DOCSLIB.ORG

Exile and Return: the Development of Political Prophecy on the Borders of England, C.1136-1450S

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Exile and Return: the Development of Political Prophecy on the Borders of England, C.1136-1450S Exile and Return: The Development of Political Prophecy on the Borders of England, c.1136-1450s by Victoria E. Flood, BA (Cantab) MPhil (Cantab) A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of York Centre for Medieval Studies March 2013 i Abstract This thesis traces the development of political prophecy in England from the publication of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Prophetiae Merlini (c.1136-40), to political prophecies in circulation on the eve of the Wars of the Roses. A genre endorsing and naturalising territorial claims, political prophecy was a powerful mode of communal and national address. In the construction of these rights, the authors of English political prophecy leant heavily on contemporary Welsh and Scottish counterclaims, material which was re-inscribed and employed as an endorsement of English hegemony. An assessment of cross-border influences is fundamental for a balanced study of the genre. From Geoffrey of Monmouth’s re-inscription of Welsh prophetic material, to the northern English prophecies ascribed to Thomas of Erceldoune and antecedent texts on the Anglo-Scottish border drawing on Scottish materials, and the later circulation of Erceldoune prophecies on the Anglo-Welsh border, the movement of prophetic material across national lines proved formative. In the study of these sites of re-inscription in this thesis, each text is orientated in its broader geo-political and historical context. This is a scholarly practice which presents a radical departure from a critical framework which in recent years has understood these very different works, composed and circulating in relation to different geo-political and historical factors, as monolithically ‘Celtic’. In the historical development of these prophetic traditions, as they were reapplied by consecutive groups and factions within England and on its borders, the affinities of the border aristocracy played an important role. Political prophecy functioned as a powerful hegemonic strategy, staking political-territorial claims, both regional and more recognisably national. On occasion political prophecy was drawn on directly by members of the aristocracy themselves: most prolifically, the Percy earls of Northumberland; and the Mortimer earls of March, and later Yorkist claimants to the throne. ii Contents Acknowledgements page vii Declaration ix Introduction: English Political Prophecy and the Idea of the Celtic Fringe 1 Literary Scholarship and Medieval Prophecy 2 Theoretical Framework 7 Chapter Overview 10 1. Exile and Return: The Applications of Welsh Political Prophecy 15 in the Prophetiae Merlini, Expugnatio Hibernica, and Prophecy of the Eagle 1.1 Prophetiae Merlini 16 Geoffrey’s Programme 18 Geoffrey’s Welsh Sources 21 The Omen of the Dragons 23 Myrddin Prophecies of the Black Book of Carmarthen 31 The Pan-Celtic Alliance 33 1. 2 The Giraldian Prophecies of Merlin Silvester 43 The Book of Merlin Silvester 45 Gerald’s Welsh Sources 49 Gerald’s Self-censorship 53 1.3 The Prophecy of the Eagle 57 BL, Cotton Faustina MS A. viii 58 Original Date of the Prophecy 59 A Syncretic Text 61 The Author-Compiler’s Welsh Sources 65 Conclusion 69 2. English Expansionism and the Pan-Celtic Threat: Prophecy of the Six Kings to Follow John and its Northern Reception History 70 2.1 The Six Kings 72 Uses of the Prophetiae Merlini 74 iii The Boar and the Last World Emperor 78 The Boar and the Arthurian Crusader 80 Arthur and Insular Overlordship 83 The Merlinian Prophecies of Pierre de Langtoft 85 Regnum scotorum 88 Insular Splitting 91 2.2 Als Y Yod 94 BL, Cotton MS Julius A. v 95 Historical Allusions in the Ballad 97 Cultural Encounters on the Anglo-Scottish Border 104 English Scots and Scottish English 106 Political Eschatology and the Pan-Celtic Union 109 Conclusion 113 3. The Arthurian King of England on the Anglo-Scottish Border: The English Erceldoune Tradition, c.1335-88 114 3.1 Thomas de Essedoune’s Reply 115 The Harley Reply and the Anti-Scottish Tradition 120 Scottish Background Traditions 122 3.2 The Arundel Reply 127 3.3 The Romance and Prophecies of Thomas of Erceldoune 129 The Manuscripts 131 Summary of the Text 133 English and Scottish Influences 135 The Royal English Hero 139 The Historical Function of the Original Text 145 The Anglo-Scottish Border, c.1380s 146 Contemporary Scottish Prophetic Influences 148 The Contentions of Earlier Scholarship 149 Richard II and Imperial Prophecy 151 The Holy Oil 152 The Romance and Prophecies and Hotspur 154 Conclusion 159 iv 4. Re-drawing the Map of Insular Power: Cock in the North as Percy-ite Prophecy 160 The Percies 163 Percy Mythology 165 Synopsis of the Text 167 Manuscript Witnesses 168 Some Previous Misconceptions 173 The Influence of the Prophecies of John of Bridlington 177 The Uses of Richard II 181 Hotspur and the Prophecy of the Bastard 182 ‘Troy Vntrew’ 185 The Lion’s Rule 187 English Pan-Celticism and the Six Kings 189 Percy Prophecy and the Tripartite Indenture 194 Percy Prophecy in 1453 196 Conclusion 201 5. The Long Memory of 1405: The Mid-Fifteenth-Century Development of Proto-Yorkist Political Prophecy, from the Welsh Border to London 202 Anglo-Welsh Literature and National (Re)identifications 204 From Percy-ite to Proto-Yorkist Meanings 206 A Focus for Welsh Expectations 208 Mortimer Mythology 211 BL, Cotton Nero MS A. iv 213 5.1 NLW, Peniarth 26 216 S Mysed 218 When Rome is Removyd, C-text 225 5.2 BL, Cotton Roll, II.23 227 The Manuscript 228 Jack Cade and John Mortimer 229 Erceldoune Prophecies and the Revolt 239 Prophecy Professid 233 The Erceldoune Hero in 1450 241 Conclusion 243 v Conclusion: Political Prophecy and the Borders of England, c.1136-1450s 244 Appendix 1: The Relationship between Prophecy of the Eagle, the Prophetiae Merlini, and the Prophecies of the Expugnatio Hibernica 246 Transcription with Analogues 246 Translations 249 Sources for Interpretations 252 Appendix 2: The Structural Relationship of the Romance and Prophecies of Thomas of Erceldoune to the earlier Erceldoune Tradition 254 Appendix 3: The Geographical and Political Provenance of Cock in the North Witnesses, Mid to Late Fifteenth Century 256 Appendix 4: Early Fifteenth-century Illustrated Glosses on the Prophetiae Merlini, BL, Cotton Nero A. iv, fols 73r-75v 257 Appendix 5: Diplomatic Transcriptions of S Mysed 261 1. NLW, Peniarth MS 26, pp.112-16 261 2. BL, Cotton Rolls, II. 23 266 Appendix 6: Composite Elements of the Peniarth 26 S Mysed 268 1. Key Source Materials 268 2. Revised English Couplet Version of the Six Kings, from Bodleian Library, Hatton MS 56, fols 43r-45r, alongside Second Revised English Couplet Version, from Peniarth 26, pp.113-16 271 Appendix 7: Diplomatic Transcriptions of Prophecy Professid 275 1. NLW, Peniarth MS 50, pp.221-26 275 2. BL, Cotton Roll, II. 23 278 Abbreviations 288 vi Bibliography 290 Figures Figure 1: Alois Brandl’s stemma of the manuscripts of the Romance and Prophecies 132 of Thomas of Erceldoune vii Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank Helen Fulton, without whose support, encouragement, and knowledge of the field, this thesis would have been impossible. Thanks are also greatly due to Mark Ormrod, whose guidance and intellectual generosity over the past eighteenth months has been invaluable. I would also like to thank Liz Herbert MacAvoy for her supervision and advice during my time at Swansea. This thesis was funded by a scholarship from the Humanities and Arts Research Centre at Swansea University (2009-11), and from 2011-13, the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of York, the Baron Bequest of the International Arthurian Association, and the Federation of Women Graduates, in addition to a doctoral scholarship from the Arts and Humanities Research Centre at the University of York for the current academic year. I would like to express my gratitude to all of these funding bodies. The manuscript research for this thesis was made possible through the support of a number of institutions. Thanks are due to the librarians at the National Library of Wales, the British Library, Cambridge University Library, the Bodleian Library, Gray’s Inn Library, the library of Trinity College, Dublin, and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Manuscript research was undertaken with the financial support of the Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature, and the Elizabeth Salter Fund of the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York. Thanks are also due to Aisling Byrne, whose enthusiasm and formidable knowledge has been invaluable over the past few years, and whose comments on a draft of this thesis have been much appreciated. I am also grateful to Joanna Bellis for her comments on Chapter Two, and general good sense, and Emily Wingfield for sharing her thoughts on CUL, Kk. I. v. Thanks also are due to Aisling Byrne and Megan Leitch for their comments on an article on Thomas of Erceldoune, which formed the basis for Chapter Three of this thesis, and Jessica Lockhart and the rest of the MPhil class of 2008-09 for a year which proved truly formative. I would also like to express my thanks for the support of my fellow students at the Centre for Medieval Studies, in particular Dale Kedwards, Hollie Morgan, Jane Heloise- viii Nancarrow, and Heidi Stoner. Thanks are also due to Helen Kingstone for her proofreading; Erika Kvistad for her voice of experience; and Gillian Galloway and Brittany Scowcroft. Most of all, I want to thank my family for their encouragement. Particular thanks are due to my parents, Steve and Kookie Flood, especially my mother who in the final weeks has spent almost as much time with the Geraldines, Mortimers, and Percies, as I have. I am greatly indebted to her proofreading skills.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Just As the Priests Have Their Wives”: Priests and Concubines in England, 1375-1549
    “JUST AS THE PRIESTS HAVE THEIR WIVES”: PRIESTS AND CONCUBINES IN ENGLAND, 1375-1549 Janelle Werner A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History. Chapel Hill 2009 Approved by: Advisor: Professor Judith M. Bennett Reader: Professor Stanley Chojnacki Reader: Professor Barbara J. Harris Reader: Cynthia B. Herrup Reader: Brett Whalen © 2009 Janelle Werner ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT JANELLE WERNER: “Just As the Priests Have Their Wives”: Priests and Concubines in England, 1375-1549 (Under the direction of Judith M. Bennett) This project – the first in-depth analysis of clerical concubinage in medieval England – examines cultural perceptions of clerical sexual misbehavior as well as the lived experiences of priests, concubines, and their children. Although much has been written on the imposition of priestly celibacy during the Gregorian Reform and on its rejection during the Reformation, the history of clerical concubinage between these two watersheds has remained largely unstudied. My analysis is based primarily on archival records from Hereford, a diocese in the West Midlands that incorporated both English- and Welsh-speaking parishes and combines the quantitative analysis of documentary evidence with a close reading of pastoral and popular literature. Drawing on an episcopal visitation from 1397, the act books of the consistory court, and bishops’ registers, I argue that clerical concubinage occurred as frequently in England as elsewhere in late medieval Europe and that priests and their concubines were, to some extent, socially and culturally accepted in late medieval England.
    [Show full text]
  • War of Roses: a House Divided
    Stanford Model United Nations Conference 2014 War of Roses: A House Divided Chairs: Teo Lamiot, Gabrielle Rhoades Assistant Chair: Alyssa Liew Crisis Director: Sofia Filippa Table of Contents Letters from the Chairs………………………………………………………………… 2 Letter from the Crisis Director………………………………………………………… 4 Introduction to the Committee…………………………………………………………. 5 History and Context……………………………………………………………………. 5 Characters……………………………………………………………………………….. 7 Topics on General Conference Agenda…………………………………..……………. 9 Family Tree ………………………………………………………………..……………. 12 Special Committee Rules……………………………………………………………….. 13 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………. 14 Letters from the Chairs Dear Delegates, My name is Gabrielle Rhoades, and it is my distinct pleasure to welcome you to the Stanford Model United Nations Conference (SMUNC) 2014 as members of the The Wars of the Roses: A House Divided Joint Crisis Committee! As your Wars of the Roses chairs, Teo Lamiot and I have been working hard with our crisis director, Sofia Filippa, and SMUNC Secretariat members to make this conference the best yet. If you have attended SMUNC before, I promise that this year will be even more full of surprise and intrigue than your last conference; if you are a newcomer, let me warn you of how intensely fun and challenging this conference will assuredly be. Regardless of how you arrive, you will all leave better delegates and hopefully with a reinvigorated love for Model UN. My own love for Model United Nations began when I co-chaired a committee for SMUNC (The Arab Spring), which was one of my very first experiences as a member of the Society for International Affairs at Stanford (the umbrella organization for the MUN team), and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Later that year, I joined the intercollegiate Model United Nations team.
    [Show full text]
  • Augustine and the Art of Ruling in the Carolingian Imperial Period
    Augustine and the Art of Ruling in the Carolingian Imperial Period This volume is an investigation of how Augustine was received in the Carolingian period, and the elements of his thought which had an impact on Carolingian ideas of ‘state’, rulership and ethics. It focuses on Alcuin of York and Hincmar of Rheims, authors and political advisers to Charlemagne and to Charles the Bald, respectively. It examines how they used Augustinian political thought and ethics, as manifested in the De civitate Dei, to give more weight to their advice. A comparative approach sheds light on the differences between Charlemagne’s reign and that of his grandson. It scrutinizes Alcuin’s and Hincmar’s discussions of empire, rulership and the moral conduct of political agents during which both drew on the De civitate Dei, although each came away with a different understanding. By means of a philological–historical approach, the book offers a deeper reading and treats the Latin texts as political discourses defined by content and language. Sophia Moesch is currently an SNSF-funded postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oxford, working on a project entitled ‘Developing Principles of Good Govern- ance: Latin and Greek Political Advice during the Carolingian and Macedonian Reforms’. She completed her PhD in History at King’s College London. Augustine and the Art of Ruling in the Carolingian Imperial Period Political Discourse in Alcuin of York and Hincmar of Rheims Sophia Moesch First published 2020 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Published with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation.
    [Show full text]
  • Ancestors of Elizabeth Garrard
    Ancestors of Elizabeth Garrard Generation No. 1 1. Elizabeth Garrard, born October 24, 1808 in East Indies1; died Aft. April 1881. She was the daughter of 2. William Garrard and 3. Martha Francis. She married (1) Henry Garnet Man October 27, 1840 in St. Mark's Church, Kennington, London. He was born Abt. 1804, and died November 4, 1873 in 19 Derby Terrace, Derby Rd, Croydon, Surrey. Aged 69. He was the son of Peter Brules Man. More About Elizabeth Garrard: Residence: 1881, 15 Aldebert Terrace, Lambeth, Surrey Notes for Henry Garnet Man: Informant on death certificate was Priscilla Creak. She appears on the 1881 census, aged 64, an annuitant, living with her widowed daughter Margaret Baker at 17 Derby Terrace, Croydon. She was born in Adderton, Suffolk. More About Henry Garnet Man: Burial: Queens Road Cemetery, Croydon, Surrey2 Cause of Death: Bright's Disease Occupation 1: Captain, 54th Foot, later Honorary Lt. Col. Occupation 2: Professor of Fortification at Sandhurst Marriage Notes for Elizabeth Garrard and Henry Man: Witnesses: Jno. Man, Edward D. Man. Generation No. 2 2. William Garrard3, born December 3, 1779 in Reading, Berks4; died September 2, 1836 in Madras, India. Aged 56.4. He was the son of 4. William Houghton Garrard and 5. Anne _____. He married 3. Martha Francis July 8, 1806 in Lambourn, Berks4. 3. Martha Francis, born March 1786 in Lambourn, Berks.4; died December 20, 1853 in 2 Lansdowne Cottages, South Lambeth. Aged 69.5. She was the daughter of 6. Edward Francis and 7. Mary Spicer. Notes for William Garrard: According to the memoirs of F C Garrard, William 'lost money in Peruvian bonds, returned to India again and died there'.
    [Show full text]
  • A Lost Medieval Manuscript from North Wales: Hengwrt 33, the Hanesyn Hên
    04 Guy_Studia Celtica 50 06/12/2016 09:34 Page 69 STUDIA CELTICA, L (2016), 69 –105, 10.16922/SC.50.4 A Lost Medieval Manuscript from North Wales: Hengwrt 33, The Hanesyn Hên BEN GUY Cambridge University In 1658, William Maurice made a catalogue of the most important manuscripts in the library of Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt, in which 158 items were listed. 1 Many copies of Maurice’s catalogue exist, deriving from two variant versions, best represented respec - tively by the copies in Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales [= NLW], Wynnstay 10, written by Maurice’s amanuenses in 1671 and annotated by Maurice himself, and in NLW Peniarth 119, written by Edward Lhwyd and his collaborators around 1700. 2 In 1843, Aneirin Owen created a list of those manuscripts in Maurice’s catalogue which he was able to find still present in the Hengwrt (later Peniarth) collection. 3 W. W. E. Wynne later responded by publishing a list, based on Maurice’s catalogue, of the manuscripts which Owen believed to be missing, some of which Wynne was able to identify as extant. 4 Among the manuscripts remaining unidentified was item 33, the manuscript which Edward Lhwyd had called the ‘ Hanesyn Hên ’. 5 The contents list provided by Maurice in his catalogue shows that this manuscript was of considerable interest. 6 The entries for Hengwrt 33 in both Wynnstay 10 and Peniarth 119 are identical in all significant respects. These lists are supplemented by a briefer list compiled by Lhwyd and included elsewhere in Peniarth 119 as part of a document entitled ‘A Catalogue of some MSS.
    [Show full text]
  • Emperors and Generals in the Fourth Century Doug Lee Roman
    Emperors and Generals in the Fourth Century Doug Lee Roman emperors had always been conscious of the political power of the military establishment. In his well-known assessment of the secrets of Augustus’ success, Tacitus observed that he had “won over the soldiers with gifts”,1 while Septimius Severus is famously reported to have advised his sons to “be harmonious, enrich the soldiers, and despise the rest”.2 Since both men had gained power after fiercely contested periods of civil war, it is hardly surprising that they were mindful of the importance of conciliating this particular constituency. Emperors’ awareness of this can only have been intensified by the prolonged and repeated incidence of civil war during the mid third century, as well as by emperors themselves increasingly coming from military backgrounds during this period. At the same time, the sheer frequency with which armies were able to make and unmake emperors in the mid third century must have served to reinforce soldiers’ sense of their potential to influence the empire’s affairs and extract concessions from emperors. The stage was thus set for a fourth century in which the stakes were high in relations between emperors and the military, with a distinct risk that, if those relations were not handled judiciously, the empire might fragment, as it almost did in the 260s and 270s. 1 Tac. Ann. 1.2. 2 Cass. Dio 76.15.2. Just as emperors of earlier centuries had taken care to conciliate the rank and file by various means,3 so too fourth-century emperors deployed a range of measures designed to win and retain the loyalties of the soldiery.
    [Show full text]
  • Purgatoire Saint Patrice, Short Metrical Chronicle, Fouke Le Fitz Waryn, and King Horn
    ROMANCES COPIED BY THE LUDLOW SCRIBE: PURGATOIRE SAINT PATRICE, SHORT METRICAL CHRONICLE, FOUKE LE FITZ WARYN, AND KING HORN A dissertation submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Catherine A. Rock May 2008 Dissertation written by Catherine A. Rock B. A., University of Akron, 1981 B. A., University of Akron, 1982 B. M., University of Akron, 1982 M. I. B. S., University of South Carolina, 1988 M. A. Kent State University, 1991 M. A. Kent State University, 1998 Ph. D., Kent State University, 2008 Approved by ___________________________________, Chair, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Susanna Fein ___________________________________, Members, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Don-John Dugas ___________________________________ Kristen Figg ___________________________________ David Raybin ___________________________________ Isolde Thyret Accepted by ___________________________________, Chair, Department of English Ronald J. Corthell ___________________________________, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences Jerry Feezel ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………viii Chapter I. Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 Significance of the Topic…………………………………………………..2 Survey of the State of the Field……………………………………………5 Manuscript Studies: 13th-14th C. England………………………...5 Scribal Studies: 13th-14th C. England……………………………13 The Ludlow Scribe of Harley 2253……………………………...19 British Library
    [Show full text]
  • Welsh Association of Youth Clubs
    Welsh Association of Youth Clubs THE MOBILE YOUTH UNIT 1977 – 1980 Dennis Frost THE MOBILE YOUTH UNIT Background In the mid 1970s the Welsh Association of Youth Clubs, (WAYC) one of the foremost voluntary youth organisations in Wales, had a membership of 34,000 young people in 340 affiliated youth clubs encompassing church and chapel groups, village clubs, independent clubs, and local education authority youth centres. Established in 1934, and an autonomous division of the then National Association of Youth Clubs (NAYC) the WAYC is perhaps best described as a facilitating body. Its wide range of services incorporated training courses for leaders, potential leaders, and senior youth club members, festivals and competitions, members’ councils at local, county and national level, adventurous pursuits, and insurance schemes. An innovative organisation, among its several enterprises was the introduction of clubs for Physically Handicapped and Able Bodied young people (PHAB). Conceivably its most valued contribution at the time, and in keeping with its original concepts, was the advice and assistance readily available from members of staff who regularly visited affiliated clubs. The concern of the WAYC for the dedicated men and women who freely gave their time in the service of young people is perhaps reflected in a statement made at a meeting of the Executive Council when it was suggested that a simplified version of its aims and objects might be, ‘to support the untiring, and sometimes unacknowledged endeavours of individual youth workers by helping reduce their sense of isolation, and hopefully make their task a little easier’. Whilst the stated aim of the WAYC (1976) was focused on young people – ‘to help boys and girls to develop their physical, mental and spiritual capacities that they may grow to full maturity as individuals and members of society’, the suggestion served to confirm an awareness of the needs of youth workers, particularly those in the rural areas.
    [Show full text]
  • Invisible Ink: the Recovery and Analysis of a Lost Text from the Black Book of Carmarthen (NLW Peniarth MS 1)
    Invisible Ink: The Recovery and Analysis of a Lost Text from the Black Book of Carmarthen (NLW Peniarth MS 1) Introduction In a previous volume of this journal we surveyed a selection of the images and texts which can be recovered from the pages of the Black Book of Carmarthen (NLW Peniarth MS 1) when the manuscript and high-resolution images of it were subject to a series of digital analyses.1 The present discussion focuses on one page of the manuscript, fol. 40v. Although the space was once filled with text dating to just after the compilation of the Black Book, it was obliterated at some stage in the manuscript’s ‘cleansing’.2 In fact, it is possible that this page was erased more than once, and that the shadow of a large initial B which we initially believed to be the start of a second poem is instead evidence of palimpsesting.3 The particular exuberance of the erasure in the bottom quarter of the page may support this view. As it stands, faint traces of lines of text can be seen on the page in its original, digitised and facsimile forms;4 in fact, of these Gwenogvryn Evans’s facsimile preserves the most detail.5 Minims and the occasional complete letter are discernible, but on the whole the page is illegible. Nevertheless, enough of the text of this page is visible for it to feel tantalizingly recoverable, and the purpose of what follows is first to show what can be recovered using modern techniques 1 Williams, ‘The Black Book of Carmarthen: Minding the Gaps’, National Library of Wales Journal 36 (2017), 357–410.
    [Show full text]
  • The Thirteenth Mt Haemus Lecture
    THE ORDER OF BARDS OVATES & DRUIDS MOUNT HAEMUS LECTURE FOR THE YEAR 2012 The Thirteenth Mt Haemus Lecture Magical Transformation in the Book of Taliesin and the Spoils of Annwn by Kristoffer Hughes Abstract The central theme within the OBOD Bardic grade expresses the transformation mystery present in the tale of Gwion Bach, who by degrees of elemental initiations and assimilation becomes he with the radiant brow – Taliesin. A further body of work exists in the form of Peniarth Manuscript Number 2, designated as ‘The Book of Taliesin’, inter-textual references within this material connects it to a vast body of work including the ‘Hanes Taliesin’ (the story of the birth of Taliesin) and the Four Branches of the Mabinogi which gives credence to the premise that magical transformation permeates the British/Welsh mythological sagas. This paper will focus on elements of magical transformation in the Book of Taliesin’s most famed mystical poem, ‘The Preideu Annwfyn (The Spoils of Annwn), and its pertinence to modern Druidic practise, to bridge the gulf between academia and the visionary, and to demonstrate the storehouse of wisdom accessible within the Taliesin material. Introduction It is the intention of this paper to examine the magical transformation properties present in the Book of Taliesin and the Preideu Annwfn. By the term ‘Magical Transformation’ I refer to the preternatural accounts of change initiated by magical means that are present within the Taliesin material and pertinent to modern practise and the assumption of various states of being. The transformative qualities of the Hanes Taliesin material is familiar to students of the OBOD, but I suggest that further material can be utilised to enhance the spiritual connection of the student to the source material of the OBOD and other Druidic systems.
    [Show full text]
  • A Welsh Classical Dictionary
    A WELSH CLASSICAL DICTIONARY DACHUN, saint of Bodmin. See s.n. Credan. He has been wrongly identified with an Irish saint Dagan in LBS II.281, 285. G.H.Doble seems to have been misled in the same way (The Saints of Cornwall, IV. 156). DAGAN or DANOG, abbot of Llancarfan. He appears as Danoc in one of the ‘Llancarfan Charters’ appended to the Life of St.Cadog (§62 in VSB p.130). Here he is a clerical witness with Sulien (presumably abbot) and king Morgan [ab Athrwys]. He appears as abbot of Llancarfan in five charters in the Book of Llandaf, where he is called Danoc abbas Carbani Uallis (BLD 179c), and Dagan(us) abbas Carbani Uallis (BLD 158, 175, 186b, 195). In these five charters he is contemporary with bishop Berthwyn and Ithel ap Morgan, king of Glywysing. He succeeded Sulien as abbot and was succeeded by Paul. See Trans.Cym., 1948 pp.291-2, (but ignore the dates), and compare Wendy Davies, LlCh p.55 where Danog and Dagan are distinguished. Wendy Davies dates the BLD charters c.A.D.722 to 740 (ibid., pp.102 - 114). DALLDAF ail CUNIN COF. (Legendary). He is included in the tale of ‘Culhwch and Olwen’ as one of the warriors of Arthur's Court: Dalldaf eil Kimin Cof (WM 460, RM 106). In a triad (TYP no.73) he is called Dalldaf eil Cunyn Cof, one of the ‘Three Peers’ of Arthur's Court. In another triad (TYP no.41) we are told that Fferlas (Grey Fetlock), the horse of Dalldaf eil Cunin Cof, was one of the ‘Three Lovers' Horses’ (or perhaps ‘Beloved Horses’).
    [Show full text]
  • History and Antiquities of Stratford-Upon-Avon
    IL LINO I S UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Brittle Books Project, 2009. UNIVERSrryOF ILLINOIS-URBANA ' 3 0112 079790793 C) c)J U0 CI 0F 622-5 CV157 111STORY & ANTIQUITIES STR4TF RkDi U]PO~A I1 ONA"r III c iI1Pir . i r M t a r HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF 5TJRATFORDJPONAVON: fO MPRISI N C A DESCRIPTION OF THlE COLLEGIATE CHURCH,7 THE LIFE OF SJL4KSPEAJRJ, AN Copies of several Documents relating to him anti his Pamniy never before printed; WITH A 13IOGt4PII1C4L SKETCH OF OTHER -V MJNENT CILIRACT2PS , Natives of, or who have resided in STRITFORD, To which, is added, a particular Account of THE- JUBILEE, Celebrated at Stratford, in Honour of our immortal Bard, BYT R. B. WIIELER. 0 gratum Musis, 0 nornen. amabile Plwcbo, Qtam sociarn adsciscant, Minicius atque Meles. Ac tibi, cara hospes, si mens divinior, et te Ignea SiKSPEARI muss ciere queat; Siste gradum; crebroquc oculos circum undique liectas, Pierii lae inontes, hec tOb Pindus erit. &ttatfouYon5ivbon: PRTNTED AND~ SOLD BY J. WARD; SOLD ALSO BYVLONGISAN AND CO.PATERNOSTERa ROW, LONDON'S WILKS AND CO. BIRIMINGHAM, AN!) BY MOST OTHER BOOKSELLERS IN TOWN AND COUNTIRY W2,2. Z3 cws;-7 PREFACE., FIE want of a work in some degree sifilar to the. res sent undertaking eatcouraged the publication of the follow4 ilig sheets, the'offspring oft afew leisure hours; and it is hoped that the world will, on an impartial perusal, make aflowanees for the imperfections, by reflecting as well upon the inexperieace of the Jiuvenile author, as that they were originally collected for"his own private information.
    [Show full text]