and Stonehenge Part II: The Stonehenge Cemetery

*

Notes & References:
1. Henry of Huntingdon, 'Historia Anglorum', c.1130.
2. William Stukeley, Stonehenge, A Temple Restor'd to the British Druids, 1740.
3. William Camden, on Wiltshire in Britannia, 1610.
4. Christopher Chippendale, Stonehenge Complete, Fourth Edition, Thames & Hudson, 2012.
5.  Lewis Thorpe, Introduction and Translator, The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Penguin Classics, 1973.
6. The account is notably absent from Gildas, Bede and the Anglo Saxon Chronicle.
7. The Historia Brittonum cites 300 but fails to identify the location.
8.  Probably the Abbey at Amesbury, two miles east of Stonehenge the largest settlement on Salisbury Plain.
9.  Thorpe, Op.cit. p.262.
10. Geoffrey returns to Merlin in a later work, Vita Merlini, c.1151.

* * *

Footsteps of King Arthur Conference

Chaired by Professor Roberta Gilchrist 

(University of Reading and Glastonbury Abbey Trustee)

Conference Itinerary:
09:30 - 10.30 Registration and coffee
10.30 – 10.35 Welcome
10.35 – 10.45 Introduction
10.45 – 11.15 Professor Elizabeth Archibald (Durham University) - ‘King Arthur through Modern Eyes’
11.15 – 11.45 Dr Cheryl Green (University of Reading) - ‘Antiquarian Excavations and the legacy of Arthur’
11.45 – 12.30 Break
12.30 – 1.00 Johnny McFadyen (PhD Student, University of Bristol) - ‘Arthur in the Medieval West'
1.00 – 1.30 An audience with Geoffrey Ashe M.B.E. - Question and answer session
1.30 – 2.30 Buffet Lunch
2.30 – 3.00 Professor Ad Putter (University of Bristol) - ‘Medieval Arthurian literature on British soil.’
3.00 – 3.30 Rhianedd Smith (University of Reading) - “We don’t want Disney'
3.30 – 4.00 Break
4.00 – 4.30 Professor Ronald Hutton (University of Bristol) - ‘The Historical Arthur’
4.30 – 5.00 Discussion & Questions to the panel from delegates
5.00 – 5.15 Summary
5.15 – 5.30 Closing

Speakers:

Elizabeth Archibald is Professor of English at Durham University and Principal of St Cuthbert's Society. Her interest in Arthur began when she was an undergraduate at Cambridge.
Her publications include 'A Companion to Malory' (1996), 'Incest and the Medieval Imagination' (2001), and 'The Cambridge Companion to the Arthurian Legend' (2009).
Elizabeth is the President of the British Branch of the International Arthurian Society.

Cheryl Green was Research Assistant for the project led by Professor Roberta Gilchrist, University of Reading, assessing the archives from the 1908 – 1979 excavations at Glastonbury Abbey. This informed a major four-year research project culminating in a Monograph (forthcoming Gilchrist and Green 2014) publishing exciting new evidence resulting from the re-analysis of the historic excavations, extensive new geophysical survey and specialist assessments of the finds assemblages.

Johnny Macfayden is just finishing his PhD on Latin Arthurian literature at the University of Bristol. His research interests are primarily to do with the socio-politcal and ideological utility of the Arthurian Legend, Medieval Romance and Latin Arthurian Historiography.

Geoffrey Ashe is the author of 26 books and needs no introduction to Arthurian scholars.
Geoffrey has a special interest in Glastonbury which is reflected in King Arthur's Avalon (1957) and its fiftieth anniversary edition. He was co-founder and secretary of the Camelot Research Committee which, under the presidency of Sir Mortimer Wheeler, conducted the excavation of the South Cadbury hill-fort.

Ad Putter is the General Editor of Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages, and has published widely in the area of medieval literature. His books include Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and French Arthurian Romance (1995), An Introduction to the Gawain Poet (1996), and Studies in the Metre of Alliterative Verse (2007).

Rhianedd Smith has recently completed an AHRC funded doctoral research project examining the interpretation of Glastonbury Abbey's legends and archaeology.

Ronald Hutton has published fourteen books on different aspects of history and prehistory, mostly with reference to Britain, including Blood and Mistletoe: The History of the Druids in Britain (2011) and Witches, Druids and King Arthur (1993).


Tickets cost £20 adults and £18 concessions, to include a buffet lunch and are on sale from the Abbey Shop or via the online shop

* * *

Arthur and the Giants

"....and what of Arthur himself? His nature is unmistakable: he is the folk hero, a beneficent giant, who with his men rid the land of other giants..." 

Land of the Giants
In 'The History of the Kings Of Britain' Geoffrey of Monmouth tells us that the island of Britain was first called Albion and inhabited by none but a few giants. After the Trojan war Brutus sets sail from Greece and arrives at the deserted island of Leogecia. Here he finds a desolate city with a temple of Diana with a statue of the goddess which reputedly gave answers to those who consulted her. They set three fires to the three deities Jupiter, Mercury and Diana and offered sacrifices to each. Before the altar of the goddess, Brutus drank from a consecrated vessel filled with wine and the blood of a white hart and asked the goddess of his destiny. He laid down on the hart's skin that he had spread before the altar and fell asleep. During the night goddess presented herself to him and foretold of his future:

“Brutus! There lies beyond the Gallic bounds,
An Island which the western sea surrounds,
By giants once possessed, now few remain,
To bar thy entrance, or obstruct they reign,
To reach that happy shore thy sails employ
There fate decrees to raise a second Troy
And found an empire in thy royal line,
Which time shall ne'er destroy, nor bounds confine.”

After Brutus arrives on the coast of the promised land at Totnes he drives the giants into the caves and mountains and then divided the country among themselves. Brutus called the island Britain after himself. His campanion Corineus called that part of the island that fell to his share Corinea and his people Corineans, called in Latin Cornubia. Here he encountered more of the said giants which were in greater numbers here than the other provinces. Among the rest was one detestable monster called Goëmagot (Gogmagog) who was of such enormous stature that he pull up an oak as if it were a hazel wand. One day when Brutus was holding a festival in the port where they first landed they were attacked by this giant and twenty of his companions. They killed everyone but Goëmagot who Brutus wanted Corineus to fight in combat. During the fight the monster fell into the sea at a site called 'Lam Goëmagot', that is Goëmagot's Leap.

The site of this wrestling match is said to be Plymouth Hoe where chalk giants once appeared on the Hoe carved into the turf. In Richard Carew's Survey of Cornwall in 1602, he refers to there being two club wielding figures on the slopes of the Hoe, first recorded in 1495, one bigger than the other, which he calls Gog and Magog, bisecting the original name, although it seems the smaller figure should have been called Corineus and the larger figure Gogmagog if the figures represented the duel as told by Geoffrey of Monmouth. The chalk figures were unfortunately destroyed during the construction of the Royal Citadel in the reign of King Charles II.

St Michael's Mount

Later in Geoffrey's Historia he tells of a giant who has come over from the shores of Spain and has abducted Helena the daughter of Duke Hoel and fled with he to the top of what is now Michael's Mount. The soldiers who pursued him were helpless, overturning their ships with vast rocks or killed them with several sorts of darts and devoured them half alive. Arthur fought him alone and after killing the giant had Bedver (Bedwyr) cut off the creature's head and take it back to camp to put on public display. Arthur told them he had found none so great since he killed the giant Ritho on Mount Avarius.

Thus, following the tradition of Brutus the Trojan set out in the 9th century Historia Brittonum, is Geoffrey's account for the foundation of Britain to which he elaborates in the giants of Cornwall. There is a strong possibility that Geoffrey's account is the inspiration behind the Cornish fairy tale 'Jack the Giant Killer', the tale of a plucky lad who slays a number of giants during King Arthur's reign. Although Jack and the Giant Killer did not appear in print until the early 18th century the oral tradition must have been in existence in the west country many years before.

Giants are very common throughout British folklore, often represented as the original inhabitants of the island before the civilising of the island and it is likely that the traditions existed before Geoffrey's time. Indeed, many of Arthur's retinue from the earliest stratum of the Arthurian legend, i.e. before Geoffrey, appear to be giants.

Gwenhwyfar's family of Giants
Gwenhwyfar first appears as Arthur's Queen in How Culhwch Won Olwen (c.1100). Shortly after, her abduction features in The Life of Gildas (Vita Gildae), written c.1130 by Caradog of Llancarfan for the monks of Glastonbury.

Subsequently the tale of the abduction of Gwenhwyfar became popular with the writers of Continental Arthurian Romance. However, it is significant that in Gwenhwyfar's first appearance in Arthurian literature she is listed amongst Arthur's companions Cei and Bedwyr, both 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 but has her origins in Welsh vernacular tradition. 'Culhwch' also lists a certain Gwenhwyfach, said to be her sister.

The Triads of the Island of Britain (Trioedd Ynys Prydein) claim that the battle of Camlan was brought about because of a quarrel between Gwenhwyfar and Gwennhwyfach (Triad 84) , also listed as on of the Three Harmul Blows of the Island of Britain (Triad 53) when Gwenhwyfach struck upon Gwenhwyfar. The name Gwenhwyfach is unknown outside of Culhwch and these two Triads.

Gwenhwyvach = 'Gwen the Small' has led to the assumption that Gwenhwyvar should in
fact be translated as Gwenhy-Mawr = 'Gwen the Great', which could perhaps mutate to Gwenhwyvawr. This interpretation seems more likely due to scribal error, with 'White Fairy' probably the correct translation of her name. This has led to the interpretation of an additional line to a later version of Triad 56, 'Bad when little, worse when great' which is seen as portraying Gwenhwyfar as able to change in size and become gigantic in stature. However, there is another Triad (Triad 56) that links Arthur's queen to the giants. Here Arthur has Three Great Queens, all named Gwenhwyfar:

Gwenhwyfar daughter of Cywryd Gwent,
and Gwenhwyfar daughter of Gwythyr son of Greidiawl,
and Gwenhwyfar daughter of Gogfran the Giant. 

A late tale recorded by Sion Dafydd Rhys, c.1600, preserves a tradition at a place called Bron Wrgan, on the frontier of the land of Shropshire, as the abode of giants who have imprisoned some brothers to Gwenhwyfar, the daughter of Gogyrfan the Giant (Gawr). Arthur saved them all, killing the giants, and taking the head of the biggest of them and throwing it into the middle of the river instead of a stone, in stepping across the river, to go to Castell y Cnwclas. And as he placed his foot on the head of the giant in stepping across the river Arthur said, 'May the head grow (tyfed yr iad) in the river instead of a stone'. And henceforth that river was called Afon Tyfediad.

There is Welsh tradition that Arthur married Gwenhwyfar at Castell y Cnwclas, now known as Knucklas Castle, by the village of Knucklas in Powys and the Afon Tyfediad is the River Teme, rising on Cilfaesty Hill, forming the boundary between Powys and Shropshire, England from Wales.

Arthur and the Giants in Celtic Mythology
Giants, or cewri, feature prominently in Welsh folklore and mythology. Among the most notable are Brân the Blessed (Bendigeidfran = Blessed Raven) from the Second Branch of the Mabinogi, and Ysbaddaden Bencawr, chief giant and the father of Olwen, of the early Arthurian tale How Culhwch Won Olwen. In the latter tale Arthur features prominently as a giant-slayer in Welsh tradition. Furthermore, many features in the Celtic landscape preserve traditions of Giants, such as the mountain in southern Snowdonia known as Cadair Idris, the chair, or seat, of Idris the Giant who used the mountain as his chair while gazing at the stars. But it is a late tradition in which Idris appears as a giant in popular culture.

However, we find early references to Idris as an ancient chieftain in the Welsh Annals (Annals Cambriae) and the Annals of Ulster and the Annals of Tigernach, all of which commemorate his death around 632 AD, with both Irish annals referring to Idris as 'King of the Britons.' His realm was presumably around the Cadair Idris region which remained one of the least Romanised areas of North Wales. He was the ruler over the forts which guarded the Mawddach and the pass north to Llyn Tegid. The folklore surrounding the stone at Dol-y-feili, including Lech Idris and the now lost stone at Mynydd Hengae may have marked the tribal boundaries or at least a range of ancient trackways near Cadair Idris. Edward Lhuyd noted two pairs of of extra-ordinarily large skeletons found with hazel rods in the middle of 16th century by peat cutters in the bog at the base of the southern ascent of the mountain.

The giant-slaying runs like a sub-plot running throughout Culhwch with the main story generally based on the well-known scenario of 'The Giant's Daughter', variants of which are found across the world. Arthur and his retinue are given forty impossible tasks (anoethau), by Ysbaddaden Chief-giant to achieve if Culhwch is obtain the hand of Olwen, the giant's daughter.

Yet the giant slaying in Culhwch appears to have an obsession with the removal of the beard's as if some kind of trophy. Essentially, the attainment of the majority of the these tasks is to ultimately obtain the comb and shears between the ears of the supernatural boar, the Twrch Trwyth, to groom the Chief-giant.

Culhwch sets off to obtain the last task first, 'The sword of Wrnach the Giant'. Cei beheads the giant and takes his sword. The Chief-giant tell them the sword is required to kill the Twrch Trwyth, but the boar is not killed; at the end of the tale he is last seen disappearing into the sea off the Cornish coast pursued by the two hounds Aned and Aethlem.

Another of the impossible tasks set by the Chief-giant is to make a leash from the beard of Dillus Farfawg (the Bearded), to hold the two whelps of the bitch Rhymhi. The Chief-giant  tells them that 'And no use can be made of it unless it be twitched out of his beard while he is alive, and he be plucked with wooden tweezers. He will not allow any one to do that to him while he lives, but it will be useless if dead, for it will be brittle'.

Arthur is not present during the killing of the giant Dillus Farfawg, it is Cei who is again the giant slayer. As Cei and Bedwyr were sitting on top of Pumlumon on Carn Gwylathyr, they saw smoke rising to the south which was Dillus the Bearded singeing a wild boar. After eating Dillus fell asleep: 'When Cei knew for certain that he was asleep he dug a pit under his feet, the biggest in the world, and he struck him a blow mighty past telling, and pressed him down in the pit until they had entirely twitched out his beard with the tweezers; and after that they slew him outright'. 

Finally, at the end of the tale, it is Goreu son of Custennin, Arthur's cousin, who beheads the Chief-giant and impales his head on a stake.

The Legend of Rhitta Gawr
The combination of Giants and beard-collecting surfaces again in the Legend of Ritho, or Rhitta, Gawr, a tale which features strongly in Welsh folklore yet does not appear before Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12th century version although it no doubt existed in oral tradition before this time.

Arthur heard that a giant of monstrous size from the shores of Spain, and had forcibly taken away Helena, the niece of duke Hoel, and fled with her to the top of that which is now called Michael's Mount. The soldiers who pursued him were helpless against him. Arthur slayed the giant and commanded Bedver to cut of his head, and  and give it to one of the armour-bearers, who was to carry it to the camp, and there expose it to public view.

Yr Wyddfa

Arthur said he had found none of so great strength, since he killed the giant Ritho, who had challenged him to fight, upon the mountain Aravius. This giant had made himself furs of the beards of kings he had killed, and had sent word to Arthur to carefully cut his beard and send it to him; and then, out of respect to his pre-eminence over other kings, his beard should have the honour of the principal place. But if he refused to do it, he challenged him to a duel, with this offer, that the conqueror should have the furs, and also the beard of the vanquished for a trophy of his victory. In his conflict, therefore, Arthur proved victorious, and took the beard and spoils of the giant.

Geoffrey's Mount Aravius is usually accepted as Yr Wyddfa, the summit of Mount Snowdon, (in Welsh 'Eryri' = 'the Abode of Eagles'), where a cairn was erected at the spot the giant lay called Gwyddha Rhita (Rhita’s cairn). A difficult phrase but the best translation of Yr Wyddfa is 'the important tumulus', or 'burial place' possibly from the giant's tomb, however this is a contentious issue. The burial mound was destroyed many centuries later to make room for a hotel. However, the 15th century bard Rhys Goch Eryri of Beddgelert apparently introduced the tale into its present form but located the burial mound on Carnedd Llewellyn. Once people realised it was not the highest summit in Wales, the story re-located to Yr Wyddfa.

John Rhys records a tale when Arthur and his men pursued their enemy into the upper reaches of Cwmllan (Camlan?), called Tregalan, on the southern slopes of Snowdon, the modern Watkin Path, where they were pushed up the bwlch, or pass, towards Cwm Dyli. When Arthur's army had reached the top of the pass, the enemy let fly a shower of arrows at them. Fatally wounded Arthur fell, and his body was buried on the mountain pass so that no enemy might march that way so long as Arthur's dust rested there. The pass is called Bwlch y Saethau, (the Pass of the Arrows) and the heap of stones called Carnedd Arthur, (Arthur's Cairn) which could still be seen on the top of the pass in 1850.

After Arthur's death on Bwlch y Saethau, his men ascended to the ridge of the Lliwed and then descended the precipitous cliff-face into a vast cave called Ogof Llanciau Eryri, (the Cave of the young Men of Snowdon) above Llyn Llydaw in Cwm Dyli. Arthur's warriors are said to lie sleeping in their armour in the cave waiting for the second coming of Arthur to restore the crown of Britain to the Kymry.

Rhys records the poem of a local bard, known as Glaslyn, which claims that near Arthur's Cairn on the shoulder of Snowdon lies the remains of the famous giant Ricca, recalling an older couplet in a poem by Rhys Goch Eryri:

On the ridge cold and vast,
There the Giant Ricca lies.

The Giant's cairn on the summit of Snowdon was demolished before the hotel was erected. Glaslyn the bard had not heard it called after Ricca's name, but he confirms that old people used to call it Carnedd y Cawr, 'the Giant's Cairn.'

Geoffrey's version of the tale has remained popular but a variant of the tale is recorded in a chapter on giants,  compiled from oral tradition, by Sion Dafydd Rhys (John Davies of Brecon, 1534 - c.1619) in his defence of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia, which survives in the manuscript Peniarth MS 118, Llyfr Sion Dafydd Rhys (c.1600),  Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales:

'In the land of Merioneth and close to Pen Aran in Penllyn and under the place called Bwlch y Groes, is a grave of great dimensions where they say Lytta or Ritta or Ricca or Rithonwy or Itto Gawr was buried; whose body some of the giants removed from Eryri to somewhere near Mynydd Aran Fawr in Penllyn. This Ricca Gawr was the one with whom Arthur had fought and had killed in Eryri. And this giant made for himself a robe of beards of the kings he had killed. And he sent to Arthur to order him to cut off his own beard and send it to him. And as Arthur was the chief of kings he would place his beard above the other beards as an honour to Arthur. And if he would not do that he begged Arthur to come and fight him; and the victorius of them to make a robe of the others beard.

Other accounts say that Itto Gawr called himself the king of Gwynedd and they fought on top of a hill called Bwlch y Groes between Mowddwy and Penllyn in Merioneth. After casting their weapons away, in the struggle they rolled to the plain to the place called Blaen Gynllwyd, after plucking each other beards. And in membrance of that the hill is called Rhiw y Barfau [near Towyn] And after that they fought with swords in the place where Arthur killed the giant in which place Itto's grave can be seen to this day at the foot of the slope.'

Arthur the Giant
As we have seen there is ample evidence for Arthur as a giant slayer but what of Arthur as a giant?
His in-laws, i.e. Gwenhwyfar's family, appear to be giants as we have seen above. Yet, apart from the many references to Arthur in the landscape that portray him as a being of huge size, a man capable of throwing enormous capstones from cromlechs as a discuss or quoit, throwing  a massive boulder as a pebble from his shoe, and huge mountain features that are described as his chair, megalithic henges described as Arthur's Round Table, we find but one reference in medieval literature.

In the Mabinogion tale Rhonabwy's Dream (Breuddwyd Rhonabwy), Rhonabwy sleeps on a skin from a yellow calf, as a prelude to gaining otherworldly wisdom, which is where we began with Brutus at the temple of Diana. Significantly, the tale is found only within the 14th century Red Book of Hergest, among other prophetic works such as the Sybilline prophesies and The Seven Sages of Rome. The tale then is in essence the vision Rhonabwy experiences whilst sleeping on the yellow calf-skin.

In the tale Arthur shows concern at the size of the men now defending the island:

“Then came Iddawc and they that were with him, and stood before Arthur and saluted him. 
"Heaven grant thee good," said Arthur. "And where, Iddawc, didst thou find these little men?" 
"I found them, lord, up yonder on the road." 
 Then the Emperor smiled. 
"Lord," said Iddawc, "wherefore dost thou laugh?" 
"Iddawc," replied Arthur, "I laugh not; but it pitieth me that men of such stature as these should have this island in their keeping, after the men that guarded it of yore." 



Edited 21/02/13


Notes & References

Rachel Bromwich and D Simon Evans, eds. Culhwch and Olwen: An Edition and Study of the Oldest Arthurian Tale, University of Wales Press, 1992.
Rachel Bromwich, ed. Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain, University of Wales Press; 3rd Edition, 2006.

Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones, The Mabinogion, Dent 1949.

Lewis Thorpe, trans. Geoffrey of Monmouth, The History of the Kings Of Britain, Penguin, 1973.
John Rhys, Studies in the Arthurian Legend, 1891.
John Rhys, Celtic Folklore: Welsh & Manx, 1901
Chris Grooms, The Giants of Wales: Cewri Cymru, Edwin Mellen Press, 1993.
Sion Dafydd Rhys, The Giants of Wales and Their Dwellings, available online at Mary Jones, Celtic Literature Collective.
Robert Jones, Yr Wyddfa: The Complete Guide to Snowdon, Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, 1992.

* * *

Albion's Lost Lands: Lyonesse

“So all day long the noise of battle rolled
Among the mountains by the winter sea;
Until King Arthur’s Table, man by man,
Had fallen in Lyonnesse about their lord,
King Arthur.  Then, because his wound was deep,
And bore him to a chapel nigh the field,
A broken chancel with a broken cross,
That stood on a dark strait of barren land:
On one side lay the Ocean, and on one
Lay a great water, and the moon was full.” 1

Lyonesse
The search for the site of Arthur's final battle where he fell mortally wounded at Camlann has defied identification; candidates have been proposed from the length and breadth of the country. Lord Tennyson seems to be in no doubt and in his Arthurian epic “Idylls of the King" places the final battle between Mordred and the King at Lyonesse.

Tennyson has Arthur roving the trackless realms of Lyonnesse long before they crowned him King and refers to the 'sad sea-sounding wastes' and 'lonely coast' of Lyonnesse.

We cannot be certain of Tennyson's inspiration in identifying Lyonesse as the scene of Arthur's final battle against Modred but he was clearly aware of the legend of a land off the coast of Cornwall, connecting Penwith with the Scillies; The Land of Lyonesse, stretching some eighteen miles west of Land's End and eight miles north-east of the Isles of Scilly with a watchtower at the most westerly point to guide seafarers.

“A land of matchless grace was Lyonesse,
Glorious with rolling hills, rejoicing streams,
Hoar monuments upreared when Time was young,
Wide plains of forest, slopes of golden corn,
And stately castles crowning granite peaks”

Following Arthurian tradition Tennyson’s Lyonesse was the realm of Tristan, or Tristram as he became known by English writers, one of the main characters of the greatest legends of Cornwall, the story of Tristan and Iseult, a Cornish hero and one of the Knights of the Round Table. Thomas Malory has the Lady of Lionesse play a significant role in his tales of Arthur and mentions Surluse as part of the kingdom of Lyonesse where Sir Galahad was ruler under Arthur. 2

However, although the tales of Tristan are firmly placed in Cornish tradition there were two other places with variations of the name Lyonesse as Leonais: one in Brittany, and the other seemingly from the French name for Lothian in Scotland. Arthurian romancers may have confusingly called this land off the coast of Cornwall 'Lyonesse,' following the Breton tradition, but the Cornish name for this stretch of land between Land's End and the Scillies was 'Lethowstow'.

On the flats between the small Isles of Scilly are the remains of field walls, now under the sea, evidence of division of the land before it was submerged. Further evidence of man's presence before the inundation is found in an Early Iron Age hut found below the high-water mark on St Martins and pottery from the 3rd and 4th centuries and a Roman bronze brooch from a stone grave found below normal high tides on Old Man. Environmental evidence shows that as late as Roman times the area between the Isles of Scilly was dry land and just one island, a single large, wooded isle which could be walked to at low tide. A Roman writer records a heretic who was banished to Sylina Insula, the island of Scilly, in 387 AD.

The confusion of the location of Lyonesse/ Lethowstow, as the antiquarian, William Camden records, seems to exists because Cornish people during the 16th century referred to the Seven Stones reef off Land's End as the City of Lions, the reputed site of the capital of the legendary kingdom, confused with the Breton town Leonais, probably the region around the coastal town of Saint-Pol-de-Léon, and this form is the probable source of Malory’s Lionnesse. The Seven Stone rocks are held to be the remains of the city where local fishermen have dragged up domestic items in their nets, still calling the Seven Sisters the 'The Town.' 3 Today this reef remains a navigational hazard for shipping and has caused as many as 200 shipwrecks.

In later traditions Lyonesse is said to have sunk beneath the waves some time after the Tristan stories take place. A persistent legend claims that the Isles of Scilly are all that remain of the fabled land of Lyonesse. However, we find no references in medieval Arthurian legend to the sinking of Lyonesse.

The story goes that a devastating storm swept in to the south west driving the marauding sea over Lyonesse, drowning the luckless inhabitants and submerging the kingdom beneath the waves, until all that remained in view were the higher ground to the west, known to us now as the Isles of Scilly. Legend claims that only one man, Trevilian survived, and he rode a white horse up to high ground at Perranuthnoe before the waves could engulf him. It is said that his ancestry lives on in the Cornish Trevelyan family, whose coat of arms bears a horse issuing out of the sea.

Elizabethan antiquaries collected reports current in the 16th  century stating that Lethowstow contained 'fair-sized towns and 140 churches' and was suddenly engulfed by the sea. They also claimed that one could hear the bells of the drowned city ringing out during rough seas. Today the remains of field boundaries show up at low tide along the sands of the Sampson Flats between the isles of Tresco and Sampson in the Scilly Isles.

Stanley Baron, a journalist from the News Chronicle who was residing in Cornwall during the 1930's, was awoken during the night by the muffled ringing of bells and was told by his hosts that he had heard the bells of Lyonesse.  Edith Oliver, the former mayor of Wilton, claimed she had twice seen towers, domes, spires and battlements beneath the waves whilst standing on the cliffs at Land's End.

What Lies Beneath 
Perhaps much of this can be dismissed as fantasy?
Yet, there is evidence of a drowned forest on the Cornish coast with tree stumps sticking out into the sea at Mount's Bay suggesting the sea levels were once much lower. Furthermore, the old Cornish name for St Michaels Mount is 'Carrack Looz en Cooz' which translates as 'The grey rock in the wood'. Archaeological evidence indicates that Mount's Bay was the source of a prehistoric axe material. We have clear evidence of a submerged land in the south-west England within historical times.

Inundation legends are found in many other parts of north-western Europe, not least in Celtic lands.

Gerald of Wales claimed there was a drowned city beneath the waters of  Llangorse Lake in the Brecon Beacons, Mid Wales. On the North coast of Wales near Llandudno was Llys Helig, the palace of Prince Helig ap Glanawg; it is said the ruins can still be seen at very low tides. Off the North-West coast of Wales in Caernafon Bay there is a cluster of rocks, a reef known as Caer Aranrhod, named after the mother of Lleu Llaw Gyffes from the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogion. Charlotte Guest in her notes to the Mabinogion, states that, "There is a tradition that an ancient British town, situated near this place, called Caer Arianrhod, was swallowed up by the sea, the ruins of which, it is said, are still visible during neap tides, and in fine weather."

Tree stumps can be seen leading out into the sea at low tide in Cardigan Bay, Wales, the mythical site of Cantre'r Gwaelod (The Bottom Cantred).

But the nearest legend to Lyonesse is the tale of the mythical Breton city of Kêr-Is which was built on the coast of Brittany in a then-dry location off the current coast of the Bay of Douarnenez. Over time the Breton coast had slowly given way to the sea and it now threatened Kêr-Is. To protect the city from inundation, a dike was built with a gate that was opened for ships during low tide. The one key that opened the gate was held by King Gradlon.

But the gate was left open during a storm and at high tide a massive wave crashed down on Kêr-Is and the city was swallowed by the incoming waters. King Gradlon escaped on Morvarc'h, his magical horse.  Which is all remarkably similar to the tale of Lyonesse and Trevilian who escaped on his horse and perhaps the inspiration behind the Cornish story.

In addition to describing Lyonesse as the site of the final battle between Arthur and Mordred, Tennyson's Idylls of the King also claim the lost land is the final resting place of  King Arthur himself. Perhaps this is why the grave of the King cannot be found – it lies beneath the sea.



Copyright © 2013 Edward Watson
http://clasmerdin.blogspot.co.uk/

*

Notes & References:
1. Alfred, Lord Tennyson,  'The Passing of Arthur' from Idylls of the King, published in twelve books between 1856 and 1885.
2. Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, first published 1485.
3.G E Daniel, Lyonesse and the Lost Lands of England in Myth or Legend?, Bell and Sons, 1955.

 * * *

More Staffordshire Hoard Artefacts Found

Three years after metal detector enthusiast Terry Herbert made the discovery of the largest ever hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold in 2009, a further 90 pieces have been discovered in the same field during ploughing of the field in Hammerwich, near Lichfield.

Following the original discovery of the Hoard the dig was closed down when archaeologists were confident they had retrieved everything that was recoverable. Last month, a team of archaeologists and experienced metal detectorists from Archaeology Warwickshire returned to the field when it was ploughed and recovered further material. These are currently being examined and x-rayed at a specialist archives laboratory.

More Staffordshire Gold - Photograph by Vivienne Bailey

Many of the 90 pieces from the new find of gold and silver weigh less than a gram and includes a probable helmet cheek piece, a cross-shaped mount and an eagle-shaped mount. Experts from Staffordshire County Council and English Heritage believe the pieces could be part of the original hoard. Archaeologists were convinced they had recovered all of the Hoard in 2009 and Dr Della Hooke, vice president of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society, said "It's absolutely amazing. In the last search they used top-quality equipment to go over the area, which they use to find underground stuff in Afghanistan. They were absolutely certain there was nothing else down there.”

Dr Hooke added that the new find could also prove wrong some theories as to how the items got to the field, "Nobody really knows why the hoard is there. It could have either been a deliberate burial on a boundary perhaps after someone died or buried quickly by someone who had stolen it who was making an escape on Watling Street. ….....This new finding, if it is part of the hoard, could change everything. If they found the items in a different location it doesn't sound like it was stolen after all."

However, the new pieces appear remarkably similar to the items recovered from the same field in 2009, typical warrior regalia, or Anglo-Saxon "gangland bling" as historian David Starkey called it, the spoils of war recovered from the fallen at the battle site. Repeated ploughing is capable of scattering artefacts considerable distances from the original interment. It is unlikely we will ever know why the Hoard was buried in this field but it is significant that it is very close to the major route of the Roman road of Watling Street, the modern A5. We can only speculate if the Hoard was booty from one of Penda's many raids on Northumbria or the Welsh  attack on Caer Lwytgoed, Wall (Letocetum) near Lichfield,  recorded in Marwnad Cynddylan.

The Staffordshire Hoard artefacts found in 2009 include a bishop’s pectoral cross, a large folded cross, a helmet cheek piece, a filigree seahorse and many sword fittings including hilt plates and pommel caps. The bulk of the Hoard has been dated to the 7th century, although there is some debate among experts as to when the Hoard first entered the ground yet there seems little doubt that this is war booty buried in the Mercian heartland of Staffordshire.

The Staffordshire Hoard was declared treasure and valued at £3.3m by independent experts at the British Museum, the most valuable treasure discovery ever made. A huge fundraising campaign, led by The Art Fund, and featured a major donation from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, was launched to bring the treasure back to the West Midlands.

The new items were found in the same field where over 3,900 pieces of over 5kg of gold, 1.5kg of silver and thousands of small garnets and some copper alloy objects were found in 2009 but we will have to wait for an inquest on 4th January 2013 when South Staffordshire Coroner Andrew Haigh will rule if the metalwork pieces are part of the Anglo Saxon collection and should be declared treasure.


** UPDATE JANUARY 2013 **
Coroner confirms new find is Staffordshire Hoard
After hearing evidence for around an hour, which included a presentation from Anglo-Saxon metalwork expert Dr Kevin Leahy who worked on the original discovery, Coroner Andrew Haigh ruled in Stafford today (Friday 04/01/2013) at South Staffordshire Coroner’s Court inquest, that a further 81 artefacts discovered in November 2012 in the same farmer’s field in south Staffordshire, including a helmet cheek piece and pectoral crosses similar to items from the original find in 2009, are part of the Staffordshire Hoard collection.

The coroner’s ruling means that the new artefacts are officially classed as treasure, and will now undergo a valuation by the Treasure Valuation Committee at the British Museum at a hearing likely to take place at the end of March. The hearing will determine the amount of money the land owner and metal detectorist who originally discovered the Staffordshire Hoard can expect to receive for the newly found items.

The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent is currently displaying the largest exhibition of the Staffordshire Hoard to date. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery also has a permanent exhibition of the treasure.


Sources:
'More Delights are Discovered' – Stafford Express & Star, 20 December 2012
Coroner Confirms New Staffordshire Hoard Find - Birmingham News Room 04 January 2013


** UPDATE APRIL 2014 **
Rethinking the Staffordshire Hoard
England's largest-known cache of Anglo-Saxon metalwork has been reunited for the first time since its excavation, allowing researchers to uncover a wealth of new information about its parts, provenance, and purpose.
It is now known that decorations were stripped from far more weapons than previously suspected. Could the hoard comprise the spoils of multiple battles?
Current Archaeology 290

*

Staffordshire Hoard at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
A new gallery uncovering the fascinating story of the Staffordshire Hoard is now open from 17 October 2014 at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. Hundreds of pieces from the Hoard are on show, along with hands-on displays exploring how these intriguing items were used, before they were buried some 1400 years ago.
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery


Secrets of the Saxon Goldsmiths
All that glitters is not gold? According to the latest research on the Staffordshire Hoard, it certainly seems so. Ongoing investigations are revealing that sophisticated Saxon goldsmiths had developed a technique to make their gold appear to be rather more golden than it really was. How did they do it?
Current Archaeology 297 


The Staffordshire Hoard Symposium
Papers from the Staffordshire Hoard Symposium held at the British Museum in March 2010.


The Staffordshire Hoard website
Keep up to date with the latest news on the largest hoard of Anglo Saxon gold ever found.

* * *