The figures beneath each entry give reference numbers for the Bibliography
See: THOLOMER.
The page of Tristan in the Welsh romance TRYSTAN. His name means 'little small one'.
# 156
(b"v baib) # 454: Crow - an aspect of the Morrighan. She confronted CuChulain on his way to the last battle as a Washer of the Ford. She likewise appeared as a harbinger of death to King Cormac.
# 166: A supernatural woman or demon who frequented places of battle; regarded by some as a 'battle goddess'.
# 100: The Celtic goddess of war, who, according to Evans Wentz in THE FAIRY-FAITH IN CELTIC COUNTRIES, incorporated the three goddesses NEMAN, MACHA and MORRIGU in a single form, that of a Royston or hoodie crow. The mythology has declined into folklore, and a crow perching on a house is often the form taken by the BANSHEE or 'fairy woman'. The narrative of the battle of Moytura (q.v.) in THE BOOK OF LEINSTER gives one of the most vivid descriptions of the activities of Badb and her attendant spirits.
# 100 - 166 - 367 - 454 - 548 - 711
# 454: Famed for its tenacity and courage, the badger has entered folklore as the most unyelding animal; significantly, badgerhead sporrans keep a Highlander's loose change safe. The story of Gwawl and Rhiannon shows how an ancient game 'Badger in the Bag' was supposed to have originated, but traces of this custom, called 'Beat the Badger' in Fife, show how it may have been a form of ancient ordeal, a running the gauntlet, where the player ran between a double line of boys wielding sticks.
# 225 - 439 - 454
# 156: A battle in which Arthur was said to have totally defeated the Saxons. Gildas is the first to refer to it, but he does not mention Arthur by name. The date of the encounter is uncertain, but it is generally placed between AD 490 and 516 sometimes more specifically about AD 500. In DE EXCIDIO, Gildas is ambiguous: his statement could be variously interpreted as meaning that the battle occurred in the year he was born, forty-four years before he wrote, forty-four years after the coming of the Saxons or forty-four years after the resurgence of the Britons under Ambrosius. As regards the first of these possibilities, it is worth noting that T. D. O'Sullivan in a recent study opines that Gildas wrote DE EXCIDIO as a young man. Although Gildas does not name the British commander, both Nennius and the ANNALES CAMBRIAE identify him as Arthur. So does Geoffrey, who regards Badon as identical with Bath. A recent linguistic argument, against this identification, by N. L. Goodrich betrays insufficient knowledge of the Welsh language. Other locational suggestions have been variously Liddington Castle near Swindon and Badbury Rings (Dorset). The Battle is described as a siege, though it is not clear who was beleageured by whom. See: GREENAN CASTLE.
# 26 - 156 - 243 - 255 - 494
# 156: King of Gore, a Knight of the Round Table and a cousin of Arthur. He seems to have been a benign character, but he took umbrage when Tor was made a Knight of the Round Table before him. His son was Meleagaunce and, when this character carried off Guinevere, Bagdemagus prevented him from raping her. At the time of the Grail Quest he took a special shield with a red cross on it, intented for Galahad, and for his pains he was wounded by a white knight. Killed by Gawain.
# 156 - 418 - 604
It is a very ancient instrument-as old as ancient Persia- which was introduced into the British Isles by the Romans. While it is considered to be the national instrument of Scotland, historically it is hardly more Scottish than Irish. Each bagpipe consists of five pipes: the intake pipe, through which the player's breath enters the bag; the pipe on which the performer plays the melody; and three drone pipes, to provide a bass background.
# 118 p 17
(bal'ye 'ha cl‚'ah) 'Place of the Ford of the Hurdles'. Now Dublin.
# 166
# 156: The younger brother of Balin. After killing a certain knight, he had to assume a guardian's röle, fighting all comers in place of the knight he had slain. In this capacity he fought with Balin, neither recognizing the other. Each received a fatal wound.
# 156 - 418
# 156: Brother of Colgrin, the Saxon leader. He was on his way to help his brother during the siege of York when his force was attacked by Cador and defeated. After this, he sneaked into York disguised as a minstrel. He was eventually slain at Badon.
# 156 - 243
See: BEDWIN.
# 156: A famous knight, who was born in Northumberland. He had incurred Arthur's displeasure by killing a Lady of the Lake. However, he and his brother Balan captured Rience and became supporters of Arthur. When Pellam tried to kill him for slaying his brother Garlon, Balin struck Pellam with the Lance of Longinus. This was the Dolorous Stroke. Balin was also known as the Knight of the Two Swords. He and his brother unwittingly killed each other. Balin's name may be a variant of Brulen/Varlan who, elsewhere and long before Arthur's time, was thought to have struck the Dolorous Stroke. See: COLOMBE.
# 156 - 418
Earliest home of mountain Celts was ranges of Balkans.
# 562
# 562: (b 'lor) Son of Net. Ancestor of Lugh; Bres sent to seek aid of Balor; informed that Danaans refuse tribute; Fomorian champion, engages Nuada of the Silver Hand, and slain by Lugh; one of the names of the god of Death; included in Finn's ancestry.
# 156: A one-eyed giant in Irish mythology who seems to be related to Yspadadden in CULHWCH.
# 454: King of the Fomorians. It was prophesied that his grandson would kill him and so he kept his daughter secluded on an island. But Cian mac Cainte was able to visit the island where he slept with Ethniu, Balor's daughter. Of their union Lugh was born. Balor was one-eyed because he had spied on some druids who were preparing a draught of wisdom. Some splashed out and hit him in the eye thus making the glance of this eye baleful to any he looked upon. He kept that eye-lid closed and had four attendants to raise it when he wanted to kill his enemies. At the second Battle of Mag Tuired, Lugh put out this eye with a sling-stone and killed him. Traces of Balor occur in many extant folk-stories of the British Isles. Parallels between him and Yspaddaden are so striking that it is clear they are analogous with each other.
# 156 - 157 - 166 - 326 - 454 - 562
# 156: King of Gomeret or Benwick. He supported Arthur in the battle with the rebel leaders at the outset of Arthur's reign. His realm was on the Continent and, in return for his assistance, Arthur was to aid him against his foe, King Claudas. When Claudas destroyed Ban's castle at Trebes, he died of a broken heart. Ban's wife is usually called Elaine but, in the French medieval romance 'Roman des fils du roi Constant,' she is named Sabe. In that romance, he has a daughter called Liban. His son Lancelot became Arthur's chief knight. Ban also had an illegitimate son, called Ector de Maris, whose mother was the wife of Agravadan. Ban's sword was called Courechouse. He was the brother of King Bors of Gaul. It has been suggested that he was, in origin, the god Bran and that the name Ban de Benoic (Ban of Benwick) was a corruption of Bran le Benoit (Bran the Blessed; see the MABINOGION, where Bran is called Bendigeidfran, Bran the Blessed). Ban's name has also been connected with Irish B N (white).
# 156 - 418 - 496
# 562: Wife of Danaan king, MacCuill. # 454: According to a lost early manuscript, she was the first settler in Ireland which was called 'the island of Banba of the women' - which perhaps is associated with TIR NA MBAN. She was one of the three goddesses of Sovereignty to whom Amergin promised the honour of naming the island after her. Thus Banba is a poetic name for Ireland.
# 166 - 454 - 469 - 562
Ancient Celtic word for prophetess. A Banf ith was exalted among her kind. Like bards they could sing and play the harp, and like bards they were able counsellors. But they also possessed an older, more mysterious power: the ability to search the woven pathways of the future to see what will be and to speak to the people in the voice of the DAGDA.
# 383 p 200
A female Filidh, or harper.
# 383 p 202
Visited by Mac Cecht in his frantic search for water. But the Fairy Folk, who are here manifestly elemental powers controlling the forces of nature, have sealed all the sources against him. He tries the Well of Kesair in Wicklow in vain; he goes to the great rivers, Shannon and Slayney, Bann and Barrow - but they all hide away at his approach.
# 562
# 701: From Gaelic BEAN-SIDHE, 'woman of the fairy-mounds,' the Banshee was another form of the Goddess-voice, for she was heard, but rarely seen. Irish folklore said the voice of the Banshee was sometimes a terrifying shriek or ghastly wail that would cause any hearer to drop dead at once; or, at other times, it was a soft, comforting voice adressed to those whom the Goddess loved 'a welcome rather than a warning' of the coming passage into the realm of death.
# 100: Her name may be more correctly written BEAN SI, who wails only for members of the old families. When several keen together, it foretells the death of someone very great or holy. The Banshee has long streaming hair and a grey cloak over a green dress. Her eyes are fiery red with continual weeping. In the Scottish Highlands the Banshee is called BEAN-NIGHE or 'Little-Washer-by-the-Ford', and she washes the grave-clothes of those about to die. The Highland Banshee, like the other fairies, has some physical defects. She has only one nostril, a large protruding front tooth and long hanging breasts. A mortal who is bold enough to creep up to her as she is washing and lamenting and suck her long breast can claim to be her foster-child and gain a wish from her. Since the word 'banshee' means 'fairy woman', the beliefs about her are various, and occasionally the Glaistig is spoken of as a banshee, though she has nothing to do with the Bean-Nighe.
# 100 - 701 p 235
(baavan shee) This Highland word is the same as BANSHEE, and means 'fairy woman', but is generally employed to mean a kind of succubus, very dangerous and evil. See: BANSHEE.
# 100
The name of the King of Russia in Arthurian romance.
# 156
Tradition has that Finn lies in some enchanted cove spellbound, like Barbarossa.
# 562
A poet, storyteller, singer. Bards were initiates in different degrees. From Penderwydd - that is the Head Druid, or Chief Bard on to the Brehon, and further down to the Mabinog, which is a pupil or apprentice. There are many more kinds of specialized bards, like the Gwyddon who is an expert on anything to do with land or cattle, and many times have skills as a physician. The Bards of ancient Britain always maintained that their language emanated from an otherworldly source, and from where also the modern Gaelic have its roots. The tutor syllable in modern language has to be swift for tongue-knotting syllable, and vowel for elusive vowel. - Under an intensive and imaginative instruction, the speech of ancient Britain was a valued currency, and no words rendered meaningless through overuse or cheapened through bureaucratic doublespeak. It was a language alive with meaning: poetic, imaginative, bursting with rhytm and sound, they spoke to the soul. On the lips of a bard, a story became an astonishing revelation, a song became a marvel of almost paralyzing beauty. As mentioned above the degrees of bardship were elaborate and formal, their roles well defined through eons, apparently, of unaltered tradition. The candidate progressed from Mabinog - which had two distinct subdivisions, Cawganog and Cupanog and proceeded up through the various degrees: Filidh, Brehon, Gwyddon, Derwydd, and finally Penderwydd, sometimes called the Chief of Song. There was also a Penderwydd over the whole, the Chief of Chiefs, so to speak. He was called the Phantarch, and was chosen by acclamation of his peers to rule over the bardship of old Albion. The lore said, that in some obscure way, the Island of the Mighty was protected by the Phantarch as if he was standing underneath the realm, supporting it on his shoulders.
# 62 - # 383 pp 170-8
# 628: One of the most curious and difficult documents is a chapter from BARDDAS by Edward Williams, better known as Iolo Morgannwg. The work of this brilliant eighteenth-century antiquarian has probably given rise to more argument and discussion on the question of the authenticity of the bardic tradition than any other writer of any age. Iolo's brilliance is beyond question. The problem is that we no longer know how much he translated and how much he made up on the spur of the moment, having reached a point where he could no longer fill out the gaps in his knowledge by any other means. Most of the material reprinted in 'A Celtic Reader' is clearly a forgery; yet for all that it is fascinating as an example of the way a tradition can be extended in such a way that it complements rather than contradicts the original material. Thus it is with the BARDIC TRIADS much in the spirit of the originals.
# 562: Compilation enshrining Druidic thought, although Christian persons and episodes figure in the BARDDAS. At any rate, BARDDAS is a work of considerable philosophic interest, and even if it represents nothing but a certain current of Cymric thought in the sixteenth century it is not unworthy of attention by the student of things Celtic. Purely Druidic it does not even profess to be, for Christian personages and episodes from Christian history figure largely in it. But we come occasionally upon a strain of thought which, whatever else it may be, is certainly not Christian, and speaks of an independent philosophic system.
# 562 - 628 Iolo Morgannwg (ed.) Barddas pp 177, 241 ff
The popular conception of the Danaan deities was probably at all times something different from the bardic and druidic, or in other words the scholarly, conception. The latter represents them as presiding deities of science and poetry, which is the product of the Celtic, the Aryan imagination, inspired by a strictly intellectual conception.
# 562
Called the 'Navigator' he guided Merlin and Taliesin on their voyage to the otherworld island with the wounded Arthur. He epitomizes the ferryman of the dead and may be drawn from the mythos of Manannan. He is also, in the form of St Barrind, responsible for starting Saint Brendan on his voyage to the paradise of the Blest. See: FORTUNATE ISLANDS.
# 399 - 416 - 454 - 507
Visited by Mac Cecht. See: BANN, THE RIVER.
# 562
# 562: A lord of the Red Branch; meets Naisi and Deirdre on landing in Ireland; persuades Fergus to feast at his house;
# 454: The Red Branch warrior who met Deirdre and Naosi on their return from Scotland. He persuaded Fergus to leave his guarding of the runaway couple in order to feast with himself. Fergus, one of whose geise included the inability not to respond to any hospitality offered to him, complied, thus leaving the doomed couple to their fate.
# 156: The Caliph of Baghdad, with whom Gahmuret took service in Wolfram's PARZIFAL. In actual fact, the potentate denoted was the Caliph of Baghdad, head of Islam in the Middle Ages, an anachronism since the Arthurian period predated Mohammed. The title Baruc seems to come from the Hebrew personal name Baruch. In the LIVRE D'ARTUS, Baruc is the name of a knight.
# 156 - 454 - 562 - 748
The site of one of Arthur's battles was the River Bassus (#494). It has not been identified.
# 156 - 494
See: SARMATIANS.
The parentage of Finn and the beginning of the hereditary feud between him and Goll mac Morna are related in this story. The battle is supposed to have taken place toward the end of the second century of the Christian era. The date of composition is at least as early as the eleventh century, and may be considerably earlier, for the short, dry succession of factual statements is a trait which is distintcly reminiscent of the earlier style.
# 166
The full title of THE BATTLE OF MOYTURA in the original Irish is CATH MAIGE TUREDH AN SCEL-SA SIS & GENEMAIN BRES MEIC ELATHAN & A RIGHE which translates as THIS TALE BELOW IS THE BATTLE OF MAIGE TUIRED AND THE BIRTH OF BRES SON OF ELATHA AND HIS REIGN.
Note the triple aspect of this full title: a battle, a birth, and a king's reign. There are only two complete original manuscript copies extant today. The older is from the first half of the sixteenth century and was committed to writing by the scribe Gilla Riabhach O'Cleirigh, Son of Tuathal, Son of Tadhg Cam O'Cleirigh, and is in the Old Irish language. The second manuscript was written between 1651 and 1652 by David Duigenan, and is in Middle Irish. Both, however, are believed to have come from a text which was known in the ninth century, and which in turn was based on oral traditions of immeasurable antiquity. Its very longevity speaks volumes. Because these old Celtic Pagan legends were written down many centuries after their original oral telling, and because the people who wrote them down were Christian monks, it is often taken as fact that the versions we have inherited today must be corrupted or altered, perhaps even deliberately, and therefore probably bear little resemblance to their original form. On the surface this argument appears plausible and quite likely but, on closer thought and examination, it soon becomes apparent that it is an error to assume this automatically.
It has often been argued that the original oral tellings must have gradually changed and been altered and embellished by each individual story-teller over the many long years these tales were told, the result being that it is no longer possible today to say that any one version is the true and original one. This, however, assumes that the original story-tellers were incapable of remembering the full story verbatim as they had heard it, or that they wilfully changed the content of the tale for the reasons of their own. It is highly unlikely that either of these suppositions are correct. The main fault with this argument is that it is based on our modern inability to remember long spoken passages, and, secondly, upon our equally modern desire to express ourselves in our own, individual way. These assumptions do not take into account the way the ancient Celts - who after all were the ones telling the story in the first place - regarded the importance of memory; nor do they take into account the need that existed to pass on spoken words accurately and precisely. With the invention of writing neither a retentive memory nor the ability to recall long oral pieces verbatim was so important, and gradually over the centuries we have lost the memory capacity which our forebears most definitely had. Indeed, the Celts were wise enough to see both the dangers and advantages of this new form of communication known as writing, and in order to preserve the memory abilities of their holy men, the Druids, they forbade them writing down any of their secular works. There was no such prohibition on the layman, however, as it was recognized that writing did have distinct advantages in the commercial world. It is feasible then that the legends which eventually came to be written down in the seventh-to-ninth centuries were accurate copies of the extant oral tradition.
This is also borne out by the fact that for several centuries the two traditions existed side by side. The ordinary Celt did not have the luxury of books nor the ability to read and therefore still depended entirely upon the spoken word. The monks on the other hand, who wrote these spoken words down, would also have been familiar with the oral tradition, and it would have been pointless for them to set down in writing (for writing was a very laborious and expensive business), works which they knew to be inaccurate or simply wrong. It is also often argued that the written legends are not faithful reproductions of the oral legends because the Christian scribes edited or changed the very Pagan nature of the legends and deliberately altered them in an attempt to convert the common people to the new Christian religion. This again is highly unlikely for several reasons. It must be remembered that the Christian monks had originally been Pagan Celts, and these tales, as demonstrated in Steve Blamires' book THE IRISH CELTIC MAGICAL TRADITION, were not just stories or fanciful fairy-tales but the very basis on which the whole of their society was constructed (on three levels, as mentioned above), and it would have been unthinkable, even on the part of converts to the new Christian religion, deliberately to alter or otherwise tamper with such important information. This fact can be seen by the way the Irish Catholic church incorporated a very great deal of the existing Pagan religious beliefs and practices into its own teachings, much to the annoyance and eventual fury of Rome. In the case of this particular legend there is no evidence whatsoever of the text having been altered by over-zealous scribes, and although there are a couple of places where the Christians scribe did insert a few comments of his own, these do not in any way alter the sense of the story nor attempt to discredit the events being described. It will also be seen that the text contains some very explicit sexual descriptions as well as references to some very basic bodily functions, normally not talked about even today. It seems very unlikely then that if the monks' aim was to edit and change the old Pagan legends into acceptable Christian versions they would have left in such unChristian passages. The important point about any of these ancient Celtic legends is that the information they contain goes beyond such things, and 'speaks' directly to the innermost part of the reader, who instinctively knows it is correct. They are truly timeless and they adopt and adapt themselves to the times in which they are being read. Therefore their spiritual instruction and guidance is as valid now as it was a thousand years ago and will be a thousand years hence. Blamires say in his Introduction that he have tried as much as possible to split the narrative into sections which are complete in themselves and which make sense if read in isolation apart from the rest of the main story. There are however some passages which are so archaic and obscure that it is impossible even to attempt a guess as to what they originally symbolized. This, however, does not matter. Most of the narrative can still be read and understood perfectly; the uninterpretable passages do not affect the overall outcome of our dissection of the symbolism contained within the rest of the legend. These totally obscure passages in an ironic way do serve an important function, in that they demonstrate very clearly that the physical, mental and spiritual needs of humanity have altered as our understanding of the world around us have changed. When the legend was originally told these now obscure passages would have had an immediate relevance to the Celtic listener, and he or she would have been able to see and understand the symbolism and information which they contained. As our needs and understanding of life have altered through the centuries so the information contained within parts of the legend has lost its relevance and is of no use to us today. This is a perfectly natural function and simply reflects what happens in the Green World, the World of Nature - when something has lost its relevance or its ability to adopt to changing circumstances it is done away with or modified to suit the times. We call this evolution in the plant and animal world, and this same principle of evolution can be applied to the texts of the Celtic legends.
Perhaps some of the major world religions would do well to pay heed to this important point, and to accept that parts of their teachings are outdated and need to be allowed to evolve. Evolution brings life, stagnation brings death. The author's examination of THE BATTLE OF MOYTURA begins with the first nine sections of the legend, which are probably the most important and contain within them the essence of the Celtic philosophical, religious and magical beliefs. The first chapter focus on the first six sections; Chapter 2 examines Sections 7 to 9 more fully. 1. The Tuatha De Danann were in the northern islands of the world, studying occult lore and sorcery, druidic arts, witchcraft and magical skills, until they surpassed the sages of the pagan arts. 2. They studied occult lore, secret knowledge and diabolic arts in four cities; Falias, Gorias, Murias and Findias. 3. From Falias was brought the Stone of Fal, which was located in Tara. It used to cry out beneath every king that would take Ireland. 4. From Gorias was brought the spear which Lug had. No battle was ever sustained against it, or against the man who held it in his hand. 5. From Findias was brought the sword of Nuadu. No one ever escaped from it once it was drawn from its deadly sheath, and no one could resist it. 6. From Murias was brought the Dagda's cauldron. No company ever went away from it unsatisfied. 7. There were four wizards in those four cities. Morfesa was in Falias; Esras was in Gorias; Uiscias was in Findias; and Semias was in Murias. They were the four poets from whom the Tuatha De learned occult lore and secret knowledge. 8. The Tuatha De then made an alliance with the Fomoire, and Balor the grandson of Net gave his daughter Ethne to Cian the son of Dian Cecht. And she bore the glorious child, Lug. 9. The Tuatha De came with a great fleet to Ireland to take it by force from the Fir Bolg. Upon reaching the territory of Corcu Belgatan (which is Conmaicne Mara today), they at once burned their boats so that they would not think of fleeing to them. The smoke and the mist which came from the ships filled the land and the air which was near them. For that reason it has been thought they arrived in clouds of mist. To begin the examination of the symbolism contained within these first nine sections one should be reminded of what was said earlier regarding a change of attitude concerning linear time, and adopting the concept of the three levels (See also: IRISH CELTIC MAGICAL TRADITION, THE). This opening to the legend is the closest we can get to a Celtic creation myth. All of the world's main religions and mythologies contain some sort of creation myth, the Christian concept of the seven days of creation probably being the most familiar to Western readers, but there is no such clear-cut explanation of creation within the Celtic system. These first nine sections of THE BATTLE OF MOYTURA are the closest we shall get to such an idea, as will be explained. It will be noted that there are three separate races of beings mentioned - the Tuatha De Danann, the Fomoire, and the Fir Bolg. These three races can be equated with the three levels in the following manner:
# 75
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