Gaban - Gargantua

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GABAN

In the POLISTOIRE DEL EGLISE DE CHRIST DE CAUNTERBYRE, we are told that he made the sword later wielded by Gawain, back in the days when Christ was fourteen years old. Gaban may represent a survival of the ancient Celtic smith god Gobniu/Gofannon.

# 156

GABRA

(GOW-ra)

GABRIEL HOUNDS RATCHETS

The hounds of the Wild Hunt which are heard yelping in the sky, sometimes believed to be the cries of migrating geese. These hounds are like those hunted by Arawn, King of Annwn, having red-tipped ears. See GWYNN AP NUDD.

# 454

GADDIFER

The King of Scotland. He was made king when his brother Betis became King of England in the time of Alexander the Great. See: PERCEFOREST.

# 156

GAE BULGA

(GAE BOLG) (ga bool'ga) The thrust of Gae Bolg taught by Skatha to CuChulain; CuChulain slays his son Connla by Gae Bolg; CuChulain slays Loch by Gae Bolg; Ferdia slain by Cuchulain with Gae Bolg. A spear furnished with barbs running in opposite directions and manipulated under water with the toes. CuChulain, who alone knew the use of this weapon, learned it from Scathach.

# 166 - 562

GAELIC

Cymric language and Gaelic; Irish is probably an older form of Celtic speech than Welsh. This is shown by many philological pecularities of the Irish language, of which one of the most interesting may be briefly referred to. The Goidelic or Gaelic Celts, who, according to the usual theory, first colonised the British Islands, and who were forced by successive waves of invasion by their Continental kindred to the extreme west, had a peculiar dislike to the pronounciation of the letter P. Thus the Indo-European particle PARE, beside or close to, becomes in early Celtic Are, as in the name Are-morici (the Amoricans, those who dwell armuir, by the sea); Are-dunum (Ardin, in France); Are-cluta, the place beside the Clota (Clyde), now Dumbarton; Are-taunon, in Germany (near the Taunus Mountains) etc. When this letter was not simply dropped it was usually changed into C (K, G). But about the sixth century BC a remarkable change passed over the language of the Continental Celts. They gained in some unexplained way the faculty for pronouncing P, and even substituted it for existing C sounds; thus the original Cretanis became Pretanis, Britain, the numeral qetuares (four) became petuares, and so forth. Celtic place-names in Spain show that this change must have taken place before the Celtic conquest of that country, 500 BC. Now a comparison of many Irish and Welsh words shows distinctly this avoidance of P on the Irish side and lack of any objection to it on the Welsh. The following are a few illustrations:

IRISH               WELSH               ENGLISH
crann               prenn               tree
mac                 map                 son
cenn                pen                 head
clumh (cluv)        pluv                feather
cúig                pimp                five

# 562

GAELS

Sacrifices of children by Gaels to idol Crom Cruach.

# 562

GAESATI

Celtic warriors, in battle of Clastidium.

# 562

GAHERIS

One of the sons of Lot and Morgause. At first he was the squire of his brother Gawain. He surprised Lamorak and Morgause in bed together and killed Morgause, for which Arthur banished him. With another brother, Agravain, he killed Lamorak. Gaheris was married to Lynette. He was killed by Lancelot during the rescue of Guinevere. Both he and another Gaheris were Knights of the Round Table. See: ERIES.

# 156

GAHMURET

In Wolfram, the father of Perceval. He went to the Orient and took service with the Baruc of Baghdad. He rescued the dark-skinned Belacane, Queen of Zazamanc, from a Scottish army and married her. He returned to Europe and married Herzeloyde, Queen of Wales and Northgalis. He returned to aid the Baruc and was killed. His sons were Perceval by Herzeloyde and the piebald Feirefiz by Belacane.

# 156

GAILHOM

See: GORE.

GALAGANDREIZ

One of Lancelot's fathers-in-law.

# 156

GALAHAD

1. The natural son of Lancelot. His name may be of Welsh origin or come from the place name Gilead in Palestine. His mother is variously called Elaine, Amite and Perevida. He was placed as a child in a nunnery, the abess there being his paternal great-aunt, and he was later knighted there by Lancelot. One day a sword in a stone was seen in a river by Arthur's knights. It was said in an inscription that only the world's best knight could pull out the sword. Galahad was led into Arthur's court where he sat in the Siege Perilous and then drew the sword out. When the Grail appeared in a vision at Arthur's court, Galahad was one of the knights sent on the Grail Quest. He was given a white shield, made by Evelake, with a red cross which Joseph of Arimathea had drawn in blood. In the course of the quest he joined up with Perceval, Bors and Perceval's sister. On Board Solomon's ship, Galahad obtained the sword of David. After the death of Perceval's sister, the remaining trio split up and, for a while, Perceval travelled with his father, Lancelot. He visited Evelake who then died. When he rejoined Bors and Perceval, they came to Carbonek and achieved the Grail. Galahad mended the broken sword, which the other two had failed to do, and Joseph of Arimathea appeared and celebrated Mass. Jesus appeared to the questers and told Galahad he would see the Grail more openly in Sarras. Galahad used the blood from the Grail Spear to anoint the Maimed King, so he was cured. With his companions he left and came to a ship with the Grail on board. On this they sailed to Sarras where the pagan king, Estorause, had them cast into prison where they were fed by the Grail. They forgave Estorause before they died, and Gala had became the next King of Sarras. A year later he came upon Joseph of Arimathea saying Mass. He then beheld the Grail and requested that he should now die and this he was allowed to do. Galahad may quite possibly have been the creation of the author of the QUESTE, as it is there he first appears, but he may be taken from a Welsh character, Gwalhafed, mentioned in CULHWCH. The historical Saint Illtyd has also been suggested as his prototype.
2. A son of Arimathea, born in Britain. He became King of Wales, then called Hocelice. He was an ancestor of Urien.
3. Galahad was the original name of Lancelot himself. See: TWENTY-FOUR KNIGHTS.

GALAHAUT, THE HAUTE PRINCE

He was Arthur's enemy but after his defeat at the hands of Lancelot, he became a devoted follower of that knight. He arranged the first secret meeting of the lovers and eventually died of grief when he heard a false report of Lancelot's death.

# 418 - 454 - 517

GALATIA

About the year 300 BC one detachment of the wandering Celtic tribes penetrated into Asia Minor, and founded the Celtic State of Galatia, where, as St Jerome attests, a Celtic dialect was still spoken in the fourth century AD.

# 562

GALEGANTIS

The name of Lancelot's maternal grandfather; also the name of one of Arthur's knights.

# 156

GALEHAUT

He was called 'the high prince', and was the ruler of the District Isles, Surluse and other kingdoms. His father was called Brunor and his mother was a giantess called Bagota. He invaded Britain but became a firm friend of Lancelot and, through him, a friend of Arthur. He was made a Knight of the Round Table. When he thought Lancelot was dead, he himself died from sickness and fasting.

GALENTIVET

Galentivet was once involved in an attack on Escanor, which was regarded as treacherous and for which Gawain received the blame. He was the brother of Griflet.

# 156

GALESCHIN

He aided Arthur while the latter was fighting the Saxons who were attacking the city of Clarence. When they were beaten, he was made Duke of Clarence. This is an anachronism: the duchy of Clarence was created in 1362 and the place name to which it related was Clare (Suffolk). He was the son of Arthur's sister Belisent and King Nentres of Garlot.

# 156

GALIOIN

See: FIRBOLGS.

GALLES, M. REN

The remarkable tumulus of Mané-er-H'oeck in Brittany was explored in 1864 by René Galles, who describes it as absolutely intact - the surface of the earth unbroken, and everything as the builders left it. (Source: 'Revue Archéologique' t. xii., 1865, 'Fouilles de René Galles.')

# 562

GAMELYN

A famous medieval outlaw whose adventures rivalled those of the better known Robin Hood. Youngest son of a baron, Gamelyn is disinherited by a grasping older brother and is thereafter at war with all his siblings save one, Sir Ote, who befriends him. But Gamelyn is a man of great strength and short temper and was soon in trouble with the law. At the instigation of one of his brothers he is thrown into prison, escapes and is declared an outlaw. Soon made King of the Outlaws, he lives a life of adventure until he finally wins justice for himself and Ote, regaining his lands but retaining a friendly relationsship with the old outlaw band which he had once led.

# 454

GAN-CEANN

Gan-Ceann (without a head) is called the Love-Talker in some parts of Ireland. He appears in lovely places to single women and courts them, before leaving them as swiftly as he came, to pine away.

# 100 - 454

GANDIN

According to Wolfram, the name of Perceval's grandfather.

# 156

GANIEDA

The twin sister of Merlin, she is found in both the VITA MERLINI and the Welsh poems where she is called Gwendydd. In the VITA she is the wife of Rhydderch and her adultery is spotted by Merlin. The idea of her being an adulteress may have stemmed from Jocelyn's LIFE OF ST KENTIGERN in which Rhydderch's wife, Languoreth, becomes enamoured of a soldier. The Welsh poems do not say definitely that Ganieda was married to Rhydderch.

# 156

GARACH, THE BATTLE OF

The battle was joined on the Plain of Garach, in Meath. Fergus, wielding a two-handed sword, the sword which, it was said, when swung in battle made circles like the arch of a rainbow, swept down whole ranks of the Ulster men at each blow*, and the fierce Maeve charged thrice into the heart of the enemy. * [The sword of Fergus was a fairy weapon called the CALADCHOLG (hard dinter), a name of which Arthur's more famous 'Excalibur' is a Latinised corruption.] Fergus met Conor the King, and smote him on his golden-bordered shield, but Cormac, the king's son, begged for his father's life. Fergus then turned on Conall of the Victories. 'Too hot art thou,' said Conall, 'against thy people and thy race for a wanton,' [the reference is to Deirdre]. Fergus then turned from slaying the Ulstermen, but in his battle-fury he smote among the hills with his rainbow-sword, and struck off the tops of the three maela of Meath, so that they are flat-topped (mael) to this day. CuChulain in his stupor heard the crash of Fergus' blows, and coming slowly to himself he asked of Laeg what it meant. 'It is the swordplay of Fergus,' said Laeg. Then he sprang up, and his body dilated so that the wrappings and swathings that had been bound on him flew off, and he armed himself and rushed into the battle. Here he met Fergus. 'Turn hither, Fergus,' he shouted; 'I will wash thee as foam in a pool, I will go over thee as the tail goes over a cat, I will smite thee as a mother smites her infant.' 'Who speaks thus to me?' cried Fergus. 'CuChulain mac Sualtam; and now do thou avoid me as thou art pledged.' 'I have promised even that,' said Fergus [see: FERGUS, and CUCHULAIN], and then went out of the battle, and with him the men of Leinster and the men of Munster, leaving Maeve with her seven sons and the hosting of Connacht alone. It was midday when CuChulain came into the fight; when the evening sun was shining through the leaves of the trees his war-chariot was but two wheels and a handful of shattered ribs, and the host of Connacht was in full flight towards the border. CuChulain overtook Maeve, who crouched under her chariot and entreated grace. 'I am not wont to slay women,' said CuChulain, and he protected her till she had crossed the Shannon at Athlone.

# 562

GARANWYN

In Welsh tradition, a son of Kay.

# 156

GARCELOS

An ancestor of Arthur in a maternal pedigree by Gruffudd Hiraethog, a Welsh writer of the sixteenth century. The name Garcelos may be a corruption of Castellors, found in the pedigree provided by John of Glastonbury.

# 156

GAREL

An Arthurian knight who conquered the land of Kanedic whose king, Ecunaver, had announced his intention of attacking Arthur. Garel married Queen Laudame of Anfere. His exploits are recounted in the romance GAREL VON DEM BLÜENDEN TAL by Der Pleier.

# 156

GARETH

Son of Lot, King of Lothian and Orkney, by Arthur's sister, Morgause. He came to Arthur's court in disguise and was put to work in the kitchens where Kay gave him the contemptuous nickname 'Beaumains' ('Fair Hands' - indicating that they were unsullied by work). When Lynette came to Arthur looking for someone to help her sister Lyonors against the Red Knight of the Red Lands, Gareth went with her, accompanied by a dwarf who knew his identity. On the way he overcame Black, Green and Red Knights and finally the Red Knight of the Red Lands - despite the fact that he had to put up with Lynette's caustic tongue for she had no wish for her cause to be championed by a scullion, or kitchen drudge. Gareth eventually married Lyonors. His story, told by Malory, may have been based on a lost French romance. During Arthur's war against the Roman Emperor Thereus, Gareth killed King Datis of Tuscany. He himself was killed by Lancelot while the latter was rescuing Guinevere.

# 156 - 418

GARGANTUA

A giant, the son of Grandgousier who was made by Merlin from a bull whale's bones and a phial of Lancelot's blood, and Gargamelle whom Merlin made from the bones of a cow whale and ten pounds of Guinevere's nail clippings. Gargantua served Arthur who supplied him with a sixty-foot club. The giant once had an encounter with Tom Thumb who placed him under an enchantment.

# 156

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