The figures beneath each entry give reference numbers for the Bibliography
Next Section
Prev Section
Table Of Contents
Historians tell us that the names for Flamborough, Humberside, and for Scarborough (north of Flamborough) are derived from the personal names of two brothers who are mentioned in the 'Kormak's Saga' of the Old Norsemen. Kormak Fleinn (the javelin) and Thorgils Skarthi (the hare-lipped) are traditionally named as the founders (respectively) of these two northern towns. They were great warriors, and by the time their epics had been told and retold up to the fourteenth century (the time-home of so much British legend), Skarthi had been turned into a mighty giant, perhaps through confusion with the nordic giantess Skadi, the mother of Freya, said to dwell in the zodiacal region of Taurus. The better known giant Grim gave us the more recognisable Grimsby, and is respectably portrayed on the town's seal. The remains of Fleinn are more in evidence however, for although he is reputed to have arrived shipwrecked among the white cliffs of Flamborough, he gave up sea-roving and built the first house there from the wreckage of his boat. One wonders why the myth-makers did not have him living in Robin Lythe's Cave (replete with smuggler legends as it is) which has a height of at least 50 feet in the central part. However, there is some hidden meaning in the giant not exactly burning his boats, but certainly settling down. There is some truth in the story, for as a popular guide to Flamborough village rightly said, 'The people come of a Viking stock, as not only eyes and hair and thick-set frames, but many of the words in everyday use attest.' In former times it was a commonplace to derive the name 'Flamborough' from other sources - as 'the place of the flame' - forgetful for the fact that the Anglo-Saxon 'flaen' is one of several words for 'sword or arrow', and that in Doomesday Book the name is written 'Flaynburg.
Arrow and name seem to meet in one curious old custom (now discontinued, but noted until well into the nineteenth century) when the Lord of the Manor would annually stand upon Flamborough Head and shoot an arrow tipped with a coin towards the North Sea, shouting, 'If there be a King of Denmarks, this is our sign of loyalty' - a strange way to offer danegeld. Perhaps there is some throw-back to pagan customs in the old ritual by which the coffins of women were usually carried to their graves by women. In 1894, Colonel Armytage recorded that, 'If a fisherman on his way to the boats should meet a woman, a parson or a hare, he will turn back, for he will have no luck that day...'
# 702
The so-called 'griffin' which is recognized as the 'Beast' of the City of London, and stands at the western end of Fleet Street, is really a dragon. The true griffin is an eagle in the top half, and a lion in the bottom half. This 'Beast' is one of the supporters of the shield of the City of London and, as Wilfrid Scott-Giles points out, had an unnatural origin. It seems that originally the City shield was supported by lions but, by the sixteenth century, over the shield in the city seal was a helmet with a curious fan-shaped crest. This was later interpreted as being the wing of a monster, and it was this misinterpretation which prompted the designers at a later stage to adopt a winged dragon as a supporter for the City shield. Thus, as ScottGiles confirms, the City dragons have no heraldic ancestry. For other mention of the London dragon, see BATTLE, EAST SUSSEX.
# 702
A heathen writer, whose Arabic book formed a source for poet Kyot.
# 562
The original pagan Lily Maid reappeared in medieval legends in many different guises including that of the Arthurian Elaine. The threelobed lily seems to have represented the Triple Goddess from a remote era, like the shamroch in pagan Ireland. Because the people knew it as a sacred symbol, it was placed on many banners and coats of arms, and eventually came to represent French royalty in general.
# 701 p 426
# 156: A son of Gawain who was amongst the party that surprised Lancelot and Guinevere together. He was killed by the escaping Lancelot.
# 454: One of Gawain's various illegitimate sons. In this instance, one of the two such sons by the unnamed sister of a Round Table Knight called Brandiles. He is supposed to have joined the attempt to entrap Lancelot in the Queen's chamber, and was killed by Lancelot during his escape.
# 156 - 454
Wife of Floriant and daughter of the Emperor of Constantinople.
# 156
The hero of the romance FLORIANT ET FLORETE. He was the son of Elyadus, King of Sicily, and the fosterling of Morgan le Fay. He was member of Arthur's court and Arthur supported him against the Emperor of Constantinople who made war on him. Floriant fell in love with Florete, the Emperor's daughter and married her. See: WHITE STAG.
# 156
# 156
An enchantress who learned her arts from Merlin. She sent him a herd of magic horses and a crystal tower on a chariot drawn by firebreathing elephants. She killed herself when she perceived the beauty of Iseult.
# 156
Blodeuwedd, the Welsh Flower-Bride, formed of blossoms by the magicians Gwydion and Math. She betrayed her intended husband, Llew, and caused him to undergo the Threefold Death at the hands of her lover, the hunter Gronw Pebr. Gwydion later transformed her into an owl, the night bird with a 'flower face'. See: BLODEUWEDD.
# 628 p 66
The mother of Iseult in the Icelandic SAGA OF TRISTAN.
# 156
The Celtic hero CuChulain was conceived when his mother-to-be swallowed him in the form of a fly. Perhaps the 'Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly' in the traditional folk song was one of these pre-Christian mothers.
# 701 p 416
This was made by Merlin and is found in the French romance THE FAIR MAGALONA AND PETER, SON OF THE COUNT OF PROVENCE.
# 156
The Foawr (fooar). The Manx equivalent of the Highland Fomorians. Like them, the Foawr are stone-throwing Giants. They are great ravishers of cattle, but do not seem to be Ogres. Dora Broome in FAIRY TALES FROM THE ISLE OF MAN has a story, 'Chalse and the Foawr', of a light-hearted young fiddler caught and carried home by a Foawr. One would expect it to end like the Polyphemus incident, but Chalse escapes by climbing up the giant's chimney. Nothing much is told of the giant who rode Jimmy Squarefoot, except that he threw stones at his wife, but in one of Sophia Morrison's MANX FAIRY TALES we have a complete Tom Tit Tot story in which the spinning is done by a giant whose name is Mollyndroat. The prize of the guessing contest in this tale is the possession of the woolen thread spun. Mollyndroat was the least grasping of all the Goblin spinners.
# 100 - 105 - 485
One of the three goddesses of Sovereignty to whom Amergin promised the honour of naming Ireland. See: BANBA, and ERIU.
# 454 - 562
(fodeen shaughrawin) see: STRAY SOD.
A son of Necthan, slain by CuChulain.
# 562
Conor's youngest son; leads boy corps against Maev.
# 562
# 166: (Fo-vor-ee-an)
# 562: A misshapen, violent people representing the powers of evil in their battle with the Partholanians; Nemedians in constant warfare with Fomorians and their tyranny over country of Ireland; encounter between the Danaans and Fomorians.
# 454: The original inhabitants of Ireland who lived beyond the sea or under it, according to legend. Various of the invading peoples were attacked by them, particularly the Tuatha de Danaan with whom they came to pitch battle. Their king was Balor. They were probably a remembrance of the earliest native peoples, of non-Celtic stock; they accumulated every possible association with evil and darkness in legend.
# 100: A race of demons, hideous and evil, against whom most of the successive invaders of Ireland had to fight. There is no record of their arrival, so presumably they had been there from the beginning, surviving the various hazards that exterminated the successive waves of colonizers. According to the BOOK OF CONQUESTS, the first unnamed inhabitants had perished in the Great Flood. Then came the children of Partholon, who waged war against the Fomorians and were finally destroyed by a great pestilence. After them came the people of Nemed, who fared even worse aginst the Fomorians than their predecessors, for they were enslaved by them and had to pay every November a yearly tribute of two thirds of their children and two thirds of their cattle. At length in a great battle they conquered the Fomorians and killed Conann, their king; but they themselves were so cruelly disminished in numbers that they left the country. Then came the Firbolgs, who had no trouble with the Fomorians, but were defeated by another wave of invaders, the Tuatha De Danann. The Tuatha conquered the Fir Bolgs, but allowed them to retain the province of Connacht. They also came into conflict with the Fomorians, but compromised with them to a certain extent, even to intermarriage. However, the war broke out again in the end, and the Fomorians were finally conquered at the second battle of Moytura. It has been suggested among the theories of Fairy Origins that these successive waves of invasion describe the conflicts of religious cults and practices. If this is so, the Fomorians would represent a primitive religion that entailed barbaric human and animal sacrifices. They were a race of sea-pirates with semi-supernatural characteristics who opposed the earliest settlers in Ireland. Later claiments identified them with the Scandinavians, who invaded the island during the eigth century. The Highland Fomorians were a race of giants, less evil than the Irish demons.
# 100 - 166 - 267 - 454 - 562
Son of Conor mac Nessa; slays Maev.
# 562
Place on the river Dee where one champion at a time would meet CuChulain and where the struggle at the ford between CuChulain and Ferdia took place.
# 562
# 166 - 266 - 454 - 562
See: AVALON.
Like the Blessed Islands: the earthly paradise located variously to the west of Ireland or applied to the Canary or Madeira Islands. According to the VITA MERLINI, it is ruled over by Morgan and her nine attendant muses. Analogous to Avalon.
# 242 - 454 - 632
In the MORTE ARTHURE, Arthur dreamt that he beheld Fortune spinning her wheel on which he was placed. The wheel was then twirled about until he was smashed to fragments. He was told that this presaged his downfall.
# 156
King, slain in battle with Finn mac Cumhal; wager as to place of death made by Mongan.
# 562
The Celtic fairyland-paradise was a country of eternal youth with a wonderful fountain at its center, dispensing the waters of life. The fountain was also identified with the Cauldron of Regeneration. Several stories told of heroes reaching the fountain by entering a dragon-mouth - a mythic metaphor for the dangerous vagina dentata or menstrual taboo.
# 701 p 341
This was created by Merlin according to ASTRÉE, a seventeenth-century novel begun by Honoré d'Urfé (1567-1625) and concluded by his secretary, Baro. It is in the section by Baro that the fountain is mentioned. It was guarded by lions which would not eat a pure and honest person.
# 156
The fountain in which Esclarmonde bathed in the Terrestrial Paradise.
# 156
( 'The Answerer'). Terrible sword brought by Lugh from the Land of the Living.
# 562
In Arthurian romance, this country is sometimes called by the older name of Gaul. In the Arthurian period the Franks, from whom its present name derived, had established themselves there by about AD 457. Childeric I ruled them until about AD 481 when he was succeeded by Clovis I, possibly the King Claudas of Arthurian tales. From AD 511 Clovis's sons divided the kingdom. Pharamond, who perhaps comes originally from Frankish tradition, is the King of France in some Arthurian sources. CULHWCH mentions two French kings, Paris and Iona, at Arthur's court.
# 156
A country, formerly called Servage, conquered by Tristan.
# 156
He was loved by Findabair, daughter of Ailill and Maeve. He refused to pay a bride-price for her but agreed to accept her if he helped Maeve beat the Ulstermen. He was killed by CuChulain.
# 367 - 454
An historical figure who became the subject of romance in which he was accredited with various magical activities and abilities, including the creation of a Bronze Head which uttered prophecies. The suggestion that this was initially to help protect England suggests a memory of the Celtic god Bran, whose head was buried under White Mount at the Tower of London to protect the land. Bacon, who was in reality a scolar and alchemist, lived in the thirteenth century. He finally retired to a life of seclusion.
# 454
In Wolfram, the father of the Grail King Amfortas.
# 156
A Germanic people who gave their name to islands off the coast of the Netherlands and Germany. The Byzantine historian Procopius, who was writing in the traditional Arthurian period, numbers the Frisians among the barbarian invaders of Britain. Layamon says that King Calin of Friesland was subject to Arthur. In the ALLITERATIVE MORTE ARTHURE, King Frederick of Friesland was an ally of Mordred.
# 156
A dwarf who betrayed King Mark's secret that he had horses' ears. Mark had his head cut off.
# 156
Celtic tradition has the frog as Lord of the Earth; it also represents the healing waters.
# 161
A Roman tribune who ruled Gaul for the Emperor Leo. When Arthur invaded Gaul, he defeated Frollo in battle. Frollo retreated to Paris, outside which city he was slain by Arthur in single combat. The Vulgate LANCELOT makes him an ally of King Claudas and a claimant to the throne of Gaul. Elsewhere he is said to have been a German who became King of Gaul. In the PROSE TRISTAN he had a son called Samaliel who eventually became a knight of great renown. Is sometimes confused with Rollo, the first of the Norman dukes of Danish origin, who reigned 911 - 931.
# 156 - 181
(foo'am-nach). Wife of Midir the Proud of the Sidhe; her jealousy of a second bride, Etain, made her transform Etain into a butterfly by magic art; Midir beheaded Fuamnach when he discovered her treachery.
# 267 - 562
These malicious spirits were found near water, both inland and seawater. Fuaths were thought to be the parents of Brollachans.
# 454
Geoffrey lists him as an early King of Britain, and John of Fordun (a Scottish historian) claims he was an ancestor of Lot.
# 156
Actual historical character who lived at the time of King John Lackland and was one of the barons who opposed his greedy rule. He later became the subject of a lengthy romance in which his adventures with dragons and witches, monsters and beautiful maidens dressed his life with a border of myth and legend. He has many parallels with Robin Hood and seems for a time to have lived the real life of an outlaw. He is one of the few characters who really deserve the description Norman rather than English or Saxon.
# 454
(foor'bi he fâr'ben) A son of Conchobar; slayer of Medb; a protégé of CuChulain.
# 166
Next Section
Prev Section
Table Of Contents