San Galgano: The True Story of the Sword in the Stone

Is the 12th century sword embedded in the rock in the Montesiepi Rotunda, near the Abbey of San Galgano in Chiusdino, Tuscany, the Real Sword in the Stone that inspired Arthurian legend?

The Ruins of Sanctity
The ruins of religious houses are not an uncommon sight in England and Wales as a result of The Dissolution of the Monasteries during Henry VIII's split from Rome in the 16th century when his henchmen pulled down abbey after abbey. However, it is not such a common finding on the continent, but about 25 miles south-west of Sienna, Italy, in the isolated Valley of the River Merse, is the spectacular ruins of the Cistercian Abbey of San Galgano (Abbazia di San Galgano).

San Galgano Abbey

San Galgano was the first Gothic abbey in Italy, built between 1224 and 1288, a daughter house of Casamari Abbey in the Province of Frosinone, Lazio, in turn a daughter house of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux's Abbey in northeastern France. As Tuscany's first full Gothic church the San Galgano Abbey was to be the model for the later Cathedral of Siena.

There was no 'Dissolution' in Italy, but the abbey of San Galgano started to fall in to decline from around the mid-15th century when the abbots became “Commendatari”, political appointees, who were at liberty to divert a portion of the abbey's revenues for their own private use.

The bells are said to have gone by the 16th century, when the abbot, Girolamo Vitelli, then in charge of just five monks, sold the last of the Abbey's possessions, including the lead from the abbey roof. Removal of the roof was a primary cause of structural decay and one of the first acts of the Royal Commissioners during the Dissolution as evidenced in the abbey ruins across England and Wales, immediately rendering the abbey largely unusable, thus the abandoned building quickly becoming an open quarry for local builders.

By the 17th century San Galgano Abbey was abandoned. In the early 18th century the 36 metre high bell-less tower collapsed bringing down a large part of the unprotected rotting roof timbers and masonry. However, from the beginning of the 20th century restoration and maintenance work was carried out so that today the ruins of the Cistercian Abbey of San Galgano are one of the most popular attractions of Tuscany.

The Hermitage on the Hill
The original nucleus of the Cistercian monastic complex at San Galgano was the Romanesque Hermitage on the hill of Montesiepi above the Abbey in the Merse valley. The Hermitage, also known as the Montesiepi Rotunda, was built between 1182 and 1185 as the mausoleum of Saint Galgano (1148-1181) shortly after his death, over the hut where he spent the last year of his life. At the centre of the Rotunda is the stone where Galgano planted his sword. As tales of cures at the site spread the little circular chapel on the hill soon become a magnet for pilgrims seeking miracles.

Monteseipi Rotunda

The circular church of the Montesiepi Rotunda is said to emulate the ancient Etruscan tombs of Vetulonia and Volterra, but the architect was seemingly inspired by Castel Sant'Angelo (the tomb of the Roman Emperor Hadrian). A roof was later constructed over the semi-spherical dome at Montesiepi, hiding it from external view but providing a spectacular internal view of 24 concentric circles of alternating white stone and terracotta forming the chapel ceiling, reminiscent of the Dome of the Pantheon in Rome, a spiral ascending to Heaven. To the Medieval knight the dome of the Montesiepi Rotunda must have been reminiscent of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem which was enclosed during the time of the Crusades within a Rotunda.

By the early 1200's a brick and stone atrium was built onto the circular chapel, with cornice decorated with human and bovine heads. By the 1300's the bell tower was added. As the cult of Saint Galgano grew, the Rotunda was embellished by the nobility with the addition of a ogival-style  brick Chapel on the north side around 1340. Frescoes were added to the interior by by the Sienese  master Ambrogio Lorenzetti, some of his work here has been restored and is still visible today.

Lorenzetti chapel Maestà

The paintings cover all sides of the so-called Lorenzetti chapel on two levels. The main feature is a Maestà; the Virgin Mary is enthroned with the infant Jesus surrounded by Angels and Saints. Eve lies at her feet holding a scroll. In addition to Saints Peter, Paul and the two Johns, Pope Lucius III the Saints depicted in the Maestà include two men dressed in white robes (cuccula) identified as the Cistercian monks St. Robert from Molesme and St. Bernardo of Clairvaux, with St. Guglielmo (William) from Malavalle, the hermit from whom St. Galgano drew his inspiration and whose life shares many similarities.

Galgano offers the sword in the stone to the Archangel Michael

Another fresco in the Lorenzetti chapel shows a young St. Galgano offering the Archangel Michael a sword embedded in a stone. The Archangel in turn beckons the young man towards the Maestà where Mary, the infant Jesus and the Saints await.

Over time the Hermitage of Montesiepi eventually became too small for the increasing numbers of pilgrims to the site. As a consequence, in 1218, the Bishop of Volterra commissioned the construction of a new Abbey in the plain below, just five minutes walk downhill from the Hermitage.

The Legend of Saint Galgano
Who was this Tuscan Saint who's life inspired the building of such beautiful buildings and paintings on this remote hill at  Montesiepi? 

Galgano was born at Chiusdino near Sienna, Tuscany, in the year 1148 to a noble family, son of an illiterate feudal lord, Guidotto Guidotti and his wife Dionisia. As a young knight he spent his days hunting and generally abusing the abundances that wealth brought, Galgano was well known for his arrogance, selfishness and thirst for trouble, his parents tried every means to bring him back to the right path. When Galgano's father died he moved to Sienna to a home better suited to his lifestyle of entertainment and passion. During this time he experienced his first vision of the Archangel Michael. In this vision he also saw his mother to whom St Michael was speaking, encouraging her to consent to her son joining the heavenly militia. Galgano saw his mother bow and nod her consent, then saw himself follow the footsteps of St Michael.

After this vision Galgano grew restless in Sienna and returned to his mother's home at Chiusdino and for the following five years was said to have led an obscure and penitent life. It was during this period that Galgano experienced his second vision of St Michael. The Archangel told Galgano he should embark on the path to Montesiepi, a solitary hill top covered in thick forest about four miles from Chiusdino. Once there he should offer up every worldly comfort as a sacrifice for his past sins.

On hearing of this vision Galgano's mother was disturbed at the prospect of loosing her son in her advancing years and wanted him to maintain the family succession. On taking counsel with her relatives they determined that they should find him a wife, such a young lady that Galgano would not be able to refuse.

About 20 miles from Chiusdino lived a very wealthy man by the name of Antonnio Brizzi in a grand castle at Civitella Marittima. He had a beautiful daughter named Polissena who was to be Galgano's bride and his mother's hope of keeping Galgano from Montesiepi. Galgano resisted his family's intentions for a long time but eventually agreed to see Polissena, forgetting the calling of the Archangel.

Galgano set out for Civitella Marittima when, about 4 miles from Chiusdino, in the plain of Morella his horse suddenly stopped and refused to go any further. Galgano dismounted and fell to his knees, recognising his failure he pleaded for forgiveness when the Archangel Michael appeared to him again and commanded that he followed him to Montesiepi where he should do harsh penance. From that moment on Galgano was enrolled in the army of Heaven. In the vision the Archangel guided him down a narrow and difficult path to Montesiepi where he was eventually greeted by the twelve apostles in front of a circular-shaped temple.

Inside the Rotunda

Overwhelmed Galgano drew his sword and said, “How you deign O merciful Lord to show such favour to a miserable sinner! Ah, but I could more easily plunge my sword into this stone, than obtain forgiveness for my many sins.” Galgano then thrust his sword into the rock until the whole of the blade was immersed up to the hilt forming a cross and altar to pray at. The sword was driven so deeply and with such great force, that only the handle remained visible on the surface of the rock, and is still there today, some 800 years later.

From the first day of December in 1180 this isolated place on Montesiepi, about 25 miles from the monastic community founded by Guglielmo of Malavalle, became Galgano's residence as a hermit. Disciples soon followed him there but he found ruling them was troublesome. During 1181 he visited the seven churches of Rome and then Pope Alexander III to discuss the problem, but he never found the solution as he did not survive the harsh life of a hermit following his return to the hermitage at Montesiepi; after falling ill, Galgano died on the 3rd December.

On hearing of Galgano's visit to Rome the bishops of Massa and Volterra scaled the summit of the Montesiepi to visit the hermitage. As they approached they saw Galgano kneeling down. Assuming the hermit was in deep prayer they stood back so as not to disturb him. After sometime they made some noise but Galgano remained motionless. They entered the hermit's hut to find him still and cold, he had passed away. They buried Galgano next to his sword at Montesiepi. As news of Galgano's death spread people began to journey to Montesiepi. Miracles were soon reported at the site; a leper was instantly cured and a woman's injured son was healed; soon visitors were proclaiming the sanctity of Galgano.

As we have seen above, the Romanesque round church, the Montesiepi Rotunda, was built between 1182 and 1185, within five years of Galgano's death, enclosing Galgano's tomb and his sword stuck in the rock. A Papal commission was set up in 1185 and Galgano was canonised by 1190. In that same year the Cistercians took control of Montesiepi and most of Galgano's followers then left the hill top spreading throughout Tuscany becoming Augustinian hermits. By 1220 the Cistercians built a large monastery (San Galgano Abbey) beneath the hill of the hermitage and claimed Galgano as a Cistercian Saint with Feast day on 3rd December.

The miracles claimed at Galgano's tomb attracted many pilgrims along the Via Francigena, the ancient route of pilgrimage that in medieval times connected Canterbury to Rome and on to Jerusalem via the ports of Puglia (Apulia) at the 'heel' of Italy. Indeed, the Via Francigena is first documented in the Actum Clusio, a 9th century parchment in the nearby Abbey of San Salvatore in Sienna.

A time later Galgano's body was exhumed by the faithful who wanted relics of the Saint's body. The head and face was found to be incorrupt and the blond hair still growing. The head was severed from the body and kept in the chapel and spent time on the altar of the Abbey were it was venerated for many years. The remains of the body were placed in a lead sealed casket and re-interred. Frequently Galgano's relics were carried through Sienna in procession. Around the year 1300 the relics are said to have been placed in the monastery of St Prosper of Sienna where Polissena, the bride promised to Galgano, was vested as a nun. The head remained here for a short time before being taken to the cathedral. In 1477 the head was returned to the Abbey of San Galgano at the request of the monks there. In 1550 the head was brought to the church and monastery of St Mary of the Angels by the Porta Romana, where it rests today. The hair is said to have been cut many times for relics yet always grown back as attested by Gregory Lombardelli's life of San Galgano, published 1577.

The True Sword in the Stone? 
Today the Hermitage of  Montesiepi houses one of the most enigmatic relics of the entire Tuscany region: the sword in the stone of Saint Galgano. At the centre of the tiled floor of the Rotunda is the famous sword of Galgano set in a block of rock.

Galgano's sword

From the 18th century up to current times, Galgano's sword in the stone was considered a fake, just a local medieval legend. But all doubts about the authenticity of the sword have been swept away when scientists from the University of Pavia, led by Luigi Garlaschelli, carried out a study on the sword and found the metallurgy was of typical 12th century composition, with no trace of modern alloys. The cavity in the rock follows the outline of the blade exactly, a feat entirely beyond medieval technology; indeed, even a sword manufactured today could not produce such an exact entrance into the boulder.

Garlaschelli's team also located a cavity beneath the rock where it is conjectured that the Saint's body may lie. Carbon-dating confirmed that two mummified hands in the Rotunda at Montesiepi also date from the 12th century.

The sword in the stone in the Rotunda at Montesiepi is indeed an enigma in its own right. But aside from the sword itself, there is another extraordinary aspect to this story. The sight is evocative to say the least and immediately brings to mind the well-known legend of King Arthur drawing the sword from the stone to prove his rightful kingship.

The 'Sword in the Stone' is one of the most well known episodes of the Arthurian legend but its origins remain a mystery: no satisfactory provenance is yet known; it did not derive from the Celtic west and, as much as some authors may try, no satisfactory parallel exists among the eastern tribes of the Steppes. As such the 'Sword in the Stone' is entirely absent from the earliest Arthurian tales such as The Spoils of Annwn, Culhwch and Olwen, Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, and the chronicles of Wace and Layamon.

We must therefore consider the possibility that the Arthurian legend of the Sword in the Stone could have originated from Montesiepi in Tuscany and later transmitted via pilgrim routes, such as the Via Francigena, to France and introduced in to the famous legend of King Arthur by writers of Arthurian Romance. This is a plausible hypothesis: Galgano's cross-shaped sword has been proven to date back to around 1170; the sword in the stone does not enter Arthurian Romance until the work of the Burgundian poet Robert de Boron in his tale entitled 'Merlin', c.1200. It then appears in just about every account thereafter to the last great Arthurian tale by Sir Thomas Malory. Could this be the origin of the Sword in the Stone from the Arthurian legend?

Galgano's journey, described as Dantean by Franco Cardini (Arthur in Hagiography: The Legend of San Galgano), along a narrow and difficult path, across a raging river, through a cave to emerge at Monteseipi has been compared to Lancelot's crossing of the Sword Bridge in Chrétien de Troyes' Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart (le Chevalier de la Charrette) where the river below it is swift and fierce, black and raging like a whirlpool in a storm. Chrétien's version was written between 1175 and 1181, but the earliest tale of the abduction of Guinevere appears in the early 12th-century Life of Gildas by Caradoc of Llancarfan. This ancient myth of abduction and the hero's journey to the Otherworld to retrieve his lover can be found in Orpheus and Eurydice, the abduction of Europa and the Rape of Persephone.

But this is not legend, it is history; the account of Galgano and the sword is gleaned from the hearing of the canonisation of Galgano. Indeed, Galgano was the first saint of the Church to receive a formal process of beatification, which included a public debate and testimonies from witnesses.

The Acts of beatification, which include the story of the sword in the stone, are dated c.1185, several years before the tale entered Arthurian Romance, which as we have seen above has no known provenance. Could St Galgano's tale be the origin of the Sword in the Stone?

The True Sword in the Stone?

Indeed, a study by the Italian medieval historian Mario Moiraghi argues that the story of St Galgano and his sword is the origin of the myth of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, predating Chrétien’s 'Story of the Grail' and identical to Wolfram von Eschenbach's story of 'Parsival' on more than 30 specific points.

Moiraghi claims Galgano's story was embellished by medieval troubadours as it spread from Tuscany. Moiraghi adds that the name Galgano bears a close resemblance to 'Galvano' (later Gawain), the first Knight, who often appears in the early Arthurian legends possessing the mystical sword Excalibur, Arthur's nephew and at one time his ambassador to Rome.

Moiraghi said that the testimony of Dionisa, St. Galgano's mother, delivered to the panel of cardinals considering his canonization, before 1190, contains a set of facts identical to the legend of Perceval, and the Story of the Grail, the knight who overcomes all obstacles, the central role of the sword, including all the essential elements of the Round Table myth. Moiraghi's theory that the legend of San Galgano predates rather than copies the story of Arthur is supported by the tests carried out by Luigi Garlaschelli on the sword.

It must be admitted that the story of Saint Galgano does contain many of the essential elements of the earliest Grail stories. The Rotunda at Monteseipi has been described as an inverted chalice, an allusion to the Holy Grail, or perhaps the Round Table. In addition we have a Hermit's chapel which we find in the Grail stories (Perlesevaus) and a severed head on a platter as one of the Grail Hallows (Peredur, the Welsh version of Chretien de Troyes).

Is it possible the Arthurian legend had spread to Tuscany and influenced the tale of Saint Galgano?The Modena carving (before 1136) and the Otranto mosaic (c.1165) are evidence of at least oral transmission of the Matter of Britain to Southern Italy prior to Saint Galgano's exploits. Yet, there is no evidence of Arthurian literature in Tuscany before Galgano.

Although Galgano, or Galganus, may be a corruption of Galvanus, the Italian name of the Grail hero Gawain, and this may well be the precursor to the legend of The Sword in The Stone, the name 'Galgano' was quite popular in Tuscany. And we must consider the possibility that the name may be a corruption of 'Gargano' as in Monte Sant' Angelo Gargana, Puglia, where the first recorded apparition of St Michael the Archangel occurred in 492 AD.



Copyright © 2016 Edward Watson
http://clasmerdin.blogspot.co.uk



Sources:
Torchj Dei Gius Galetti, The True Story of the Sword in the Stone: A Compendium on the Life of St. Galgano, translated from the Italian edition of 1835 by Ryan Grant, Mediatrix Press, 2014.
David Farmer, Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Oxford University Press, Fifth revised edition 2011.
Vito Albergo, San Galgano Abbey, Padplaces, 2015.
Mario Moiraghi, L’enigma di san Galgano, (The Enigma of San Galgano. The sword in the stone between history and myth), Àncora, 2003. (in Italian)
Franco Cardini, Arthur in Hagiography: The Legend of San Galgano, in Arthurian Literature of the Italians, edited by F. Regina Psaki and Gloria Allaire, Wales University Press, 2014.


Edited 13/12/16

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Earliest known monastic life in UK uncovered at Beckery Chapel

The remains of seven individuals unearthed at Beckery Chapel, near Glastonbury in Somerset, during excavations in May by the South West Heritage Trust have been dated to the 5th or early 6th Century AD. Director of excavations Dr Richard Brunning hailed the discovery as the earliest archaeological evidence for monasticism in the UK, predating Iona Abbey in Scotland, founded in the late 6th Century, and nearby Glastonbury Abbey, which dates from the 7th Century.

Dr Brunning envisaged a small community of monks at Beckery, more like a large hermitage living  in a few basic buildings constructed of wattle and daub, nothing grand made of stone. The earliest monks died between 425 to 579 AD with burials continuing at Beckery until the early 9th Century AD. Further tests are planned to establish if the people buried in the cemetery were local or from distant areas.

Beckery Excavations May 2016 (South West Heritage Trust)

Excavations have revealed that a small Chapel or Oratory existed at Beckery on the western side of Glastonbury. It was first dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, but later known by the name of St. Brigid. Said to be in ruins by the late 18th century, today there is no visible indication of the site of this chapel above ground. St Bridget's chapel was situated on the highest part of Beckery Hill, or “island” in a field called Chamberlains Hill.

In the 12th century William of Malmesbury (De Antiquitate) and John of Glastonbury (Cronica), 14th century, claim that St Brigid visited Glastonbury in 488 AD. Significantly, this date is very close to the traditional date of the saint's founding of the Kildare Monastery in 490 AD. The interpolated edition of William's De Antiquitate states that St Brigid stayed at Beckery.  When she returned to Ireland she left behind some relics, her bell, wallet and weaving instruments that were apparently kept at the chapel. However, the earliest Lives of St. Brigid make no mention of her coming to Glastonbury.

The site at Beckery has been investigated twice before, once by the local antiquarian John Morland in the 1880’s and then in the late 1960's by Philip Rahtz.

Morland exposed two phases of stone foundations of the chapel and the adjacent priest's house. The foundations were explored in 1887-8 and proved to be those of two chapels, one within the other. Finds of tiles and two silver coins suggest a 13th century date for the outer and later chapel, and although nothing was found to test the age of the inner foundations, the extremely massive walls of this tiny chapel would be comparable with Saxon work. One inhumation burial orientated with head to the west and without a coffin, appeared to predate both chapels. About 20ft to the north-east are the foundations of an apparently later building.

Beckery Excavations May 2016 (South West Heritage Trust)

Beckery Chapel and a small part of the neighbouring priest's house were excavated by Philip Rahtz in 1967-1968, unearthing around 60 skeletons. Some prehistoric flints and pottery, together with a few Roman artefacts were found, but Rahtz identified three main phases of settlement:

The first phase consisted of post-Roman or Anglo-Saxon activity. A possible timber structure, which contained a cist grave, (HB18) could have been either a chapel or merely a tomb-shrine. No definite plan could be defined, but there were three areas where post-holes concentrated. A cemetery was found containing at least 63 skeletons, all male apart from one woman and two children, some graves being cut by a ditch, together with wattle and daub structure, dated tentatively to the middle Anglo-Saxon period. Carbon-dating of HB18 returned a range of between 765 AD - 730 AD.

The second phase Rahtz dated to the Anglo-Saxon period and early medieval to 13th century when the first stone chapel was constructed. This chapel continued in use until the 13th century. A wall parallel to the south wall of the nave may be connected with the dedication of a “penitent's crawl” into the chapel. John of Glastonbury wrote of a hole in the south wall of the chapel through which people would crawl for forgiveness of their sins.

The final phase in which activity spanned from the late 13th century to the 15th century. The chapel was rebuilt of blue lias with mortared course masonry with deep foundations, enclosing the earlier chapel almost completely.

Rahtz concluded that Beckery was a minor monastic site, possibly with a holy shrine, in existence from Anglo-Saxon times until the Dissolution. He found no evidence that there was any activity on the site in the 5th or 6th centuries, when according to legend, the site was visited by St Brigid who reputedly left some of her relics there, which subsequently became a place of pilgrimage. Hence, the Irish name for Beckery (Bec-Eriu) means ‘Little Ireland’.

The effect of this new discovery by South West Heritage Trust on the Glastonbury Legend, which claims that Joseph of Arimathea founded the first Christian church in England, is yet to be realised. Tradition claims Joseph founded a Christian community at the site of Glastonbury Abbey. However, no archaeological evidence of a 1st century early Christian community has ever been found at the site.

This new dating evidence places the first Christian community at Beckery firmly in the days of the legendary King Arthur who Medieval Glastonbury sources claim witnessed a vision of the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus at the chapel. And isotope studies will reveal these first monks came from Ireland. It seems a re-write is due.



Beckery Chapel near Glastonbury 'earliest known UK monastic life' - BBC Somerset 5 December 2016


Edited 06/12/16

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The Enigma of the Otranto Mosaic

Situated on the very “heel” of the boot of Italy, Otranto is a small town in the region of Apulia bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east. To the north the region extends as far as Monte Gargano the oldest shrine in Western Europe dedicated to Saint Michael following a visitation by the Archangel around 490 AD. The capital city of Apulia is the city of Bari, the departure point for the First Crusade.

The Cathedral of Otranto

Indeed, Bari was governed by the Byzantines until the arrival of the Normans, first reported in southern Italy in 999 on return from pilgrimage to Jerusalem. However, the account of the Norman chronicler William of Apulia refers to Norman pilgrims arriving at the shrine of Michael the Archangel at Monte Gargano in 1016.  The Lombard nobleman Melus of Bari persuaded them to join him in an attack on the Byzantine government of Apulia. The following year the Normans are recorded as spreading southwards. By the mid-11th century they had recovered Sicily from the Saracens and by mid-12th century the Normans had conquered all the territory on the Italian peninsula south of the Holy Roman Empire, Malta and regions of North Africa.

A strong Norman-Byzantine-Arab culture advanced in the Kingdom of Sicily, and the Normans started constructions using a unique style of architecture known as 'Norman-Arab' by incorporating the best practices of Islamic, Lombard, and Byzantine building techniques into their own scheme. One of the best known examples of this new style is the Cappella Palatina, in Palermo, the royal chapel of the Norman kings of Sicily, which combines a variety of styles where Arabic arches compliment the Norman architecture and decor with Byzantine dome and mosaics.

The Cathedral of Otranto was founded in 1068 by the Norman Bishop Guglielmo, said to be built on the site of a Roman domus, a Messapian village and an earlier Christian church, in a mixture of Byzantine, early Christian and Romanesque architectural styles. The cathedral was consecrated twenty years later and dedicated to the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary.

Yet, the Cathedral of Otranto records a dark day in the history of the Norman Kingdom of Sicily. On 28th July 1480 an Ottoman fleet under the command of Gedik Ahmed Pasha landed on the shores of Apulia destined to invade Rome. Within two weeks, on 14th August, Otranto fell and 813 citizens, known later as the “Martyrs of Otranto,” were beheaded after refusing to convert to Islam. The mass execution is regarded as a milestone in European history as as the last significant attempt by a Muslim force to conquer southern Italy.

A year later on 13th October 1481 the bodies of the martyrs were found to be uncorrupt and were translated to the Cathedral of Otranto where their relics can still be seen today in a side chapel. Beautified in 1771 (the first stage of sainthood) The Martyrs of Otranto were finally canonised by Pope Francis on 12th May 2013.

Interior of the Cathedral of Otranto

The Ottoman attack damaged the cathedral facade but left the inside and its most precious treasure undamaged. Stretching for 200 feet from the entrance to the altar, covering the cathedral floor is the Otranto mosaic. Commissioned in 1163 by the archbishop Gionata, the mosaic was the work of a group of artists supervised by Pantaleone, a Basilian monk from the monastery of San Nicola di Casole, one of medieval Europe's great libraries and a veritable meeting place of cultures from the Eastern Mediterranean and Northern Western Europe. The mosaic is the largest in Europe, largely intact and remarkably resilient to the passage of thousands of feet over eight centuries.

Covering the nave, the two side upper aisles, the apse and the presbytery, the 700 square-foot mosaic is constructed of polychrome tesserae cut from hard local limestone. Pantaleone used the 'Tree of Life' to represent the never ending struggle between Good and Evil, illustrating the story of man from the Fall to Salvation, featuring a range of scenes from the Old Testament and chivalric cycles, as well as figures from medieval bestiaries; the story of the world with a folkloric slant.

Two large elephants hold up the Tree which runs along the nave to the altar with parallel branches supporting angels, devils, beasts of the Apocalypse, signs of the zodiac and monstrous creatures with biblical and mythological characters, such as Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Diana the huntress, and King Arthur.

Constructed after Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (before 1138), but significantly before the wave of Arthurian literature exploded in Europe in the late 12th century following Chretien de Troyes Story of the Grail (around 1180). The mosaic securely establishes that the stories of King Arthur were circulating in Europe some years before the literary tradition, as attested by the Arthurian scenes on the archivolt at Modena Cathedral.

King Arthur on the Otranto mosaic

On the Otranto mosaic King Arthur is clearly identified by the inscription 'Rex Arturus' and shown wearing a crown (added in the 19th century), holding a sceptre or (doubtfully) a long club. Arthur appears with Cain and Abel in what has been described as an allegory of the Fall of Mankind. He is depicted riding on what is clearly a goat-like creature, horned with cloven hoofs, and confronting a giant cat.

The Celtic scholar Roger Sherman Loomis has described the goat-riding figure as a representation of Arthur as a supernatural lord of the Otherworld, a fairy king; as such an element of the 'immortal Arthur' based on the many cave legends that tell of him sleeping in a magical subterranean kingdom entered through a cave, such as Mount Etna in Sicily, Mount Snowdon in Wales or Alderley Edge in Cheshire, England.

According to a 14th century Majorcan poet the wounded Arthur dwelt in a Mediterranean island and was kept alive by an annual ministration of the Holy Grail. Certainly legends of the immortal Arthur dwelling in a subterranean kingdom were established in Sicily by 1190. Loomis argues that among the Welsh and Bretons, at least one conception of the Otherworld was an underground region peopled by a race of noble dwarfs whose supreme king is portrayed as riding on a goat; it should not be surprising to find Arthur astride a goat in the Otranto mosaic of 1165.

It would appear probable that the tale of Arthur as ruler of a subterranean Otherworld realm depicted riding a goat was brought to Italy by the Normans. But when considered with the goat-riding king fighting a monstrous cat it becomes almost certain.

Beneath the depiction on the Otranto mosaic of King Arthur riding the goat toward a monstrous cat rearing up in front of him, is a similar big cat mauling a similarly dressed man about the neck. This fearsome creature has been described as the Chapulu or Palug's Cat (Cath Pulac in Welsh). In one French version of the Chapalu tale Arthur engages in combat with the cat at a swamp where he is killed by the creature, which then invades England and becomes king.


Copyright © 2016 Edward Watson
http://clasmerdin.blogspot.co.uk


Sources
Thomas Green, Concepts of Arthur, Tempus, 2007.
Norris J Lacey, editor, The Arthurian Encyclopedia, Garland, 1986.
Norris J Lacey and Geoffrey Ashe with Debra Mancoff, The Arthurian Handbook, 2nd Edition, Garland, 1997.
Roger Sherman Loomis, Wales and the Arthurian Legend, University of Wales Press, 1956.

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Æthelstan, First King of All England

“In his day a Norseman called him the greatest man in the European world, to a Frenchman he was the most famous king of modern times, an Irishman thought him the summit of the honour of the Western World. From Iceland, from Germany, and Wales, poets sang of his deeds, renowned through the whole globe whom God set over the English as king plainly so that mighty in war he might conquer other fierce kings and crush their proud necks. And yet who knows of Æthelstan today?” - Michael Wood, In Search of Æthelstan

Æthelstan, born in 895 AD, was the eldest son of Edward the Elder and grandson of Alfred the Great. He spent his childhood in the care of his aunt, Æthelflæd, the Lady of the Mercians. He was crowned as King of the Anglo-Saxons at Kingston-upon-Thames on 4th September, 925. Much of his reign was occupied, as were his forefather's, with the ongoing struggle against invading Vikings.

Æthelflæd with the boy Æthelstan, Tamworth Castle.

The autumn of the 865 had seen a major change in Viking strategy; instead of coastal raiding parties overwintering in Britain, the Danes had landed on the coast of East Anglia with the intention of settling. This huge force of Norsemen later became known as The Great Heathen Army.

Within six years the Great Heathen Army was about to overrun Wessex, the last Anglo-Saxon kingdom standing. King Alfred famously repelled the storm at the Battle of Edington in 878 when his Anglo-Saxon army of Wessex defeated the Heathens led by Guthrum.

Guthrum accepted baptism and returned to the east of the country where he ruled over the territories of East Anglia, Essex and Eastern Mercia. In time these lands would became known as the Danelaw. In 886 Alfred and Guthrum formalised a treaty defining the boundaries of their respective kingdoms, making provision for peaceful relations between the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings.

By the time of Æthelstan's reign, Edward the Elder and his sister Æthelflæd had recovered much of the Danish occupied territories in the Midlands and East Anglia in a series of campaigns in the 910s continuing their father’s policy of building a string of fortresses, known as burhs.

However, when Æthelstan came to the throne in 925 much of  the north of England was still under Danish control. Two years later in 927, Æthelstan ejected the Viking leader Gofraid ua Ímair from York and brought Northumbria under English control. He then marched north when on 12th July 927 the Anglo Saxon Chronicle records that he exerted lordship over northern Britain at Eamont, near Penrith in Cumbria, when Ealdred of Bamburgh, Owain of Strathclyde, Constantine of Scotland and Hywel Dda of Deheubarth all accepted Æthelstan as the first English king to achieve lordship over northern Britain.

Following the meeting at Eamont Æthelstan summoned the five Welsh kings to Hereford where he imposed a heavy annual tribute and fixed the Anglo-Welsh border at the River Wye. He then turned to Exeter where he brought the Celts of Cornwall under his dominion.

The Battle of Brunanburh
In 937 Æthelstan led  a combined Anglo-Saxon army from Mercia and Wessex with his brother Edmund in one of the bloodiest battles ever fought on British soil in which five kings and seven earls lost their lives. The battle was Æthelstan's greatest achievement and a defining moment in British history, bringing the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms into a unified England.

The Battle of Brunanburh saw Æthelstan's forces defeat the allied forces of Olaf III Guthfrithson (Gofraid of York's son), the Norse-Gael King of Dublin; Constantine II, King of Scots; and Owen I, King of Strathclyde. But despite its fame, the site of the battle remains a mystery.

Compelling arguments have been made for locations in Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Lancashire and Scotland by historians. However, Bromborough on Wirral is thought to be one of the most likely candidates. The name ' Bromborough' was used until the early 18th century and said to be derived from the Old English 'Brun's fort' (Brunan-burh).

Wirral

Further, a poem in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle describes the escape route to the coast at Dingesmere, which is said to be the wetland or marshland associated with the 'Thing' ('þing' in Old Norse) the Viking parliament  at Thingwall (þing vollr = 'assembly field'), south west of Birkenhead on Wirral.

The defeated Viking army escaped through Thingwall wood then to Heswall Slack (slakki), and then to the Heswall shore at Sheldrakes, believed to be the site of the 'Thing’s mere', or Dingesmere, from where the Norsemen fled. The Irish Chronicles record the first peaceful settlements on Wirral by the Norseman Ingimund in 902. Yet, no sooner than the peninsula became full of Norse settlers repeated raids on Chester are reported.

The battle is referred to 'the greatest single battle in Anglo-Saxon history before the Battle of Hastings' as Athelstan's devastating defeat of the combined Norse-Celtic force confirmed England as an Anglo-Saxon kingdom forcing the Celtic kingdoms to consolidate in the lands they have occupied to the present day.

The Empty Tomb
Æthelstan died at Gloucester on 27 October 939. No sooner had he died than the Vikings took back control of York until 954 when it was finally reconquered with Eric Bloodaxe being expelled by King Eadred, another son of Edward the Elder, and the region returned to full English control once more.

His grandfather Alfred and his father Edward had been interred at Winchester, but Æthelstan requested to be buried at Malmesbury Abbey alongside his cousins who died at Brunanburh. No other member of the West Saxon royal family was buried there.

Malmesbury Abbey

At Malmesbury Abbey there is a Tomb-chest commemorating Æthelstan. But today this tomb is empty, and the whereabouts of Æthelstan's remains are a mystery. The tomb made around 1300, some 360 years after Æthelstan died; it is debatable if his remains where ever contained within.

William of Malmesbury, who claimed to have seen the King's remains in the early 12th century, described him as being "of middle height, thin in person, his hair flaxen as I have seen by his relics, and beautifully wreathed with golden threads".

Æthelstan's relics were lost at the time of the dissolution of the abbey in 1539. They may have been destroyed or scattered by King Henry VIII's commissioners, or possibly secretly hidden by the faithful beforehand.

* * *

The Hunters of Banna

Revolving many memories, till the hull
Looked one black dot against the verge of dawn,
And on the mere the wailing died away.

But when that moan had past for evermore,
The stillness of the dead world's winter dawn
Amazed him, and he groaned, "The King is gone."1


The Strife of Camlann
The 9th century Historia Brittonum (History of the Britons) records Arthur's twelve battles in which he was victorious in them all. Yet, Arthur's last and final battle in which he fell is not listed in the Historia Brittonum. The Battle of Camlann, was according to Welsh tradition, internecine strife, Briton fighting Briton, is first found in the 10th century Annals Cambriae (The Welsh Annals) attached to the manuscript Harleian MS 3859. Scholars of Arthurian studies have argued for centuries over the location of this last fateful battle, proposing sites from Cornwall to Scotland and just about anywhere in between.

In his seminal work ‘The Early Evolution of the Legend of Arthur’ Thomas Jones2 argues that the entry recording Arthur’s demise at the Battle of Camlann in the Annals Cambriae should be treated as authentic. However, as the Annals end at Year 954 they were clearly assembled in the 10th-century and we cannot rule out the possibility of a later interpolation by a manuscript copyist.3 The Welsh Annals entry reads:

537 - Gueith camlann in qua Arthur et Medraut corruerunt, et mortalitas in Brittannia et in Hibernia fuit. 

[The battle of Camlann, in which Arthur and Medraut fell: and there was plague in Britain and Ireland].

The entry in the Welsh Annals is the only historical record of Camlann; it has no other source, unlike the second Arthurian entry, the Battle of Badon which appears in the 6th century account of Gildas and the later ecclesiastical history of Bede.

The use of the word 'Gueith' in a Latin chronicle (compare with the entry for the Battle of Badon =  Bellum Badonis) suggests a Welsh source. However, the reference to 'Guieth' is not unique to the Camlann entry, the term occurs five times in the Welsh Annals. Throughout the Annals the author is using two words for battle, ' Gueith' and 'Bellum' reflecting on his source, either vernacular or Latin respectively.4

The Welsh tradition of the Battle of Camlann is quite different from later accounts following Geoffrey of Monmouth who has Arthur fighting Modred who has taken the kingdom while Arthur is on campaign in Europe. In Welsh tradition the strife of Camlann is due to a quarrel between Gwenhwyfar and her sister Gwenhwyfach, and Modred, or Medraut as he is called, is not recorded as Arthur's nemesis.

However, a Welsh source does not necessarily demand a location in Wales they shout. A favoured location for Camlann in the quest for a Northern Arthur is the Roman fort of Camboglanna on Hadrian's Wall since Ekwall first made the suggestion in 1927, followed by OGS Crawford in 1935.4

Favoured no doubt for its location on a spur on the south side of the Roman fort which drops down steeply to the River Irthing winding its way through a very crooked glen indeed. This place certainly seems to qualify as the crooked riverbank implied by the etymology of the name “Camlann” derived from the Brittonic *Cambo-glanna ("crooked bank (of a river)"), as found in the name of the Roman fort of Camboglanna, (“crooked glen”).6

Birdoswald Roman fort - posts marking the site of the Dark Age hall

Attractive as the Camboglanna = Camlann proposition appears, the Romano-British name of “Camboglanna” would have evolved into “Camglann” in Old Welsh,7 whereas the  entry in the Welsh Annals appears as “Camlann” (without the “g”) as it would have appeared in Medieval Welsh. This has been interpreted as indicative of a later, rather than contemporary, insertion into the 10th century Annals.8

However, if it is accepted that Camlann can be derived from the ancient Celtic name of a Roman fort on Hadrian’s Wall named Camboglanna which fort is it?

For many years Camboglanna was identified with the fort at Birdoswald at the Western, Cumbrian sector of the Wall and this is the site still favoured by many Arthurian scholars as the location of Arthur's last battle.9 Yet, today the official English Heritage guidebook for Hadrian's Wall makes no mention at all of Camboglanna.10

Vallum Aelium 
Hadrian's Wall was built on the command of Emperor Hadrian, a demarcation of the end of Empire. Its function to separate Romans from barbarians. Hadrian's Wall is believed to have been abandoned after three hundred years when the Romans left Britain. But recent research has shown that parts of the Wall were occupied after the Roman withdrawal.

Hadrian's Wall

The Wall runs across the north of Britain for 73 miles (about 80 Roman miles), stretching from Bowness-on-Solway in the west to Wallsend on the river Tyne in the east. In the west the defences, without the Wall, extend for a further 25 miles down the Cumbrian coast to Maryport. A huge ditch and bank earthwork, the Vallum, was built immediately south of the Wall providing a militarised zone.

The first plan was for a turf wall in the west, from the crossing of the river Irthing to the Cumbrian coast, and a wall of stone in the east. The decision was probably based on the availability of local stone. Work is thought to have started around 122 AD following Hadrian's visit to Britain and shortly after being built the Wall was temporarily abandoned around 140 AD when the frontier was moved north with the construction of the turf Antonine Wall (Vallum Antonini) stretching from the Clyde to the Forth. Twenty years later this turf wall was abandoned and the Legions fell back to Hadrian's Wall.

Hadrian's Wall was constructed in sections by three legions: II Augusta; VI Victrix; and XX Valeria Victrix as attested by several inscribed stones found along its length. There are also several inscriptions found on the Wall recording activity by the “civitates”, the cities of Britain. The so-called “Civitas Stones” are all undated but dates ranging from Hadrian's time to the late 4th century have been proposed for them. The civitas stones record that the civilians of the cities of the Durotriges, the Dumnonii, and the Brigantes all contributed to the building of the Wall. The two most westerly civitas inscriptions were found in that sector of the turf wall between the crossing of the River Irthing to Bowness-on-Solway, later rebuilt in stone in the 2nd century when the Legions returned from the Antonine Wall. However, the inscriptions may be linked to refortification works in the early 3rd century when the Emperor Septimius Severus was credited with building “a wall from sea to sea.”11

In writing “On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain”, c.540 AD, Gildas is often accused of producing a garbled account of the construction of the Walls. Gildas tells us that Britain is stripped of  her soldiery and the flower of her youth when her armies crossed to the continent following the usurper Maximus, never to return. The Britons, “ignorant off the art of war”, then suffered at the hands of the Picts and the Scots and sent letters to Rome. A Legion was immediately despatched which recovered the island from the barbarians. The Britons are then instructed to build a wall across the island from one sea to the other. "But this wall, being made of turf instead of stone, was of no use to that foolish people", groans Gildas. No sooner had the Legion returned home when the old enemy overrun the whole country wreaking havoc and slaughter on the Britons.

Then, he goes on, the Romans with the help of “the miserable natives, built a wall different from the former, by public and private contributions, and of the same structure as walls generally, extending in a straight line from sea to sea, between some cities, which, from fear of their enemies, had there by chance been built.” They then erected towers at intervals on the southern coast [The Saxon Shore forts?] “then left the island never to return.”

Gildas chronology is undoubtedly confused, he sees the construction of the stone wall after Maximus left Britain in 383 AD. But he is correct in stating that Hadrian's Wall was originally built of turf, without necessarily referring to the Antonine Wall, and then rebuilt in stone as was the case with the western sector from the crossing of the Irthing. As the civitas stones attest the Wall was built with public and private funds, it is possible a memory of the Durotriges involvement in the construction of the Wall survived to Gildas day in the territory of the Celtic tribe as this area is probably where Gildas lived and wrote.12

Today the remains of the original turf wall can still be seen near Birdoswald running behind the stone wall where the first two miles west of the Irthing were built on a different line, probably at the time when the Legions returned from the Antonine Wall. Nearby, at Lanercost many stones can be seen that were robbed from the Roman Wall during construction of the Priory in the 12th century.

Dark Age Continuity at Birdoswald
There can be little doubt that the Roman garrison in Britain was severely weakened by successive troop withdrawals by Maximus, Stilicho and Constantine III, but the opinion that the wall was deserted after the late 4th century has, in the light of recent archaeological work, been abandoned in favour of continuous use well into the 5th century.

Reconstruction of the Dark Age timber hall at Birdoswald

The Roman fort at Birdoswald is situated on top of an escarpment with the river Irthing deeply cut to the south. The first fort built here was probably a timber and turf construction, and as discussed above, lies in the turf sector of the Wall. This was replaced by a stone construction later in Hadrian's reign. The first Roman troop based here is not known but through the 3rd and 4th centuries the First Aelian Cohort of Dacians (Cohors prima Aelia Dacorum), founded by or named in honour of the Emperor Publius Aelius Hadrianus, was stationed at the fort. This Cohort was originally recruited from what is now Romania and altars have been found at Birdoswald displaying the curved Dacian sword, the falx. This cohort was founded no later than 125 AD and, as no record of its existence in Dacia has been found, it seems to have been permanently deployed on Hadrian's Wall. Its commander, the praefectus, would have reported directly to the Dux Brittanium, the commander of the armies of northern Britannia. Twenty seven stone altars have been found at Birdoswald, of which twenty four are dedicated to Jupiter, “Best and Greatest”. One altar was dedicated to the native British deity, Cocidius (RIB1885)13 and another to the Roman god of the forest Silvanus (RIB 1905) dedicated by a group calling themselves the Venatores Bannienses, or “the Hunters of Banna”.

It comes as no surprise that this altar stone, designated RIB 1905, spent a period of time in the crypt at Lanercost Priory, which used many stones robbed from the Wall that can still be seen among the masonry there today.

After the Roman withdrawal from Britannia c.410 AD occupation of the fort at Birdoswald appears to have continued into the early 6th century by which time the former granaries had been demolished and the northern one replaced with a large timber hall, a construction conjectured by size and type to have been occupied by a local warlord as evidenced at South Cadbury hill fort in Somerset. Today the position of the timber pillars of the hall are marked by modern posts. The hall seems to have survived into the 6th century when the site appears to have gone out of use around 520 AD, although the West Gate was much altered and remodelled into the Medieval period.14

Apart the association of the name Camboglanna and its possible etymological evolution to Camlann in Medieval Welsh, no doubt the attraction to Birdoswald for Arthurians, at least in part, is the Dark Age Continuity at the Roman site, with the construction of the timber hall and then the abandonment of the site in the early 6th century, notably around the date of the Battle of Camlann in the Welsh Annals.

Yet, controversy has raged for years as to whether Camboglanna is Birdoswald or Castlesteads with many reconstructed Arthurian battle lists citing Birdoswald as the site of the infamous last battle of the Dux Bellorum.15

Camboglanna or Banna?
Castlesteads was situated a few miles west, next along the Wall from Birdoswald, although today nothing remains of the fort above ground which was cleared in 1791. The confusion between the name of the two Roman forts seems to have originated from a missing section of text (lacuna) in the Nottita Dignatum.16

The Notitia Dignitatum (Register of Offices) is a document of the late Roman Empire that details the administrative organisation of the Eastern and Western Empires. Known only from an 11th century copy called the Codex Spirensis, from which all known and extant copies of this late Roman document are derived. The Notitia depicts the Roman army at the end of the 4th century, but compiled at two different times: the Eastern section apparently dates from c. 395 AD; the Western from c. 420 AD.

The Notitia Dignitatum Occidentis (‘Register of Offices in the West’) lists several military commands: dux Britanniarum; comes litoris Saxonici per Britannias; comes Britanniarum; the governors of the five British provinces; and the staff of the vicarius in London. It is not only the earliest written evidence for 5th century military command in Britain, but it is the only documented evidence of the term Litoris Saxonici (Saxon Shore).

The command of the dux Britanniarum listed in the Notitia Dignitatum includes the limitaneus (frontier) forts along Hadrian’s Wall (per liniam valli) and the Cumbrian coast. From east to west, this includes at the Western sector of the Wall:

Tribunus cohortis primae Asturum, Aesica
Tribunus cohortis secundae Dalmatarum, Magnis 
Tribunus cohortis primae Aeliae Dacorum, Amboglanna 
Praefectus alae Petrianae, Petrianis 
Praefectus numeri Maurorum Aurelianorum, Aballaba 
Tribunus cohortis secundae Lingonum, Congavata
Tribunus cohortis primae Hispanorum, Axeloduno

During the 7th century an unknown monk in the Monastery at Ravenna in Italy compiled a list of all the towns and road-stations throughout the Roman Empire; this document is known as the Ravenna Cosmography. Listed at the western (Cumbrian) end along the Wall are the following forts:

Esica [Great Chesters]
Magnis [Carvoran]
Banna [?]
Uxelludamo [Stanwix]
Avalana [Burgh by Sands]
Maia [Bowness on Solway]

As can be seen from the two lists of forts at the western (Cumbrian) sector of the Wall the confusion is confounded by the Notitia Dignitatum which lists Amboglanna  between Aesica (Great Chesters) and Vxelodvnvm (Stanwix), whereas the Ravenna Cosmography records this fort as Banna. Owing to the inconsistency of spelling in these times it was once thought that 'Banna' was a misrepresentation of 'Camboglanna'. Therefore, if the Notitia and the Cosmography are referring to the same place then the fort between Great Chesters and Stanwix must be the fort known today as Birdoswald as Ekwall and Crawford claimed.

On the line of Hadrian's Wall 
The issue of Camboglanna or Banna being the fort at Birdoswald seems to have resolved by the inscriptions on the souvenir bowls (paterae) from the Wall.17 A patera is a shallow ceramic or metal libation bowl often with a handle, perhaps best described as a small ladle, for pouring a liquid in offering to deity. For example, peterae have been found at the Roman Baths in the city of Bath, inscribed with the letters 'DSM' or the words 'Deae Sulis Minerva' indicating they were dedicated to the goddess Sulis Minerva.

The Rudge Cup was discovered in the well of a Roman villa in Froxfield six miles east of Marlborough in Wiltshire in 1723 and bears the following inscription:

A MAIS ABALLAVA VXELODUM CAMBOGLANS BANNA

These names present an itinerary of the Wall from west to east, listing the forts as Mais (Bowness), Aballava (Burgh-by-Sands), Uxelodunum (Stanwix), Camboglanna (Castlesteads) and Banna (Birdoswald). Significantly the Rudge Cup lists two forts after Stanwix.

In 1949 another patera was found, on this occasion at Amiens in France, an important halt for Roman Legionaries. Known as the Amiens Skillet  this patera bears the following inscription:

MAIS ABALLAVA VXELODVNVM CAMBOG...S BANNA ESICA

The Amiens Skillet includes the five forts on the Rudge Cup, with the addition of Aesica (Great Chesters). The list differs from the Notitia Dignitatum and the Ravenna Cosmography in that it omits Magnis (Carvoran), which should come between Banna (Birdoswald) and Aesica (Great Chesters), but probably left out because Magnis was not actually on the Wall but was south of the Vallum, having been originally built to guard the Stanegate.

In 2003 another Roman patera was discovered in Staffordshire. Known as the Ilam Pan, or Staffordshire Moorlands Patera, this latest discovery is probably the earliest. An enamelled Roman bronze vessel of 90 mm diameter with Celtic triskele design, The Ilam Pan bears the following inscription:

MAIS COGGABATA VXELODVNVM CAMMOGLANNA RIGOREVALI AELI DRACONIS

The Ilam Pan lists the names of four Roman forts on the western sector of the Wall written as the ancient form of the name as 'Val[l]i Aeli' (the 'Aelian frontier'), using part of Hadrian's name which was in full Publius Aelius Hadrianus.

Notably the four forts listed on the Ilam Pan do not match the first four forts listed on the Rudge Cup and Amiens Skillet. The second fort on the Staffordshire Bowl is Coggabata (Drumburgh), whereas the other two bowls have Aballava (Burgh-by-Sands) as the second fort. The reason for this discrepancy is unclear, but the omission of Coggabata from the Rudge Cup and Amiens Skillet may be due to its small size and may have been considered an insignificant fort. The words 'Rigorevali Aeli' have been interpreted as 'On the line of Hadrian's Wall', as Aelius is the family name of Hadrian. 'Draconis' is thought to refer to either the manufacturer of the bowl or the person it was made for, a man named Draco.

These three paterae from the Wall have been described as military souvenirs and their combined inscriptions confirm the sequence of western forts; Aballava (Burgh-by-Sands), Uxelodunum (Stanwix), Camboglanna (Castlesteads) Banna (Birdoswald), and Aesica (Great Chesters).18

reductio ad absurdum
These souvenirs from the Wall have recently been identified as 'Grails' and said to be Arthurian artefacts; the Ilam Pan is called the “Dragon Cup of Camlann” because it is inscribed with the name Draco and the site of Camboglanna. It is suggested that Draco could have been a rank used by the commander (Dux) of the troops on the Wall near Camboglanna, thus we have “Arthur Draco....the Arthur Pendragon of legend”. The Rudge Cup is described as the “Cup of Avalon” because it names Camlann (Camboglanna) and Avalon (Aballava) on the inscription.19

The Hunters of Banna
When the evidence of the paterae is considered with the altarstone set up by the Hunters of Banna discovered at Birdoswald  in 1821 the case for Banna is conclusive:

DEO SANCTO SILVANO VE NATORES BANNIESS

The inscription has been translated as “To the holy god Silvanus the hunters of Banna (set this up)” (RIB1905).

RIB 1905 proves the fort at Birdoswald was indeed Banna

Further, the confusion between the Notitia and the Cosmography is resolved by Hassall's suggestion that the omission of the name 'Banna' from the list of forts “along the line of the wall” combined with the omission of the otherwise well-attested name of the unit at Camboglanna (cohors II Tungrorum) results from a lacuna by later copyists of the Notitia. A reconstructed text (shown in bold) would read as such:

Tribunus cohortis secundae Dalmatarum, Magnis
Tribunus cohortis primae Aeliae Dacorum, [Banna 
Tribunus cohortis secundae Tungrorum, C]Amboglanna 
Praefectus alae Petrianae, Petrianis 
Praefectus numeri Maurorum Aurelianorum, Aballaba 20

This affirms the names of the forts on the line of the Wall: Magnis [Carvoran]; Banna [Birdoswald]; Camboglanna [Castlesteads]; Petrianis [Stanwix]; Aballaba [Burgh-by-Sands].
With some certainty then we conclude that the Romano-British name Camboglanna was the Roman fort at Castlesteads situated above the river known as the Cam Beck, which may provide a better explanation for the name. Archaeologists and historians are now agreed that Birdoswald was actually the fort bearing the Romano-British name 'Banna' derived from the pre-Indo-European word for peak.21

On the line of Hadrian's Wall

However, despite the best efforts of authors of Arthurian pseudo-historical reconstructions favouring a northern setting for the final battle at Camlann, apart from a similarity of name, there is very little else at Camboglanna (Castlesteads) to suggest any sort of connection with King Arthur.

And yet for all the evidence that has been available for at least forty years, Arthurian works published as recently as this year continue to identify Camboglanna as the Roman fort at Birdoswald.22


Copyright © 2016 Edward Watson
http://clasmerdin.blogspot.co.uk/


Notes & References
1. Alfred Lord Tennyson, The Passing of Arthur, from Idylls of the King, 1859-1885
2. Thomas Jones, The Early Evolution of the Legend of Arthur, Nottingham Medieval Studies 8, 1964, pp. 3-21.
3. See Thomas Charles-Edwards, in ‘The Arthur of History’, in R. Bromwich, et al,  Arthur of the Welsh, UWP, 1991, pp.25-27, 28; Geoffrey Ashe, entry for ‘Camlann’, in N.J. Lacy (ed.) The Arthurian Encyclopedia, Garland, 1986, pp. 76-78.
4. N. J. Higham, King Arthur: Myth-Making and History, Routledge, 2005.
5. Eilert Ekwall, English River Names, Oxford University Press, 1927 (Reprint edition, 1968); OGS Crawford, Arthur's Battles, Antiquity 9, 1935.
6. Rachel Bromwich, Trioedd Ynys Prydein, University of Wales Press, 1961, p. 160;
7. Leslie Alcock, Arthur's Britain, Penguin, 1979, p.67. Geoffrey Ashe, op.cit.
8. John T Koch, Celtic Culture, ABC-CLIO, 2006.
9. Simon Keegan, The Lost Book of Arthur, Newhaven Publishing, 2016.
10. David Breeze, Hadrian's Wall, English Heritage Guidebooks, 2006.
11. David Breeze, The Civitas Stones and the Building of Hadrian’s Wall, Transactions C&WAAS CW3, xii, 2012, pp.69-80.
12. Ken Dark, Civitas to Kingdom: British Political Continuity 300-800, Leicester University Press, 1999, Appendix.
13. The First Aelian Cohort of Dacians was stationed at Bewcastle before Birdoswald, the forts connected by the Maiden Way. The fort at Bewcastle was named Fanum Cocidi; the “Shrine of Cocidius”.
14. Tony Wilmott, Birdoswald Roman Fort, EH, 2005, p.12-13.
15. Keegan, op.cit. pp.136-7.
16. M Hassall, Aspects of the Notitia Dignitatum, Oxford, 1976.
17. David Breeze, editor, The First Souvenirs: Enamelled Vessels from Hadrian's Wall, C&WM AAS, 2012.
18. Ibid.
19. Keegan, op.cit. pp.30-33.
20. M Hassall, Aspects of the Notitia Dignitatum, Oxford, 1976; quoted in  Rivet & Smith, Place-Names of Roman Britain, Batsford, 1979, and Breeze & Dobson, Hadrian's Wall, Penguin, 4th Edition, 2000, pp.294-295.
21. Rivet & Smith, Place-Names of Roman Britain, Batsford, 1979, pp.261–2, 293–4.
22. Keegan, op.cit. pp.136-7.

* * *

The Battle of Stamford Bridge

Today is the 950th Anniversary of the Battle of Stamford Bridge fought on 25th September 1066, a striking victory for the English over the Norwegians but it is all too often overshadowed by the Battle of Hastings.

The Claim of Thrones
As we approach the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings on 14th October it is easy to overlook the events of 1066 in the build up to the defeat of the English resulting in the Normans taking the throne. The Battle of Hastings was the final conflict in a short month which saw battles fought between the English and Norwegians in Yorkshire just three weeks earlier. King Harold's battle weary army had then to march south and face William's forces who had landed on the Sussex coast.

The plaque at Stamford Bridge commemorating the battle

The year started with the death of King Edward (The Confessor) on 5th January 1066. The last Anglo-Saxon king died without a clear heir to the English throne. Several claimants came forward leading to the disputed succession of Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex who was elected king by the Witenagemot, an assembly of the ruling class of Anglo Saxon England. According to the Anglo Saxon Chronicle after Harold was crowned by the Archbishop of York he reigned for forty weeks and a day.

Two claimants to the throne immediately came forward: William, Duke of Normandy, and Harald Hardrada of Norway. William claimed that King Edward had promised him the throne and that Harold of Wessex had agreed. Harald Hardrada's claim to the English throne was based on an agreement between his predecessor Magnus I of Norway and the earlier King of England Harthacanute that if either died without an heir, the other would inherit both England and Norway. Both William and Harald now prepared for invasion.

The Battle of Fulford Gate
Harald Hardrada's forces were swelled by the addition of Tostig Godwinson, King Harold's exiled brother and Earl of Northumbria. Earlier in the year Tostig had raided south east England, but retreated when faced with King Harold's navy. Tostig turned his attention to Norfolk and Lincolnshire but was  decisively defeated by Edwin, Earl of Merica, and Morcar, Earl of Northumbria. Tostig's men deserted him in his hour of defeat so he fled to Scotland where he spent the summer with King Malcolm III.

Later that summer a Norwegian invasion force totalling around 10,000 men led by Hardrada and Tostig sailed up the River Ouse and advanced on York. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle records that on eve of St. Matthew the apostle, i.e. the 20th September, they engaged with a northern English army of around 5,000 men led by the Earls Edwin and Morcar at the village of Fulford. York fell to the Norwegians but under terms that the Norsemen would not force their way in to the city. The Norwegians then offered peace to the Northumbrians in exchange for their support in Hardrada's bid for the throne before retiring to Stamford Bridge, 7 miles east of York.

At this time King Harold was in Southern England, anticipating an invasion from France by William, Duke of Normandy. On hearing of the fall of York, Harold took his houscarls and all the thegns he could muster to Yorkshire, covering a distance of 185 miles in just four days, taking the Norwegians completely by surprise.

It is estimated that around 1,500 fell on the battlefield but no mass grave has yet been discovered. However, between 1985 and 1986 York Archaeological Trust carried out excavations at St Andrew's Church, Fishergate, York. From 402 skeletons uncovered 29, all male and in double graves and bearing evidence of weapon trauma, are thought to be the result of a single violent event. It has been suggested that these may have been victims of the Battle of Fulford Gate.

The Battle of Stamford Bridge
The exact location of the Battle of Stamford Bridge is not known but the favoured site is an area just south-east of the Yorkshire town known as “Battle Flats” on east bank of the River Derwent. A common theory is that the Norwegian army was split in two with forces to the east and west of the Derwent.

Location of Stamford Bridge

However, the sudden and unexpected arrival of Harold's Anglo Saxon army on the 25th September seems to have caught the Norwegians by complete surprise with the English army attacking the west side of the Derwent. The Norsemen were slain or fled across the bridge before Harold's main force arrived at the battlefield. The Anglo Saxon records that a single Norse warrior held the bridge:

“But there was one of the Norwegians who withstood the English folk, so that they could not pass over the bridge, nor complete the victory.  An Englishman aimed at him with a javelin, but it availed nothing.  Then came another under the bridge, who pierced him terribly inwards under the coat of mail.  And Harold, king of the English, then came over the bridge, followed by his army; and there they made a great slaughter, both of the Norwegians and of the Flemings.”

By now the Norsemen on the east side of the Derwent formed a shieldwall but as the Saxon army poured across the bridge the formation started to break being completely outflanked. A counter attack led by Eystein Orre, whose troops had been guarding the Norse ships at Riccall (9 miles south of York), described as “Orre's Storm” briefly checked the English advance. The battle raged on for hours beyond the bridge. With Tostig slain and Hardrada killed by an arrow through his throat the Norwegian army disintegrated and was all but wiped out by King Harold's Anglo Saxon army.

Local tradition claims the bones of the fallen lay about for some time uncared for in the fields after the battle of Stamford Bridge. Eventually they were gathered up and buried, so the story goes, in a plot belonging to the priest of Bossall. Later, a chapel dedicated to St. Edmund was built on the site. In the spring of 1067 Harald Hardrada's body was taken from England by his son Olaf to be buried in St Mary's church at Nidaros (Trondheim) in Norway.

The battle of Stamford Bridge was a decisive victory for the English who had fought two major battles within five nights of each other. In the meantime just three days later on the eve of St. Michael's day, 29th September, Duke William landed his Norman army on the south coast of England at Pevensey.

The Death of Anglo Saxon England
With barely time to patch up their battle wounds and make good their weaponry King Harold now marched his army south to meet William's Norman forces on the 14th October, covering 270 miles in just three weeks immediately after the Battle of Stamford Bridge.

The scene from the Bayeux Tapestry
depicting the death of King Harold of England at the Battle of Hastings

The battle is said to have been fought at a place now called Battle just outside the East Sussex town of Hastings. Harold was clearly hopeful of repeating his success at Stamford Bridge but the Anglo Saxon army was defeated and the English crown passed to the Duke of Normandy. As every schoolboy knows, King Harold famously fell with an arrow in his eye. Battle Abbey was said to have been built “on the very spot” where William the Conqueror defeated King Harold.

There can be little doubt that the engagements at Fulford Gate and Stamford Bridge, fought within just five nights of each other, had a significant impact of the strength of Harold's forces at Hastings some three weeks later. This was a formiddable Anglo Saxon force that had soundly beaten the Vikings in two successive battles.

If Harold's forces had not been taken north by the conflicts with the Norwegians in Yorkshire, and he if had had time to be better prepared to face the Norman invasion army on the south coast the result would almost certainly have been quite different.

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Abbots Bromley Horn Dance

12 September 2016, Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire

The annual Horn Dance takes place today, Wakes Monday, one of few ancient customs to have survived into modern times. The antlers (or horns) are collected from the church in the morning, then the Horn Dancers, comprising six Deer-men, a Fool, Hobby Horse, Bowman and Maid Marian, perform their dance to music provided by a melodian player at locations throughout the village and its surrounding farms and pubs, taking in a walk of 10 miles or so. At the end of the day the horns are returned to the church.

No one seems to know when the Horn Dance ritual started, but it is recorded as being performed at the Barthelmy Fair in August 1226 and the currently used reindeer antlers have been carbon dated to the 11th century. But just how old is the Horn Dance?

The dancers, c. 1900 (Wikipedia commons)

So what's going on here: men dancing in horned headgear seems to be a throw-back from a very ancient cult and immediately suggestive of Shamamism.

Not only was the red deer a major food source and antlers used as picks in the construction of ancient monuments but there appears to have been a red deer cult stemming back to at least the Neolithic in Northern Eurasia. It always strikes me as very convenient that the ancient people who constructed these ancient megalithic monuments, such as Stonehenge, left antler picks in the bottom of the trench or under a stone, providing a dating source for the construction of the monument. Perhaps it was more than that, after all why discard your tools?

Stonehenge Offerings: The deposition of cremations (skulls), burials of adult and child remains, antlers,bone pins, pottery and mace-heads. Also shown is the NE-SW axis and the southern most moonrise (bottom right)
 - after Castleden, 1993.

At Stonehenge we find the Aubrey Hole nearest the centre of the north-east entrance, AH55, was honoured with a deposit of two antlers, perhaps stressing the axis of the monument. Another, AH21, close to the southern entrance was found to also contain antlers.

Furthermore, between the sarsen circle and the ditch at Stonehenge are two irregular, concentric rings (or a spiral) of pits known as the Y and Z Holes. Discovered by William Hawley in 1923 these enigmatic pits are the last known structural activity at Stonehenge, dated to around 1,600 BC.

A jumbled stack of five broken stag antlers; two picks and three entire antlers were found in the bottom of Y Hole 30; significantly, again adjacent the monument axis. Radiocarbon dating has revealed the antlers are much older than other artefacts deposited in the same series of pits suggesting they had been curated elsewhere prior to deposition.

Clearly this is structured deposition; evidence of an ancient deer cult or just discarded prehistoric tools?


Much of the above I posted as a comment on Kris Hughes blog Go Deeper

Abbots Bromley Horn Dance

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