Cabal - Cairpre Niafer

The figures beneath each entry give reference numbers for the Bibliography

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 r"n'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

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The Encyclopaedia of the Celts, ISBN 87-985346-0-2
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