Tag Archives: battle

10/6/11

Excalibur (Caledfwlch)

“Excalibur” was first used for King Arthur’s sword in the embellishment of the King Arthur legend by the French.  Contrary to present-day myth, Excalibur was not the famous “Sword in the Stone” (which broke in battle), but a second sword acquired by the King
through the intercession of Myrddin (Merlin). Worried that Arthur would fall in battle, “Merlin took the King to a magical lake where a mysterious hand thrust itself up from the water, holding aloft a magnificent sword. It was the Lady of the Lake, offering Arthur a magic unbreakable blade, fashioned by an Avalonian elf smith, along with a scabbard which would protect him as long as he wore it . . .”  http://www.britannia.com/history/arthur/excalibur.html

The Welsh name for King Arthur’s sword was ‘Caledfwlch’, which means ‘cleaving what is hard’.  (from Celtic Culture:  A Historical Encyclopedia).  It later developed to become the Caliburn in the story by Geoffrey of Monmouth and finally the Frenchified Excalibur that we know today.

Caledfwlch first appears in Culhwch and Olwen, a Welsh tale dating perhaps to the 11th century (Geoffrey wrote the History of the Kings of Britain in the 12th century).  From Celtic Culture:  “Culhwch arrives at his kinsman Arthur’s court in Celliwig, seeking assistance in wooing the giant’s daughter, Olwen.  Arthur’s speech to Culhwch includes a list of precious items that the young man may not request . . . ’You shall have what your head and tongue may seek, as long as the wind dries, the rain wets, the sun moves, as far as land and sea encompass, except my ship and my mantle, Caledfwlch my sword, Rhongomiant my spear, Wyneb-Gwrthucher my shield, Carnwennan my knife, and Gwenhywfar my wife . . .’”

This is the full extent of the Welsh discussion of Excalibur, though swords held an almost ritualistic place in medieval/dark age culture.  “Along with the spear, they were the ever-present symbol of the warrior class. The weapons of the warrior were not simply tools but deeply important spiritual symbols that stood for the ideal qualities of the warrior. The makers of weapons were highly regarded artisans, metalworkers whose skills were literally perceived as a gift of the gods. As a consequence, a sword was not simply an implement but an emblem of a higher spiritual truth, an emulation of the attributes of the gods.”  http://www.netplaces.com/celtic-wisdom/the-tuatha-d-danann/the-sword-of-light.htm

 

05/8/11

The Kingdom of Mercia

After 500 AD, the Kingdom of Mercia became one of largest and strongest Saxon kingdoms in England, and only faded with the transcendency of the Kingdom of Wessex under Alfred the Great (ruled 871-899).

The first Mercian king to truly dominate England was Penda, ruling from 626-655 AD.  Both Bede and Nennius describe the swath he cut across Britain, sometimes in alliance with others (Cadwallon and Cadfael of Gwynedd to name two) and sometime on his own reconnaissance.

His paganism was a particular sore point:  “In his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, written in the early eighth century, Bede of Jarrow describes him as ‘a barbarian more savage than any pagan’ with ‘no respect for the newly established religion of Christ’” and “In the ninth-century Historia Brittonum, Nennius describes Penda as ‘victorious through the arts of the Devil, for he was not baptised, and never believed in God’”  http://www.indigogroup.co.uk/edge/penda.htm

According to Nennius, Cadwaladr ap Cadwallon (the hero of my book, The Last Pendragon) regained the throne of Gwynedd from Cadfael, Penda’s ally, and “slew Penda in the field of Gai, and now took place the slaughter of Gai Campi, and the kings of the Britons, who went out with Penda on the expedition as far as the city of Judeu, were slain.”  It isn’t clear where this battle took place.  http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/nennius-full.html

Penda had a large family and two of his sons became King of Mercia after him.  The infighting among the rulers of Mercia rivaled that of Wales.  The number of untimely deaths between Penda’s death and Offa’s rule defies belief.  After Penda, who died in battle, his successors were:  killed in battle, murdered, died, abdicated, poisoned, murdered by his bodyguards, and burnt to death.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_monarchs_of_Mercia

Then came Offa, to whom the building of Offa’s Dyke is attributed.  “Forming the traditional boundary between England and Wales, this impressive earthwork runs, although not continuously, from the Dee estuary in the north to the river Wye in the south. Constructed by King Offa of Mercia (757-96), late in the eighth century, it is a tribute to the authority he commanded from the Humber to the Channel. Offa was the most powerful and successful of all the Mercian kings. He dominated England, and his power was acknowledged on the Continent by the great Charlemagne himself. Offa had led many expeditions into Wales, but in his later years he decided upon a policy of stabilizing or at least permanently marking the frontier.”  http://www.castlewales.com/offa.html