The figures beneath each entry give reference numbers for the Bibliography
(arthir) Legendary King of Britain, the traditions and literary compositions about whom form the subject matter of the following:
An outline of the hero's life is given by Geoffrey of Monmouth (twelfth century) in his HISTORIA REGUM BRITTANIAE. Just how much of this life was Geoffrey's invention and how much was culled from traditional material is uncertain. He tells us that King Arthur was the son of Uther and defeated the barbarians in a dozen battles. Subsequently, he conquered a wide empire and eventually went to war with the Romans. He returned home on learning that his nephew Mordred had raised the standard of rebellion and taken Guinevere, the queen. After landing, his final battle took place.
The saga built up over the centuries and Celtic traditions of Arthur reached the Continent via Brittany. Malory (fifteenth century) produced a huge Arthuriad that many would regard as the standard 'history' of Arthur. In this, we are told of Arthur's conception when Uther approached Igraine who was made, by Merlin's sorcery, to resemble her husband. The child was given to Ector to be raised in secret. After Uther's death there was no king ruling all England. Merlin had placed a sword in a stone, saying that whoever drew it out would be king. Arthur did so and Merlin had him crowned. This led to a rebellion by eleven rulers which Arthur put down. He married Guinevere whose father gave him the Round Table as a dowry; it became the place where his knights sat, to avoid quarrels over precedence. A Magnificent reign followed, Arthur's court becoming the focus for many heroes. In the war against the Romans, Arthur defeated the Emperor Lucius and became emperor himself. However, his most illustrious knight, Lancelot, became enamoured of Guinevere and an affair between them followed. (See LANCELOT). While Arthur was in Brittany to fight Lancelot, he left his natural son, Mordred , in charge. (Mordred was also his nephew, the result of an unwittingly incestuous affair between Arthur and his sister Morgause.
Arthur had been unaware of the incestuous nature of the intrigue because he was ignorant of his own parentage.) Mordred rebelled and Arthur returned to quell him. This led to Arthur's last battle on Salisbury Plain, where he slew Mordred but was himself gravely wounded. (In Welsh accounts, the site of this battle is called Camlann.)
Arthur was then carried off in a barge, saying he was heading for the vale of Avilion (Avalon). Some said he never died, but would one day return. However, his grave was supposedly discovered at Glastonbury in the reign of Henry II (1154-89). One of the most mysterious aspects of Arthur's reign involves his relationship with Morgan Le Fay. In Malory she is the sister but, when Geoffrey mentions her in the VITA MERLINI, he seems to know nothing of the kinship, nor does he mention any enmity between them. This seems to be a later development. It has been suggested that Arthur was originally her lover and only latterly her brother, but such a suggestion is unsupported by evidence.
Whether Morgan is in origin identical with Arthur's sister (Anna in Geoffrey) cannot be decided with certainty. In THE MISTS OF AVALON by Marion Zimmer Bradley, (1982), Morgan is the sister with whom Arthur unknowingly commits incest - this is not implausible. Morgan's enmity towards Arthur is generally taken to spring from the fact that Arthur's father, Uther, killed her father, Gorlois. The actual status or title of Arthur is also uncertain. He is usually styled a king, sometimes an emperor and, in Rosemary Sutcliffe's novel SWORD AT SUNSET (1963), he is represented as turning Britain into the last vestige of the Western Roman Empire.It is certainly not impossible that he did so.
Nennius does not speak of him as a king but as Dux Bellorum (leader of wars), a title which suggests he held a Roman-invented designation such as Dux Brittaniarum (leader or 'duke' of the Britons). Apart from his title, the question of where Arthur functioned also arises. Various persons have favoured the view that he was a leader in the north, in the south-west, in Wales or throughout Britain, but the truth of the matter is that we cannot be certain. Nennius list of battles does not really help, as some or even all of them may not have been originally associated with Arthur.
See: ACHEFLOUR, ACCOLON, AEGIDIUS, AENEAS, CADOC, FFYNNON CEGIN ARTHUR, GIANT OF ST MICHAEL'S MOUNT, GREAT SPIRITS SPRING, GWYDDBWYLL, PARIS, SEVEN KINGS OF CORNWALL, TY-NEWYDD STANDING STONES.
# 30 - 156 - 178 - 401 - 562
The Arthurian and Celtic traditions are so inseparable that the editor gladly include some Arthurian material in the Celtic Reader. Notable among this is 'King Arthur and Conghal Cl iringhneach' where we return to the curiously different world of the Irish Arthurian tales. A very different picture of Arthur is to be found herein than we are used to, but nearer, for all that, to the possible Celtic origin of the greatest of all heroes.
# 455 pp 255 and 268 ff
In the PROSE TRISTAN he is an illegitimate son of Arthur whose mother had been raped by Arthur. He supported Arthur against his Cornish and Saxon foes and went on the Grail Quest.
# 156 - 712
Nennius gives us a series of battles in which Arthur led the British side. There is no certainty that any of the battles were originally associated with Arthur. They are listed as follows:
# 26 - 156 - 401
The name sometimes given to the Otherworld in which heroes were summoned to rest after their labours. It recalled Arthur's sojourn in Avalon.
# 454
A cave on Anglesey where Arthur was thought to have taken shelter during his strife with the Irish. His treasure may have been hidden in a cromlech, surrounded by stones, which once stood there. The treasure was said to be guarded by supernatural creatures.
# 156
Nennius tells us that, at the battle of Guinnion, Arthur had an image of the Virgin Mary on his shoulders. The ANNALES CAMBRIAE claim that Arthur carried the cross on his shoulders at Badon. At Stow in Scotland the Church of St Mary at Wedale once had what were believed to be fragments of the image of the Virgin Mary that Arthur wore.
# 156 - 483 - 494
A Roman temple (second century AD) near Falkirk, Scotland. It was pulled down in 1743, but the dovecote at Oenicuick House, close at hand, was build as a replica of it. N. L. Goodrich (# 255) argues that the temple was used by Arthur and was the original of the Round Table. Interestingly, a suburb of Falkirk is called Camelon.
# 156 - 255
Some French priests were shown this in 1113. While it cannot be identified with certainty, it undoubtedly lay west of Exeter. King's Oven on Dartmoor has been suggested as its site.
# 156
# 156
A Country Durham earthwork, said to contain treasures guarded by the ghosts of Arthurian warriors.
# 156 - 753
A constellation of the Plough.
# 454
From KING ARTHUR - THE TRUE STORY, M. Keatman and G. Phillips tells us: 'Having traced the life and times of the real King Arthur, we close in on the historical figure himself, piecing together the evidence to reveal the flesh and blood warrior behind the legend.
# 524
(In Welsh: Arderydd) The scene of a battle fought about the year AD 575 in which Rhydderch Hael defeated Gwenddolau. Merlin is said to have taken part in the battle - traditions vary as to the side he was on - and to have lost his sanity because of a vision he saw in the sky there.
# 156 - 242
For the majority of modern readers who have not made any special study of the subject, the mention of early British legend will inevitably call up the glories of the Arthurian Saga - they will think of the fabled palace at Caerleon-on-Usk, the Knights of the Round Table riding forth on chivalrous adventure, the Quest of the Grail, the guilty love of Lancelot, flower of knighthood, for the queen, the last great battle by the northern sea, the voyage of Arthur, sorely wounded, but immortal, to the mystic valley of Avalon. But as a matter of fact they will find in the native literature of medieval Wales little or nothing of all this - no Round Table, no Lancelot, no Grail-Quest, no Isle of Avalon, until the Welsh learned about them from abroad; and though there was indeed an Arthur in this literature, he is a wholly different being from the Arthur of what we now call the Arthurian Saga.
# 562
B. Le Poer Trench in his book, MEN AMONG MANKIND (1962), argues that there was a series of Arthur's hereditary priests of the Great Goddess, and that the last was identical with Arviragus. He accepts the identification of Arthur with Arviragus which J. Whitehead (# 726) proposed.
# 156 - 726
# 156: A personage who became known to history because of an obscure refer-ence by the Roman writer Juvenal, made between the years AD 80 and 90, in which Arviragus appears as a British opponent of the Romans. Geoffrey makes him a king of Britain who succeded his brother Guiderius who had been killed in Claudius's invasion of Britain (AD 43). Peace was established between Claudius and Arviragus, the latter marrying Claudius's daughter, Genvissa. Later, Arviragus revolted, but peace was restored through Genvissa's good offices. Elsewhere Arviragus was thought to have given Joseph of Arimathea the famous twelve hides of land in the Glastonbury locality. G. Ashe thinks Arviragus may have been a local prince in the Somerset area who maintained his independence after the Claudian conquest. I. H. Elder identifies him with Caratacus, while E. Ratcliffe and J. Whitehead all argue that Arviragus, Caratacus and Arthur were different names for the same person. See: ARTHURS, SUCCESSION OF, and MARINS.
# 24 - 156 - 243 - 542 - 726
King of the Golden Pillar.
# 562
(Iis-cae-l"n).
A substitute for Rowan as a protection against fairies. Odd and even ash keys (seed-pods) were often used in divination.
# 100
Aspen was the letter E, (eadha), in the druid's tree alphabet.
# 701 p 461
A River. See: SURLUSE.
# 156
In the BRETA SOGUR (the Scandinavian version of Geoffrey of Monmouth's works), an island on which Arthur died.
# 156
Dwelling place of Elaine the White who died of love for Lancelot. The name may come from Alclud, the old name for Dumbarton, through an intermediary Asclut. In Malory it is Guildford (Surrey). See: SHALOTT.
# 156 - 418
Persian deity. From the root as (meaning to be) formed the Persian Asura-Masda (l'Esprit-Sage).
# 562
(ah) A ford.
# 166
See: BAILE ATHA CLIATH.
(DUBLIN) See: PLACE NAME STORIES.
(àh loo'in) Now Athlone on the Shannon.
# 166
(a-huch) This, which means 'monster' or 'giant', is a general term for those most unpleasant creatures which haunted lonely lochans or gorges in the Highlands, such as Luideac, the Rag, a female demon who haunted Lochan Nan Dubh Bhreac in Skye and slew what men she could catch; or the Bocan, which can assume a variety of monstrous shapes; or the Direach of Glen Etive, with one hand out of his chest, one leg out of his haunch and one eye out of the front of his forehead, almost identical with the Fachan.
# 100
(ath-nur'char) The Ford of the Sling-cast. The river-ford where Ket slings Conall's "brain-ball" at Conor mac Nessa.
# 562
In the shady area of early Welsh history, he may have been King of Gwent when his father, Meurig, was King of Glenvissig. He is identified by Blackett and Wilson (# 72 - 73) with the Arthur of legend, but he probably lived in the seventh century.
# 72 - 73 - 156
# 156: In the writings of Plato, the name of an island which sank beneath the Atlantic Ocean. Some have argued that Plato was recounting a genu-ine legend, while a different body of opinion has contended that the story is a moral fable.
According to Gareth Knight some occultist maintain that Merlin originally came from Atlantis. The same is said of Igraine.
# 454: Legendary continent of great magical power, said to have existed in the Atlantic Ocean, and to have been inundated by water because of the corrupt practices of its priesthood. - The mythology of Britain is shot through with traces of this legend. Inundations and incursions by the sea occur frequently along the western sea-bord of the British Isles, while the Breton legend of the legendary city of Ys is a reflection of this legend. Atlantis represents a primal or otherworld tradition which fell through misuse of power. Legend and esoteric tradition state that survivors of Atlantis colonized parts of Britain, becoming the nucleous of its priesthood.
See also: PREHISTORIC BRITAIN, THE RIDDLE OF.
# 156 - 374 - 445 - 454 - 608
The high mountains of northwest Africa are called the Atlas Mountains, a name that has not been transposed to Greece. There has in the past been considerable speculation as to why a 'Greek' god should give his name to a region so far away from Greece, but it is perfectly understandable now that archeological research has proved that 3,000 years ago Celtic peoples were living not only in the south of Spain, but also in the north of Morocco. This explains why the mountains on either side of the Strait of Gibraltar are called the Pillars of Hercules - they were named after the god that was particularly revered in this region - and confirms, if further confirmation were necessary, that the Greek gods were Celtic. Although the name of the Atlas Mountains was not transposed to Greece, the Homeric names of other Iberian mountains were. Examples are Espartero/Sparta, Mount Ossa, east of Lisbon, which gave its name to the Ossa Mountains in northern Greece and, probably, the Sierra Bermeja in Spain, which has become Mount Parnassus in Greece.
# 730
See: ALDROENUS.
(agh-iski) The water-horse. This is the same as the Highland EACH UISGE. Yeats, in IRISH FAIRY AND FOLK TALES (#364), tells us that the aughiska were once common and used to come out of the water - particular it seems, in November - and gallop along the sands or over the fields, and if people could get them away from the fields and saddle and bridle them, they would make the finest horses. But they must be ridden inland, for if they got so much as a glimpse of salt water they would gallop headlong away, carrying their riders with them, bear them deep into the sea and there devour them. It was said also that the untamed aughiska used to devour mortal cattle.
# 100 - 364
In Geoffrey, he is designated the King of Scotland. He was Urien's brother, possibly called Arawn in Welsh tradition. He supported Arthur in his Roman campaign but, on his return, fell by the hand of Mordred. See ANGUISH.
# 156 - 243
See: AMBROSIUS AURELIUS.
According to Geoffrey, the king who ruled Britain after Constantine, Arthur's successor. Gildas, a contemporary, makes Aurelius Conan and Constantine local kings, calling him Ayrelius Caninus and saying that he enjoyed war and plunder.
# 156 - 243
Discovery of pre-Roman necropolis in Austria, where relics developed in La Tène culture were found.
# 562
(avagdhoo) Son of Tegid Voel and Ceridwen; he was the most illfavoured man in the world. To compensate for his lack of beauty, Ceridwen began to boil a 'cauldron of inspiration and science for her son, that his reception might be honourable because of his knowledge of the mysteries of the future state of the world.' She put Gwion Bach to stir the cauldron. But one day towards the end of the year three drops of the magic liquor flew out of the cauldron and lighted on the finger of Gwion, who put his finger in his mouth, and immediately became gifted with supernatural insight. He saw that he had got what was intended for Avagddu, and he saw also that Ceridwen would destroy him for it if she could. So he fled to his own land, and the cauldron, deprived of the sacred drops, now contained nothing but poison, the power of which burst the vessel, and the liquor ran into a stream hard by and poisoned the horses of Gwyddno Garanhir which drank of the water. Whence the stream is called the Poison of the Horses of Gwyddno from that time forth.
# 562
# 156: William of Malmesbury maintains that Avalloc lived in Avalon with his daughters. Avalloc is also found in Welsh pedigrees in which he is the father of the goddess Modron; he was evidently a god himself in origin. He is found in Arthurian romance as Evelake.
# 454: Avallach - Afallach. The father of Modron. King of the otherworldly kingdom of Avalon.
# 104 - 156 - 439 - 454
# 562: Land of the Dead; bears relation with Norse Valhall; it is later identified with Glastonbury. # 156: The Island to which Arthur was taken after his last battle to be healed of his wound. Geoffrey calls it Avallo in the HISTORIA and insula pomorum (island of the apples) in the VITA MERLINI. It is often seen as having a connection with apples because of the similarity of its name to various Celtic words deno-ting that fruit: Old Irish ABALL, Middle Welsh Afall, Middle Breton Avallenn, Celtic Avallo. It has also been connected with Avalloc, evidently originally a god who, according to William of Malmesbury, lived there with his daughters. The present form of the name may have been influenced by the Burgundian place name Avallon. One school of thought suggests that it comes from Irish Oile n (island). It was perhaps originally a Celtic paradise. It was said to produce crops without cultivation, to be ruled by Guingamuer, Morgan's lover, or by a king named Bangon. In PERLESVAUS, Guinevere and Loholt died before Arthur and were buried there. Avalon was then identified with Glastonbury, probably because Arthur's grave was supposedly found at Glastonbury in the reign of Henry II and, as tradition had had him borne away to Avalon, the two were considered the same. However, because of the first syllable in Glastonbury's name, some may have thought it identical with Caer Wydyr, the Fort of Glass, another name for Annwfn.
Another tradition claims that a man named Gkast or Glasteing found his eight-footed pigs here under an apple tree, and called it Insula Avalloniae. Not all tales suggested that Avalon was identical with Glastonbury. According to OGIER LR DANOIS (a medieval French romance with some Arthurian content), it lay near the Earthly Paradise. In the Spanish medieval poem LA FAULA it seems to be considered an oriental isle, for the narrator tells how he was carried to the East on the back of a whale and arrived at an island where Arthur and Morgan were still alive. That Avalon seems to have had a connection with the pagan Celtic religion is supported by the fact that, in the VITA MERLINI, Morgan is described as the chief of nine sisters living on the island, just like the nine Celtic priestesses able to turn into animals, heal the incurable and prophesy the future, who lived on the Gaulish isle of Sena, according to the Roman writer Pomponius Mela. It is also noteworthy that, in Irish mythology, the name of the island over the seas belonging to the sea-god Manannan was Emhain Abhlach.
# 24 - 63 - 112 - 156 - 242 - 558 - 562
Features in a legend of Merlin as a girl who disguised herself as a squire and became the senechal of the Emperor of Rome calling herself Grisandole q.v. One day the Emperor had a dream in which he saw a sow with a crown on its head. He was told that only a wild man living in the woods nearby could explain the meaning of the dream. Grisandole found the wild man, who also took the shape of a stag, and this was Merlin. He explained that the sow with tha crown was the Empress, and that her twelve squires were in fact youths. She was summarily burned at the stake and Grisandole, revealed as a young woman, then married the Emperor!
# 454 - 481
An alternative name for Avalon, used by Malory and in modern times by Tennyson, who calls it 'the island-valley of Avilion'. The idea that it was a valley is found in both Malory and Ralph Higden's POLYCHRONICON (fourteenth century).
# 156
Duel between CuChulain and Ferdia causes waters of Avon Dia to hold back.
# 562
The power and knowledge from the Good-God Dagda, given as a breath through a dying Phantarch as a kiss to the one he, or in fact the Dagda has chosen as successor as Chief Bard of the Druids. The awen is the breath of the Dagda which guides and instructs, and which sets a bard apart from other men.
# 383 p 250 ff
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