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The wife of Meliodas. When heavily pregnant she went into the woods to look for her husband and gave birth to Tristan, but died in doing so. She was the sister of Mark of Cornwall.
# 156 - 418
Arthur's head groom.
# 156 - 346
Arthur's nephew, the son of Madog, son of Uther. After his death he appeared to Arthur in the guise of an eagle in early Welsh poem YMDDIDDAN ARTHUR A'R ERYR. It has been suggested that he was the original of Lancelot. See: TWENTY-FOUR KNIGHTS.
# 156
The fairies of the Medieval Romances grew out of the Celtic tradition of the Heroic Fairies, the knights and ladies of the MABINOGION, the Daoine Sidh who encountered the Milesians in love or battle; but the poets and dramatists of the Elizabethan age brought a different strand of fairy tradition into prominence. This was partly because the rise of the yeoman class, as the 16th century went on, had brought a spread of literacy and produced a new class of writers, drawn from the country up to town as Shakespeare was drawn, and bringing with them their own country traditions, The fairy ladies of the romances had become more humanized and sophisticated as time went on, and though Spencer clung to them still, they were perhaps slightly out of date. Classical mythology was a perennial source of allusions familiar to every lettered man, even if he only came from a small-town grammar school. Still, there had been a good deal said and sung about Mars and Venus and naiads and dryads and nymphs; a new source of reference would be a welcome change, and it was at hand in the English countryside. There are two main types of fairies which were novelties in literature: the hobgoblins, with which we may rate the brownie and the puck, and the small, flower-loving fairies such as we find pre-eminently in MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM and which became all the fashion for the Jacobean Fairies. These fairy writings came in towards the end of the century, in the hey-day of the drama. Among the prose writers, Nashe in his TERRORS OF THE NIGHT gives us a characteristic picture of the hobgoblin type: The Robin-good-fellowes, Elfes, Fairies, Hobgoblins of our latter age, which idolatrous former daies and the fantastic all world of Greece ycleaped FAWNES, SATYRES, DRYADES, & Hamadryades, did most of their merry prankes in the Night. Then ground they malt, and had hempen shirts for their labours, daunst in rounds greene meadowes, pincht maids in their sleep that swept not their houses cleane, and led poore Travellers out of their way notoriously. Here Nashe, with a journalist's eye, lights on most of the things which became most noteworthy in his period, the brownie labours and the gift of a shirt that brought them to an end, the Dancing in fairy rings, the love of order and neatness and the punishment for untidy ways and the misleading of night wanderers. Shakespeare puts in all of these, except the pinching, which is being forever mentioned in the masques and poems , but he adds the fairy smallness and their love of flowers, which were to become so characteristic of the Jacobean fairies. The Elizabethans struck a new note in literature there, though it was not new in tradition. It is to be found in Gervase of Tilbury and Giraldus Cambrensis.
# 100 - 246 - 247 - 493
The daughter of Arthur in the Scots ballad of CHILDE ROWLAND - She is referred to in the ballad as Burd Ellen, 'burd' signifying 'lady'.
# 156
(ethlerthldan) The Welsh form of Will O' The Wisp, or Jacky Lantern, or Spunkie, with a variety of names all over the country but only one activity: that of misleading night travellers into fens and bogs. They have not a monopoly of this sport, for Puck, Pwca, and the Somerset Pixies play exactly the same trick, though they are much more complex characters.
# 100
(ethlerthlon) This is the name given to the Welsh elves. According to Wirt Sikes in BRITISH GOBLINS these are tiny, diaphanous fairies whose food is toadstools and 'fairy butter', a fungoid substance found in the roots of old trees and in limestone crevices. Their queen is MAB, and they are smaller than the Tylwyth Teg. In a story which Sikes collected orally at Peterstone, near Cardiff, they appear less ethereal and more like Somerset pixies. This is the tale of an unfortunate farmer named Rowli Pugh who seemed to be the butt of misfortune. If blight came anywhere, it fell on his crops; when all other cattle were flourishing, his were ailing. His wife was an invalid with no strength to do anything about the house or farm, and he was thinking sadly one day that he must sell up the farm and leave, when he was accosted by an ellyl who told him not to be troubled any longer, to tell his wife to leave a lighted candle and sweep the fire clean, and the Ellyllon would do the rest. The ellyl was as good as his word. Every night Rowli and Catti went early to bed leaving the coast clear, every night they heard laughter, merriment and bustle below them, and every morning farm stock and farmhouse were in apple-pie order. Rowli and Catti grew strong and sleek crops and stock prospered. This went on for three years till Catti grew avid for a glimpse of the little people. One night she left her husband sound asleep, tiptoed downstairs and peeped through a crack of the door. There was the merry throng laughing, gambolling, working at top speed. Their merriment was so infectious that Catti burst out laughing too. At once the candle was blown out, there was a cry and a scamper, and all was quiet. The Ellyllon never came back to work at Pugh's farm, but he had got into the way of prosperity and his ill-fortune did not return. A very similar story is told about the Somerset pixies. It is one of many stories about the infringement of fairy privacy.
# 100 - 596
A Celtic kingdom, centred on Leeds, which was in existence in the Arthurian period. Its exact extent cannot be determined.
# 156
# 562: Son of Gwyddno; finds Taliesin; his boast of wife and bard at Arthur's court.
# 156: The son of Gwyddno Garanhir, he rescued Taliesin when Ceridwen had placed him in a leather bag in the sea. Taliesin repaid Elphin's kindness by rescuing him when he was a prisoner of Maelgwyn.
# 156 - 272 - 562
Daughter of the Duke of Brabant, she was championed by Lohengrin against Telramund. Lohengrin then married her but cautioned her not to ask his name. She bore him two children but, at length, she asked the forbidden question, so he left her.
# 156
Already in Scandinavian mythology the fairy people were elves, like the Scottish Seelie Court and Unseelie Court. The name came over into Britain, and in the Anglo-Saxon Leechdoms we find remedies against Elf-shot and other sinister elvish activities. The mythological light elves were not unlike the small Trooping fairies of England as we find them in Shakespeare's MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM and many common traditions. In Christian times the Scandinavians continued to believe in the elves, or huldre folk, who showed many of the same characteristics as the Scottish fairies, both Highland and Lowland. They stole humans away, destroyed their cattle and avenged any injuries done to them. The huldre girls were beautiful and alluring, wearing grey dresses and white veils, but the defect of the fairies by which they could be recognized was their long cows' tails. A man who was dancing with a huldre girl saw her tail and realized what she was. He did not betray her, but only said, 'Pretty maid, you are losing your garter.' His tact was rewarded by perpetual prosperity. The defect of the Danish elves or ellewomen is that though they appeared beautiful and engaging from the front, they were hollow behind. The Danish elves were great thieves of dough and other human foods. In Lowland Scotland and in England the usage differed. In Scotland the fairy people of human size were often called elves and Fairyland was Elfame; in England it was the smaller trooping fairies who were called elves, and the name was particularly applied to small fairy boys. TITANIA'S 'To make my small elves coats' is a typical example of the later use. 'Elf', however, was as unpopular with the fairies themselves as the tactless name of 'fairy', if we may judge from the rhyme given by Chambers: 'Gin ye ca' me imp or elf, I rede ye look weel to yourself; Gin ye ca' me fairy, I'll work ye muckle tarrie; Gin guid neibour ye ca' me, Then guid neibour I will be; But gin ye ca' me seelie wicht, I'll be your freend baith day and nicht.'
# 100 - 146
The definite history of Ely began in AD 673 though the early histories refer to a church at Ely which was consecrated by St Augustine and later destroyed by Penda, King of Mercia. It was in 673 that St Etheldreda, Queen of Northumbria, came to Ely to found a religious community. The great Saxon historian Bede describes it as a nunnery, but almost certainly this was a double monastery of monks and nuns, and, as first Abbess St Etheldreda ruled over both houses. The life of worship and service to God has continued ever since, thousands of visitors come to the Cathedral in a manner reminiscent of the great medieval pilgrimages, the Cathedral plays its part in the life of the City and the Diocese of Ely. In WHERE TROY ONCE STOOD, Iman Wilkens tells us that Homer in the Iliad, XI, 166, refer to the Tomb of Ilos, which is, according to Wilkens, the foundation of what we now know as the city Ely and its surroundings. As for one of Homer's other clues - oysters, eels, vineyards and springs - all are present in the region. The excavations have revealed oyster shells, and even today visitors are offered oysters, especially in Colchester, near the North Sea oyster beds. As for eels, there are so many in the river Cam that the inhabitants of Ely, a small town on this river, think that the name probably comes from eel. They cannot know that their town is more likely to owe its name to Ilos, the ancestor of Priam, whose barrow, according to Homer, was precisely there, half way between Troy and the sea. The magnificent Ely Cathedral is thus built on what must have been an important pagan cult before the Christian era. There is still an old street called Vineyards in Ely, indication of a tradition of viticulture and even today there are some local wines available.
# 61 - 730
The son of Sir Bors by the daughter of King Brandegoris. He later became Emperor of Constantinople.
# 156 - 418
Cousin of Guinevere, she was imprisoned by Claudas for suspected espionage. He refused to release her and this led to war with Arthur.
# 156
(ev'in ma'ha) The capital of ancient Ulster; now the Navan Fort near Armagh. The Morrigan passes through Emain Macha to warn CuChulain; founding of E. M. with reign of Kimbay; equivalent, the Brooch of Macha; Macha compels five sons of Dithorba to construct ramparts and trenches of E. M.; appearance of Dectera in fields of E. M.; CuChulain drives back to E. M.; news of CuChulain's battle-fury brought to E. M.; Fergus returns to E. M.; boy corps at E. M. go forth to help CuChulain; Ulster men return with great glory; Conall's 'brain ball' laid up. See also: MACHA.
# 166 - 562
Women of Emania meet CuChulain; sacrifice of boy corps of Emania avenged by CuChulain; CuChulain takes farewell of womenfolk of Emania. See also: EMAIN MACHA.
# 562
(ev'er) Daughter of Forgall Monach; wooed by CuChulain; CuChulain seeks and carries off Emer; She becomes CuChulain's wife; learns of the tryst between CuChulain and Fand; CuChulain sees her corpse in his madness.
# 562
# 166: According to the most ancient tradition, CuChulain, it seems, was unmarried, but stories of tochmarca, or 'wooings,' were popular in early Irish literature, and we are not surprised to find that ere long the greatest of all the Ulster heroes, though still a boy, was supplied with a wife. 'The Wooing of Emer' exists in several versions, the oldest of which was composed as early as the eighth century. The wandering and incoherent character of the narrative is probably due in large part to the fact that the author has added to the simple tale of CuChulain's wooing numerous themes derived from older sagas, notably the account of how CuChulain went to learn feats of arms from the amazonian Scathach. CuChulain's dialogue with Emer is couched in a veiled and highly poetical language which was comprehensible only to the initiated and hence means little when rendered into modern English. It can be found in full in Cross' and Slover's ANCIENT IRISH TALES.
# 548: CuChulain's perilous adventure in the land of Scathach was contrived by Forgall Monach, the hostile father of his future bride Emer, when he discovered that the young hero had been to his fort to woo the maiden. Forgall was a nephew of Tethra, King of the Fomoire, and his fortress in Brega was called Luglochta Loga, 'The Gardens of Lugh'. Before CuChulain drove to it in his chariot, nine men had been searching every province in Ireland for a whole year in the hope of finding in some stronghold a maiden it might please CuChulain to woo, but their search had been of no avail. Though Forgall's fortress was in Ireland, the journey there was a metaphorical adventure into a mysterious world. Conversing in riddles with Emer, CuChulain says that he passed the night in 'the house of a man who calls the cattle of the plain of Tethra', and he has come 'between the Two Props of the Woodland, from the Darkness of the Sea, over the Great Secret of the Men of the Gods, over the Foam of the Two Steeds of Emain, over the Field of the Morrigan, over the Back of the Sea Pig, over the Valley of the Great Ox, between the God and his Prophet, over the Marrow of the Woman Fedelm, between the Boar and his Dam, over the Washingplace of the Horses of the Gods, between the King of Ana and his Servant, to the Food Storehouse of the Four Corners of the World, over Great Ruin and the Remnants of the Great Feast, between the Vat and the Little Vat, to the Daughters of the Champion of Tethra, King of the Fomoire, to the Gardens of Lugh.' When the hero goes a-wooing, the drive from Ulster to Brega becomes a ceremonial progress into the world beyond. On returning from the land of Scathach, CuChulain set out again in his scythe chariot for Forgall's fortress, leaped over the three ramparts of the fort and 'dealt three blows in the fort, so that eight men fell from each blow, and one escaped in each group of nine, namely Scibur, Ibur, and Cat, the three brtothers of Emer.' Forgall fell to his death from a rampart as he fled from CuChulain, and the triumphant hero carried off Emer and her foster-sister with their weight in gold and silver. Escaping towards Ulster, they were pursued by Forgall's men, and CuChulain had to pause at various historic places on the way to do battle with them. But the incidents of the struggle were no mere contingencies. During the punning conversation of the lovers at their first encounter, CuChulain had seen the breasts of the maiden over the bosom of her smock. And he said: 'Fair is the plain, the plain of the noble yoke.' 'No one comes to this plain,' said she, 'without leaping the hero's salmon-leap, bringing out two women with their weight in gold and silver, and at one blow slaying three times nine men but saving one man in each group of nine.' In the event, CuChulain and his adversaries were simply going through the motions of a drama, the course of which had been preordained before the action began.
# 166 - 548
In Dryden's KING ARTHUR, a blind girl, daughter of Duke Conon of Cornwall, was promised to Arthur but was carried off by Oswald, the Saxon King of Kent. Merlin restored her sight when she was still a prisoner and Arthur eventually defeated Oswald and rescued her.
# 156
Enamelling was unknown to the classical nations till they learned it from the Celts. One beautiful feature in the decoration of metal-work seems to have entirely originated in Celtica.
# 562
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