Finding Arthur (49 page)

1
. The efforts of that great Scot Ian Hamilton (and others) in 1950 to bring the stolen stone back to Scotland were no less gallant because the stone they took from Westminster was a fake. The film
Stone of Destiny
(2008) tells this story. I recommend it.

2
. Peter Drummond,
Placenames of the Monklands
(Monklands Library Services Dept., 1987), 1 and 4; See also “Blaeu Maps” (National Library of Scotland website:
http://maps.nls.uk/atlas/blaeu/
).

3
. Advocates’ MS 72.1.1, Advocates Library, Edinburgh.

4
.
http://maps.nls.uk/atlas/blaeu/
.

5
. Ian Finlay,
Columba
(Glasgow, Richard Drew Pub., 1979), 8.

6
. Adamnan,
Life of Columba
, I.7, 119.

7
.
LMDA
, book III, chap.1, 92.

8
. Peter Berresford Ellis,
The Celts
, 39.

9
. 27th August 2011.

10
. 22nd February 2011.

11
. Béroul, The
Romance of Tristan
(London: Penguin Books, 1970).

5. L
A
N
AISSANCE D
’A
RTHUR

1
.
HRB
, part 7, ix.i.

2
. Norma L. Goodrich,
King Arthur
(New York: Harper Perennial, 1989), 58.

3
.
HRB
, 284.

4
. J. S. P. Tatlock,
The Legendary History of Britain
(London, 1718), 423.

5
. In 1871 the German explorer Karl Mauch rediscovered the magnificent ruins of Great Zimbabwe in southern Africa. Mauch refused to believe that the ancestors of the local people could have built this place and concluded that it must have been built by biblical characters from the time of Solomon(!). This was accepted for years until evidence came to light that proved Great Zimbabwe had been built by local people. I know how the local people must have felt.

6
.
DEB
, 24/2, 27.

6. T
HE
S
WORD IN THE
S
TONE

1
.
AC
, 45.

2
. Geoffrey of Monmouth,
The Life of Merlin, Vita Merlini
, trans. by John Jay Parry (1925).

3
. “The Dialogue of Merlin and Taliesin” from
The Black Book of Carmarthen
, Peniarth MS 1 NLW.

4
. Ibid.

5
. Geoffrey of Monmouth,
Life of Merlin
.

6
.
The Four Ancient Books of Wales
, ed. W. F. Skene, 1868, republished 2007 by Forgotten Books,
www.forgotten books.org
.

7
. With thanks to Duncan Murray, Eugene, Oregon, USA, who made this point to me in an email on July 9, 2008.

8
. Adamnan,
Life of Columba
, bk. II, 172.

9
. Ibid, bk. II. para. 24, 173.

10
. Ibid, bk. II, para. 22, 171.

11
. Ibid, bk. III, para. 5.

12
. Ibid.

13
. Ian Finlay,
Columba
(Glasgow: Richard Drew Pub., 1979), 146.

14
. Fitzroy MacLean,
Highlanders
(London: Penguin, 1995).

15
. The Stone of Destiny should not be confused with the lump of Perthshire sandstone labeled “Stone of Destiny” in Edinburgh Castle.

16
. J. Crichton-Stuart,
Scottish Coronations
(1902), NLS R.232.b & BCL.C1065.

17
. John Macleod,
Highlanders
(London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1996), 81.

18
. Thomas Malory,
LMDA
, book 1. chap. 5, 15.

19
. Norma L. Goodrich,
King Arthur
, 54.

7. C
AMELOT

1
.
Annals of Tigernach
, my “translation.”
Chirchind
is but another version of
Circenn—
see Bassas chapter.

2
. Chrétien de Troyes,
Arthurian Romances, Lancelot or the Knight of the Cart
, note 4, 512.

3
. There are different views about the order of words in Gaelic, but then there are different views about everything when there is no definitive evidence either way. Usually, in Gaelic, the noun comes first, so I am told, although there are exceptions—
Ard Righ
for one. Three years ago in Connel I asked an older woman, a native Gaelic speaker, about word orders with particular reference to
Ard Righ
and
Ard Airigh
. She laughed at my attempt to find formal answers to these questions and told me that when she was young it would be one way and then the other.

4
. Chrétien de Troyes,
Arthurian Romances, Lancelot or the Knight of the Cart
, note 3, 511

8. T
HE
S
COTTISH
C
IVIL
W
AR

1
.
Annals of Tigernach
, 574.1

2
. John N. McLeod “Remarks on the Supposed Site of Delgon or Cindelgen, the seat of Conall, King of Dalriada, AD 563,”
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquarians of Scotland
28 (3rd S. 4), (December 11, 1893), 13– 18.

3
.
FABW
, trans. W. F. Skene (Edinburgh: Edmonston & Douglas, 1868), chap. IV, 52.

4
. Leslie Alcock,
Arthur’s Britain
, 66.

5
.
www.facesofarthur.org.uk
.

6
. Edward Gibbon,
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
, vol.1, chap.6, part 1.

7
. Caesar,
Gallic War
, vi, 9; Florus, i,45,15.

8
.
CS
, vol. I, 85–91.

9
. Too many historians in the north of Britain are too afraid of the opinion of the historians in the south of Britain to think of things in a Scottish light, and too many historians from the south of Britain are too insular, indeed, parochial to think of the north at all.

10
. Probably the Cichican valley to which Gildas refers in
DEB, History
, chap. 19, 23.

11
. Leslie Alcock,
Arthur’s Britain
, 4.

12
.
FABW
, chap. 6, 77.

9. T
HE
G
REAT
A
NGLE
W
AR

1
. Taken from
Y Gododdin
by Aneirin, these lines apply to another battle but they reflect the atmosphere of the campaign of the time.

2
.
HB
, 35.

3
. Ibid.

4
.
CS
, vol. I / 153 & 174.

5
. D. N. Dumville,
Historia Brittonum
iii:
The Vatican Recension
(Cambridge, 1985); and
History of the Britons
(Kessinger Publishing’s Rare Reprints: no date), 32.

6
. Taken from
Y Gododdin
by Aneirin, these lines apply to another battle but they reflect the atmosphere at the time.

7
. Taken from
Y Gododdin
by Aneirin, these lines apply to another battle but reflect the atmosphere of the campaign of the Caledonian Wood.

8
. Ibid.

9
. R. G. Collingwood, “Arthur’s Battles,”
Antiquity, III
(1929), 296. Traeth Trevroit, with
traeth
being Welsh for a “tidal estuary.”

10
.
HB
, chap. 6. Alternatively, “On the banks of the river Tral Treuroit.”

11
.
Black Book of Carmarthen
.

12
. Ibid.

13
. Translation by Robert Williams with a few lines from Patrick Sims-Williams.

14
. Ibid.

15
. British Library,
Harleian MS 3859
(c. 1100); and Introduction to
HB
, 1–3.

16
.
Vatican Reg. 1964
(11th century). c.945CE.

17
. British Library,
Cotton Caligula A VIII
(12th century).

18
. J. A. Giles, translation of
HB
.

19
. O’Brien, Introduction to
Dictionary
, xi.

20
.
FABW
, 83.

21
. Pat Gerber,
The Search for the Stone of Destiny
(Edinburgh: Canongate Press, 1992), 21.

22
.
HB
, 35.

23
.
AC
, 45. This entry has been given the date 516 CE.

24
.
DEB
, chap. 26.

25
.
DEB
, vol. 7, 28.

26
. Preface to
DEB
, para 1.2, 13.

27
.
DEB
, para. 26.2, 28.

28
.
Monaidh
is the genitive singular of
monadh
. In MacBain’s dictionary,
monadh
is a mountain range or mountain. And so Dun Monaidh, the hill fort of hills, the hill of hills. It was borrowed from the Picts and is rare in Argyll.

10. T
HE
L
EGEND
I
S
B
ORN

1
.
Finding Merlin
.

2
.
Book of Aneurin
from
FABW
, trans. W. F. Skene.

3
.
DEB
, 29 and99.

4
.
LMDA
, book xxi, chap. 5, 517.

5
. Ibid.

6
. Ibid.

7
. Ibid.

8
.
HRB
, ix. 4, 217.

9
. Glastonbury, according to Malory.

10
.
LMDA
, bk. xxi, chap. 7; and Joseph D. Parry, “
Following Malory out of Arthur’s World
,”
Modern Philology
, 95.2 (1997) 717: 29–33 and 147. “Yet som men say in many partys of Inglonde that Kynge Arthure ys nat dede, but had by the wyll of oure Lorde Jesu into another place; and men say that he shall com agayne…”

11
.
LMDA
, book xxi, chap. 7.

12
.
LMDA
, book xxi. chap 6, 519.

13
.
LMDA
, book xxi, chap. 5, 517.

14
. The best exposition of the figure “Nine” in the Celtic world, with particular reference to Nine Women is Stuart McHardy’s
The Quest for the Nine Maidens
(Edinburgh: Luath Press, 2003).

15
. W. F. Skene,
Notes on the history and probable situation of the earlier establishments at Iona, prior to the foundation of the Benedictine Monastery in the end of the twelfth century
(Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 13 December 1875), 347.

16
.
LMDA
, bk. 11, chap.6.

17
. Adamnan,
Life of Columba
, book II, chap. 6.

18
. Skene’s
Notes
(RSA 14th April 1987), 204, see above.

19
. Arthur died in 596. The first Archbishop of Canterbury, Augustine, arrived in the far south of Britain in 597.

20
. Finlay,
Columba
, 182; Adamnan,
Life of Columba
, bk. 3, 228.

21
.
Anglo Saxon Chronicle
, version E. Dawston, near Saughtree, a few miles north of the battlefield of
Arderydd
.

22
. See
Finding Merlin
.

23
.
DEB
, chap. 26, 29. Mungo’s success did not please Gildas because they were not of the same Christian sect.

24
. Ibid.

25
. Geoffrey of Monmouth,
Vita Merlini Silvestris
, trans. by Winifred and John MacQueen,
Scottish Studies
29 (1989): 77–93.

26
. Ibid.

11. F
INDING
C
AMLANN, THE
L
AST
B
ATTLE

1
. Thomas Green,
A Gazetteer of Arthurian Onomastic and Topographic Folklore
(NS879827).

2
.
HRB
, bk. xi.2, 259.

3
. The River Camel, according to the editor of the Penguin edition of Geoffrey’s
History
.

4
.
HRB
, bk. xi.2, 260
et seq
.

5
.
LMDA
, bk. xx., chap. 2. I have no idea what Malory meant by “love that time was not as is nowadays” but it sounds interesting.

6
.
LMDA
, bk xxi, chap. 1.

7
. Bamburgh, Northumberland.

8
.
LMDA
, bk. xxi, chap. 2.

9
. Ibid.

10
. MacBain,
Etymological Gaelic-English Dictionary
.

11
. “Canmore,” RCAHMS website,
Archaeology Notes
, NMRS No. NS88SE 23.00. Falkirk, Camelon.

12
. George Buchanan,
The History of Scotland
, (circa 1582); trans. James Aikman (1827).