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CABAL

The hound of Arthur. According to Nennius, when Arthur was pursuing the boar Troynt, Cabal's footprint was left on a stone in Wales, which moved from its resting place at night, always returning in the morning, and that Arthur erected a cairn over it. Another story makes Cabal take part in the hunt for the boar Ysgithyrwyn. # 156 - 454

CABYLL-USHTEY

The Manx Water-Horse, pale-greyish in colour, as dangerous and greedy as the Highland Each-Uisge, pulling men and animals to their deaths. See: KELPIE. # 100

CADBURY

See: CAMELOT.

CADO

In the LIFE OF ST. CARANNOG (a medieval saint's life), he ruled with Arthur in the West Country. He may be identical with Cadwy, son of Gereint. # 156

CADOC, SAINT

This Welsh saint was supposed to be the son of King Gwynnlym of Glamorgan and Gwladys of Brecon. In the LIFE OF SAINT CADOC of the saint, Arthur demanded that Cadoc hand over to him a man named Ligessac who had killed some of his followers and who had been in santuary with Cadoc for ten years. When the matter was adjudicated upon, Arthur was offered a hundred kine (cattle) as compensation. He demanded that they be red before and white behind. With God's aid, they were produced, but they turned to bundles of fern when Arthur's men seized them. # 156

CADOG

One of the Twenty-four Knights of Arthur's Court. # 104 - 156

CADOR

The ruler of Cornwall, variously described as king or duke. He was a supporter of Arthur and helped him against the Saxons, defeating Baldulf and Cheldric. A Cador, son of the King of Cornwall, friend of Caradoc Briefbras and brother of Guignier, may be the same character. In origin, Cador may be Cadwy, son of Gereint (# 243). Cador is also the name of a King of Northumberland who became Kay's father-in-law. # 156 - 243

CADWALLON

(Catwallaun) According to Geoffrey (# 243), the King of the Vendoti who lived in North Wales. # 156 - 243

CADWR

(cadoor)

CADWY

The son of Gereint and, according to the DREAM OF RHONABWY (part of the Mabinogion), a contemporary of Arthur. See: CADO, and CADOR. # 156

CAEDMON, SAINT

(d.680) He was a herdsman at Whitby, unlettered and simple. He suddenly discovered that he could compose poetry and songs, and wrote a series of these about the Creation, the early history of the Israelites and the last things. He came to the attention of Saint Hilda of Whitby, who encouraged him. He became a monk and was venerated on 11 February. Only nine lines of his poetry survive in Bede. # 454

CAELIA

The fairy queen, lover of Arthur's son, Tom a'Lincoln, to whom she bore a son, the Faerie Knight. She eventually drowned herself. # 156 - 668

CAER

Daughter of Ethal Anubal, wooed by Angus Og; She lived a dual life; accepts the love of Angus Og. Caer means also: Wall, Castle, City. See: CAER IBORMEITH. # 562

CAER GAI

A place in Merioneth where, according to bardic tradition, Arthur was raised. # 156

CAER IBORMEITH

Daughter of Ethal Anubal, beloved of Angus. She was called 'a powerful, many-shaped girl', because of her ability to change her shape. She spent one year in human form and alternate years in the form of a swan. # 416 - 454 - 548

CAERLEON, GWENT

# 562: Arthur's court held at Caerleon at Usk. # 156: A city on the River Usk, one of Arthur's realm, according to Geoffrey who calls it the City of the Legion. Geoffrey claims it was founded by King Belinus, perhaps the Beli of the genealogies. Geoffrey says that Dubricius was its archbishop. # 702: This town, which was the Isca Silurum of the Romans, is claimed by many as the original site of King Arthur's Round Table, the legendary 'Camelot', which has been confused with Camelford, and may even have been the prehistoric earthworks known as Cadbury Castle. However, the first literary mention of Arthur's Round Table is in Wace's French rhymed verse 'Le Roman de Brut', written several centuries after the semi-mythological Arthur lived. Brut was a mythical King of the Bri-tons, whose ancestry traces back to the famous Aeneas. He accidental-ly killed his father, and took refuge first in Greece then in Bri-tain. It was in recognition of the power of ancient Troy that he cal-led the capital he established in Britain 'Troynovant' (New Troy). This was the mythological name for pre-Roman London. See: TROY. # 156 - 562 - 702

CAERNARVON, GWYNEDD

In Caernarvon Castle is the Eagle Tower, which is supposed by many to be the place where the first Prince of Wales, Edward II, was born in 1284. This is quite wrong, as documnets exist which show that the tower was built many years afterwards on the instruction of this same Edward, long after he had become king. Popular legend has Edward I standing with the new-born child on a balcony, proclaiming to the Welsh that this would be their future native king. It is said (perhaps jokingly) that Edward I presented the child as one who could not speak English - implying of course that the king of Wales should speak Welsh, a notion with which the Welshmen of that time would heartily agree. However, the story is a fabrication, for the castle itself was not completed until well over thirty years later. # 702

CAESAR, JULIUS

Roman statesman, born 100 BC, made ruler of Rome 49 BC and assassinated 44 BC. In the VULGATE VERSION he is given the title of emperor (which he never actually held) and is made the contemporary of Arthur. Merlin visited his court in the form of a stag. Caesar had had a dream and Merlin told him that the Wild Man of the Woods could divulge its meaning. The latter was captured by Merlin and Grisandole and told Caesar that the dream was about his wife's adultery. The romance of HUON DE BORDEAUX makes Caesar the father by Morgan Le Fay of Oberon. # 156 - 604

CAILLAGH NY GROAMAGH, OR 'THE OLD WOMAN OF GLOOMINESS'

The Manx version of the Highland Cailleach Bheur and the Irish Cailleach Bera. The Manx Cailleagh, as Gill tells us in A MANX SCRAPBOOK, seems to be particularly unlucky, for she fell into the crevise called after her in trying to step from the top of Barrule to the top of Cronk yn Irree Lhaa. The mark of her heel is still to be seen. The Manx Cailleagh, like all the rest, is a weather spirit. In Scotland winter and bad weather belong to her, but in Man she seems to operate all through the year. If St Bride's Day (1 February) is fine, she comes out to gather sticks to warm her through the summer; if it is wet, she stays in, and has to make the rest of the year fine in her own interests. A fine St Bride's Day is therefore a bad omen for the rest of the year. She is said to have been seen on St Bride's Day in the form of a gigantic bird, carrying sticks in her beak. Cronk yn Irree Lhaa is supposed to be the usual home of the 'OLD WOMAN OF GLOOMINESS'. # 100 - 249

CAILLEACH BEARE, OR BERA

(kill-ogh vayra) The ancient mountain mother of the south-west of Ireland. South-west Munster was believed to be the abode of the dead and here the Cailleach had lived for countless ages so that her successive husbands died of old age while she enjoyed endless youth. She is almost identical with the Cailleach Bheur of the Highlands except that she is not so closely connected with winter nor with the wild beasts. She is a great mountain builder, and, like many other gigantic Hags, she carried loads of stone in her apron and dropped them when the string broke. Eleanor Hull gives interesting information about both the Irish and the Highland Cailleachs in FOLKLORE OF THE BRITISH ISLES. Mackenzie in SCOTTISH FOLK LORE AND FOLK LIFE decides that the Highland tradition of the Cailleach is older and more deeply rooted than the Irish. See also: CAILLEACH BHEUR. # 100 - 328 - 415 - 454 - 548

CAILLEACH BHEUR

(cal'yach vare) The blue-faced lean hag of the Highlands who personifies the season of winter, seems one of the clearest cases of the supernatural creature who was once a primitive goddess, possibly among the ancient Britons before the Celts. There are traces of a very wide cult: Black Annis of the Dane Hills in Leicestershire with her blue face, Gentle Annie of Cromarty Firth, the loathy hag in Chaucer's WIFE OF BATH'S TALE, Milton's 'blew meager hag', the GyreCarline in the Lowlands of Scotland, Cally Berry in Ulster, the Caillagh Ny Groamagh in the Isle of Man, and many other scattered references. We learn most about her, however, in the Highlands of Scotland. The variety of aspects in which she is presented is indicative of an ancient origin and a widespread cult. There are many mentions of her and folk-tales about her in the works of J. F. Campbell and J. G. Campbell, Mrs. W. J. Watson, and her father Alexander Carmichael, Mrs. K. W. Grant and J. G. Mackay, but the most comprehensive survey of the subject is to be found in Donald Mackenzie's SCOTTISH FOLK LORE AND FOLK LIFE, in which he devotes a chapter, 'A Scottish Artemis', to an examination of the activities of the Cailleach Bheur and the various facets of her character, in which he finds a striking resemblance to the primitive form of the Greek goddess Artemis. At first sight she seems the personification of winter. She is called 'the daughter of Grianan', the winter sun. There were two suns in the old Celtic calendar, 'the big sun' which shines from Beltane (May Day) to Hallowe'en, and 'the little sun' which shines from All Hallows to Beltane Eve. The Cailleach was reborn each All Hallows and went about smiting the earth to blight growth and calling down the snow. On May Eve she threw her staff under a holly tree or a gorse bush - both were her plants - and turned into a grey stone.

One can guess that many lonely standing stones were once sacred to her. This is the first aspect of the Cailleach Bheur, but there are others. According to some traditions, she did not turn to stone at the end of winter, but changed into a beautiful maid. J. F. Campbell in his POPULAR TALES OF THE WEST HIGHLANDS, VOL. III, tells a tale of a loathsome hag who appeared at the house where the Feens lay and begged for a place to warm herself at the fire. Fionn and Oisin refused her, but Diarmaid pleaded that she might be allowed to warm herself at the fire, and when she crept into his bed did not repulse her, only put a fold of the blanket between them. After a while he gave 'a start of surprise', for she had changed into the most beautiful woman that men ever saw. There is a striking similarity between this tale and 'The Marriage of Sir Gawain', or 'The Wife of Bath's Tale'. If this were taken as part of the primitive legend it would seem that the Cailleach Bheur represented a goddess of both winter and summer, but that must be a matter of speculation. In another version of the legend, she kept a beautiful maiden prisoner, with whom her son fell in love. The two escaped, and the Cailleach launched bitter winds against them to keep them apart. This is a version of the NICHT NOUGHT NOTHING story with the sexes inverted. Presumably the escaping maiden was the summer. However that may be, it is undoubted that the Cailleach is the guardian spirit of a number of animals. The deer have the first claim on her. They are her cattle; she herds and milk them and often gives them protection against the hunter. Swine, wild goats, wild cattle and wolves were also her creatures.

In another aspect she was a fishing goddess. The Cailleach Bheur was also the guardian of wells and streams, though sometimes a negligent one, as a tale told by Mrs. Grant in MYTH, TRADITION AND STORY FROM WESTERN ARGYLL will show. There are many of wells that were allowed to overflow from the negligence of a human guardian, but it is here more appropriately attached to a supernatural creature. The Cailleach was in charge of a well on the summit of Ben Cruachan. Every evening she had to staunch its flow with a slab at sunset and release it at sunrise. But one evening, being aweary after driving her goats across Connel, she fell asleep by the side of the well. The fountain overflowed, its waters rushed down the mountain side, the roar of the flood as it broke open an outlet through the Pass of Brander awoke the Cailleach, but her efforts to stem the torrent were fruitless; it flowed into the plain, where man and beast were drowned in the flood. Thus was formed Loch Awe... The Cailleach was filled with such horror over the result of her neglect of duty that she turned into stone. This is one among many legends of the Cailleach Bheur. Indeed, a whole book rather than a chapter might be written about the Cailleach Bheur and the crowd of variants that surround her. # 100 - 130 - 131 - 132 - 136 - 415

CAILLECH

(kai-leech) The Celtic name of Caillech (or Hag) meant a Veiled One. See also: VEIL, and CAILLEACH. # 701

CAILTE MAC RONAIN

(cwel'che moc rôn'in) One of Finn's companions; tells the story of Finn's exploits to St Patrick. # 166

CAINTE, SONS OF

(cân'che) Cian, Cu, Cethen. Cian was the father of Lugh Long-Arm. # 166

CAIRBRY

Son of Cormac mac Art, father of Light of Beauty; refuses tribute to Fianna. Clan Bascna makes war upon Cair'bry. # 562

CAIRD

A smith or artificer. # 166

CAIRENN

(ca'ren) The concubine of Eochu, mother of Niall of the Nine Hostages. She was made to serve at the well by Mongfind, Eochu's first wife, and there gave birth to Niall whom she feared to nurture because of Mongfind's jealousy. However, the poet Torna fostered Niall and presented the boy to his father. Cairenn was then released from menial work and clothed in the royal purple. Niall's recognition of his mother, before all other considerations, rightly enabled him to encounter Sovereignty with a kiss instead of abhorrence. Cairenn is herself an earthly representative of Sovereignty. # 166 - 188 - 454

CAIRPRE CUANACH

(câr'bre coo'ân ah) A warrior drowned during the battle between the Ulstermen and the forces of Cu Roi mac Daire. # 166

CAIRPRE LIFFECHAIR

(câr'bre lif'ê hâr) He exterminated the Fianna at the Battle of Gabhra where he killed Oscar, Fionn's grandson. He was the son of Cormac mac Art, King of Ireland; became king AD 277. He himself was also killed at the Battle of Gabhra. # 166 - 188 - 454 - 467

CAIRPRE MAC ETAIN

(câr'bre moc a'din) A poet of Tuatha De Danann, noted as a satirist. # 166

CAIRPRE NIAFER

(câr'bre ne'â fàr) Son of Ross Ruad; king of Tara; enemy of CuChulain, probably because of rivalry over Fedelm Noichride, daughter of Conchobar.# 166

CAIT SITH

(cait shee) The Highland fairy cat. J. G. Campbell describes it as being as large as a dog, black with a white spot on its breast, with an arched back and erect bristles. This, probably, would be when it was angry. He says that many Highlanders believed that these cats were transformed witches, not fairies. An even larger and more ferocious cat, the demonic god of the cats, appeared in answer to the wicked and ferocious ceremony of the Taghairm, which consisted in roasting successive cats alive on spits for four days and nights until Big Ears appeared and granted the wishes of the torturers. The last ceremony of Taghairm was said to have been performed in Mull and was described in detail in the London Literary Gazette (March 1824). The account is quoted by D. A. Mackenzie in SCOTTISH FOLK LORE AND FOLK LIFE. But Big Ears was a monstrous demon cat who had only a slight connection with the Cait Sith. # 100 - 131 - 415

CALADVWLCH

See: EXCALIBUR.

CALATIN

CuChulain killed Calatin and his sons at the ford, but Calatin's wife had three daughters, each with one eye, who avenged their family. They were skilled in enchantment and caused CuChulain to see and hear a phantom host fighting against his countrymen which spurred him on to his death at the hands of Lugaid, whom they helped. # 266 - 454

CALIBURN

(Welsh CALADVWLCH) Magic sword of King Arthur. # 562

CALLY BERRY

The Ulster version of the Highland Cailleach Bheur. The Cally Berry is not, as in the Highlands, a nature spirit, the personification of winter and the guardian of the wild deer, but a malignant supernatural Hag. See also: CAILLEACH BHEUR. # 100

CAM

A river in Somerset, near Cadbury Castle. In a nearby field, Westwoods, a large number of skeletons bear grim testimony to a battle and it has been suggested that this was the site of Camlann. See also: ELY, and TROY. # 156

CAMAL

A suitor of Hermondine, killed by Meliador. # 156

CAMBER

Second son of Brutus, after whom Wales or Cambria is named. # 243 - 454

CAMBRENSIS, GIRALDUS

The true Celts were certainly fair. Giraldus Cambrensis described even the Irish Celts of the twelfth century as a fair race. See Appendix 1, BIOGRAPHY: GERALD OF WALES. # 562

CAMBRIDGE

The site of one of England's major universities, which, according to Prior Nicholas Cantelupe (died 1441), received its charter from Arthur (# 476). An even less likely tradition, current in Elizabethan times, was that the university had been founded by the Spanish Prince Cantaber in Anno Mundi 3588.*
*Since the creation of the world. # 156 - 476

CAMEL

A river, the possible site of Camlann battle. # 156

CAMELIARD

The kingdom of Leodegrance, who was Guinevere's father. It has been suggested that it was in Scotland or else in south-west England. One of its important cities was Carolhaise. # 156 - 418

CAMELOT

Arthur's capital. According to the romances, it was named after a pagan king called Camaalis. At the time when Joseph of Arimathea arrived in Britain, it was the chief city of the country. In Joseph's time, King Agrestes ruled it. He seemed to embrace Christianity but, after Joseph's departure, persecuted the Christians until God drove him mad. The city is first mentioned by Chrétien in his LANCELOT. Malory tells us the chief church was St. Stephen's. Attempts have been made to identify Camelot. In Roman times Colchester was called Camulodunum, which has a not-too-dissimilar sound. In modern times, some have thought it was Cadbury Castle (Somerset) where, as we know from archaeology, there was a leader's fortified dwelling during the Arthurian period. A tradition that Camelot was Cadbury Castle also existed in the sixteenth century. See: WINCHESTER. # 156

CAMILLE

Enamoured of Arthur, this sorceress of Saxon ancestry captured him. Lancelot rescued him and Camille killed herself. # 156

CAMLANN

The site of Arthur's final battle. Malory has only Arthur, Bedivere and, for a very brief period, Lucan survive this battle. Arthur was sorely, perhaps mortally, wounded. In CULHWCH, a number of other survivors are mentioned - Sandav, because he was so beautiful that all mistook him for an angel, and Morvran, because he was so ugly that all supposed him a devil. We are also told in CULHWCH that the battle was planned by nine people, one of whom was Gwynn Hyvar, the steward of Cornwall and Devon. Others thought to have survived the battle were Saint Derfel and Saint Petroc. Welsh tradition spoke of seven survivors. The date of the battle has caused some debate. The ANNALES CAMBRIAE state it was twenty-one years after Badon, perhaps intending AD 515, 520 0r 539. Geoffrey claims it was in 542. The Irish ANNALS OF TIGERNACH place it in 541 and the Spanish ANALES TOLEDANOS much later, in 580. As to the site, Malory favours Salisbury Plain. Slaughter Bridge on the River Camel (Cornwall) is a traditional site, while Blackett and Wilson identify it with Camlan (Wales). The DIDOT PERCEVAL places it in Ireland. See also: ODBRICT and TREGALEN. # 72 - 156

CAMPBELL OF ISLAY, JOHN FRANCIS

(1822-85) J. F. Campbell was the author of perhaps the most famous collection of Scottish Folktales, POPULAR TALES OF THE WEST HIGHLANDS, ORALLY COLLECTED. He was a cousin of the Duke of Argyll, a grandson of the Earl of Wemyss, was educated at Eton and Edinburgh University, and became a barrister. He had much practical work to do in the world; as Secretary to the Lighthouse Commision and Coal Commision he had detailed and voluminous reports to prepare, but as a child he had been brought up in Islay with a Gaelic-speaking nurse and had made many close friends among the island people. In a time when Gaelic was despised and suppressed by the village dominies, and often by the ministers as well, Campbell of Islay upheld it, and searched out the surviving storytellers and the traditions of history, legend and belief that were still lingering in the Highlands and Islands. His method of collection was an examplar to all later collectors, for he trained a team of Gaelic speakers and threw a great network over the whole area. Sometimes he travelled with his collectors and trained them assiduously to accurate and lively oral transmission. He published only the four volumes of his POPULAR TALES, but left behind him a vast manuscript collection, much of which has been translated and printed bilingually, according to the standard which he established. A full and lively account of his life and the impact he made on his contemporaries can be found in R. M. Dorson's classic work, THE BRITISH FOLKLORISTS. # 100 - 191

CAMPBELL OF TIREE, JOHN GREGORSON

(1836-91) Among the nineteenth century collectors of Highland tales and traditions, two of the name of Campbell are of outstanding importance: J. F. Campbell and J. G. Campbell. They were members of a band of collectors, among them J. Mc Dougall and D. McInnes, encouraged and directed by Lord Archibald Campbell. They pursued the same method of oral collection of Gaelic sources with translations into English. Campbell of Islay's POPULAR TALES OF THE WEST HIGHLANDS is well known, but Campbell of Tiree's contribution to folk knowledge is nearly as important. John Gregorson Campbell was born in Kingairloch, Argyllshire, the son of a sea-captain. His first schooling was in Appin, from which he went to high school at Glasgow, and later to the university, where he already began to collect oral traditions and cultivate the aquaintance of good storytellers. He was called to the ministry, and in 1860 the Duke of Argyll appointed him to the ministry of Tiree and Coll, where he worked for the rest of his life in a very happy relationship with his parishioners. In the course of his work he provided material for two volumes of the series WAIFS AND STRAYS OF CELTIC TRADITION, wrote SUPERSTITIONS OF THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND, and contributed stories to various Celtic journals. He corresponded with his fellow collectors, and particularly with John Campbell of Islay. It was a time of keen intellectual activity in the Highlands, not rivalled until the School of Scottish Studies began its researches. # 100

CAMULOS

Belgic war-god, eponymous deity of Camulodunum (Colchester). Coins bearing his name have the symbol of the boar upon them. # 454

CANAN

The father of Lac and grandfather of Erec. # 156

CANDACES

The son of King Apollo of Liones; in his day Liones and Cornwall were united. # 156

CANOR

A King of Cornwall who was aided by the Irish king Gonosor. # 156

CANTERBURY

This city was called Durovernum by the ancient Romans. The archiepiscopal see was founded in AD 597. In Arthurian romance the Archbishop of Canterbury was one of Arthur's advisers; he survived his final battle but was subsequently murdered by Mark of Cornwall. The inclusion of an archbishop of Canterbury in Arthurian saga is probably an anacronism, rather than an assertion that there was a bishopric of Canterbury in pre-Saxon times. According to the Scandinavian BRETA SOGUR, Arthur was buried at Canterbury. # 156

CAOILTE MAC RONAN

(kwel che moc ronan) One of the Fianna, and their best runner. He released Fionn from imprisonment by gathering two of every wild beast for his ransom. # 454

CAOINEAG

(konyack) 'Weeper'. One of the names given to the Highland Banshee (Caointeach is another). She belonged to the class of Fuaths. Unlike the Bean-Nighe, she is not seen and cannot be approached to grant wishes. She is heard wailing in the darkness at a waterfall before any catastrophe overtakes a clan. Carmichael in CARMINA GADELICA, says that before the Massacre of Glencoe the Caoineag of the Macdonalds was heard to wail night after night. # 100 - 136

CAOINTEACH

(kondyuch) A localized form of the Caoineag, the Highland Banshee, which belongs to Argyllshire, Skye and some of the neighbouring islands, and was attached to the Macmillans, Mathisons, Kellys, Mackays, Macfarlanes, Shaws and Curries. The name means 'wailer', and she has a peculiarly loud and lamentable cry, rising at times to a kind of scream. Sometimes she beats clothes on a stone like the BeanNighe. She has been described as a child or a very little woman in a short green gown and petticoat with a high-crowned white cap. It is not certain whether she is like a banshee in having no nose and one monstrous tooth, but her habits seem to be the same. L. Spence gives an account of her, and there is a story about her in MacDougall and Calder's work. In this tale she wore a green shawl for mourning and served the Mackays. One wet cold night she was keening softly outside the door, and a member of the family put out a plaid for her. She was thus laid like a Brownie, and has never come back to the Mackays. # 100 - 414 - 609

CAPELTHWAITE

The name given to a Westmoreland local Bogie of the Black Dog type. He could apparently assume any form at will, but preferred that of the calf-sized black dog. There used to be a barn near Milnthorpe called Capelthwaite Barn which was the home of one of these creatures. He was well disposed towards the farm people, and used to round up their sheep and cattle for them. # 100

CAPTIVES IN FAIRYLAND

From ancient times there have been traditions of mortals carried away into Fairyland (Otherworld), or detained there if they ventured into a fairy hill and were inveigled into tasting fairy food or drink, and so partaking of the fairy nature. An early example is the story of Malekin given in the Medieval Cronicle of Ralph of Coggeshall. Here we have an example of the most common form of captive, a mortal changeling, stolen from his mother's side while she was working in the fields, and apparently believing that he had a chance of regaining his freedom every seven years. These little captives, fed from infancy on fairy food and cosseted by fairy mothers, would presumably be accepted in the end as full fairies. There was, however, a more sinister reason given for their capture; it was said both in Scotland and Ireland that, once in a seven years, the fairies had to pay a tribute to Hell, and that they preferred to sacrifice mortals rather than their own kind. It will be remembered that in the ballad of Thomas the Rhymer, the Queen of Elfland had some fears that Thomas might be chosen for the Teind.

According to Lady Wilde, young men are often lured away if they are gifted with powers of song and music, as Thomas the Rhymer was, or especially handsome ones are desired as lovers by fairy princesses. Women, however, are in much more danger of capture by the fairies than men. Nursing mothers are in great demand to suckle fairy babies (for the quality of fairy milk seems to be poor), and the time between child-birth and churching is one of great danger. There are many stories of precautions successfully taken, or of the attempted rescue of wives from the power of the fairies. Sometimes the fairies were intercepted as they were carrying off their victim and never got into Fairyland with her. 'The Laird of Balmachie's wife' is an example of this and an exposure of the fairy method of capture. Sometimes the victim was successfully rescued, as in Scott's story of MARY NELSON.

But there were tragic stories of failure in the attempt. One among many is the tale of THE LOTHIAN FARMER'S WIFE which Douglas tells in SCOTTISH FAIRY AND FOLK TALES, when the husband made an attempt to rescue his wife from the Fairy Rade (an attempt which had succeeded with Young Tamlane): The wife of a farmer in Lothian had been carried off by the fairies, and, during the year of probation, repeatedly appeared on Sunday, in the midst of her children, combing their hair. On one of these occasions she was accosted by her husband; when she related to him the unfortunate event which had separated them, instructed him by what means he might win her, and exhorted him to exert all his courage, since her temporal and eternal happiness depended on the success of his attempt. The farmer, who ardently loved his wife, set out on Hallowe'en, and, in the midst of a plot of furze, waited impatiently for the procession of the fairies. At the ringing of the fairy bridles, and the wild, unearthly sound which accompanied the cavalcade, his heart failed him, and he suffered the ghostly train to pass by without interruption. When the last rode past, the whole troop vanished, with loud shouts of laughter and exultation; among which he plainly discovered the voice of his wife, lamenting that he had lost her for ever.

The capture of beautiful young women to be brides to fairy kings or princes was almost as common as that of nursing mothers, and these seem often to have been the patients for whom fairy midwives were called out. A very clear example of this is J. Rhys' story of Eilian of Garth Dorwen. Here the fairy's bride went willingly and had always had something uncanny about her. Her Golden Hair made her particularly attractive to the fairies. There was no need to rescue her. This is the most complete Midwife to the Fairies Story that we possess. Lady Wilde's ETHNA THE BRIDE is a representative of a Fairy Theft of a young bride and of her rescue out of Fairyland. The classic Irish story of Midhir and Etain is the epic version of the tale, and the medieval King Orfeo, in which Hades becomes Fairyland, follows something on the same lines. The Cornish FAIRY DWELLING ON SELENA MOOR tells of the failure to rescue a human captive, but here the girl seems kept as a nursemaid rather than a bride. Again the eating of fairy food was her undoing. One aspect of the fairy captives is of especial interest and that is the friendly warning they often give to humans who have inadvertently strayed into Fairyland. In THE TACKSMAN OF AUCHRIACHAN it is a neighbour supposed to have been recently dead who warns him of his danger, hides him and helps him to escape. Often the midwife is advised by her patient what to do for her safety.

As a rule this patient is a captive bride, and one can presume that it is so in Lady Wilde's story of THE DOCTOR AND THE FAIRY PRINCESS. In the Irish tales there are many examples of a 'red-haired man' who intervenes to rescue people enticed into Fairyland, and who is supposed to be a mortal captive there. One example is perhaps enough, drawn from Lady Wilde's ANCIENT LEGENDS OF IRELAND, VOL. I. It is about a girl who was enticed into a fairy dance, and, after dancing with the prince, she was led down to a gorgeous banquet: She took the golden cup the prince handed to her, and raised it to her lips to drink. Just then a man passed close to her, and whispered, 'Eat no food, and drink no wine, or you will never reach your home again.' So she laid down the cup, and refused to drink. On this they were angry, and a great noise arose, and a fierce, dark man stood up, and said - 'Whoever comes to us must drink with us.' And he seized her arm, and held the wine to her lips, so that she almost died of fright. But at that moment a red-haired man came up, and he took her by the hand and led her out. 'You are safe for this time,' he said. 'Take this herb, and hold it in your hand till you reach home, and no one can harm you.' And he gave her a branch of the plant called Athair-Luis (the ground ivy). This she took, and fled away along the sward in the dark night: but all the time she heard footsteps behind her in pursuit. At last she reached home and barred the door, and went to bed, when a great clamour arose outside, and voices were heard crying to her 'The power we have over you is gone through the magic of the herb; but wait - when you dance again to the music on the hill, you will stay with us for evermore, and none shall hinder.' However, she kept the magic branch safely, and the fairies never troubled her more; but it was long and long before the sound of the fairy music left her ears which she had danced to that November night on the hillside with her fairy lover.

Thomas the Rhymer is the one mortal-born inhabitant of Fairyland who appears again and again as the leader and counsellor of the fairies, and seems to have no backward looks towards Middle Earth and no remorse for human mortals. Thomas of Ercildoune actually lived in Scotland in the late Middle Ages, and the very tree where he met the Fairy Queen is still pointed out.

Robert Kirk, the seventeenthcentury author of THE SECRET COMMONWEALTH, was another who was believed to have been carried into a fairy hill, the Fairy Knowe at Aberfoyle. He was an unwilling prisoner and was thought to be held because of his betrayal of fairy secrets. It will be seen that various motives were ascribed for captures of mortals: the acquisition of bond-slaves, amorousness, the enrichment brought by musical talent, human milk for fairy babies, but perhaps the chief motive was to inject the dwindling stock with fresh blood and human vigour. # 100 - 130 - 192 - 201 - 370 - 554 - 728

CAPTURED FAIRIES

The marriage of a human man with a fairy wife seems generally to have been a marriage by capture, except for the Gwrachs of Wales, who generally yielded to wooing. Like the captured brides, however, they imposed a taboo, which was in the end always violated. Wild Edric is an early example of a captured fairy bride, complete with the taboo and the wife's final return to Fairyland. Many other wives are Selkies or Seal Maidens, captured by the theft of their seal skins. When, after years of married life, they regain their skins, they hurry down to the sea at once. Ralph of Coggeshall's early tale of the Green Children is an unusual one of fairies captured, for of the pair, the boy pined and died and the girl never went back to her subterranean land, but married and lived on like a mortal, keeping still some of the fairy wantonness. There are scattered tales all over the country of the capture of the small helpless fairies, most of whom escape in the long run. The most famous of these are the Leprachauns. The man who is bold enough to seize one hopes to threaten him into surrendering his pot of gold, for the Leprachaun is a hoarder, but there has been no recorded case of success. The rule first laid down by Kirk that a fairy can only be seen between two blinks of an eye holds good with him. However fast your grip, you must keep your eye on him through rough and smooth, or he will slip between your fingers like water. Perhaps the same rule held good for the pixy at the Ovkerry, of whom William Crossing wrote in his TALES OF DARTMOOR PIXIES. An old woman who lived on the Moors was going home with an empty basket from the market after selling her goods. When she got near the bridge which spans Blackabrook at the Ockerry a small figure leapt on to the road and began capering in front of her. He was about eighteen inches high, and she recognized him as a pixy. She paused for a moment, wondering if she should turn back for fear of being Pixy-Led; but she remembered that her family would be waiting for her, and pressed steadily on. When she got to the bridge the pixy turned and hopped towards her, and she suddenly stooped down, picked him up, popped him into her empty basket and latched down the lid, for she thought to herself that instead of the pixy leading her she would lead the pixy. The little fellow was too tall to leap about in the basket, but he began to talk and scold in an unknown gibberish, while she hurried proudly home, longing to show her catch to the family. After a time the stream of gabbling stopped, and she thought he might be sullen or asleep. She thought she would take a peep at him, and lifted a corner of the lid very cautiously, but there was no sight or feel of him, he was gone like a piece of dried foam. No harm seems to have come to her, and, in spite of losing him, she felt proud of her exploit.

I. Skillywidden and Coleman Gray tell of little fairies who were carried into human houses but got back to their own family in the end. In the sadder tale of BROTHER MIKE the little captive never escaped, but pined and died. Ruth Tongue has a story of a rather rare waterspirit, an ASRAI, who pined and melted away under the heat of the sun like a stranded jelly-fish when a fisherman caught it and tried to bring it home to sell. Most of these fairies, great or small, seem powerless to avenge the wrong offered to them, though other fairies avenge much more trifling injuries with Blights and Illnesses, or even death. # 86 - 100 - 167 - 540

CARADAWC

Son of Bran; rules Britain in his father's absence. # 562

CARADOC

King of Vannes and Nantes, who married the unfaithful Ysaive, niece of Arthur. See: CARADOC BRIEFBRAS. # 156

CARADOC BRIEFBRAS

His epithet 'briefbras' (short arm) is a pseudo-translation into French of Welsh 'freichfras' (strong-armed). In the romances, he was the son of Eliavres the wizard and Ysaive, wife of King Caradoc of Vannes and Nantes. When Caradoc Briefbras confronted Eliavres about his parentage, Eliavres and Ysaive caused a serpent to twine around his arm and it took the combined efforts of his wife, Guignier, and her brother, Cador, to rid him of it. When King Mangoun of Moraine sent him a horn to expose any infidelity on the part of the wife of him who drank from it, Caradoc's draught showed his wife to be faithful. In Welsh tradition Caradoc's wife was Tegau Eurfon, his father Llyr Marini, his son Meuric and his steed Lluagor. He was the legendary ancestor of the ruling house of Morgannwg and may have founded the kingdom of Gwent in the fifth century. # 156 - 604

CARADOS

Also called the King of Carados, he was one of those kings who rebelled against Arthur at the outset of his reign. B. Saklatvala (# 574) identifies him with the Saxon leader Cerdic. # 156 - 574

CARADOS OF THE DOLOROUS TOWER

He had an enchantress for a mother. He captured Gawain and lodged him in a dungeon. Lancelot slew him, striking off his head with the only sword which could kill him, and Gawain and other prisoners were thus freed. Carados was the brother of Sir Turquine. # 156 - 418

CARANNOG, SAINT

(Sixth century) He was possibly of Welsh origin. Arthur had taken possession of his floating altar, which had gone astray, but he returned it when Carannog drove off a serpent at the king's behest. # 26 - 156

CARATACUS

A historical personage, King of the Catuvellani, a tribe of Britons who lived in the vicinity of modern-day St Albans, at the time of the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43. He led a hard-fought anti-Roman campaign, but was eventually handed over to his foes by Cartimandua, Queen of the Brigantes. He was then pardoned by the Emperor Claudius. E. Ratcliffe (# 542) argues that the stories of Caratacus became misplaced in folklore and that he was the original of Arthur. A somewhat similar argument is advanced by J. Whitehead. Both Ratcliffe and I. H. Elder regard Caratacus as identical with Arviragus, while E. R. Capt avers that he was Arviragus' cousin. # 156 - 542 - 726

CARBONEK

This castle contained the Palace Adventurous, wherein was the Grail. # 156

CARDUINO

A knight who was brought up secretly after his father, Dondinello, had been poisoned. He went to Arthur's court and then on a quest to succour Beatrice who, with her subjects, had been turned into animals by a wizard. Carduino slew the wizard and restored Beatrice to her former shape by kissing her. They married. # 156 - 238

CARELL

Reputed father of Tuan. # 562

CARIADO

In Thomas's TRISTAN, a knight in love with Iseult who told her that Tristan had married Iseult of the White Hands. # 156

CARL OF CARLISLE

A giant who was host to Gawain, Kay and Bishop Baldwin. He had become a giant because of a spell which was broken when, at his own behest, his head was duly cut off by Gawain. Gawain married his daughter. Arthur knighted him and made him Lord of Carlisle. He became a Knight of the Round Table. # 156 - 401

CARLACHS

A race or nation. In Irish romance, the King's son, the Black Knight, became one of Arthur's knights and was killed by the Knight of the Lantern. # 156

CARNAC

At Carnac, Brittany, the Ménec alignment, made after 2500 BC with over a thousand stones, is set with two other alignments in a crowded landscape of dolmens (burial chambers), menhirs (single stones) and cromlechs (groups of stones). The stones are regimented, probably for ritual; but each stone is individual, with an overwhelming personality. At the culmination of the alignments are the presumed stones of sacrifice. Surveys in the 1970s Professor Thom argued for two important astronomical observatories near Carmac. He concluded that the Manio and Grand Menhir Brisé menhirs had been erected as foresights towards the eight major risings and settings of the moon. Several sites, he believed, could have been the backsights from which observers would have seen these lunar events. Omitted from the gazetteer are some non-megalithic (or non-existing) sites. There are good reasons for doubting the astronomical function of many stones in the two 'observatories'. Not to be forgotten in this prehistoric wonderland is the museum at Carnac-ville. The objects on display, from the flints and the pots to the casts of carved stones, are vividly revealing of the lives of the people who erected and used the menhirs, the rows and the tombs. # 117 - 342

CARNED ARTHUR

In Welsh folk belief Arthur was buried under the cairn in Snowdonia. # 156

CARNWENNAN

Arthur's dagger. # 156 -346

CARPATHIANS

Earliest home of mountain Celts was ranges of the Carpathians. # 562

CARRAS

King of Recesse, the brother of King Claudas, he waged war against Arthur, until Gawain persuaded him to stop. # 153 - 156

CARTHAGINIANS

Celts conquered Spain from the Carthaginians. Greeks break monopoly of trade of the Carthaginians, with Britain and Spain. # 562

CARVILIA

In the works of Torquato Tasso (1544-95) the Italian poet, a daughter of Morgan Le Fay. # 156

CASCORACH

Son of a minstrel of the Danaan Folk; Cas'corach and St. Patrick. # 562

CASTELLORS

Son of Aminabad and ancestor of Arthur according to the pedigree provided by John of Glastonbury. See: GARCELOS, and MANAEL. # 156 - 344

CASTLE EDEN

A village in Co. Durham, said to be haunted by Arthur's knights in the guise of chickens. Arthur's hall was once thought to have stood there. # 156 - 753

CASTLE KEY

An earthwork, modern Caynham Camp (Shropshire) which, according to the medieval HISTORY OF FULK FITZWARIN, was built by Kay. # 156

CASTLE OF MAIDENS

A castle in Arthurian romance said to contain young women, either as inmates or prisoners. Duke Lianour ruled it, but seven brothers slew him and took it over. They in turn fell at the hands of three of Arthur's knights and, afterwards, the duke's daughter took charge of it. With regard to its origin, Geoffrey said that Ebraucus, King of Britain, founded the Castle of Mount Agned which later became known as the Castle of Maidens. As to its location, it may have been identified with Edinburgh which, in the Middle Ages, was known as Castellum (or Castra) Puellarum, but some of the tales place it in the vicinity of Gloucester. # 26 - 156

CASTLE OF WONDERS

The lame king, who is identical with the lord of the Castle of Wonders, would have been made whole again, if Perceval (Peredur) had asked the meaning of what he saw. # 562

CASTLE RUSHEN

Beneath this castle on the Isle of Man are said to be giants, buried in caves by Merlin who defeated them. # 156

CASTLERIGG STONE CIRCLE

On a plateau among the hills to the east of Keswick is one of the most impressive ancient stone circles in the north of England, the Castlerigg, sometimes called the 'Carles' or 'Druids Circle',

... a dismal cirque Of Druid Stones, upon a forlorn moor.

as Keats wrote in the nineteenth century. The 'cirque' consists of 38 standing stones arranged in an oval approximately 107 feet maximum diameter, with an inner rectangular setting of 10 stones. About 300 feet to the south-west is an outlier. Castlerigg, like most of the stone circles of Britain, is a calendrical marker, though in this respect it is probably unique in that instead of using a large number of specially sited standing stones outside its circle as markpoints, it makes use of the distinctive shapes of the surrounding mountains. The line of orientation in such circles is usually fixed by three single points (indicated by stones, one of which is usually an outlier, or stone free of the outer circumference of the circle) along a single sighting line.

In Castlerigg, however, there are several orientation points with only two siting points within some of the orientations, the third (necessary to mark accurately a continuation line) being fixed by distinctive points on the surrounding hills and mountains: thus, in this remarkable circle, the stones are integrated perfectly into the surrounding horizon, to mark out the rhythms of the seasons. The most important work done on stone circles in the present century is that of Professor Thom, who has personally surveyed hundreds of such sites and has come to some far-reaching conclusions about their calendrical properties. It is therefore interesting to observe that Thom himself remarks that the curious evidence of the outlier at Castlerigg yielded one of the lines which, in Thom's words 'convinced the author of the necessity to examine the calendar hypothesis in detail'. # 702

CASWALLAWN

# 562: Son of Beli; conquers Britain during Bran's absence. # 454: Welsh king. In popular memory, Cassivellaunos, the Belgic king of Catuvellauni, who had led the tribes against Caesar in 54 BC survived as Caswallawn. The 'Triads' cite him as being the suitor of Fflur, and remember him as one of the three golden shoemakers, along with Manawyddan and Llew. In 'Branwen, Daughter of Llyr', he conquers Britain in the absence of Bran, by means of his magic mantle. See: THIRTEEN TREASURES OF BRITAIN. # 104 - 272 - 439 - 454 - 562

CAT

The cat does not play a large part in Celtic tradition but it was associated with chthonic powers and was thus funerary, also a prophetic animal. In Roman Gaul and in Irish lore there was a 'Little Cat' as a guardian of treasure; it turned into a flaming object and burned the thief to ashes. There was an island inhabited by men with cat-heads. In Celtic saga there were Monster Cats to be fought by the Hero, the cat taking the place of the Dragon. The Welsh Great Cat was born of the enchanted sow Henwen, originally a human; it could eat nine score warriors. Monster cats and sea-cats appear in Irish tradition of probably Celtic origin. In Irish myth the eldest son of a hog had a cat's head and was known as 'Puss of the Corner'. # 454: The cat is now so domesticated it seems impossible to imagine mythical Britain being ravaged by a giant wild-cat, but so it was, until Arthur and Cai overcame it, according to an early Welsh text. Indeed the cat has not been necessarily appreciated for its virtues in British folklore where it often appears as the totem of black witches. One unpleasant form of divination among the Scottish Gaels was 'taghgairm', by which a live cat was spitted over a fire until other cats appeared to relieve its distress by answering the question set by the operator of this method. Among the Gaelic peoples it was a powerful totem of many tribes. Caithness is named from the clan of the Catti, or cat-people, while in Ireland, Fionn fought against a tribe of CAT-HEADS, possibly warriors with catskin over their helmets. # 100 - 161 - 225 - 454

CAT COIT CELIDON

The site of one of Arthur's battles in the southern reaches of Scotland, in the area once known as Silva Caledoniae (Wood of Scotland). # 156 - 494

CATH PALUG

A monstrous member of the cat family which appears in Welsh Arthurian poetry. The adjective Palug means 'clawing'. In the poem PA GUR, we are told that Kay went to Anglesey with a view to killing lions and was especially prepared for an encounter with Cath Palug. The poem is incomplete, but it may have told how Kay slew the beast. Welsh tradition told how the creature was produced by the pig Henwen and thrown into the sea, only to be raised by the sons of Palug on Anglesey. (Geoffrey Ashe suggests that a captive leopard, kept by a Welsh king, may have given rise to the tale.) In Continental tales we learn how Arthur slew a giant cat near Lake Bourget in the French Alps. This combat is commemorated in the local names Col du Chat (cat's neck), Dent du Chat (cat's tooth) and Mont du Chat (cat's mountain). In French the animal was called Capalu. In the ROMANEZ DE FRANCEIS (medieval romance) Arthur fought the cat Capalu in a swamp and it killed him. It then invaded England and became king. It has been suggested that we may have here an alternative tradition of Arthur's death. In BATAILLE LOQUIFER (medieval romance with limited Arthurian content) there is a youth called Kapalu, a servant of Morgan. # 104 - 156

CATH SITH

The Cat of the Sidhe: a fairy cat. Highlanders believed that the Cait Sith was really a transformed witch not a fairy. The King of this otherworldly company of cats was called Big Ears and he would appear to answer questions set by a dinner engaged in taghairm - the roasting of a cat over fire. See: CAT. # 100 - 454

CATHBAD

(cáh'vah) # 562: Chief Druid of Ulster. Wedded to Maga, wife of Ross the Red; his spell of divination overheard by CuChulain; draws Deirdre's horoscope; casts evil spells over Naisi and Deirdre. # 454: The druid of Conchobar mac Nessa and his father. He prophesied that the boy who took arms on a certain day would outstrip all of Ireland's heroes. CuChulain heard him and 'took valour' as a warrior that day, although he was but a boy. Cathbad also foretold the sorrow which Deirdriu would cause Conchobar and the whole of Ulster. # 166 - 266 - 454 - 548 - 562

CATHOLIC CHURCH

All affairs, public and private, were subject to the Druids authority, and the penalties which they could inflict for any assertion of lay independence, like the medieval interdicts of the Catholic Church, on popular superstition alone, were enough to quell the proudest spirit. Here lay the real weakness of the Celtic polity. # 562

CATHUBODUA

This Celtic goddess of war's name means Battle-Crow. Inscriptions have been found to her in Europe, but she is undoubtedly associated with Badh or Bodh, the Irish battle-goddess. # 389 - 454

CATIGERN

A son of Vortigern. # 156 - 243

CATTLE RAID OF COOLEY, THE

is the central epic of the Ulster cycle. The oldest version goes back probably to the eighth century. The tale opens with the famous 'Pillow Talk' a racy dialogue between Queen Medb of Connacht and her hen-pecked husband, Ailill. The queen, on finding that her possessions equal those of her husband, except for one bull, the White-Horned of Connacht, determines to make up the deficiency by gaining possession of the most famous bull in Ireland, the Donn of Cooley, which is the property of Daire, a chieftain of Ulster. When Medb learns that she cannot obtain the Donn as a loan, she determines to take the animal by force and gathers an army to invade Ulster. Owing to the temporary debility of all the adult warriors of Ulster, the seventeen-year-old CuChulain undertakes to oppose Medb's host single-handed. When Medb hears of CuChulain, she inquires about him from the Ulster exiles in her army and learns of his boyish exploits. As the result of an agreement between Medb and CuChulain, the Ulster champion meets at a ford on the border of the two provinces a single Connacht warrior each day over a period extending from Samhain (the beginning of winter) till the beginning of spring. The men of Connacht finally succeed in invading Ulster and carrying off the Donn of Cooley, but they are later defeated by the Ulstermen, now restored to their normal strength. The Donn of Cooley, after slaying the WhiteHorned of Connacht, returns to his native district and utters mad bellowings of triumph till his heart bursts and he dies. In spite of obvious imperfections, 'The Cattle Raid of Cooley' is a splendid example of an epic in the making. It shows many evidences of literary artistry and is not without passages of marked power and impressiveness. The combat between CuChulain and his friend Ferdiad is one of the most famous passages in early Irish literature. # 166

CATTLE RAID OF FROECH, THE

'The Cattle Raid of Froech' has a peculiar title. Froech's 'cattle raid' is nothing more than the recovery of his own cattle ( and his wife) from beyond the Alps; moreover, this exploit, which has a late look to it, is tacked on to the main tale, which could better have been called 'The Wooing of Findabair'. And the tale itself is unusual, for it is a mythological story - and with the personae of the Mythological Cycle - pressed into the service of the Ulster Cycle, as a preliminary tale to 'The Cattle Raid of Cuailnge'. It begins in the realm of the Sidhe, with Froech going to ask presents of his aunt, Boand (compare Froech's cattle with the hounds of Arawn in 'Pwyll Lord of Dyved': white animals with red ears are always from the otherworld); immediately, the setting shifts to the heroic warrior-world of Connachta, though Froech returns to the Sidhe for healing after his battle with the water monster.

The theme of 'The Cattle Raid of Froech', that of the young hero who must win his love away from her unwilling father, appears also in 'The Wooing of Etain' and 'The Dream of Oengus'; it is a degraded form of the familiar regeneration motif. The mythic - actually folkloric, in this manifestation - pattern imposes an uncharacteristic degree of villainy on Ailill and Medb. (Also uncharacteristic is the dominance of Ailill - elsewhere in the Ulster Cycle it is Medb who is the strong partner.) The version in Gantz's 'Early Irish Myths and Sagas', however, is neither mythic nor heroic so much as literary and psychological. More attention is paid to motivation here than in any other early Irish story: Medb is guilt-stricken at having neglected Froech's retinue, Findabair refuses to elope with Froech but admonishes him to bargain for her, Froech rejects the bride price as excessive even for Medb, Ailill tricks Froech into entering the water monster's lake and seems to regret the ruse only because Froech survives it, Findabair asserts her independence of her father after he has accused her of giving her ring (and by implication herself) to Froech. Even the dialogue is unusually subtle. Oddly, though, Froech's lie about how he received the ring is never challenged - is this an extraordinarily ironic touch, or did the storyteller simply forget that Findabair actually does give Froech the ring? - and Findabair, even after producing the ring on the salmon platter, is not allowed to go away at once with Froech. # 236

CATUVELLANI

A tribe of Britons. See: CARATACUS. # 156

CATWALLAUN LONGHAND

A North Welsh ruler who is said to have driven the Irish (led by Serigi) out of Anglesey about the year AD 500. He may be identical with Cadwallon who, according to Geoffrey, ruled Gwynedd in Arthur's time. # 156

CAULD LAD OF HILTON, THE

One of the domestic spirits which is half brownie, half ghost. It was supposed to be the spirit of a Northumbrian stable boy killed by one of the past Lords of Hilton in a fit of passion. He was heard working about the kitchen at nights, but he was a perverse spirit, for he would toss about and disarrange whatever had been left tidy, but clean and tidy whatever had been left dirty or in disorder. He used to be heard singing sadly at night. He was unnecessarily pessimistic, however, for the servants put their heads together and laid out a green cloak and hood for him. At midnight he put them on and frisked about til cock-crow singing, 'Here's a cloak and here's a hood,the Cauld Lad of Hilton will do nae mair good!', and with the dawn he vanished for ever. # 100

CAULDRON

# 701: The cauldron was the prime female symbol of the pre-Christian world. Among the Celts, the Three Matriarchs kept the Magic Cauldron of Regeneration at the bottom of a lake, until it was brought up by Bran the Blessed to resuscitate men slain in battle. This Celt god moved on into the Grail cycle of myths, as Bron the Fisher King, and his cauldron became confused with the Christian version of the lifegiving, blood-filled vessel. - There can be no doubt that the cauldron represented the womb of the Great Goddess, who was often a trinity. It is certain also that men used to believe their reincarnation and rebirth depended upon entering such a uterine vessel to be reconstituted by its magic. Celtic cauldrons of regeneration came from the Land Beneath the Waves because the Sea Goddess was held to be the universal birth-giver. The god Cernunnos was dismembered and boiled in a cauldron in order to rise again from the dead. A boiling cauldron gave rebirth and/or magic power to Taliesin.

Cauldrons continued to be worshiped as symbols of the universal womb even into Christian times, as long as pagans met together to carry on their religion. # 454: In ancient Celtic myth there were several cauldrons dispensing variously the properties of life, death, inspiration and wisdom. It is generally understood that these gave way in time to the image of the Holy Grail and became incorporated into the Hallows of Britain. Arthur went in search of such a cauldron to the very gates of Annwn. Bran possessed a cauldron which re-animated dead men. In the story of Taliesin, Ceridwen owned a cauldron which gave inspiration. # 287 - 439 - 451 - 454 - 461 - 563 - 701 pp 124-5

CAULDRON BRONZE THE, FROM BRAA

See: BRAA, THE BRONZE CAULDRON FROM.

CAULDRON OF ABUNDANCE

See equivalent, STONE OF ABUNDANCE. See also: GRAIL.

CAULDRON OF CERIDWEN

In their rites the Welsh bards made a decoction of berries and herbs and sea foam in a vessel, which is the cauldron of the goddess Ceridwen of Celtic mythology. In the Greek mysteries of the goddess Ceres a decoction of flowers, barley, salt and sea water was used. In both rites, after a little of this had been taken by the initiates, the residue was regarded as poisonous and accursed having symbolically taken the sins and pollutions which had been cast out of the candidates. The cauldron was prepared by a ritual in which nine maidens warmed it with their breath. In the Greek mysteries nine maidens representing the nine muses (connected with Orpheus) were thought to be imbued with similar special powers. Strabo connects the Druidesses with the priestesses of Bacchus (Dionysos).

# 455: W. B. Crow: The Mistletoe Sacrement, p 54 ff

CAULDRON, THE GUNDESTRUP

See: GUNDESTRUP CAULDRON, THE.

CAVE

Caves were the great natural womb symbols and Mother Earth images worshiped by primitive peoples. A cave sacred to the Triple Goddess in the guise of 'three fairy sisters,' was revered up to the eighteenth century AD in Denbighshire (Clwyd, Cymru), by folk who claimed to see the sister's footprints around the magic spring. Another sacred cave and spring in

Scotland near Dunskey was still used for healing magic in 1791, when people came to bathe at change of moon. # 701 p 335 ff

CAVERSHALL

A castle in Staffordshire where, according to local legend, Arthur held court and succoured a lady. The existing castle dates from the thirteenth century. # 156

CAVES IN WALES THAT HOLD SECRETS

People have throughout the ages held a fascination for caves. A wide variety of traditions associated with caves occurs in Welsh folklore and the stories may concern smuggling, secret places where heroes are sleeping or fugitives have hidden, treasure has been concealed or mythical beasts have had their lairs. There are many caves in Wales where King Arthur and his knights are said to be sleeping, waiting to be called on when their country has need of their services. Such caves are supposed to exist on Lliwedd near Snowdon or at Craig y Dinas in the Neath Valley. We are also informed that King Arthur's treasure is buried in a cave at Llangwyfan on Anglesey and his magical adviser is imprisoned in a cave yet to be discovered on Myrddin's Hill near Carmarthen.

Another Welsh hero sleeping in a cave is supposed to be Owain Llawgoch (Owain of the Red Hand). Some stories tell us that he sleeps in a cave in the cliff face below the romantic ruins of Carreg Cennen Castle and that he awaits the time when he will return to the outer world to become king of Britain. This hero's real name was Owain ap Thomas ap Rhodri (Owain son of Thomas, grandson of Rhodri), and he lived some six hundred years ago. It is believed that he was a direct descendant of Llewelyn, the last true Prince of Wales. "Owain Lawgoch, one of the last chieftains who fought against the English, lies with his men asleep. And here they will lie until wakened by the sound of a trumpet and a clang of arms on Rhywgoch, when they will arise and conquer their Saxon foes driving them from the land". Twm Shon Catti was another Welsh folk hero who made use of a cave in a wild and remote corner of Wales. It is situated on a rocky hillside overlooking some waterfalls on the River Tywi about 12 miles north of Llandovery. His real name was Thomas Jones and during the sixteenth century he seemed to achieve a reputation as a sort of Robin Hood robbing the rich and giving to the poor. He used this small rock shelter as a hiding place when escaping from the local sheriff. Such caves as Porth yr Ogof near Ystradfellte in the Brecon Beacons National Park were visited in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by travellers who made amazing claims with regard to their lengths. Some even believed that caves led down to the very depths of Hell and wrote such descriptions as: 'We found this cave very hollow, and so dark... we thought certainly we had come to the confines of the Infernal Regions, or some such dismal place, and we began to be afraid to visit it for although we entered in frolicksome and merry, yet we might return out of it sad and pensive and never more to be seen to laugh whilst we lived in the world, such dreadful apprehension seized upon some of us.' Exaggerated descriptions of the lengths of the caves were often coupled with accounts of adventurous dogs who disappeared down dark holes in the ground eventually to emerge many miles away. Other stories may concern a musician who enters a cave and is never seen again, though for years after his disappearance people claim to hear his music still playing. Such an example concerns a cave near Llanymynech in North Wales. A harpist apparently discovered that a local cave led beneath Llanymynech Church. He subsequently laid a wager with his mates that his harp would be heard in church one Sunday but he would not be there. According to the story, one Sunday as he foretold, his harp was heard from beneath the church floor but the underground harpist was never seen again although his music could still be heard on certain occasions. # 49

CAW

According to Welsh tradition, the father of Gildas, Hueil and Cywyllog. Caw himself was regarded as a saint. # 156 - 320

CEASG

(keeask) The Highland mermaid, also known as Maighdean na Tuinne or 'maiden of the wave'. Her body was that of a maiden while her tail was that of a young salmon. She was able to grant three wishes, if captured and could only be overcome by the destruction of her soul, which was normally kept elsewhere, in an object or land-feature. See: MERROW. # 100 - 454

CEI

(ky) Key.

CEITHLIONN

(ceh'lin) Wife of Balor; fought in the Battle of Moytura, in which she mortally wounded the Dagda. # 166

CELIDOINE

Son of the first Nascien who came to Britain and became king of Scotland. He was an ancestor of Galahad. His name seems to have been derived from Caledonia, the Latin term for Scotland. # 156 - 434 - 604

CELIDON/CELLYDON/CAT COIT CELIDON

The name of the great forest of Arthurian Britain, site of one of Arthur's battles. Merlin was said to have wandered there in his madness. # 242 - 454 - 630

CELTAE

One of three peoples inhabiting Gaul when Caesar's conquest began. # 562

CELTCHAR CELTCHAIR

# 562: (kelt-yar) The huge grey warrior, son of Uthecar Hornskin, lay moaning on his bed under the Debility curse, laid on him and others by Macha.

# 454: Celtchair was a Red Branch warrior who, in the act of slaying his adulterous wife's lover, let fall a drop of blood upon the fidchell (chess) board which Conchobar mac Nessa and CuChulain were playing at. This was a breach of hospitality for which Celtchair was ordered to perform three separate feats to rid Ireland of three plagues. He had to kill Cu Roi mac Daire's brother, Conganchas, who was devastating the land but who was invulnerable to ordinary weapons. He learned from Conganchas' wife, Niamh, that her husband could be slain only by having spear-tips thrust into the soles of his feet. The second plague was an otherworldly dog which he slew. The last plague was another dog who he dispatched but whose venomous blood trickled from Conganchas' spear on to him, by which he died. # 166 - 454 - 562

CELTDOM, GOLDEN AGE OF

As astronomers have discerned the existence of an unknown planet by the perturbations which it has caused in the courses of those already under direct observation, so we can discern in the fifth and fourth centuries BC the presence of a great power and of mighty movements going on behind a veil which will never be lifted now. This was the Golden Age of Celtdom in Continental Europe. # 562

CELTIC

Diffusion of Celtic power in Mid-Europe. The battle of Rome took place on july 18 AD 390, that ill-omened Dies Alliensis which long perpetuated in the Roman calendar the memory of the deepest shame the republic had ever known. For nearly a year the Celts remained masters of the city. A treaty was concluded and for almost a century there was peace between the Celts and the Romans. Contributing to upbreaking of the Celtic Empire was evidently, that certain Celtic tribes allied themselves with their old enemy, the Etruscans, in the third Samnite war. 2. Celtic place names found throughout Europe and in the British Isles. Among several other examples take the word dunum, so often traceable in Gaelic place names in the present day (Dundalk, Dunrobin, etc.), and meaning fortress or castle. It occurred very frequently in France Lug-dunum (Lyon), Viro-dunum (Verdun), and in the Netherlands where the city of Leyden goes back to Celtic Lug-dunum. 3. Early Celtic Art. Relics of ancient Celtic art-work dating back to 750 to 400 Bc were discovered in Hallstatt, Austria. These relics betoken in some cases a high standard of civilisation and considerable commerce. 4. The etymological history of Celtic words are very interesting , but far too voluminous for this column, and for interested readers we refer to the ancient work: Jubainville's PREMIERS HABITANTS, ii 355-356. - 5. Weakness of Celtic policy made space for Teutonic predominance and which became the main political factor in the development of the European nations. 6. Celtic religion was based entirely on Druidism as the priesthood, but with a huge amounts of local gods, goddesses and heroes. See also CATHOLIC CHURCH.

7. The Tumulus at New Grange in Ireland are traditionally, besides the dwelling place of fairies, the burialplace of High Kings of pagan Ireland. 8. The origins of the 'Celtic' immortality occurred first in Gaul under Roman influence, and derive certainly from Egypt. The carvings in question are pre-Celtic. They are found where no Celts ever penetrated. 9. Names of Celtic Deities. The Megalithic People did not imagine their deities under concrete personal form. Stones, rivers, wells, trees, and other natural objects were to them the adequate symbols. But the imaginative mind of the Aryan Celt was not content with this. And from there they were mixed up with the gods from the antiquity and classical world. 10. The Celtic conception of Death, See: OTHERWORLD.

11. Five factors of ancient Celtic culture. The popular superstitions and magical observances. Secondly, a thoughtful and philosophic creed having its central object of worship the Sun. Thirdly, a worship of personified deities as Aesus, Teutates, Lugh and others as guardians of social laws. Fourthly, the Romans were deeply impressed with the existence among the Druids of a body of teaching of a quasi-scientific nature about natural phenomena and the constitution of the universe. Lastly, the sacerdotal organisation and the atmosphere of religious awe with which it was surrounded, became the sovereign power, social, political, and religious, in every Celtic country. 12. It is verified by many scolars that the descendants of the Megalithic People at the present day are, on the psysical side, deeply impregnated with Celtic blood, and on the spiritual side with Celtic traditions and ideals. 13. The Celtic Cosmogony. In the early Irish accounts of the beginnings of things, we find that it is not with the World that the narrators make their start - it is simply with their own country, with Ireland; but what took the place of the Biblical narrative in pre-Christian days we do not know, and unfortunately, are now never likely to know. 14. 'Barddas'(i.e) is a work of certain current of sixteenthcentury Cymric thoughts.

What Europe owes to the Celt.

His contribution to the culture of the Western world was a very notable one. For some four centuries-about AD 500 to 900-Ireland was the refuge of learning and the source of literature and philosophic culture for half Europe. The myths and legends of the Gaelic and Cymric peoples kindled the imagination of a host of Continental poets. True, the Celt did not himself create any great architectural work of literature, just as he did not create a stable or imposing national polity. His thinking and feeling were essentially lyrical and concrete. Each object or aspect of life impressed him vividly and stirred him profoundly; he was sensitive, impressionable to the last degree, but did not see things in their larger and more far-reaching relations. He had little gift for the establishment of institutions, for the service of principles; but he was, and is, an indispensable and never-failing assertor of humanity as against the tyranny of principles, the coldness and barrenness of institutions.The institutions of royalty and of civic patriotism are both very capable of being fossilised into barren formulae, and thus of fettering instead of inspiring the soul. But the Celt has always been a rebel against anything that has not in it the breath of life, against any unspiritual and purely external form of domination. It is too true that he has been overeager to enjoy the fine fruits of life without the long and patient preparation for the harvest, but he has done and will still do infinite service to the modern world in insisting that the true fruit of life is a spiritual reality, never witout pain and loss to be obscured or forgotten amid the vast mechanism of a material civilisation. # 562

CELTIC CROSS

# 701: The symbol that we call the Celtic cross was known to the Hindus as the Kiakra, a sign of sexual union: the cross (phallus) within the circle (yoni).

# 687: The seventh century saw the introduction of a monument similar in intent to the old inscribed stones, but wholly different in origin and craftsmanship from them. The cross-shaft in the lonely, picturesque churchyard atBewcastle on the Cumberland Fells is cited as the first known example and, for all we know, is the original of the whole series. The two striking differences between this type of memorial and the earlier sort in the west are (1) that they are the product of Christianity as re-introduced by Augustine among the Angles and Saxons and not of the Celtic Church, and (2) that they are the work of highly trained craftsmen. Who these craftsmen were and in what country they learned their art is quite unknown. The mystery is heightened by the fact that these crosses are confined with one exception to the Northern area, and (of that date) are not known elsewhere.

From this source, however, they spread to the whole of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. The exception mentioned is Reculver, where a similar cross was seen by Leland in the sixteenth century, standing within the old seventh century Saxon church between the nave and chancel. The fragments of this same cross are now kept (but not well kept) in the neighbouring church at Hillberough. In Ireland development came late, but nowhere else is the high cross seen in such magnificence. The principal examples are at Monasterboice and Kells. In Wales, development was also late. Here crosses were made elaborate, but were never of first-rate craftsmanship. In the North, the principal example is the Maen Achwyfan at Whitford (in Flintshire) which is preserved by the Office of Works. # 687 - 701

CELTIC IMMORTALITY

The classical writers felt rightly that the Celtic idea of immortality was something altogether different from the Egyptian conception. It was both loftier and more realistic; it implied a true persistence of the living man, as he was at present, in all his human relations. # 562

CELTIC MYTHOLOGY

There is little doubt that Celtic mythology, particularly that of Ireland, tells of the gods of the Celts. The myths themselves speak of Celtic belief in their deities and, although it is impossible to be certain how strong was Christian belief at the time they were written down, it is possible that a good proportion of this mythology is directly derived from the sacred lore of the Druids. In no way do either the references to Celtic beliefs by Greek and Roman writers or the archaeological evidence conflict with modern interpretations of the mythology. Provided that too rigid a rapprochement is avoided all three sources may be made to provide material for the study of the beliefs of the Celts.

All the evidence points to the existence of comparatively localised cults and it is rare to find deities worshipped over wide areas. The cult of Lug is exceptional. Place and tribal names hint at his cult in Spain, Switzerland and Gaul as well as in Ireland. The restricted distribution of Romano-Celtic inscriptions and the existence of eponymous tribal deities suggest local tribal interpretations of chieftain-gods and mother-goddesses, although the latter frequently enjoyed a wider distribution than those of male gods. The mythology itself cannot be taken as evidence that there was normally a widespread belief in specific gods. This is not to say that similar gods were not worshipped under different names among different tribal groups. The strongly marked aristocratic nature of Celtic society in the days of independence suggests that the mythology relates to the gods of the aristocracy and it is not certain either how far the ordinary peasant shared in these beliefs, or how far he was allowed to participate in ritual observances. The sorceress, Mongfhinn, to whom 'the women and common people adressed their prayers' is the only figure in mythology who appears to have been definitely worshipped by the ordinary people. The large number of single inscriptions from RomanoCeltic times may refer to similar popular cults centred on very localised Genii Loci who were frequently associated with a more primitive worship of minor natural features. Among the common people, too, there were many of pre-Celtic descent to whom the cult-practices of earlier times may have proved adequate. To such people the aristocratic gods of the Tuatha de Danann may have been too unapproachable, even if access had been allowed them. It seems likely that the secret lore of the Druids would have been denied to such people. Even the Celtic aristocracy seems to have been impressed by the burial places of earlier inhabitants, so much so that they were brought into their myths. To the peasantry in close contact with the soil such relics of earlier cults, in which their ancestors perhaps participated, may have seemed more potent than the gods of their newly arrived overlords. As part of the earliest European literature after Greek and Latin, Celtic Mythology has a value over and above that of a source for ancient beliefs. In it is a rich store of priceless evidence for the way of life of the Celtic aristocracy, their hopes and fears. It is an important part of the record of a people who have made no small contribution to the European heritage, in no way diminished by its lack of general recognition.

# 428: Although the Celtic myths are relatively familiar to us, we know virtually nothing about Celtic gods and even less about the cults practised throughout the druidic area. In a passage on the Pharsalia which has given rise to much comment, Lucan mentions 'cruel Teutates, horrible Esus and Taranis whose altar is as bloody as that of the Scythian Diana'. Lucan, however, was very much of a sycophant to Julius Caesar, and it is only to be expected that he should have emphasised the savagery of Gallic cults so as to justify the massacres ordered by the bald dictator and his successors, and their policy of systematically exterminating druidism. The manuscript of Lucan's work is covered with notes and comments by a zealous medieval christian, who also had something to gain from pointing out the barbarity of paganism; and it is from these that we learn that men were hung from trees and torn into pieces in honour of Esus, that men were immersed in basins until they asphyxiated in honour of Teutates and that the victims sacrific to Taranis were burnt in the hollow trunk of trees. The last of these three confirms Caesar's words about certain tribes who placed their condemned men in huge cane dummies and burnt them (Gallic Wars, VI, 17). Anxious to demonstrate his knowledgeability, Lucan's commentator identifies Teutates with Mercury, Esus with Mars and Taranis with Dispater, whereas Gallo-Roman inscriptions identify Teutates with Mars, Esus with Mercury and Taranis with Jupiter. Obviously this kind of discrepancy is very little help. And then there is Caesar (VI, 18) who says of the Gauls that 'the god they reverence most is Mercury... next to him they reverence Apollo, Mars, Jupiter and Minerva.'

Up until now all commentators on Gallic religion have based their arguments on Lucan, Caesar and the many anthropomorphic images of supposedly 'Gallo-Roman' gods. There is considerable contradiction between these sources and yet it is they which lie behind recent attempts to classify Celtic divinities in some rational way. Interesting though such attempts may be, they rest on the false premise that all Roman or Gallo-Roman sources can be totally relied upon. In fact, the contradictions are evidence that even in Gallo-Roman days there was confusion about Celtic gods. It would seem that the Romans knew next to nothing about them but being unwilling to admit as much blithely identified any one god with any other. More seriously still, it would appear that from Caesar's time onwards, the Romans did not even know about their own gods any more. # 382 - 428

CELTIC TERRITORY IN 1200 BC

In his book WHERE TROY ONCE STOOD, Iman Wilkens suggests that the combatants in the Trojan War must have been Celts, and it is not only because of the names of the persons and places involved, but also because the two territories correspond to a large extent, bearing in mind that not necessarily all Celtic peoples were involved in the war. As regards the Achaeans from continental Europe, it can be assumed that they were all Celts, in view of the apparent unity of language and religion, though there were some Celts, notably the Egyptians and the Libyans (from southwest France), who did not participate. In the Troad, however, the demographic situation was different. While the inhabitants of southeast England were Celts, their allies, mainly from Scotland, Wales and Cornwall, were probably pre-Celtic peoples (but already converted to Celtic religion) who spoke different and mutually incomprehensible languages, as Homer mentions on several occasions, for example: But for the Trojans, even as ewes stand in throngs past counting in the court of a man of much substance to be milked of their white milk, and bleat without ceasing as they hear the voices of their lambs: even so arose the clamour of the Trojans throughout the wide host; for they had not all like speech or one language, but their tongues were mingled, and they were a folk summoned from many lands. (Ill. IV, 433-438)

The pre-Celtic peoples are considered to be the builders of the megalithic monuments found all over northern and western Europe. They are also thought to be the first peoples to have been led by the Druids, who worshipped the sun at sites such as Stonehenge in England. It would appear that the Celts adopted and continued the Druidic tradition, which was in fact a much more ancient Indo-European tradition close to that of the Brahmins. Through displacing or absorbing the neolithic peoples, the Celts established themselves over the greater part of Europe during the second and first millenium BC. A comparison of two of several maps in Iman Wilken's book shows their expansion towards Ireland, the Celtiberic peninsula, the southern half of France, Italy, the Balkans, Greece (which during the Roman Empire was called the Prefecture of Illyricum after the Celtic Illyrians), and even Turkey, while they lost ground in Scandinavia and Germany. Not surprisingly, many western European place-names were given to the new places to which Celts migrated. For example, the Galates, originating in Gaul as their name indicates, who invaded Turkey, must be at the origin of this country's present name, taken from the village of Turkeije, near the left bank of the Schelde mouth. The Gauls also gave their name to Galicia in northwest Spain and Galicia in Poland. The expansion seems to be mainly due to their population growth.

The Celtic alliance dominated Europe in the way the Roman Empire was to do much later, the difference being that the Celts were united by a kind of confederation based on consensus, while the Romans relied on centralized political and military power. The Celtic alliance was nevertheless a force to be reckoned with, as the Romans experienced, for example, when Rome was sacked by the Celts in 387 BC. A few centuries later, the Druids of Gaul were to conspire against the Romans with the Druids of the Galates in Turkey. In view of the cohesion of the Celtic peoples and the effiency of the Druids in political and military coordination, it is not so difficult to understand how it was possible to unite the peoples of western continental Europe to wage war in England. It was certainly there that the war took place, for according to Thucydides, as we have seen, Greece at that time was inhabited by a great number of tribes, with little or no contact with one another, living at mere subsistence level. # 730

CELTIC WEAPONS

Diodorus Siculus has given us a comprehensive description of Celtic armour and weapons: 'For arms they have man-sized shields decorated in a manner peculiar to them. Some of these have projecting figures in bronze, skilfully wrought not only for decoration but also for protection. They wear bronze helmets with large projecting figures which give the wearer the appearance of enormous size. In some cases horns are attached so as to form one piece, in others the foreparts of birds or quadrupeds worked in relief... Some of them have iron breastplates, wrought in chain, while others are satisfied with the arms Nature has given them and fight naked. Instead of the short sword they carry long swords held by a chain of iron or bronze and hanging along their right flank. Some of them have gold - or silver - plated belts round their tunics. They brandish spears which are called Lanciae and which have iron heads a cubit in length and even more, and a little less than two palms in breadth: for their swords are not shorter than the spears of others, and the heads of their spears are longer than the swords of others. Some of these are forged straight, others are twisted and have a spiral form for their whole length, so that the blow may not only cut the flesh but also tear it in pieces and so that the withdrawal of the spear may lacerate the wound.' # 556

CELTIC, PRONOUNCING THE WORD

The initial C of Celtic may be pronounced either soft (s) or hard (k) Inasmuch as the Greeks, whose sources were oral rather than written, spelt their word for the Celts KELTOI and inasmuch as c in Modern Irish and Welsh is without exception hard, we can assume that the Celts themselves pronounced this initial consonant as a k. # 237

CELTICA

Never inhabited by a single pure and homogenous race. - Greek type of civilisation preserved by Celtica. - Art of enamelling originated in Celtica. - The Druids formed the sovran power in Celtica. - Brigit (Dana) widely worshiped goddess in Celtica. # 562

CELTS AND GERMANS

The country we call France today, was called Argos by the Celts in Homer's time and subsequently Gallia by the Celtic Gauls in Roman times. To the Romans, 'Gallia' sounded like 'Land of the Roosters', as Gallus is Latin for rooster (and, of course, the cock has become the emblem of France). The present name of the country stems from the Franks, a Teutonic tribe who invaded the territory around 500 AD. As to the people of central Europe, they never called themselves Germans nor their country Germany, which is probably not a German word at all. According to the Italo-American linguist Mario Pei, it comes from a Celtic root meaning 'neighbouring', seemingly akin to the Latin Germanicus meaning 'having the same parents' (whence the English 'germane'). The Germans themselves call their country Deutschland, meaning 'Land of the people' from the Gothic root Deudisko, meaning 'people'. The French name for that country, Allemagne, is a reminder of the Alemani, a tribe living in the Black Forest in Roman times. Germany was often equated with Prussia, which is a contraction of Borussia, the Russians themselves being of Swedish Viking descent. They were called Rus for the first time by an Arab diplomat, Ibn Fadlan, who arrived in Russia in 922 AD. # 730

CELTS AND HINDUS

Countless studies on European pre-history, ancient languages and religions have brought to light a surprising number of similarities between cultures of the various peoples that lived in the vast area from Ireland to India and from Scandinavia to North Africa. It also appears that the Druids had much in common with the Shamans of Eastern Europe and the Brahmins of India. In Iman Wilkens' book Where Troy Once Stood we find many names that are identical in East and West. Cultural exchange over such great distances must have taken place both via the Mediterranean and over land via the Russian plains. The first route was taken by the 'Sea Peoples' who must have been Celts from the Atlantic coastal areas, who arrived in the countries around the Eastern Mediterranean around 1500 BC. Conversely, peoples from the Levant sailed west to venture out in the Atlantic in search for tin and amber. The Celts gave new names to existing places in the East including a name for the newly discovered continent: Asia, after a daughter of Oceanus, while Persia was named after Perseus and India after Indus. Other Europeans were in contact with India and Persia via the land routes from the north as evidenced by the origin of the Hindu religion, as described in the ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, India was invaded around 1500 BC by European peoples living in Siberia and Russia who called themselves Aryans. They brought with them their language, Vedic Sanskrit (which is much older than classical Sanskrit), the horse and the Vedic religion. Hinduism then developed slowly from the synthesis of the sacrificial cults of the invaders with the religions of the various indigenous peoples. According to the same source, Iran had known even earlier contacts with the northern invaders, as evidenced by a near-kinship between Sanskrit and the earliest Iranian language. In Europe, Sanskrit grammar and word roots were also very similar to those of the 'younger' classical languages, such as Greek, Latin, Gothic and Celtic. Linguists therefore classify virtually all the languages which were spoken between Ireland and India as 'Indo-European' languages, which include the Semitic languages but exclude those whose structure, verb conjugations and word roots are of entirely different origin, such as Basque, Finnish, Hungarian and Turkish. The modern language which is closest to Sanskrit is, according to Mario Pei (The Story of Language), Lithuanian, spoken on the Baltic coast. Cultural exchanges between West and East could have taken place here as in Homer's time the influence of the Druids extended as far east as Poland. West Europeans still use many Sanskrit words today, such as Zodiac, Paradise, Karma, Shakra or Mandala, while many are familiar with 'oriental' notions such as reincarnation and karma which may well be of European origin. # 730

CELTS IN BATTLE

Polybius, who lived between about 202 and 120 BC, gives a full account of how the Celts fought at the battle of Telamon in 225 BC; it is worth quoting at length because it highlights several recurring characteristics: 'The Celts had drawn up the Gaesatae from the Alps to face their enemies on the rear ... and behind them the Insubres .... The Insubres and the Boii wore trousers and light cloaks, but the Gaesatae in their overconfidence had thrown these aside and stood in front of the whole army naked, with nothing but their arms; for they thought that thus they would be more efficient, since some of the ground was overgrown with thorns which would catch on their clothes and impede the use of their weapons.' On the other hand the fine order and the noise of the Celtic host terrified the Romans; for there were countless trumpeters and horn blowers and since the whole army was shouting its war cries at the same time there was such a confused sound that the noise seemed to come not only from the trumpeters and the soldiers but also from the countryside which was joining in the echo. No less terrifying were the appearance and gestures of the naked warriors in front, all of whom were in the prime of life and of excellent physique. All the warriors in the front ranks were adorned with gold torcs and armlets. The Romans were particularly terrified by the sight of these men, but, led on by hope of gain, they were twice as keen to face the danger. '... to the Celts in the rear their trousers and cloaks afforded good protection, but to the naked men in front events turned out differently to what they had expected and caused them much discomfiture and distress. For since the Gallic shield cannot cover the whole body, because they were naked, the bigger they were, the more chance there was of missiles striking home. At length, unable to ward off the javelin throwers because of the distance and the number of javelins falling upon them, in despair and distress some rushed upon the enemy in wild rage and willingly gave up their lives; others, retreating step by step towards their comrades, threw them into confusion by their manifest show of cowardice.'

The ancient writers dwelt upon the terrifying effect an army of Celts had on their opponents; their great stature, their wild cries, their gesticulations and prancings, the clashing of arms and blowing of trumpets - all combined to terrify and confuse the enemy. As long as these demonstrations of enthusiasm and bravado struck terror into the foe, the Celts would drive all before them. 'For they were always most formidable while they were fresh.' The whole race is war-mad, says Strabo, high-spirited and quick to fight, but otherwise straightforward and not at all of evil character. When the two armies were arrayed in line, the loud voice of the Celtic chief could sometimes be heard. 'For they were accustomed ... to come forward before the front line and challenge the bravest of the enemy drawn up opposite them to single combat, brandishing their weapons and terrifying the enemy. Whenever one accepts the challenge, they praise in song the manly virtues of their ancestors, proclaiming also their own brave deeds. At the same time they abuse and belittle their opponent, trying by their words to rob him of his boldness of spirit beforehand.' The story of how Marcus Claudius Marcellus killed a Gallic leader at Clastidium (222 BC) is typical of such encounters. Advancing with a smallish army, Marcellus met a combined force of Insubrian Gauls and Gaesatae at Clastidium. The Gallic army advanced with the usual rush and terrifying cries, and their king, Britomartus, picking out Marcellus by means of his badges of rank, made for him, shouting a challenge and brandishing his spear. Britomartus was an outstanding figure not only for his size but also for his adornments; for he was resplendent in bright colours and his armour shone with gold and silver. This armour, thought Marcellus, would be a fitting offering to the gods. He charged the Gaul, pierced his bright breastplate and cast him to the ground. It was an easy task to kill Britomartus and strip him of his armour. These spoils Marcellus offered to Jupiter. This is the only story of its kind in which the name of the Celtic chief is recorded. In their attempts to throw the enemy into confusion and terror, the Celts made great use of noise. They yelled their war cries as they advanced, howling and singing and brandishing their spears.

Livy, in two different contexts, distant in time and place, vividly depicts the noise accompanying their mad rush into battle. Describing the battle of the river Allia, he says: 'they are given to wild outbursts and they fill the air with hideous songs and varied shouts.' Of the Gauls in Asia he writes: 'their songs as they go into battle, their yells and leapings, and the dreadful noise of arms as they beat their shields in some ancestral custom - all this is done with one purpose, to terrify their enemies.' In sharp contrast to the wild onset of the Celts, which was evident also during their invasion of Greece, was the silent, orderly advance of the Greek army. When the Gauls defeated the Roman army at the river Allia, they marched on Rome. 'They arrived at the city and entered at first in fear lest there should be some treachery, but then, when they saw that the city was deserted, they moved forward with equal noise and impetuosity.'

On another occasion the Romans experienced a new form of noisy warfare: 'for standing up in chariots and wagons, the armed enemies came at them with the great noise of hooves and wheels so that the unfamiliar din terrified the horses of the Romans.' There was also the noise of trumpets. At the battle of Telamon the number of trumpeters and horn blowers was incalculable. Diodorus Siculus says they had trumpets peculiar to barbarians: 'for when they blow upon them, they produce a harsh sound, suitable to the tumult of war.' The Gauls also had their shouts of victory and triumph. 'They shouted "Victory, Victory" in their customary fashion and raised their yell of triumph (Ululatus)', and at Alesia 'they encouraged their men with shouts of triumph (Clamore et Ululatu)'. There are several representations of Celtic trumpets on classical sculpture, most notably at Pergamon in Asia Minor, and on the triumphal arch at Orange in southern France, and a few fragments of actual trumpets have survived. The mouth of a trumpet shaped in the manner of a boar's head was found in 1816 at Deskford (Banffshire, Grampian); although the trumpet itself no longer survives, the mouth may be compared with the representations on the cauldron from Gundestrup in Denmark, where the sectional nature of the trumpet construction is clearly shown. The Deskford trumpet may originally have had ears and a mane rather like the Gundestrup examples; when first discovered, however, it retained a movable wooden 'tongue' which may have added vibration to the strident sounds blown from it. The Deskford piece is usually dated to the middle of the first century AD. Among the earlier representations of trumpets are those from the temple of Athena Polias Nikephoros at Pergamon in Asia Minor dating to about 181 BC and celebrating the victories of Attalus I over the Galatian tribes in the late third century BC. Trumpets, shields, standards, indeed all the trophies are set out in a great display of spoils of war on the triumphal arch at Orange. The large number of trumpets shown at Orange underlines the impression of great noise during battle given by the classical writers. As already mentioned, Polybius describes a contingent of Gaesatae (sometimes taken as mercenaries, now more often as spearmen, which took part in the battle of Telamon; they came from beyond the Alps to help the Gauls already in north Italy (for example the Boii and the Insubres).

The Celts of north Italy wore trousers and cloaks, but the Gaesatae fought naked. At the battle of Cannae (216 BC) Polybius describes the naked Celts and the Iberians with their short linen tunics with purple borders, and Livy speaks of the Gauls naked from the navel up and of the Iberians with dazzlingly white tunics bordered with purple. The Celts in Asia Minor seem to have preserved this custom, for they too are described as naked in battle with skin white because they were never exposed except in battle. Camillus, trying to raise the morale of the Romans after the siege of the Capitol, pointed to some naked Gauls and said: 'These are the men who rush against you in battle, who raise loud shouts, clash their arms and long swords, and toss their hair. Look at their lack of hardiness, their soft and flabby bodies, and go to it'. Dionysus of Halicarnassus expresses the same sentiments: 'Our enemies fight bare-headed, their breasts, sides thighs, legs are all bare, and they have no protection except from their shields; their weapons of defence are thin spears and long swords. What injury could their long hair, their fierce looks, the clashing of their arms and the brandishing of their arms do us? These are mere symbols of barbarian boastfulness.' # 556

CELTS THROUGH ROMAN EYES

To the Romans the Celts presented a terrifying sight because of their tall stature and their strange appearance. They were in many respects different from Mediterranean peoples. The Celts were by far the tallest race in the world, noticeable also for their white skin and fair hair. Although the Romans had heard about the barbarian Celts, they first encountered them as warriors, and it was in battle that their enormous size and strange appearance first struck them. The Celtic chiefs who advanced to challenge their opposing Roman leader to single combat were men of great physique, 'of stature greater than human'; the story of the fight between Britomartus and Marcellus can be compared to that between Goliath and David. The triumphal procession awarded to Marcellus was said to be most remarkable for the riches of the spoils and the gigantic size of the prisoners. Diodorus Siculus describes the Celts at some length: 'the Gauls are tall of body, with skin moist and white; their hair is blond not only by nature but also because they practise to increase artificially the peculiar nature of their colouring. Some of them shave off their beards but others let them grow moderately: the nobles shave their cheeks but let their moustaches grow freely so as to cover their mouths. Therefore, when they are eating, the moustaches become mixed in the food, and when they are drinking, the drink passes as if through a strainer.' They had unusual styles of hairdressing; they used to smear their hair with limewater and then pull it back to the top of their head and over the neck to produce something like a horse's mane. Tacitus tells of other similar treatments of hair found among the Germanic tribes. Thus the Suebi are distinguished from the other Germans by their particular hairstyle: 'they comb their hair sideways and tie it in a knot ... often on the very crown.' All this elaborate hairdressing was intended to give them greater height and to terrify their enemies in battle. Silius Italicus mentions a warrior who had offered his golden locks and the ruddy top-knot on the crown of his head to Mars if he were victorious. The colour of the hair is usually referred to as fair, red or flaxencoloured and even ginger.

The men of Britain were taller than those of Gaul, but their hair was not so fair, while the Germans differed only slightly from other Celts in that they were wilder, taller and had redder hair. There is a story that Caligula, anxious to make his triumph in Rome more spectacular, in view of the small number of prisoners for display, picked out some very tall Gauls and made them not only grow their hair longer but also dye it red. Strabo, quoting an earlier source, makes a curious statement: 'they try to avoid becoming stout and pot-bellied and any young man whose waist exceeds the measure of the normal girdle is fined.' But such a weight-watching approach is contradicted by others writers who tell of the Gauls gorging themselves with food and drinking wine excessively so that their bodies soon become corpulent and flabby. Consequently, when they exercised their bodies, they suffered quickly from exhaustion and breathlessness. In the minds of classical writers the women were not only like their men in stature, but they could also rival them in strength.

Ammianus Marcellinus described how difficult it would be for a band of foreigners to deal with a Celt if he called in the help of his wife. For she was stronger than he was and could rain blows and kicks upon the assailants equal in force to the shots of a catapult. Boudicca, queen of the Iceni, was said to be 'very tall and terrifying in appearance; her voice was very harsh and a great mass of red hair fell over her shoulders.' According to Diodorus Siculus, the Celts 'wear striking clothing, tunics dyed and embroidered in many colours, and trousers which they call Bracae; and they wear striped cloaks, fastened by a brooch, thick in winter and light in summer, worked in a variegated, closely set check pattern.' Strabo says that instead of the ordinary tunics they wore 'split tunics which have sleeves and reach down to their thighs. Their wool is rough and thin at the ends and from it they weave thick cloaks (SAGI) which they call Laenae.' The poet Propertius tells how the huge Celtic chief Virdomarus, skilled in hurling his javelins from his chariot and 'clothed in striped trousers', boasted of his descent from the Rhine God. Three pieces of clothing are thus mentioned: trousers, tunics and cloaks. The trousers would certainly be noticed by the toga-wearing Romans. Trousers were worn especially by the cavalrymen, and the Romans themselves adopted them from the mercenary Gallic cavalry they enlisted. The tunic was probably a simple garment like a shirt, made of linen and reaching down to the thighs. There was also the slightly different style mentioned by Strabo - with slits and sleeves.

The Iberians were said to wear short tunics bordered with a purple stripe and dazzlingly white. The tunics were often dyed and embroidered and worn with a gold-plated or silver-plated belt. The cloaks were made of wool; they were heavy or light according to the season and were fastened at the shoulder by a brooch. A defeated Celtic barbarian is shown on a fragment of a monumental bronze statue from Volubilis in Roman Mauretania in north Africa; his Bracae have what Piggott has described as 'loud and disparate check patterns' and his cloak hangs loosely from his shoulders. Such an impression of woven designs is also given in a description of Queen Boudicca, who wore a tunis of many colours over which a thick cloak was fastened by a brooch.

An outstanding characteristic of the Celtic people was their love of decoration and ornament. 'They collect a great quantity of gold and use it for decoration, not only the women but also the men. For they wear bracelets on the wrists and arms, necklaces of solid gold, rings of great worth and even gold corslets' (body armour for the upper part of the torso). The torc was one of the most important ornaments worn by the Celts. It was a neck ring made of a rod of metal (sometimes twisted), of bronze or gold according to the wealth and status of the wearer. The two ends of the torc almost met, but the metal was pliant, for it had to open sufficiently to let it on or off. (See also: TORQUE). As with clothes, so with adornments, each man wore what he could afford and what status demanded. It is obvious, however, that the Celts liked to attract attention with flambuyant clothes and rich, decorative accessories. The Roman soldiers were well aware of the splendid ornaments worn by their opponents and before one battle they were told by their generals that soldiers should not be adorned with gold and silver but should rely on their weapons and their courage. These ornaments were more truly booty than arms, shining brightly before the battle but ugly in the midst of blood and wounds.

Athenaeus is the main authority on food; quoting Posidonius, he says: 'Their food consists of a small quantity of bread and a large amount of meat'; and quoting Phylarchus, 'Many loaves of bread are broken up and served lavishly on tables as well as pieces of meat taken from cauldrons. 'Bread, meat (boiled in a cauldron or roasted on a spit) and fish were the staple foods. Fish was eaten, sometimes baked with salt, vinegar and cummin'. By contrast the Caledonians and the Maeatae, according to Dio, never ate fish, though it was in plentiful supply. Strabo speaks of large quantities of food, milk and all kinds of meat, especially fresh and salted pork, and of the Britons, who, though they had milk in abundance, did not make cheese. A certain etiquette and precedence were observed at table, and good eating habits were even noted. Though they were accustomed to eat voraciously, raising up whole limbs in both hands and biting off the meat, they did it in a cleanly fashion. No one started to eat without looking first to see if the chief had touched what was set before him. In extending hospitality to strangers they did not ask them who they were and what they wanted until they had eaten. At more formal gatherings or celebrations they sat in a circle with the chief or hero in the centre, his attendants and warriors around and behind him, each with a position according to his status. Drink was served from earthenware or bronze jugs and the meat on plates of bronze or in baskets. When the joints of meat were served, the chief or hero took the thigh piece. But if someone else claimed it, they joined in single combat to the death. Frequently they used some chance circumstance to start an argument and then a fight during dinner. They indulged in sham fights and practice feints and they would end up either wounding or even killing their opponent. This love of quarrelling and fighting even at a table was made all the easier, says Polybius, because they usually ate too much and drank too much.

The Celtic chiefs were accompanied in war and in piece by 'parasites' (the word means fellow diner and has no pejorative meaning), who sang their praises before the assembly; these entertainers were called bards. There are also descriptions of great banquets prepared by rich kings. The gestures of lordly prodigality and ostentation were typical of the autocratic tribal chief of the period. Louernius, king of the Arverni, in an attempt to win favour, is said to have ridden his chariot over a plain distributing gold and silver to all who followed him. He also gave a feast to all who wished to attend, in a vast enclosure, the sides of which were 1½ miles (2,4 km) long. He filled vats with liquor, prepared great quantities of food and ensured service without interruption for several days. A poet who arrived too late for the festivities composed a poem praising the king's greatness and lamenting the fact he had arrived too late. So charmed was the king by the song that he gave the poet a purse of gold and won for himself a further poetic effusion. One feature which has attracted frequent comment was the ability of the Celts to drink great quantities of liquor, though one should not take Plutarch seriously when he says that the Celts were so enthralled by the new pleasure of wine drinking that they seized their arms, took their families and set off for Italy! Athenaeus says: 'the drink of the wealthy is wine imported from Italy ... This is unmixed, but sometimes a little water is added. The lower classes drink a beer made from wheat and prepared with honey ... They drink from a common cup, a little at a time, not more than a mouthful, but they do it rather frequently.' The Cimbri were said to be demoralised by the delights of wine, but the Nervii, a Gallic tribe famed for their indomitable ferocity, would not allow wine and other luxuries to be imported because they believed that with them the men would become too soft and effeminate to endure hardship. To Polybius the Celts were merely a band of marauders who later became mercenaries ready to join whichever side suited them in the war between the Romans and the Carthaginians. They were brave and ostentatiously courageous but reckless, impetuous and easily disheartened. Hannibal was eager to make use of their enthusiasm before it wore off; but the Carthaginians and the Romans too were apprehensive of the Celts, for they saw in them a lack of fidelity and a mutual treachery. It is reported that Hannibal so distrusted his new allies that he had a number of wigs made for himself, suitable for men of all ages. He was sure that by changing his wigs constantly he would make it difficult for the fickle Celts to recognise and perhaps kill him. Some writers tend to dwell mainly on their lawlessness and savagery. Cicero, for example, makes great use of this to rail against them. 'They thought it right to sacrifice human beings to the immortal gods' and 'they find it necessary tp propitiate the immortal gods and to defile their altars and temples with human victims.' Polybius and Livy concentrate on the outrages committed by the Gauls and on the barbarous character of the Galatians. There was always a tendency for Greek or Roman writers to emphasize characteristics which did not conform to their code of morality and perhaps give too much credence to the more dramatic traveller's tales. Strabo and Diodorus Siculus, while not ignoring the savagery of some Celtic practices, also describe some of the more pleasing traits of their character. # 556

CELTS, THE

# 562: Terms first found in Hecatæus, about 500 BC, he speaks of 'Nyrax, a Celtic city', and 'Massalia (Marseilles), a city of Liguria in the land of the Celts'. Equivalent, Hyperboreans. Herodutos speaks of the 'dwelling places of Celts beyond the pillars of Hercules'. Aristotle knew that the Celts had captured Rome, and that they set great store by warlike power. - Hellanicus of Lesbos describes the Celts as practising justice and righteousness. Plato disagrees and classes the Celts 'as drunken and combative'. - Their attack on Rome, a history landmark of ancient times. - Dominion of Celts over MidEurope, Gaul, Spain and the British Isles. - Among these races the true Celts formed an aristocratic and ruling caste. Spain conquered from the Carthaginians by the Celts. Northern Italy conquered from the Etruscans. Conquer the Illyrians and make alliance with the Greeks. Conquests in the valley of Danube and Po. Alexander the Great makes compact with the Celts. - Celtic decorative motives derived from Greek art, and art of enamelling learnt by classical nations from the Celts. - The influence on European literature and philosophy from the Celts were significant. - True worship of the Celts, paid to elemental forces represented by actual natural phenomena. Reincarnation in the modern western sense, were for the Celts a reality incorporated in their daily life and religious rituals.

# 48: CREATION AND IMAGINATION: Before the end of the Bronze Age a class system had begun to operate in western Europe. Rich chieftains were buried with golden ornaments and their earthen fortresses appeared on many hilltops. The people were separating into frequently warring tribes and by 1400 BC the noble common purpose which had created Avebury and Stonehenge, when men and w