ΩΣΠΕΡ ΞΕΝΟΙ ΧΑΡΟΥΣΙ ΠΑΤΡΙΔΑ ΒΛΕΠΕΙΝ
ΟΥΤΩΣ ΚΑΙ ΟΙ ΓΡΑΦΟΥΣΙ ΤΕΛΟΣ ΒΙΒΛΙΟΥ.
From The “Historia Brittonum“ Commonly Attributed to Nennius; From a Manuscript Lately Discovered in the Library of the Vatican Palace at Rome: edited in the Tenth Century by Mark the Hermit with an English Version, Fac Simile of the Original, Notes and Illustrations, by the Rev. W. Gunn, London: Printed for John and Arthur Arch, 1819; pp. xix-xlvi.
As Nennius has commonly been considered the author of this chronicle, it may be expected that I should produce such traditions respecting him as are now remaining. Nennius and Gildas are described by Jeffrey (l. 1, c. 17. 1. 4, c. 3 and 4) and Tysilio (Coll. Camb. p. 30 and 75) as British xx historians. “Nennius (Nyniaw) who was the brother both of Caswallon (Cassibelinus) and Ludd, quarrelled with the latter; and of this dissension, Gildas the historian has given a large account; for which reason I chuse to pass it over for fear of debasing by my accounts what so great a writer has so eloquently related. It is further asserted, that Nennius encountered Julius Cæsar, and fell by his hand. Balæus7 xxi (Cent. l, c. 15 and 59) affirms “that this was the same Nennius who wrote a book of the British history, which was afterwards translated into latin by his namesake the Abbot of Bangor.”8 If any truth be involved in this extravagance, we may infer, that there was once a xxii british history which may have furnished these excerpta, or such of them as have reference to a remote period, and that it was originally written in the vernacular tongue.
xxiiiThe present manuscript varies not, as to general import, from the copies of the “Historia Brittonum” already known. It differs from those edited by Gale (Scrip. XV.) and Bertram xxiv (Scrip. III.) in certain transpositions of the subject — in the omission of two introductory prefaces — in not acknowledging the assistance of Samuel Belwy, (the reputed master of Nennius) — in detaching the life of St. Patrick from the body of the work, and placing it at the end.
In the brief parallel now to be offered, I confine myself to the copy edited by Bertram, not only as the latest, but because it exhibits marks of care and diligence superior to all others.
xxvIn Bertram (c. 1) the date of the transcript is brought down to the thirtieth year of Enerauth (Anarawed) king of Monia (Anglesey) “qui regit modo regnum Wenedociæ regionis.” This son of Roderic the great, was the sovereign of North Wales, who fixed his royal seat at Aberfraw, In Anglesey: he began his reign, A. 877. (Warrington’s Wales, vol. i. p. 233.) In Mark, instead of this date, both in the commencement, (p. 1) and in the course of the narrative repeatedly, that of the fifth of Edmund is substituted. From page 2 to page 9 (Bertram, c. 2 to the end of c. 11) is briefly discussed the subject of the first peopling of Britain, and the adjacent isles; the arrival and settling of the Picts and Scots professedly extracted from the Roman annals, from ancient books, and from tradition. The facts are abruptly given, and scarcely connected; the last historical event records the victories of the Cunedda family in the fourth century. The narrative is here interrupted, and the copier makes a computation to the year of transcript, or the fourth of Mervinus. Here is terminated what may be called the first division of the work; the materials of it were probably brought together soon after the period xxvi of the successes last mentioned, which form a decided epocha in the Cambrian history.
In page 10, (Bertram, c. 12 and 13,) another relation is adduced: taken “ex veteribus libris veterum nostrorum.” The line of Brutus is here made to coalesce with the patriarchal genealogies of tribes and families spread over the face of the ancient world. From page 11 to page 17, (Bertram, c. 14 to c. 28,) is narrated the invasion, prevalence, and departure of the Romans. In page 18, (Bertram, c. 28 and 29,) the Saxons are introduced; Vortigern receives them in Thanet. We here find, but in Mark alone, a repetition of the computation to the fifth year of Edmund — “in quo scribimus.” From page 19, (Bertram, c. 29 to 35,) the civil detail is again interrupted, by an account of the mission and miracles of St. Germanus. In page 29 to page 33, (Bertram, c. 35 to 53,) details of our national history are resumed. These comprise the treachery and successes of the Saxons, the battles of Vortimer, the pretended second mission of St. Germanus, and the fall of Vortigern. From the fifty-third chapter of Bertram, though the facts differ not materially from those in Mark, the arrangement is not the same. In xxvii page 34 of Mark, is recited, the influx of the Saxons into Britain, the death of Hengist, the battles of Arthur, and the unremitting augmentation of that people to the time of Ida, A. 547. Omitting all intermediate events, the final computation to the year 945 (“ad hunc quem nos scribimus“) answering to the fifth of Edmund, is again repeated, and the termination of the work is announced by the following solemn appeal: — “Et quicumque hoc legerit in melius augeatur! Prestante domino nostro IHU CRSO qui cum coaeterno patre et spiritu sancto vivit et regnat deus per infinita secula seculorum ameN.”
The life of St. Patrick, (apparently no part of the performance originally) follows in a detached form. In other copies, this legend is incorporated in the work, of which it makes a part from the fifty-second to the sixty-first chapter.
Independently of the historical notices dispersed throughout this chronicle, there are others referable to a subject at all times interesting, but which has of late years risen in importance from the researches of men of taste and learning: I mean the origin of romantic xxviii fiction in Britain. Opinions as to the people with whom this species of composition first arose, are various; and the imputed honour has, among others, been conceded to the Celts, Scandinavians, Armoricans, and Arabians. Ideas so unsettled argue no agreement in those points, which essentially affect the question; and where there is no common ground to stand upon, conviction is little to be expected. The plans proposed, are in general too exclusive, for when a system is universal, and acts with the force and certainty of an instinct, it is not assignable to accidents, but to a settled principle in the human constitutions. Leaving it then to others to filiate the aberrations of excursive fancy, — If asked, when did romantic fiction commence? I should reply, — from the time man began to hope and to fear — for even in the best constructed mind, so powerfully do these motives irritate his restless temper, alternately urging him to seek pleasure or alleviation in variety, and, whether disappointed or successful, still to continue exploring distant and illusive sources of gratification. Thus considered, the anticipations of to-morrow, are little more than romances of the mind, which, in a xxix greater or less degree, subject the understanding to the imagination. The Garb is universal, for all nations have their fabulous age; — the fashion and colour, as settled by custom or modified by novelty, are local; from the more elegant mythology of ancient Greece, to our domestic system of romance, in which Robin Goodfellow and his fairy train, once charmed and awed the rustic mind.
Among the authors above alluded to, the opinions of Mr. Ritson have had their share in swaying those of the public. He declares that the Welsh “have no tales or chronicles, the produce of the elderly Welsh bards, nor by any other writer, more early at least than Geoffrey of Monmouth: “if the Welsh have such stories, they are doubtless from the French or English, and by way of farther proof of their recency, are all in prose. (Diss. on Romantic Fiction, p. 36.)
Consistently with the theory advanced, I contend, that writers, like painters, are not the inventors of the mythological or legendary subjects they undertake to delineate; but seek honour and emolument only, by making those the object of their respective arts, to which opinion has given popularity. That several of xxx the tales and traditions recorded by Geoffrey of Monmouth were in existence before his day, is proved by the date of the transcript before us.
Whether the germ of the druidical associations was first unfolded in this island, is a question not easily determined; they were certainly matured, and for ages naturalized, within its limits. In the course of time they yielded to the change assigned to human institutions, yet after the period of virtual abolition, and long subsequent to the regular establishment of Christianity,9 the spirit of Bardism hovered over the unsubdued retreats of its beloved Cambria, and so powerfully did the effects of habit, and the principles it inculcated, pervade the minds and imaginations of the provincials, as to impart a corresponding character to their productions. The following instances prove both the truth of this observation, and the fallaciousness of Mr. Ritson’s assertion.
xxxiThe tower or ship of glass (p. 7,) filled with men, and seen off the coast of Ireland, is part of an ancient bardic legend. “Merddin, the bard of Ambrosius, is said to have constructed a house of glass,10 in which he went to sea, accompanied by nine Cylveirrd Bards, of whom nothing was heard afterwards.” (Camb. Biog. v. Merddin.) A farther development of this singular detail is to be found in “The Cambrian xxxii Popular Antiquities,” (p. 75) published by Mr. Roberts.
“Whether Merlin survived Arthur, or not, has not been recorded in history; but it is most probable that he did, and through some apprehension of the Saxons, endeavoured to escape them by sea. On this occasion, he is said to have sailed in a ship of glass, and to have taken with him the thirteen curiosities of Britain.11
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xxxiv
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According to the account of this voyage, as
given by Mr. Lewis Morris, he conveyed them to Bardsey island, and died, and was buried
there, which is very probable; though one of the Triads says, that after he had sailed he was
never heard of more, which, if the writer lived in South Wales, might well be true there, considering the remote and unfrequented situation of Bardsey.12 “The ship of glass is, by the author of the mythology of the Druids, ingeniously explained as signifying a sacred vessel, emblematic of the ark, and the name of Bangor Wydrin, or Glass Bangor, (an ancient name of Glastenbury) confirms the idea of Wydr, literally glass, signifying sacred. I believe gwydr, in these instances, has no connexion with, or relation to, the same sound, when signifying glass, but that its true signification is sacred, though not now so used.” (Robert’s Camb. Antiq. p. 78) Thus defined, the true meaning of this legend, in no other, than that Merlin
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went to sea in a sacred ship. On examining the work last quoted, a small boat of glass was, in the opinion of Mr. Davies, a symbol of initiation into the druidical mysteries. “We are not hence to conclude that the Druids regarded the sacred ship as constructed of that material; but that they esteemed little glass models as very sacred symbols of the mystical vessel, and held the material itself in religious esteem. Thus the stranger in the poem of the Chair of Taliessin, is introduced to the nocturnal mysteries, by exhibiting his boat of glass, which must have been an emblem of the ark. Merddin and his nine bards put to sea in the house of glass, which could have been nothing more than a mystical representation of the ark, &c. &c. &c.” (Mythology and Rites of the British Druids, p. 211, 270, 277, 522.)
The next instances, are the predictions and legend of Merlin. These in Mark, appear in an incipient form; they were augmented from time to time, and became a standing and national oracle. In Jeffrey, they are amplified, and brought down lower than Canute. During the fourteenth century, an event is recorded, xxxviii which proves their acknowledged importance. In a national duel between the English and the French nobility, which was fought in Brittany, (between Ploermel and Josselin) in the reign of John the Second, Brembo, one of the champions of the former, when his associates were brought together for the combat, asserted, that he had a prediction of Merlin in his favour: — the prophet deceived him. (Massi’s History of Duelling, pt. 1. sec. 10. p. 47.) These prophecies were afterwards brought down to the demise of our James the First. (Caermarthen., 1812, 8vo.)
The next allusion I notice in these prophecies, is the cementing the foundation of Vortigern’s castle, with the blood of a human sacrifice. Notwithstanding the severe edicts issued by Tiberius against magical arts, and immolation, both in Gaul and Britain, it appears, that in the time of Pliny (N. H. l. 30. c. 1.) Sueton. v. Claud. c. 25.) they still continued. Davies is of the opinion, that these practices were only suppressed in those parts of the provinces, which were more immediately under the inspection of government, and of course obnoxious to publick censure. He says, there xxxix was in the north of Britain, or in an adjacent island, (it might be beyond the limits of the empire) a seminary of Druids, where the doctrines and discipline of heathenism were cultivated without controul; and after the departure of the Romans, their abominable rites were brought back from the north into Mona, and into other parts of Wales; and that the northern seminary was not suppressed till the close of the sixth century. One of the presidents of this society was Gwenddolew, a passage relating to whom is quoted from the Hoianau, a poem, by Merddin, in the northern dialect. (Davie’s Mythology, p. 461, 466. Camb. Biog. Gwenddolew.)
The following singular compromise between christianity and druidism, is given from Dr. Jamieson’s History of the Culdees, (p. 20.) — “from which it should seem, that the sacrifice of a human victim, was thought by the druids a necessary propitiation, when the commencement of an undertaking was not successful. When Columba first attempted to build Iona, the walls, as is said, by the operation of some evil spirit, fell down as fast as they were erected. Columba received supernatural intimation, that xl they would never stand, unless a human victim was buried alive. According to one account, the lot fell on Oran, the companion of the saint, as a victim that was demanded for the success of the undertaking:” he suffered accordingly. (Roberts’s Camb. Antiq. p. 63).
The next relates to the concealment of the white and red dragons; the first the emblem of the Saxons, the second of the Britons. This fable is of early existence, and is explained in the Triad of the three concealments of Britain, — “third, the dragons buried by Lludd, the son of Beli, in the city of Pharan. (Dinas Emrys) in the mountains of Snowden. These three concealments were laid under the protection of God and his attributes, and with imprecations against the person who should distinguish them. Vortigern discovered the dragons to avenge himself of the Cymry, for their disaffection to him, and then invited the Saxons as allies against the Picts, &c.” (Collec. Camb. vol. i. p. 69, n.) “The whole of this story seems to have been founded on some bardic ceremony, or imposture, now unknown, in which Merddin seems to have been merely xli the instrument of the bards; and, perhaps, a party of them, which had embraced christianity. Whatever was the real nature of this transaction, the pretensions of the bards to prophecy were constant; and those of Merddin were allowed, and, certainly, had a great and decisive effect in sustaining the spirit of the Britons to oppose their enemies.” (Ibid. p. 120 n.)
Mr. Ritson is equally pertinacious, as to the gothic antiquities. “The Edda itself, if not a rank forgery, is, at least, a comparatively modern book of the thirteenth or fourteenth century, manifestly compiled long after christianity was introduced into the north. Saxo, a very ancient writer (1204) knew nothing of any Odin, but a magician, whom the stupidity of the inhabitants of Upsal adored as a God.” (Diss. p. 30.) This scepticism is disproved by the Saxon genealogy in Mark, of which Oden is the stem; — and, also, by the authority of Bede (Hist. l. 1, c. 15.) where the same origin is asserted.
The compilation before us, apparently formed by a Cambrian Briton, is best illustrated by the records of the principality. These have of late xlii years been objects of minute investigation by men, who from talents and attainments are capable of estimating their value: — and the names of PUGHE, TURNER, ROBERTS, and DAVIES, will ever be remembered with respect. Nor can I perceive how we are justified in withholding from the traditions of our own country, the faith we repose on those of distant ages, which, like them, were orally delivered, and on which so much of ancient history is founded. That I do not always yield my assent to the extent assumed by those gentlemen is perhaps owing to my own incompetency. As occasion requires, I place in them that temperate confidence, to which they seem entitled. Of the authors now cited, my best thanks belong to Mr. OWEN PUGHE; for, independently of his publications, his assistance, both by letter and conference, has never been denied. The most respectful conduct towards an absent friend is to avoid making him the subject of panegyrick; yet, interested motives apart, I cannot suppress the avowal, that I feel gratified in ranking him with those I highly esteem.
If my opinion were demanded as to the xliii merit of this production, I should reply, — Ancient literary remains, rescued from long oblivion, are often contemplated with a degree of partiality, bordering on enthusiasm, independent of their intrinsic excellence. But, in works like the present, which display no expansion of mind, nor any traces of genius, it might be more beneficial, as it would be more equitable, calmly to estimate them by the utility to which they are subservient.
As a literary composition, the “Historia Brittonum” maintains a place, between the meagre chronicle, and that superior effort of talent which claims the name of history. Neither does the compiler deserve the appellation of author; since any one, destitute of endowments, but possessing common industry, might from existing authors, the registers of convents, and memorials orally delivered, have gleaned these excerpta. The value of it, then, consists in being the repository of certain occurrences, in our days not elsewhere recognized, or of so early a date, and of traditions otherwise forgotten. In a dispassionate survey, therefore, let us not underrate the labours of the obscure recluse, who, though occupied xliv in an humble department of literature, was collecting materials, which, aided by learning, and corrected by judgment, were destined in the course of ages to illustrate and adorn the pages of our national history. Thus considered, the estimate of this and similar manuscripts is allied to higher motives than curiosity, or the passion for ancient lore; since by them we are induced to investigate the skill possessed by our forefathers in those arts which meliorate and gladden life; we learn to be grateful that we live in an age when, by means of progressive improvements, we are not only freed from innumerable privations as well as evils which they endured, but are taught to form a just estimate of our social and domestic happiness; and, as the circle of our pursuits expands, by the efforts of united wisdom and the gradual progress of experience, cheers us with anticipations of higher degrees of intellectual advancement.
A man has no right to complain of the task he voluntarily imposes on himself, and which he may always abandon; but, on occasions like the present, the discouragements he encounters in his progress are formidable and xlv incessant. These arise principally from contradictory, sterile, and marvellous details, which, unchastised by criticism, indolence or credulity, have been transmitted from one chronicle to another; so that the narrative which the antiquarian composes in the morning, like the web of Penelope, is commonly to be disarranged in the evening. To be thus tantalized might, indeed, be tolerable, could he ascertain that truth would eventually reward his assiduity. Yet, under the happiest guidance of ability, and with materials less defective, if care and industry have not been wanting, allowances are not denied to instances of unsuccessful elucidation.13
I mean not hence to soften the reader by deprecation; an attempt which never rescued an author from oblivion, nor protected him from insufficiency. But, it is allowable to assert, that no one, who for the first time, undertook the editing of a work like that now offered to the publick, could be aware of the irksomeness of the engagement, nor who could more xlvi truly sympathize with the wearied copiers of Greek manuscripts, who not unfrequently thus hailed the termination of their labours:
FOOTNOTES
7 This biographer thus describes Nennius and his reputed associates: “Nennius Bannochorensis collegii Pontifex (ut illum Capgravus appellat) et egregius brytannorum doctor olim fuit Elvodugi probi, atque Beulani presbyteri non infimus” — that he was a monk of Bangor iscoed, and one of the fifty who escaped from the massacre of that community under Ædelfrid, A. 613; that he composed his history from the annals of the Romans, the Scots, and Saxons; from the chronicles of Jerome, Eusebius, Prosper, Isidore, and St. Patrick; from the british Taliessin, Melkin, Gildas, Elvodugus, and others; that he flourished in the reign of Cadvan, A. 620; that Elvodugus Probus was his preceptor, A. 590, and who was succeeded in the same capacity by Beulanus presbyter, A. 610; and that Samuel Beulanus, a Briton, and son of the last mentioned, was the annotator of his history. The legends speak of a St. Nennius, who, in the sixth century presided in the “Magnum Monasterium.” (Brittania Sancta, vol. i. p. 50-125. Usser. Antiq. p. 494.) Capgrave (from whom Bale professes to have made this compilation) was provincial of the Augustine friars, and confessor to the famous Duke of Gloucester, epitomised the Sanctilogium Brittaniæ; adding here and there many fancies and interpolations of his own. (Nicholson, pt. ii. c. 1, p. 98.) The epitome itself is extracted from the “Historia aurea” of John of Tynmouth. (MS.) The only Elvodugus (Elbodus or Elbodius) visible in the history and antiquities of Wales, lived in the eighth, and in the beginning of the ninth century. Dates do not indeed accord, but incidental facts make it probable, that it is the same which is alluded to by Capgrave. “Elvod, a saint descended from Caw, a Bishop at Caer Gybi, in Mona, and afterwards at Bangor Deiniol (Caermarthenshire) whom Caradog styles primate of Gwynedd (North Wales).” He died in the year 809. (Camb. Biog. Elvod. Deinolen.) “The clergy of Wales had hitherto preserved with great firmness, an independence of the Romish church. About this period (A. 762), however, they suffered Elbodius to be appointed by the Pope, Archbishop of Wales, who soon brought them to act in conformity to the Romish observance of Easter.” (Warrington’s Wales, vol. ii. p. 404. — H. Lhuyd. Frag. fol. 55.)
8 I have, on the term Bangor, received from Mr. Own Pughe the following valuable remarks: “The word Bangor, in welsh, is simply an appellation for any college; and all the Christian societies among the Britons, began to assume that epithet towards the close of the fifth century; that is, when they began to have regular jurisdictions over districts, and to have Gwyndai, or white-houses, which was a term for chapter houses: an institution introduced by Germanus and his followers. Before that period, the british Christians called their societies by the simple name of Côr, a circle, or congregation. But at the time above stated, they dignified the name by the additional epithet of Ban, high, superior or supreme, that is to say Bangor, (variously written in MSS. Ban Cor, Banchor, and Bangor.) This makes the expression “Magnum monasterium,” (generally with respect to Nennius applied to the celebrated monastery of Bangor iscoed in Flintshire) equivocal; because “great monastery,” is nothing but a translation of the appellative Bangor, unless an additional name had been given with it to fix its locality. I will here subjoin a list of the Bangors, or colleges of Wales, from a curious MS. enumerating the principal fathers of the british church. Côr Dyvrig, or congregation of Dubricius, at Caer Llion upon Wyse, Dewi, or St. Davids, removed this to Mynyw, or Menevia, where Gynyr of Caer Gawç, his grandfather on his mother’s side, had left all his lands for the support of the church. Côr Tathan, or Bangor Tathan, in Caer Went, or Venta Silurum, founded by Tathan, son of Amwn Zu, under the patronage of Esner Gwent, in the beginning of the sixth century. Bangor Garmon, or the college of Germanus, at Llanveithin in Glamorgan. This was founded by St. German, about A. D. 460. Côr Tewdws in Caer Worgorn, or the congregation founded by the Emperor Theodosius in Caer Worgorn. This was destroyed by the Irish in the middle of the fifth century. It was restored by Germanus, over which he placed Illtyd or Iltutus, whence it was called Bangor Illtyd, or College of St. Iltutus, in Glamorgan, now called by the English Lantwit Major, and by the Welsh Llan Illtyd Vawr.
Bangor Catog, or College of Catog, founded by him under the direction of St. Germanus, at the present Llancarvan in Glamorgan. Bangor y Ty Gwyn ar Dâv, the college of the White House on Tav, or the present Whitland Abbey in Caermarthenshire, was founded by Pawl Hên, or Paulinus, over which he placed the brothers Flewyn and Gredivel, about A. D. 480. Flewyn and Gredivel were the sons of Ithel Hael of Armorica. (Cambrian Biography, p. 123, 124, 280.) Bangor Padarn, or College of Padarn. This society, consisting of one hundred and twenty members, was established by Padarn the son of Pedredin ab Emyr Llydaw, in the close of the fifth century. He came from Armorica with his cousin Cadvan; and was first at Bangor Illtyd. Bangor Padarn, was at the present Llanbadarn Vawr, in Cardiganshire. (Camb. B., p. 217.) Côr Beuno, or the congregation of Beuno, which he established about the close of the sixth century. It came afterwards to be called Bangor Clynog, or College of Clynog; and now Clynog Vawr in Arvon (Caernarvonshire). Bangor Cadvan, or College of Cadvan, also called Bangor Enlli, or College of Bardsey; founded by Cadvan, in the close of the fifth century, under the direction of Emyr Llydaw, and patronage of Einion, son of Owain Danwyn, as sovereign of the country. This was one of the most celebrated of the welsh seminaries. Bangor Deiniol, or the college of Deiniol, the son of Dunod ab Pabo, who founded it, A.D. 525. This is also called Bangor Vawr uç Conwy, the great college over Conwy, and Bangor Vawr yn Arlleçwez, or the great college in Arlleçwez; being the present Bangor in Caernarvonshire. It was raised to the dignity of a bishopric in the time of Deiniol, who died in 554. In the time of Elood, this see became the metropolitan of North Wales. Elood died in A. 809. Côr Cybi, or congregation of Cybi, at the present Caer Gybi, or Holyhead, in Anglesey. Côr Penmon, founded by Einion, in the beginning of the sixth century, over which he placed Seiriol, and thence also called Côr Seiriol, or congregation of Seiriol. This was in Priestholme island, near Beaumaris. Bangor Asav, or College of Asav, afterwards called Llan Elvy by the Welsh, and St. Asaph by the English. This was founded by Asav, under the direction of Cyndeyrn (Kentigern) in the former part of the sixth century. Bangor Dunod, or College of Dunod, son of Pabo. It was founded by Dunod and his sons Deiniol Cynwyl and Gwarthan, in the beginning of the sixth century, upon lands granted by Cyngen, king of a part of Powys, and the Vale Royal. This place was also called Bangor Maelor, the College of Maelor; Bangor Vaws yn Maelor, the great College in Maelor; and Bangor Iscoed, or College of Underwood. This seminary never flourished after the massacre of its members; after the bloody battle there in A. 603, when the Britons were defeated there under Broçwel. (Camb. Biog. p. 91.)
The term was not restricted to our island. There was a Bangor in Belleisle, on the coast of Brittany. (Welsh Dict. v. Bangor.) St. Patrick founded the monastery of Beannchor in Ulster, of which Comhgallus was the first abbot. (Jocelin’s Life of St. Patrick, c. 98.) In Scotland there are two parishes called Banchory; one in Aberdeen, the other in Kincardineshire.”
9 On the gradual abolition of the druidical order, and coalescence with Christianity, much valuable information is to be derived from Pelloutier, (Hist. des Celtes, tom. vii. c. 4) and the researches of the learned Benedictines of the congregation of St. Maur. (Hist. Lit. de la France, tom. i. p. 289. tom. ii. p. 13.)
10 Three centuries after the time of Mark, “in the Spanish Romance of Alexander, written by Joan Lorenzo Segura de Astorga, about the middle of the thirteenth century, is a long description of Alexander’s descent into the sea, in a house of glass; which I have elsewhere had occasion to quote, and therefore will not repeat here. Where the Spaniard found the story I cannot say; if he is to be understood literally, it was not a written legend, but one which he received from tradition. — In the German legend of St. Anna, written at the close of the year 1100, Mr. Coleridge has shewn me the same story of Alexander thus related, with circumstances of greater sublimity than elsewhere — “He let himself down to the bottom of the sea in a glass,” &c. &c. &c. (Southey’s Specimens of the later English Poets, Preface, p. 9.) Farther details of this singular fiction are to be found in Dunlop’s History of Fiction (vol. ii. p. 127, second edition). In the continuation of the Orlando Furioso, where the spirits are summoned to attend Demagorgon in council, some of them, impelled by the bellows of demons, sail through the air in ships of glass:
“Portate alcune in gran navi di vetro,
Da i fier Demonii, cento volte e cento
Con mantici soffiar lor facean dietro,
Che mai non fu per l’ aria il maggior vento.”
Canto 1. Stan. 8.
11 I omit the detail for the sake of brevity. On this passage, the author remarks that “the magical powers assigned to some of these curiosities, are so similar to what is to be found in the arabian tales, as to point out a common origin.” Without researches into more remote antiquity — for arabian tales might be substituted the fictions of the early Greeks, for all the ingredients of magical incantation exist in Homer. Pliny (l. 30, c. 1, “Maxime tamen,” &c.) asserts, that no allusions to such practices are to be discovered in the Iliad,* but that in the Odyssey we find magical transformations, charms, and evocation of infernal spirits; and most likely all the vulgar arts of divination particularized by Theocritus, (Id. 2) were used at the same period. That the Druids were in possession of these secrets, was believed by ancient authors. In the mystical poems of their Bards, whether they refer to the rural theology then cultivated, or the awful appeal to supernatural powers, allusions to them continually occur in the Mabinogion or institutional tales. These compositions, of colour and fashion peculiarly their own, and which except in the abridgment, of that of Culhwch in the Cambrian Biography, that of Pwyll in the Cambrian Register, (vol. i. p. 177) and some extracts dispersed in Davies’s mythology, are unknown to the english reader. Culhwch is told by an oracle he is to have no wife but Olwen. She is a personification of nature, and is only to be won by exploring her mysteries: he sets out in search of her, and encounters a variety of extraordinary adventures. Pwyll is a prince of Dyved, (Demetia) the subject principally turns on the magical transformations of the hero. I was some time since favoured by Mr. Owen Pughe with the perusal of translations of several of these tales, but knowing he intended them for the press, did not ask his permission to make extracts from them. The result of a second application will not be unacceptable to the reader.
“Agreeably to your request, I send some particulars of the Mabinogion.
The first List:
1. Ymarwar Lludd a Llevelys: The contention of Lludd and Llevelyn.
2. Brenddwyd Maxen Wledig: The dream of the Emperor Maximus.
3. Brân Vendigid: Brân the Blessed.
4. Pwyll Penderig Dyred: Pwyll the chieftain of Dyved.
5. Manawydan ab Llyr: Manawydan the son of Llyr.
6. Math ab Mathonwy: Math the son of Mathonwy.
No 1. Lludd the son of Beli, was the father of Caswallaon (Cassivellaunus): he and Llevelys his brother at some game at ball, which, with the events it produced, and their reconcilement, are the subject of the tale.
2. The dream of Maximus is concerning his elevation to power, wherein are narrated the incidents leading to its accomplishment.
3. The events in the tale of Brân arise out of the tale of Pwyll. Matholwç, the supreme King of Ireland, lands with a fleet at Harleç, in North Wales, where Brân kept his court, to demand Branwen, the sister of Brân in marriage. His request is granted, and he returns to Ireland. Events then arise, wherein Bronwen is insulted with a box on the ear, called one of the three fatal insults of Britain. For Brân invades Ireland to avenge his sister. Only seven return from the expedition, after having destroyed nearly all the people of Ireland; and Brân being mortally wounded, he orders his companions who survive, to carry his head to be interred in the White Hill, in London, as a protection against all future invasions, so long as the head remained there. The sequel of the tale recites their progress to London to bury the head. At Harleç, in their way, they are kept seven years listening to the birds of Rhianow, singing in the air; and in Dyved (Dimetia) by attending to the last words of Brân, they stay in a grand hall for eighty years, enjoying every kind of pleasing amusement, all their misfortunes and object of further progress being kept out of their minds; but by opening a door looking towards Cornwall, their real condition breaks in upon their minds, which compels them to pursue their journey. Brân was the father of Caradawg (Caractacus); and according to the Triads, he with all his family were carried to Rome, and remained their seven years as hostages for the son. Brân there meets with some Christians, and being converted, he prevails on two Christians to accompany him to Britain, by which means the faith is introduced; which is the cause of the epithet of Blessed being given him.
No. 4. Part of the tale of Pwyll has been given in the second volume of the Cambrian Register, and is continued in vol. 3, now printing.
No. 5. Manawydan is the brother of Brân, and is one of the seven that carried his head to London, the events of this tale are a continuation of the former; and the end of it is the doing away some spells or enchantments laid upon Dimetia, arising out of events in the tale of Pwyll.
No. 6. This tale follows the other in connexion; but the incidents in it are distinct, so that it may be considered as a separate one. It opens with an embassy from Math, prince of Gwynedd, (Venedotia) to Pryderi the son of Pwyll, prince of Dyved (Dimetia). The ambassadors are twelve bards, with Gwdion the son of Don at their head, who had magic spells at command. The object was, by means of rich presents, to obtain a race of new animals, which Pryderi had possession of, and these were swine, being the first of the kind in the island. The request is refused; but Gwdion, by illusions, obtains the swine.
Pryderi, in revenge, invades Gywnedd; the consequence is the ruin of both countries; and the tale proceeds with a series of spells, often very fanciful and striking.
The above tales I class by themselves, as they contain not one incident connected with the adventures of Arthur and his warriors, who are the actors in the following class of tales.
Second List:
No. 1. Peredur ab Evrog: Peredur the son of Evrog.
No. 2. Culhwç ab Cilydd ab Celyddon Wledig: Culhwç the son of Cilydd, sovereign of Celyddon (Caledonia).
No. 3. Geraint ab Erbin: Geraint the son of Erbin.
No. 4. Owain ab Urien: Owain the son of Urien.
I have not a copy of No. 4. I believe there are several other tales in the Hengwrt collection.
With respect to the periods when these tales were composed, it would be difficult to say; but I have no hesitation in concluding them all to be anterior to the conquest of Wales by Ed. I. A. D. 1283. All the personages therein were real characters, most of whom are often mentioned by the earlier Bards; and many are mentioned in the historical Triads; many of the events in the tales are likewise recorded in the Triads. Taliessin, who flourished in the sixth century, mentions several of the incidents of these tales; so also do the poets who flourished in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.”
* May we not, however, except Achilles, who bore almost a charmed life and the impenetrable armour forged for him by Vulcan after the death of Patroclus?
12 The Saxon incursion above mentioned may be that alluded to in the following quotation from the poem called the chair of Taliessin — “that for the lands of Bardsey there will be an inroad — a fleet shall arise on the face of the water. Let them call upon him whom we have found sufficient, that he may protect us from the wrath of the alien race.” — This spot, as well as Mona, was sacred to the ancient superstition, “and seems to have been one of the rocks of the supreme proprietor, or places of re-animation.” (Davies’s Mythology, p. 503.) The chair of Taliessin, like several other of the ancient british poems, contains references to the native superstitions, mixed with tenets of the Christian faith. (See Appendix.)
13 “In magnâ sylvâ boni venatoris est indagantem feras, quamplurimas capere, nec, cuiquam culpæ fuit non omnes cepisse.” (Columell. l. 5, c. 1.)