The figures beneath each entry give reference numbers for the Bibliography
A knight with magical knowledge. When Guignier, wife of Caradoc Briefbras, lost her Breast when aiding her husband, Aarlardin supplied a magic shield boss which provided a golden breast. He married Arthur's grand-niece, Guigenor.
# 156 - 153
Greek tradition makes Abaris a priest and servant of Hyperborean Apollo. He rode on a golden arrow as Apollo's messenger and visited Pythagoras, who received and initiated him. It is possible that he represents a holy man or druid from Britain.
# 258 - 454
A knight who possessed a white hart which was killed by Gawain and Gaheris. In retaliation, Ablamor killed two of their greyhounds. This led to combat with Gawain who was on the point of killing him when his lady threw herself between them and Gawain killed her instead. Horrorstricken by this, Gawain did not kill Ablamor.
# 156
The innermost of three concentric circles representing the totality of being in the Cymric cosmogony - the stage of struggle and evolution.
# 562
See: STONE OF ABUNDANCE.
A Gaulish knight, of whom Morgan was enamoured. He was hunting with Urien and Arthur when they were separated from their companions. They came upon a vessel where they settled down for the night. To his astonishment, Accolon awoke in a field where he was given Excalibur and told he would have to use it in a fight. His opponent turned out to be Arthur. Neither recognized the other. Arthur had been given a fake Excalibur and at first it looked as though Arthur would lose the contest, but the Lady of the Lake appeared and magically caused Excalibur to fall to the ground. Arthur then seized it and defeated Accolon but, when the King discovered that Morgan had set up the whole affair, he assured Accolon he would not be punished. However, Accolon had sustained a mortal wound in the fight. (The Matthews # 454, call him Accalon of Gaul, and let Merlin intervene with the Excalibur, both have Malory as source, though)
# 156 - 418 - 454
In SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES, Acheflour is Arthur's sister and Perceval's mother. Thinking her son had been killed she went mad and lived in the woods. Perceval found her. She recovered her sanity and went to live with him and Lufamour.
# 156
See AFANC.
An ancestor of Perceval.
# 156
The son of Taliesin, he was noted for his wisdom; he was slain by Llongad rwrm Fargod Eidyn.
# 156 - 346
As the only poisonous snake in the British Isles the adder has a reputation for wisdom and sly cunning. The amulets said to have been carried by the druids, 'gloine nathair' (the glass of the serpent), were really adder stones.
It was an adder which caused the Battle of Camlan; while the armies of Mordred and Arthur were drawn up during a parley in which the battle might have been averted, an adder darted out from the scrub, so startling one of Arthur's men that he drew his sword to slay it. Taking the flash of his sword as an instance of Arthur's treachery, Mordred's army attacked. In the Highlands, the adder or serpent is supposed to represent the CAILLEACH'S power, which Brigit defeats with her lamb. See:
SAMHAIN, and OIMELC.
# 225 - 389 - 454
The name of a number of persons mentioned in Rauf de Boun's PETIT BRUT. The first two were kings before Arthur's time. The third was a son of Arthur.
# 156 - 221
Visits to a strange Land and experiences among a strange race constitute a substantial part of Celtic mythology, and, as in modern fiction, a whole class of tales are known as 'adventures'. But whereas the adventures of fiction are concerned with escapades among the natives of distant lands or planets in this world, the adventures of mythology are experienced among the mysterious denizens of a supernatural world. In this the Celt is no exception. The prodigies of Asia, Africa, and native America may be sufficient to excite the imagination of modern man, but for the inhabitants of those continents, no less than for the ancient Celts, the adventures worth recording are adventures in another 'dimension', and the only journeys of real significance are journeys between this world and the world beyond.
# 548
(ayv)
(a moc leer) Son of Aobh. He was turned into a swan by his stepmother, Aoife.
# 454
(a sl"n) King of Tara ca. AD 600.
# 166
(aid) (FINN) Chief sage of Ireland; author of VOYAGE OF MAELDUN.
# 562
(ay'da) 1. Dwarf of King Fergus mac Leda; 2. Royal suitor for Vivionn's hand; Vivionn slain by Aeda.
# 562
The father of Prydein from whom Britain took its name in Welsh tradition.(There are also a number of Aedds referred to in Irish mythology.)
# 156
(ay) The son of Eochail Lethderg, Prince of Leinster, who was playing Hurling with his young companions when he was carried into a Brugh, or palace, of Fairyland by two Sidh-women who were in love with him, and held captive there for three years. At the end of this time Aedh escaped and made his way to St Patrick, and begged him to free him from the fairy dominion. Patrick took him in disguise to Leinster to his father's court, and there restored him to humanity and freed him from the timeless life of the fairies. This account from SILVA GADELICA (pp 204-20) is one of the earliest stories of captives in Fairyland. See: TIME IN FAIRYLAND.
# 100 - 504
Roman count, ruler of Gaul AD 461-4. Jacques de Guise (14th century) claims Arthur flourished when Aegidius ruled Gaul. Philippe de Vignelles (16th century) suggest that Aegidius was in frequent contact with Arthur.
# 31 - 156
Custom of the priestess of Earth at 'gira, in Ach'a, ere prophesying.
# 562
(ay'ee) Plain of Aei, where Brown Bull of Quelgny meets and slays Bull of Ailell.
# 562
Saxon King of Sussex who, with his sons Cymen, Wlencing and Cissa, defeated the Britons at Cymenes ora (AD 477). He fought against them once more near Mearc Raedesburna AD 485 and captured Anderida (modern Pevensey) about the year AD491 According to Bede, he held the title Bretwalda (Britain-ruler), indicating a primacy among the Saxon kings. S. G. Wildman suggests he probably led the Saxons at Badon; he was certainly flourishing at a time when he might have been a leading adversary of an historical Arthur.
# 156 - 729
In Greek mythology, the son of Anchises, by the goddess Aphrodite (Roman Venus). He was a member of the Trojan royal family and, according to Virgil, made his way to Italy after the fall of Troy, becoming an ancestor of the Emperor Augustus. Geoffrey of Monmouth asserts that he was an ancestor of the ancient British kings and Dryden specifically says that he was an ancestor of Arthur himself.
# 156 - 194
The Hosts of the Sidhe or Hollow Hills. The inhabitants of the Otherworld. They were thought to ride out on the eves of the four great fire festivals: Samhain(31 October), Oimelc (31 January), Beltaine (30 April), and Lughnasadh (31 July), when they had communion with earthly folk. Yeats wrote of them as 'The Hosts of the Air'. See: DAOINE SIDHE.
# 128 - 711
Umbrian deity.
# 562
Deity mentioned by Lucan.
# 562
See: MORFRAN.
# 156: A legendary Welsh monster which was overcome by Peredur (Perceval) who had been given a stone by the Empress of Constantinople which rendered him invisible to it (#346). Arthur himself killed an afanc at Llyn Barfog #717. Another tale tells how Hu Gadarn may have been invented by Iolo Morgannwg (1747 -1826), who claimed that Hu Gadarn had led the Britons to Britain from Sri Lanka. As to the nature of the afanc, it seem s to have had manipulative skills, as the one encountered by Peredur could throw spears. In modern Welsh AFANC means a beaver; the mystical creature certainly had watery connections. The cognate Irish word ABHAC (dwarf) is derived from AB, modern ABHA, a river; J.Vendryes claims it originally signified a spirit inhabiting waters. - # 454: A primeval monster which dwelt in the Llyn yr Afanc on the River Conwy in North Wales. It was sometimes thought to be in the shape of a beaver and dragged people into the depths of the lake. Finally it was lured to sleep in a maiden's bosom.
# 104 - 156 - 346 - 454 - 693 - 717
Primitive population of Great Britain and Ireland, evidence of language suggests.
# 562
The site of one of Arthur's battles, mentioned by Nennius. Some manuscripts give the name Breguoin instead. See CASTLE OF MAIDENS.
# 156
Nemed's father.
# 562
A son of Lot and Morgause, brother of Gawain. He married Laurel, the niece of Lionors and Lynette. He knew of the adultery of Lancelot and Guinevere and arranged for them to be found in compromising circumstances. He was slain by Lancelot, either when the pair was discovered or when Lancelot rescued Guinevere after she had been condemned to death.
# 156 - 418
# 156: The ruler of Camelot in the time of Joseph of Arimathea. # 454: In the 'Grand Saint Greal', a thirteenth-century Arthurian romance, Agrestes is described as the King of Camelot in a time long before Arthur. As a pagan he persecuted Josephus, son of Joseph of Armathea and guardian of the Grail, and was punished by madness and death.
# 156 - 418 - 454
King of Dyfed (South Wales) around the year AD 500, in the traditional time of Arthur. Gildas thought him a good king. He may have liberated Dyfed from the Irish dynasty of the Uí Liath in which had previously ruled there. He may have been one of Arthur's commanders. See DEMETIA.
# 156 - 484
According to various Grail romances Aguigrenons was the General of King Clamadex, an evil monarch who entrapped many Grail Knights. Perceval finally overcame Aguigrenons when he defended the maiden Blanchfleur, and eventually sent both he and his master to Arthur's court.
# 454
See MORGAN.
(d. 651) Monk of Iona and Bishop of Lindisfarne. He was an Irishman who came to England and helped Oswald in the evangelization of Northumbria. He was on Inner Farne when he saw the burning of the royal castle of Bamburgh by pagan King Penda. Aidan prayed for the wind to change and it did so. His spiritual successor was Cuthbert who saw Aidan's glorious ascent to heaven. His symbol is the torch and his feast-day is 31 August.
# 454
Wife of Oscar, grandson of Fionn mac Cumhail; she died of grief after Oscar's death when he fell at the battle of Gabhra, and was buried on Ben Edar (Howth).
# 562
(eefa) Princess of Land of Shadows; war made upon Aife by Skatha; CuChulain overcomes by a trick; life spared conditionally by CuChulain; bears a son named Connla. According to one version she was sister to Scathach and daughter of Ardgeimm.
# 562
(el-yach) Fortress in Co. Donegal, where Ith hears MacCuill and his brothers are arranging the division of the land.
# 562
(il'bé) Famous hound of Mac Datho.
# 166
# 562: (el'yill)
# 454: King of Connacht, husband of Medb, (see Maeve or Maev). He owned a great bull Finnbennach (Whitehorn), causing his wife to be jealous and covert the Donn Cuailuge (Brown One), a bull owned by an Ulsterman. This precipitated the great cattleraid in which both Ulster and Connact came to blows. Ailill was no match for his wife, who took her lovers indiscriminately, but he was responsible for the death for one of them - Fergus mac Roigh. Ailill himself was slain by Conall Cernach at the instigation of a jealous Medb after she found him lying with a maiden on May Day.
# 367 - 454 - 548 - 562
Of the sept of the Owens of Aran; During a foray into another territory, he raped a nun where Maeld-n was conceived. Ailill Edge of Battle were slain by reavers from Leix.
# 562
(el-yill olum) King of Munster; ravishes Ainé and is slain by her.
# 562
In the Irish romance, VISIT OF GREY HAM, a woman of the Otherworld who had a tendency to turn into a deer. She took Arthur and his men away to marry various Otherworld wives, wedding Arthur himself. In this work, Ailleann is given an interesting family tree as shown. The Family Tree of Ailleann - King of Iceland
|
Ioruaidh
|
Daire, King of the Picts = Rathlean
|
Ailleann
# 156
A fairy musician of the Tuatha de Danaan who came every year at Samhain Eve (All-Hallow Eve) out of Sidhe Finnachaid to Tara, the Royal Palace of the High King, playing so marvellously on his timpan (a kind of belled tambourine) that all who heard him were lulled asleep, and while they slept he blew three blasts of fire out of his nostrils and burnt up the Hall of Tara. This happened every Samhain Eve for twenty-three years, until Finn of the Fianna conquered Aillen and killed him (Silva Gadelica, vol.II, pp 142-44). He conquered him by himself inhaling the fumes of his magic spear, whose point was so venomous that no one who smelled it could sleep, however lulling the music.
# 100 - 504
(aw-ne) A love-goddess, daughter of the Danaan Owel; Ailill Olum and Fitzgerald her lovers; mother of Earl Gerald; still worshiped on Midsummer Eve; appears on St. John's Night, among girls on the Hill. # 454: A goddess who seems to have functioned as a type of Sovereignty in south west Ireland. She gave her name to a sidhe dwelling in Munster, Cnoc Aine. She is variously described as the wife or daughter of Manannan mac Lir. - Later folk tradition tells of Gearoid Iarla (Earl Gerald of Desmond, 1338-98) who encountered Aine bathing in a river and raped her. The first earl of Desmond was called 'Aine's king' and Gerald himself 'the son of fair Aine's knight'. Gerald was said to have disappeared in the form of a goose, after a lifetime building up his reputation as a magician. This legend shows how active the myth of Sovereignty was persisting right into the medieval era.
# 100 - 454 - 505 - 548 - 562
(in'gen) Son of Nera and a fairy woman; owner of the cow bred to the Dun of Cooley.
# 166
(in'le) Brother of Naisi (Naoisi); Son of Usnech; Lover of Deirdriu.
# 454 - 562
A widow and her little boy lived in a cottage near Rothley. One night the child was very lively and would not go to bed when his mother did. She warned him that the fairies would come and fetch him if he sat up too late, but he only laughed and went on playing. She had not long blown out the candle when a lovely little creature jumped down the chimney and began to frisk about in front of the boy. 'What do they ca' thou?' he said fascinated. 'Ainsel,' she answered. 'And what do they ca' thou?' 'my ainsel,' he answered, cannily, and they began to play together like two children of one race. Presently the fire got low and the little boy stirred it up so vigorously that a cinder blew out and burnt little Ainsel on the foot. She set up a yell quite dis-proportionate to her size, 'Wow! I'm brent!' 'Wha's done it? Wha's done it?' said a dreadful voice from the chimney, and the boy made one leap into bed as the old fary mother shot down on to the floor. 'My ainsel! My ainsel!' said the little fary. 'Why then,' said her mother, 'what's all this noise for: there's nyon to blame!' And she kicked Ainsel up the chimney.
# 100
Contraction in Gaelic of the ancient Celtic term 'Aird Righ' meaning High King.
# 383 p 37
The word means dream or vision and is, in modern Irish, a woman's name,but in the many Irish tales bearing this title, the dreamer experiences a vision of a Speir-Bhean or vision-woman whose beauty leads him into closer communion with the Otherworld. A great many poets of the eighteenth century wrote Aisling poems, in which a fair woman is found wandering in powerty and distress. She represents the land of Ireland itself, oppressed under the English yoke.
# 438 - 454
The son of Brons and Enygeus, who did not marry and was made ruler of his brothers and sisters. In the Didot Perceval he was Perceval's father. he was told by the Holy Spirit that he would be the father of the Grail King (# 185-# 604). He is also said to be a son of King Pellinore.
# 454: Alain le Gros. In one story he fed a multitude from a single fish and was afterwards known as the Fisher King. He also built the castle of Corbenic to house the Hallows of the Grail.
# 156 - 185 - 454 - 604
The captain of Arthur's guard in Dryden's opera KING ARTHUR. His name was presumably taken from Albanact, son of Brutus, in Geoffrey of Monmouth, and from whom Albany or Scotland is named.
# 156 - 454
Albion: The primal archetype of the Celtic world. Albion in its origin was the Form of forms, the original pattern for all that flowed into creation of the unique and magnificent wonder known as the Celtic spirit. - The Otherworld (Albion) did not have a historical foundation, but the historical world (the Britons of old called their island Alba) had an Otherworldly foundation. See also: PRETANI.
# 454: The name of Britain before Brutus landed from Troy (See also: TROY). William Blake personified Albion as a giant, associating him with Cronos, in his poetical and artistic works.
# 74 - 243 - 383 p 146 ff - # 454 - 455 p 144
A squire, brother of Iseult and companion of Tristan. Later known as Lantris, he was killed when he attempted to rescue his sister from Mark.
# 156
A giant who ruled the ancient city of Sarras, according to the PROPHÉCIES de MERLIN. He had attained his eminence by killing the previous ruler. The folk of Sarras would not desert him, even when the city was menaced by Crusaders under King Richard of Jerusalem. He defeated four champions of the Crusaders and after this a truce ensued, followed a month later by Alchendic's baptism.
# 156
The old name for Dumbarton. Hoel, King of Brittany and Arthur's ally, was besieged there by the Picts and Scots until Arthur came to relieve him.
# 156
In Welsh tradition, Merlin's mother, daugther of a nobleman of South Wales.
# 156 - 211
A tree associated with several pagan gods, the alder represented the letter F (fearn) in the druidic tree alphabet. It was known in medieval legend as the tree of the Erl King, or alternatively as the tree sacred to the god Bran, brother of Branwen who kept the Cauldron of Regeneration.
Thus the tree stood for the idea of resurrection. It bore the same significance in the Odyssey. The beginning of the Celtic solar year was marked by the alder tree. In the territory of Celtic druids there used to be a tribe known as Arverni, 'People of the Alder'.
# 701
An elevation in Cheshire. According to a folktale, a farmer of Mobberley once had his horse purchased by a wizard for the use of a king and his knights who were slumbering beneath the Edge. The story was told by Parson Shrigley (died 1776) who maintained the events had occurred about eighty years before his time. In a rhyming version by J. Roscoe the king was identified as Arthur. The story was utilized by Alan Garner in THE WEIRDSTONE OF BRISINGAMEN (1960).
# 156
King of Brittany, he sent his brother Constantine, Arthur's grandfather, to rule the Britons at their request.
# 156 - 243
Gawain's niece. In the 'Didot Perceval' she sent Perceval a suit of red armour and persuaded him to take part in a tournament at Arthur's court from which he had hitherto refrained. Thus disguised he carried all before him and won a place at the Round Table.
# 185 - 454
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